1940/41 Willys Gasser: Project Spotlight

1940/41 Willys Gasser

1940/41 Willys gasser arrival ALL STEEL body

Willys have been an staple of gasser builds for decades. Their weight distribution and ease of customization makes them a popular choice. However, since drag racing is the primary use of a gasser style build fiberglass front clips became popular. It's rare to find an all steel body, but we are lucky enough to be restoring one at Driven! The main body is a 1940, and the front clip and doors are from a 1941. 

When the car arrived it was in various stages of restoration. The chassis had been modified, partially boxed and had suspension modifications. The x-frame had been cut out and re-welded and the rear suspension was completely non-functional with the leaf spring shackles installed incorrectly. The ladder bar system was actually posing a safety risk in the configuration it was in, cutting out part of the x frame to fit them. 

The body was also not quite set up right. The trim holes were braised closed, but when test fitting the quarter trim it was nowhere close to matching the body line, hinting at issues with the underlying body work. Once we started digging it became obvious why fit was an issue! The firewall had a wheelbarrow used as the bump out for the engine to fit  with a custom trans tunnel that didn't actually fit the transmission. The trunk floor and front splash shield were made out of a 55 gallon drum and the grill opening didn't fit the grill at all. The doors were welded to the body and already modified to fit the 40 body. 

Willys gasser on arrival in etch primer (green) and primer surfacer over body filler(gray)

Trunk floor made from a 55 gallon drum. You can also see the trim on the upper left of the photo nowhere near fitting and the entire gutter around the trunk is roughed out body filler.

Locating the trim mount holes required excavation. This explained the trim not fitting

Body filler was used to sculpt the whole body tub into something resembling the shape of a 40 Willys. This much body filler on a high horsepower gasser would crack almost immediately

Test fitting the engine in the existing engine bay  revealed that the engine mounts were not located in the right position, the firewall bump out was off center and not big enough to clear the valve covers or distributor

With test fitting complete we move on to complete disassembly and re-design of the chassis. We will design this build from the foundation up, starting with reinforcing the rails and correcting the x-frame, adding cross rails, correcting the leaf spring mounts and engine mounts and modifying the transmission cross member area so the trans will actually fit!

Disassembly begins

Steve is evaluating the mess that was made of a perfectly good frame. 

Frame work is underway. Here it is flipped upside down to allow better access to lower rail welding. Adding more cross bracing and correcting the x-frame has the rails straight, square and level. They were sprung and twisted from the previous work

The frame repair is complete and it's then mounted on a rotisserie to complete paint prep. All the metal was stripped clean of manufacturing markings and defects and the whole frame was sanded and cleaned for sealer and chassis black paint

Chassis completed, in the booth for sealer and paint

Steve has put in a LOT of hours re-making the firewall to fit the engine. Might be time for a nap

The new firewall was sanded, cleaned and seam sealed, then got 2 coats of epoxy primer for rust protection

The trunk handle NEVER would have fit with that much build all the way around the opening. Yikes!

Stripping all the body filler off the body was a total mess. When we cleaned it up we filled a 5 gallon bucket! The odd thing is that there wasn't really any reason for that amount of body filler. It could have been done the right way much faster 

The doors were in remarkable shape with a great fit on the lower door patch made to fit the 40 body tub. It was a pleasant surprise considering the condition of the rest of the body

All 4 of the fenders needed similar repairs. The lower portion was rotted out and covered up with body filler. We shaped each patch and welded it in place as shown here. 

The inner portion of the metal below the grill was in rough shape with old patches crudely welded in place on each side and 

It's baffling to us that a build could get so far without fitting any of the major components or testing mechanical function of suspension and steering. Design is not just important, it is ESSENTIAL to the form and function of each build. It's one thing to know what your building but executing the build is where 

The metal repair around the grill is complete and the grill is test fitted to ensure it sits in the opening and lines up with the mounts

 Work continues on the Willy's as we finish up some body tub metal repairs, modify the trunk lid for a recessed license plate and the trunk floor to fit the fuel cell underneath. Inside the car, a roll bar and harness set up will have this street machine track ready for a little weekend fun

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