Al's '41 Willys Gasser1

1941 Willys coupe, Body is almost done. Tons of metal work to bring it back to life. This will be a hotrod/driver that resembles a gasser. I have owned this car since 1991. Hope to have drive line in by this summer. As soon as it's a roller with the wheels and tires on and the nose up I can send another picture. It's getting there! Motor is a 1956 Chevy 265, .040 over. 4-71 blower gone thru by Dyers Blowers. Stock heads with a hot cam. Old Corvette valve covers and Eelco oil pan. Vertex Mag look/HEI. Nothing fancy just trying for a look. Motor has 345 HP at 6000 rpm. Better than expected! I have had this motor for more than 30 years. 57 Olds/Pontiac rear, 2" drop tube axle, 4 speed, fun fun fun... Halibrand big and little's. A lot of cool stuff to go on the car. It's been great to see this collection of parts finally starting to come together after all these years! More to come... A little epoxy primer!!

A little more progress on Al's '41

New wheels!

Radiused Rear Fenders!

Front fenders on!

The chassis is almost done! We moved the front spring shackles to the rear. Old drag racing trick. The ride height has been calculated using estimated weight of the car. Hope we got it right!! Everything was built on single main springs, the other leafs will be added later.

The engine is a 1956 block and only has provisions for front mounts. I'm using a vintage Wedge bellhousing which allows for mid mounts. Also we used 1955 Chevy mounts. Transmision mount is also done.

I'm using a 64-66 Mustang box that will drop the cross link to almost level, one inch total from arm to spindle. The mount is finished!

The boxing plates are in!!! We channeled them to slide into the frame. The holes were a copy of the original partial boxed front rails. They were plug welded, ground, and then rivets (fake) were added to look like the original Willys rivets. Hate to give away all the secrets but when the body goes back on you might not see them.

I'm using '58 Chevy Spiral shocks on the front. These are NOS and spendy but they really work well in keeping everything period correct. Most of the front components will be chrome!

Mechanical clutch and brake pedals are mounted in place. I was trying to use the original pedals but ran into difficulties getting them to work right. The master cylinder will go under the floor.

The fenderwell headers are done and super cool!! Tubes are 1.625" diameter and all are 32 inches long. All that is left to do is weld the collectors in place. I'm gonna copy Lonnie's setup with his headers on the truck and I'm not going to go with a complete exhaust, just inserts in the collectors. It will make it very clean and sound nice!

Ladder bars are made and ready to fit into place. They are 41 inches long. Ladder bars will be mounted solid to the axle and use a slider on the front. Fully functional but set up for street use.

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E-Mail Al with questions about his build