Willys Truck Ratrod

[Gojeep]

Taking on a half done project is never fun but got help a mate out so he can get back to driving this beast.


This is a friend of mine, Christos's Ratrod project that he has built from a 1948 Willys Truck cab with a 1950-53 front clip. 2wd with a Holden independent front end. The easy fun part of a 5.5" roof chop has been half done by a panel shop


Very nice blown mouse motor.


Ogre looking like he is trying to get out of jail! Some looking closely will see no radiator and think it does run yet. But it does as the radiator is behind the cab.


Ogre looking like he is trying to get out of jail! Roof has been pancaked 1", 1/2" less than mine but done in a completely different way. Rather than removing the roof skin, it has just been cut above the gutter, a strip cut out, and then put back down. Corners have had relief cuts to bend them in and then rewelded.


Concerns me that the roof is bowing downwards rather than upwards like the factory so the water spills off to both corners and out the slots that you can see one of. Window flange may no longer be at the same angle all the way along.


None of the pillars have been welded or fully aligned.


The rear wall caves inwards. Should be flush along the edge of the ruler. Just pulling the upper section out to meet the lower won't be enough.


Other side shows how the cut edge was not stretched back out before being tacked. It would have shrunk with the heat of the cutting.


For some strange reason the window was not kept whole and lowered with a step down cutout? Also not cut through the vertical section either.


There is not enough panel under the window flange to remove the 4", so some will have to come out of the back wall as well.


Problem is that the rear wall support could get in the way of the weld line and then access to hammer it out afterwards.


Maybe the panel shop left the word 'not' out in front of what they wrote!


Will weld up the old mirror holes.


Guard will need to be fixed.


The guard flapping around has caused another fatigue crack to occur


Old aerial holes need to be filled.


Centerpiece needs to be aligned and fully welded in.


Big gaps left.


Join does not look sound.


Other side the same.


Only 1/3 of the perimeter weld has been done.

So this is some of what I am starting with and will do my best to makes them right without taking too much time on it.

[Jimmyb]

Watching all these custom car shows from the USA Marcus, the roof chop fix should take you less than 30 minutes

[Snort]

It's a "ratrod", if it drives its finished.......

[jzp]

How the yanks get away with that stuff they do amazes me.

Your friend is in good hands Marcus!

[Gojeep]

Got a start on it the last 3 afternoons and trying to tick some things of the list.


After levelling the cab left to right, I checked the angle of the window opening. Reads 109.4*


The middle is 111.0* so it is out just over 1.5*.


Now 1.5* does not sound like much but this shows it translates into 7mm, or just over 1/4". Now flat glass will not like bending at all, let alone that much! If the gasket tries to take it up, it will cause leaks.


So thought i would start fixing this chop there. I cut through one of the centre welds just leaving the front intact. Jacked it forward and up which closed the cut back up again.


Checked the degrees and have it perfectly spot on! I left the pressure of the jack on there while I fully welded the cut back up. Normally you might push a little further so it is still right when you take the pressure off, but I didn't in this case. Reason why is that the weld shrinkage would cause it to move forward and hoped it would balance it out. Glad to say it was still spot on after welding and the jack removed.


Finished fully welding in the right corner on the back wall. Got it all nice and flat.


Will show how I went about it on this side. Sitting inside, I hammered onto this flat dolly face to stretch the edge outwards.


Also had to bend the wall from lower down. I had the dolly on edge, and on the inside again, hammered off dolly near the top to get it to bend outwards.


The corners behind the pillars are tricky and used this spoon to lever on pushing outwards while hammering on the outside on it.


This is that single curved hammer face I made years ago. Using it in the corners to hammer outwards onto a flat faced dolly to stretch it outwards.


Due to the gap I was left with, the quickest way to weld this up was using the mig with 0.6mm-0.23" wire. This was welded non stop from one end to the other putting one tack on the next while it was still red.


Hasn't pulled in much at all. This straight after welding and no hammering.


Just took the top off the weld but leaving about a razor blade thickness left. You want some extra thickness to stretch the weld area back out. If you go flush this early you end up with thinner metal all the way along the weld seam which could lead to cracking. I really get into it with the grinder heating it up until blue. I find this softens the weld ready for planishing. Do the same on the inside if you need to.


Hammering from the inside out with my arm through the window holding the flat face of the dolly against the weld and heat affected area. Doesn't need much if you have kept your weld size down with the thinner mig wire. Don't use flux core!


Can see the weld is at the right height but a little dip above it. That was there before welding too so will hammer out that area


I check the tightness of the panel as I go along and as soon as I can feel some movement in it, I switch to hammering against this lead filled rubber dolly. What this allows is still moving the panel but without stretching it. If you keep hammering on a steel dolly you will end up with an oil can or loose panel. Working off dolly I also do at this stage with a steel one. Just depends on how much and where it needs to move. If I see a high spot near by, I will press the steel dolly with a slight dome shape to it, against that high spot while hammering the low spot on the opposite side.


The joint has now been taken down to flush with a flap disc once the panel was very close to flat. Just remember if may move with the sanding a little. Can be could to tighten a slightly loose panel without using a shrinking disc. Will use one at this stage if needed.


Now done with a strip disc and checked again to make sure it is still all flat.


Have finished welding the A pillar and mirror screw holes.


Right side done as well and also did the window frame on both sides as the near by joint. Old aerial hole a patch cut for and welded up.


B pillar half done on both sides.


I will put in a plate with a welded nut behind it for the upper seat belt bolt. Saves the bolt crushing the B pillar and the outside panel like it has. Really need to open this up anyway as otherwise you cannot get to weld the other side of the B pillar which is covered by the outside panel.


Still thinking of the best way to prepare this roof for the roof insert that the owner wants to rivet in place later on. If I had this project from the start I would have run the roof panel while it was off through the bead roller putting a step or joggle all the way around the opening. This would give the panel insert something to sit in later on and a seal underneath too. Then tipped down a small edge as well to give some stiffness.
Option 1.
The fastest way now would be to just run around with my joggle pliers and put a step in. It only puts one in though 1.2mm down and 13mm-1/2" wide. Not enough width to tip an edge. Could get the stiffness by making a frame for the insert that will then support the opening once in place.
Option 2.
Tip a 1/2" edge by hand all the way around to give the required stiffness and have the insert sit on top of the roof panel.
Option 3.
I make a piece from scratch with the joggle and tipped edge and fully weld it in all the way around the roof opening. Best end result but a lot of hammer correction later which might take more time than he wants.

Any other ideas?

[Tyvokka]

Crazy skills, Marcus. Welldone!

[Gojeep]

Many thanks guys. Certainly testing my skill set dealing with it so good for learning still.

Not as much to show today but took more time than needed as the window had been cut through the radius rather than the vertical section of the window.


I thought the rear window would be out of proportion if left stock height seeing it would be taller than the front windscreen. After chatting with Christos about it, he came up with a suggestion of chopping it 40mm-1.5".


So after cutting out the rest of the window curve left in the upper section and adding it to the lower piece, I chopped the 1.5" out. Think it looks spot on now with the other side now done too.


Looks like the filler piece I just made suits this welding clamp perfectly! Allows you to tack the join inside the clamp while holding everything straight.


Rear wall on the outside now all finished! Have to build the inside window flange next.