Grand Willys Project

[CJ6np435]

good to see you back at it!

[bodgie]

Masada is a pretty cool place to explore, it's interesting to see the effort the Romans put into building a dirt ramp to get to its residents.

Israel is an interesting place to visit, the Dead Sea area also has a lot to offer.

The exhaust is looking good to BTW.

[Gojeep]

Sorry but a bit picture heavy!

I am making a piece to fit between the two suspension tower braces to stiffen them up some more. I am just using some 2mm-14g cold rolled galvanised steel I had which is the thickest the dimple dies can take. You see the scrap test piece to workout the correct depth I needed to achieve.


The ends will also be flared. I broke the fold line using the tipping die on my bead roller. Being cold rolled and so thick I only could go this far.


Tipped it the rest of the way with a modified high crown hammer over a stake dolly I had made years ago for this sort of work.


I machined a step into the end of the male die to match the smaller hole I am using to get extra flare depth. The female die was lined up with a previously marked line as the smaller hole doesn't allow the normal alignment.


Both pieces ready for assembly.


I have them just sitting on top of each other to make sure the gap between them is the same as the centre of the brace where they will be fitted.


Welded the two halves together and ground the welds smooth. Used a die grinder and then hand filed them with a half moon file before using a flap wheel in a drill.


Can see the penetration coming through to the inside.


Ready to fit.


I welded as much as I could in situ to keep correct alignment. For some practice on thicker metal I just used the tig without a filler rod to fuse the join.


On the backside I thought I would try using some 1.2mm, (0.45), mig wire as a filler. Went a lot quicker and easier.


I used the lay wire technique where you leave the wire in the join and run over it with the torch rather than feeding the wire in. Gives good consistency. Remember to have your filler wire and torch at 90* to each other.


I had also lowered the brace some more as I am not going to be running the stock engine cover. Most likely none at all.


It made a lot of difference to the overall stiffness as had to use the press to make some adjustments to get it to sit on perfectly. Before I could just force some movement by hand.

[TOYROX]

Sweet..........

[Gojeep]

Not much was picture worthy this week so will only show a little bit of what was done to save boredom.


I have always planned more bracing of the suspension tower to frame connection. I waited until I made sure I had the clearance needed first. I want to plate down to the inside of the frame. Not going to be that simple as the tower is at a different angle to the inside edge of the frame which also starts to curve at the back edge. The gap at the top front is how much the plate has to twist to fit.


I picked these cast forms up from a military collector I bought my trailer from. No idea what they were for but use them to shape steel over.


Using 4mm plate the same as the frame thickness. Being hot rolled as well makes it harder to shape


It now follows both the frame edge and the suspension tower.


I drilled three holes like the tower brace above the engine. I left the ends open so I can still run any wiring and pipe work through.


Should be all that is needed now to keep the towers from flexing.


Took the cab off to weld the body mounts in place.

[bodgie]

A small job that I'm sure took more time than anticipated.

[SeaComms]

A small not-too-picture-worthy job for you, another chance to admire your handiwork for us.

Love it.

It's more the details for me rather than the finished look, though that's always a bonus at the end!

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