WILLYS HOTROD TRUCK

This is on a project called GrandWillys!

The name comes about from the combining of a 1948 and 1958 Willys Trucks with a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited.

This 10" wider/longer and 4" chopped fully custom HEMI powered custom Truck was hand built from three donors.

This 1958 Willys Jeep.

A 1948 Willys Truck.

Plus a totalled 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 HEMI

This is a long term project to full fill a childhood dream of building myself a hotrod one day. For some reason I always had in mind a 1950-1964 'pointy nosed' Willys Pickup. Might stem back to the time when I would spend my summers down at the beach in San Remo where I would sneak into near by yard and climb inside one of these that was rusting away there. Thought of it again off and on for years and even went back to check on that old Willys Pickup after I had rolled my 400 Chev powered Toyota Hilux. Thought I could do a body swap but it was too far gone by then and could not locate another one. No such thing as eBay back then in the 80's! Then one day I saw one come up on eBay and for a joke sent the auction details to my wife and mentioned the childhood dream. Well instead of thinking it was just folly, she said we should bid on it! Well we won it and that is how it all started. Mind you, we didn't even have anywhere to put it but the sellers agreed to keep it in their paddock for me for a few months, which turned out to be nearly a year, until I got my plans through council and then the built the workshop to put it in.

My long term plans is to use a wrecked WH/WK Grand Cherokee with a 5.7 litre V8 Hemi and use as much as possible from it from the whole drive train including front and rear suspension, the wiring loom and instruments etc. Also to widen the cab around 9" so the front and rear tracks will be the same and match the Grand as well. Will see what actually happens over the build which will take around 10 years I predict as in no rush and want to do all the build myself as far as possible, apart from paint which I have an allergy to.

Latest build update 03/10/2024: Grand Willys Truck page 149.

Can follow along here to see the complete build from start to finsh.

Below are links to different stages of the above build.

 

Start of the stripping down of the donors.

Chassis construction beginning.

Wedge cutting chassis for step ups.

Chassis Boxing.

Bending box section with outer edge curved.

Main body work commencing.

Rust removal with citric acid.

Setting up a tig for sheet metal welding.

Tipping a curved fold with a bead roller.

Hand forming a pressing for a hinge base.

Showing how to hand punch your own louvers.

Creating a joggle in a flange.

Adding FJ40 louvers to the bonnet/hood.

Pancaking plus lengthening and widening the roof.

Replacing the bottom of the rusted out doors.

Lengthening the doors.

Adding upper cab back after 2" sectioning.

Installing a cable driven wiper system.

Welding in a roof insert panel.

Changing to different door handles.

Fitting Bearclaw latches/door locks.

Converting to one piece windows.

Installing electric/power windows.

Interior door release.

Inside door window trims.

Leather door check strap.

Grille widening part 1.

Lengthening front guards.

Grille widening part 2.

Lengthening the bonnet.

Bonnet supports.

Grille lengthening.

Bonnet latch.

Re-building and strengthening the front guards.

Cab on chassis for the first time.

Building Body mounts.

Bed mock-ups.

Spare Wheel Winch Mount.

New Exhaust Routing.

Suspension Tower Brace.

Under Floor Battery Mount.

Longer Steering Shaft Setup.

Straightening and Bending OEM Fluid Lines.

Inner Guard/Suspension Tower Seal.

New Wheels and Tyres.

LED Narva Headlights.

Stainless Steel Bonnet Prop.

Bumper Valance and Recovery Hooks.

Gen 2 HEMI valve covers used as coil covers.

Grille Mesh added.

6.1 Chrome HEMI Fuel Rails.

Jeep Wiper Motor to Cable Drive Conversion and Sweep Change.

Airbag Warning Light Delete.

Door Trims, Armrests and Wiring.

LED Headlight CANBUS Error Cancellation Module & Land Rover lights.

Window Glass templates and gaskets.

Bed floor construction.

Hand Rolling the bed tops.

Custom Stake Pockets.

Side step construction.

Custom tailgate embossing.

Flush mounted tailgate latches.

One piece steel headliner.

Roping in the new windscreen/windshield.

Fitting stainless mirrors.

One piece side glass installed.

Door trim finished.

Hand built stainless door sill trims.

Engineered and Registered.

Mig welding in a patch panel.

Making a hard tonneau cover from scratch.

Using Linear Actuators to raise the hard tonneau.

Stainless steel storage chest for the bed.

SUB DOMAINS

 

Current build of a 1932 Willys Overland Hotrod.

Gojeep website that covers my build on XJ Jeep Cherokee's and other projects.

Christos's Willys Ratrod Project.

Customised Metal shaping Tools.