Building a 61 Willy's Wagon Rockcrawler

Been wondering how you were coming on that thing. I like the skids for the spring hanger in the last pic, good idea.

 

Great thread and cool project. Thanks for keeping it up. I should visit this site more often.

 

okay its been like 100* + for the last week or so....that makes welding and grinding not so fun.

Nevertheless, I have finished all of the spring hangers, which is a big milestone. all I have to do is fab up 4 shackles and i can hang my axles!!!!!

Front hangers and reinforcement for the front frame extention.





Placment of the master cylinder for the brakes and the hydro-clutch.



and positioning of ther clutch, brake and gas pedals...whoo hoo R)



next on my list for this afternoon, at least until i dehydrate and turn into a mummy, cleaning and painting the engine block.

hasta

 

8)

 

X2, it's like I am right there with you while you are building it, but I am not having to fight the heat.

 

so I have been cleaning the engine.....i thought i had a 5.3L V8, turens out its a 5.7L V8

Hooraay Horsepower!!!

 

Man, you're lucky. If it was me, I would have paid for a 5.7 only to find out it was a 5.3, or less.:evil:

 

One thing I did want to mention, since this is a rock crawler. Most everyone I know with leaf springs in the front has gone back to having the shackles on the front, because with the shackle reversal on the bigger rigs, especially the heavier ones, they were having problems with it ramming the driveshaft into the t-case and breaking tranny housings and t-cases.

My main point, when you make or have your driveshafts made, make sure you have plenty of slip on them. With that, you should be fine, but if you start breaking things like I mentioned in the future, you will know the culprit.

 

Thanks Scott. I am aware of the need for major slip in the front shaft with a shackle reversal. Never hurts to remind me though!!!!!

 

Okies, here are some before and after shots of the engine block-clutch housing.

before taking off most of the aux gear.

 

after removing all of the aux gear, and prior ro cleaning

 

all cleaned up and ready to paint






and painted!!!! (old ford blue hi temp engine paint)









okay now to put everything back together :?

 

Looks like its still in decent shape. What did you get it out of, or did I miss that somewhere?

 

Ooo, I missed the painted pics. Nice paint job!

 

ya know, I pulled it out of a chevy pickup with 2wd....it has a tbi so its post 88...thats about all I know

 

update based on engine case numbers

10243880...350...95-00...2 or 4...Vortec truck, Gen.I crate motors and "ZZ4", roller cam, one piece rear seal

so it came from a 1995-2000 2wd vortec truck, its a crate motor as advertised when i bought it...

 

My wife made the comment tonight that she hopes this creation doesn't end up rolling in canyon somewhere with the wife and kids in it.

Keep the pictures coming!

 

Tell your wife that the vehicle will be equipped with 5 point harnesses, racing seats and a 10 point roll cage.

my kids thnk that rolling the "jeep" is fun!

ps, rolling in a canyon like this?



or like this?



R)

 

okay i over did it today...I am all shakey...but i needed to get this thing up on at least two wheels.

In order to keep the lift as low as possible I located the sping shackle tops inside the framrails



The shackles need to be ground and rounded, so they look ghetto, but they are very strong and thats what counts.



and yes there are poly bushings up top, which were inserted into 1.75 dom which was welded into the frame.



and now, please dont crap your pants, but there are wheels and tires under my rig for the first time since i brought it home.

I am really happy with both the low profile of the lift and the amount of clearance under the front fender.










damn, i need to lay down.....