Willys Truck Ratrod

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.

you've got your work cut out for you. Literally!

Agree with the above, if any one can fix this, he's come to the right place.

I hope this guy can pay you enough not to compromise on the correct way to fix this... This job would be so tempting to throw a bunch of band aid fixes at it...Please dont do that! I know you wont.

To be honest, I'm a bit bummed your taking this on...I selfishly want to see you finish your truck first!

Don't worry as will be doing this as quick as I can to get back onto mine. He wants it back as soon as possible so can cruise in it this summer after Christmas.
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?

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.

Man, that's Nice!

WOW !!!! You do incredible work !!! I really enjoy watching a talented craftsman ply there trade and share for all of us to see. I am already looking forward to seeing your next post.

Impressive! Really! Very nice.

Hey Marcus! You never cease to Amaze me with your Metal Work Talents! Your friend is gonna owe you a giant Steak Dinner or two or Ten! Pivnic

Many thanks for the support.

Good to put the knowledge I gained on mine straight into this. Going a lot faster when you don't have to learn as much!

Many thanks for the support.


Another little update from yesterdays work.



Hockey sticks! Like the rear wall, had to attach parts of the curved sections of the inner window frame left from not cutting the rear wall through the vertical section.



Joins in the middle of a curve are always harder to dress later than if done in the middle of the vertical part.



Cut our where the old seat belt mount was so I could get to the rest of the joins around the B pillar. The outer panel covers the rear face, and it is too hard to weld around the corner of the other seam. I also used a flat blade screw driver and hammered out the edge of the hole left that had caved in from the seat belt bolt passing through from the outside.



Once flat again I could tack in a patch to be fully welded in. Still able to hammer out any distortion through the B pillar from the other side.



Hole now gone.



I was now able to align the pillar and weld across the back of it and side. Also added weld to both sides to better join the lip left from the face of the pillar as the seat belt mount plate will attach there.



Regulations call for a minimum of a 50x75x3mm, ( 2"x3"x1/8") plate for the seat belt mounting bolts. I have gone taller and slightly thicker in this case. A 7/16" UNF nut is mounted behind the plate, the same used on all belt mounting points.



Sometimes you have to be a bit creative to align things before tacking!



So both upper seat belt mounts done and the inner window frame extended and welded into place.

Marcus, it has been awhile since I have been on the Forum and am trying to get a little caught up. This like all your work is just amazing !!! Thanks for all the documentation. Randy

Extraordinary work as always Marcus,

Thanks Mark.

Sorry but not a lot to show for the last few days as just a lot of shape correcting that should have been done even before tacking, let alone fully welded! Taking longer this way and the job doesn't finish to the same standard in the end unless I spend an extra few days metal finishing it. Owner dropped around last night and is very pleased with leaving it with corrected shape that will only need a smear of filler or heavy build primer before paint.



Before any grinding is done on these welds, I look for any obvious low spots like this.



A rounded chisel is hammered on to knock the low spot level.



I showed earlier the unsound joint here on both sides. Ended up removing the tack channel from the fill in piece that was too short, and then welding up the rest of the joint. Then fitting a longer tack channel back in its place to meet up with the one that goes down the A pillar.



The welds along the side peaked outwards as it had not been probably shaped beforehand. I held this spoon behind the seam and hammer the weld outside until it just touched the spoon. You can feel and hear it when this happens. I didn't want to stretch this weld at all due to the outwards peak it had.



After grinding, some low spots were hammered out from behind using this that I had made for the corners. Just concentrating on getting a good shape without spending a lot of time getting a metal finish on this project.



Corner joint looked like a baseball cap where it meets the visor part where the two sections met after the 1.5" strip was cutout. Was able to re-shape it to flow better though.



The left on these two joints had about a 3mm-1/8" gap that needed to be welded up. It pulled a bit more on that side but both seams need to hammer on dolly to stretch the weld and raise it up.



Flows much better now and no dips in it.



View from the rear.



Dressed up the front weld and got some shape correction back into it. The centre fill in piece is pulled way down.



Starting to sit up a bit more now but will go on first welding the other half before going any further.



Front section has all been welded now. This half went a lot quicker as I was able to correct the shape before welding, but had to cut some of their tacks and redo them to get the shape right. This was because the metal was forced to meet up and then tacked under pressure by the panel shop. So much harder to correct the shape when done this way and I could see the strain on the metal. They were forming little 'puckers'.



Big gaps like this I hold a copper spoon behind it as I weld it up. The weld wont stick to the copper and helps stop the gas blowing through the gap and causing porosity.



Just watch out though as the copper gets damn hot and will burn you if you accidentally lean on it! Got me right between the gloves and the overalls.



Hard to tell where the big gaps were.



Cleaned up alright too.

Christo has to be thrilled with your work and progress. Amazing

I am not someone that can begin to appreciate a RatRod. Well, that is a bit of an over statement, I can appreciate taking an old field relic and bringing it to life on a shoe string. But like has been shown on several vehicle restoration shows, my understanding stops when an essentially nice vehicle is chopped and fake cobbled up with fake rusty paint and mismatched parts to make a vehicle that is intended to fly in the face of common sense. Honestly I did not open this thread for a long time because of how I felt about RatRods. What I see here is a fascinating transformation. You began with a vehicle that would have filled the RatRod roll nicely as it was. To me a RatRod is a 1/2 finished cobbled up mess or a vehicle that looks like a cobbled up mess. What you are doing here is transforming the cobbled up mess into a thing of beauty, the work is more along the lines of a high quality HotRod or a Restomod. What can be seen in the pictures is the beginnings of a great looking vehicle that deserves great paint and thoughtful finishes. I hope the owner sees the potential and does your work the justice it truly deserves.

I'm not a fan of them either Michael unless done with good structural soundness and no fake paint! Was probably why it was not brought to me in the first place as I have done some other work for him in the past and said I can only do it with good function and form as my reputation is still on the line. Think he is coming around to my way slowly on this build but still have to respect his requests of how it should look. Will see what the future holds on it later on once it leaves here.




Got some more shaping done now the the welding is all finished up. Front is not sitting too badly considering the gaping hole gives no support at all right now!



Finished the rear as well and took out some of the high crown it had to better suit an insert later.

What are the plans for the top? Sun roof? Canvas like a convertible? Nasty open wound, Gosh I hope not! Fill it in with metal as it should be? Not trying to be a smart aleck or manipulate the thread, just wondering.

Hedgehog said:

What are the plans for the top? Sun roof? Canvas like a convertible? Nasty open wound, Gosh I hope not! Fill it in with metal as it should be? Not trying to be a smart aleck or manipulate the thread, just wondering.

Click to expand...

He has not decided yet but it wont be a welded in skin like I did mine. I will be just be putting a stiffened edge on it for strength and shape and left open for this summer. Nearly hit 100*F today while working on it!