Wicked Willy's Chassis/Interior

Today on trucks. Mel and Stacy hang the final pieces of hardware on the chassis of project Wicked Willies. Then they turn their attention to the interior of their classic 55 wagon. After that, they'll take a look at the first factory built four by four to take on American soil, the Dodge power wagon.

Then it's a performance clutch and tranny for project 383 Stroker.

That's all today on trucks.

Hello, everybody. Thanks for dropping by the truck shop again this week. Now, for those of you guys who've been hanging around the past couple of months, you've seen us hunt down a classic 55 Willie's wagon, pull the body off the frame, drop a dodge crate motor in

before slapping a high opinion nine inch Ford in the rear and a da A Ford

four in the front.

This week, we're gonna continue to get projects Wicked Willies ready for the trail by finishing up the chassis and taking care of some problems on the body.

Now, as you can see, we've already sanded and painted the frame, but we're not done with it yet. We still need to put in drive shafts, shocks and take care of the power steering.

The first thing we're gonna do is hang these Rancho 9000 series shocks on it. Keep in mind whenever you custom design a suspension like this, if the shocks are the wrong length,

you will limit your actual travel

to get your links right. The rear suspension needs to be at full root.

Then with your shot fully extended,

you need to make sure it travels a couple inches past your mounting bolt for maximum articulation. Once you have all your travel sorted out, you can weld on your upper mount.

Now for drive shafts, we knew we had to have something special.

So we went to Tom Woods custom drive shafts for a couple of the best in the business.

Now, the tubes on these things have a tinsel strength, nearly double that of a conventional shaft

and the U joints are mapped,

which means that the hole for the grease fitting is under compression

when the shaft is under tension, which makes a U joint a lot stronger.

Now, the rear shaft ho ho

it's got a conventional joint at one end

and then a CV or constant velocity joint at the other.

And just a reminder when you use a shaft with a CV joint,

your P needs to be in line with your drive shaft like ours is here. You also need to set that at ride height.

We're also gonna go with Ranchos on the front. Now, we did have to move our upper shock mount back a couple inches and whenever you start moving your mounts around, take the time to check your fender and body clearances or you could end up with a nasty surprise that includes some major modifications when you bolt everything back together

while we're on the subject of clearance. Don't forget to turn your wheels from lock to lock to make sure your tire rod

isn't gonna meet up with your shock. We're good to go here, man, like a glove. Now, since this old Willie's did not come with power steering. We're gonna put on a Gr Super box too.

Now, as you might have guessed, we needed to do some modifications to our front cross member.

We needed to punch a hole through it

as well as narrow it here.

Now, I've actually seen people take a torch blow through both sides of their cross member, run their shaft through and say that's good enough. I'll tell you right now that is not strong enough. The only way to do this is to take a nice thick piece of around stock and box in the opening like we've done here.

This makes the cross member one solid piece, which is kind of important considering it holds the whole front end together

for you guys who thought we set the motor too far back. This is where proper measurements can save hours of frustration if we'd have been off just an inch here. We'd have a major problem with this cross member too far back and the firewall would be an issue. So, remember, proper measurements are the key to any kind of swap.

We still need to run our brake lines. But heck, that's a snap. We'll take the hard line down the inner frame rail into the hoses at either end. Now, here's a mistake a lot of people make with a lift including a spring over.

They don't leave enough slack in their brake hoses for suspension travel and having no brakes when you're vertical. It's a tough way to learn a lesson

at this point. You've already seen the block hugger headers. We're gonna run on project wicked willies and you're probably wondering what kind of exhaust system we're gonna put on our classic wagon. Now, we will have to custom bend the pipes, but for mufflers, we're going to go with these new Dynam

Max ultra flows, not only are they made of stainless steel to handle extreme heat, but they have a unique straight through design for maximum flow and great sound.

Now, the old Willie's body is definitely a classic just the way it sets. But we've got one modification we'd like to do

and that's welding in that body seam to give it a nice, smooth look.

Now, when you weld in these body seams, it's important to make short little welds allowing ample time to cool. So you don't warp the metal

that's real critical to take your time here. Because once it's warped, you have a major project on your hands. Also, keep in mind these wells won't be real pretty.

All you're after here is penetration. Now, that space has a seam welded up, I can grind it down. Which is exactly why good penetration is a must. Now, if you're still using a hard grinding wheel to finish the seam, there's a much better way to do it. Now, these flap wheels from the East Wood company run cooler last longer and have just enough flexibility to prevent gouging the metal.

And the best part is you don't have to use a ton of fillers.

Well, that looks really good. Yeah, it does. And taking a break sounds good at this point. Don't go away. We got more trucks for you right after this.

Later on trucks, we'll show you the off road vehicle that returning Gis wanted and Dodge gave them. But before we do, the guys finally get to dive into the interior of their classic wagon.

Welcome back to the shop. Now that we have our chassis set up how we want it with Rancho shocks and custom drive shafts and

a gr steering. We thought we'd set the body on for you and let you see why we call this project. Wicked Willies, man stays. I think we should have named it really high, wicked Willies. I mean, this thing is just angry looking isn't it? It's got some attitude. Now,

now, the body is just sitting on here right now. But when we bolt everything down, we're gonna use energy suspensions, polyurethane body mounts to replace the stock, rubber ones because they're less prone to flexing and they'll last forever.

Finally, we get to deal with the interior.

Now, granted these original seats are cool but there is no way they're gonna put up with the extreme rigors of off road and

not to mention a little comfort would be nice too.

So we went to Choo Choo Customs and had them stitches up a pair of these high back buckets.

Now they reclined back as well as tilt forward and the best part is

they've got the sliding seat track already installed.

Of course, before we can mock our seats in place to find their proper location, we need to know where the steering column is gonna be. That's where this chrome plated tilt unit from. I did. It comes in. Now, the beauty of this setup is, it already comes prewired and you can use any aftermarket steering wheel that fits your project

using their two inch drop unit. We're gonna bolt a column in the same location. The stalker was in

when you measure the length of the column, make sure you allow enough to go a couple inches past the firewall because you don't want it too short

with the column in place. I'm gonna mock up the shaft that runs down to the steering box

and we're using flaming rivers, universal joints that we got from advanced adapters.

Now, this is gonna be a tight fit. So remember you can move your shaft a little bit if header clearance is a problem.

All right, now, I'll go ahead and pull that thing up a little.

There you go right there.

Now that we have the column mocked into place, we can put the steering wheel on. We're gonna go with Grant's mahogany signature series as well as their aluminum adapter because it looks awesome.

Now, the importance of all this will be obvious when you mock your seats into place.

The first thing you need to do

is make sure they're the right height.

Now, chew, chew Customs offer some pedestals. So if you need to raise it, you've got that.

But this is gonna be just right. I'm looking right through the middle of the glass

and you also need to make sure the seat is centered right over the steering wheel

and you definitely need to make sure that it's straight.

The last thing you need to do before you drill your holes is make sure the seat is centered over the seat track. This gives you good forward and backward adjustment

on the passenger side.

Mounting

is pretty much the same, except for one exception, since the main access to the back seat is gonna be through the passenger door, we need to mount the tracks as far forward as we can.

So it'll slide up enough for people to get in

to carry the brave soul that are gonna ride back here. We have a fold and tumble bench seat.

Now, just like the front, the secret to mountain these in is to make sure you get them high enough. We're gonna have to use a couple of pedestals back here,

then make sure that they're center between the wheel wells and finally make sure you leave enough leg room for your passengers.

22 customs redid our door panels as well. This is what we sent them. What we got back is a custom made piece that fits perfectly.

They also reupholstered our original sun visors as well as armrest.

The original gauges in our wagon were so cool that we sent them off to United Speedometer where they totally rebuilt them without losing the look of authenticity.

Now they disassemble them chrome, the housing,

put in brand new video gauges and then copy the artwork so they look vintage.

The last thing they do is calibrate it all for the big Mopar under the hood.

Now, one of the biggest mistakes that people make on a project like this

is they try to reuse their stock wiring harness. Well, we're gonna put those potential fires out

by using a brand new harness by painless wiring and this allows you to wire your vehicle from front to rear

and it literally just plugs right in

all this talk about the interior probably has a lot of you guys wondering about the floor pans. And as you can see, we're definitely gonna have to change them on our 55 we got these from Classic Enterprises and like any good replacement pan. They come a little oversized so you can trim them down

for a custom fit.

Unfortunately, we've run out of time today,

but don't worry, we'll tackle that project with you next week. But Mel and I need to tackle a break now. So stay with us. Trucks will be back after this. This thing's gonna

home

up next. We've got the truck that helped win World War two before making American history as the first factory built four by four, the big three had to offer.

Thanks

for staying with us everybody. You know, after World War Two returning Gis wrote Dodge and asked, where can I get a truck like the one I used in the war? Dodge responded and then some by building the power wagon.

In fact, it was so successful that it remained virtually unchanged from its introduction in 1945 until 1968 when domestic sales ended

the 56 wagon we have here in the truck shop today is owned by David Bozell

of old Hickory, Tennessee.

Now he did a ground up restoration on this old classic and kept it pretty much original. Heck about the only thing that's not original are these seats and that's more for comfort than anything else.

Of course, this is no push button, four wheel drive.

You got a lever to engage your front axle, one for high, low range.

This is your emergency brake. And if you run into trouble, your PTO winch control is right here beside your shifter.

Speaking of that winch, it's a 10,000 pound braid nestled in a bumper that looks like it came off a bulldozer. Now, you'd probably never need it for yourself, but you could definitely pull your buddies out of trouble and mend some with this setup

to conquer that nasty terrain. Dodge dropped in a 230 cubic inch flathead six that wasn't high in horsepower but made up for it with low end torque.

And if you didn't throw a rod by over revving it, it was virtually bulletproof.

There was nothing small about the power wagon. It had 100 and 26 inch wheelbase to go along with an 8 ft bed at the business in. And as you can see, it wasn't all about function. Dodge threw in a dash of class with a wood bed

underneath this beast. You have huge axles sitting under massive springs with 11 inches of ground clearance at the lowest point on the pumpkin. Now, that is impressive.

Another impressive feature was the rubber, this wagon sat on. It came from the factory with 34 inch tall tires and the metal on this thing was so thick you could stand on the fender or fit all the farm hands on the running boards.

Now, back in 56 Dodge was definitely on the cutting edge of technology when it came to air conditioning with a pop out window and ac van. But let's face it. Nobody had ac back then and

only a few good men had a power wagon

bottom line after serving our country on the battlefields of Europe returning, Gis knew exactly what they needed to conquer the land in a 40 hour work week on American soil. Dodge gave them their ally in the power wagon. Don't go away. Trucks will be right back.

Welcome back to trucks. A couple of weeks ago, we built a 383 Stroker motor that's kicking out in the ballpark of about 450 screaming horsepower. Now, since we're a couple of guys that like to shift gears, we're gonna show you how to put a clutch and tranny on it, that'll handle the horses and still be easy to drive in traffic. We're gonna go with mcleod Street

tw, dual disc clutch and pressure plate as well as their blow proof bell housing and hydraulic throw out bearing and a channel. The power

that's gonna be a Richmond six speed.

The first thing we need to do is put on this engine protection plate. Now, the reason that's important is it protects your block from damage if you happen to grenade a clutch

next slide on the fly wheel,

make sure you use lock tide on the bolts, then you can crank them down to specs in increments of 20 using a cross pattern.

Now, this is a common area for mistakes because most people don't realize that the fly wheels just bear steel and it needs to be clean of grease and oil for your clutch to work right now, whatever you do, make sure you use a non petroleum based cleaner here,

the pilot bushing goes into the back of the crank and the nose of your transmission shaft slides into it. Now, you can use a standard bushing. But for peak performance, a roller bearing really is the way to go.

Performance clutches in the past have always been kind of a compromise because greater grip always meant a stiffer pedal.

Well, mcleod has changed all that with their clutch set up. They use dual disks which gives you double the square inches, which means double the grip.

Now,

because of this greater contact area,

they're able to use lighter springs in the pressure plate, which means you get incredible grip and a light pedal

slide the clutches onto the alignment tool, then insert it into the pilot bushing,

put on the pressure plate and bolt it down.

After that, you can slap on the bell housing.

We're also going with mcleod's hydraulic throw out bearing so we don't have to mess with linkage. Now it mounts right to the front of the transmission

and you adjust the depth by screwing it on to this threaded sleeve

when you put it all together, make sure your hydraulic lines come out the fork hole. This Richmond tranny is gonna give us great acceleration off the line. And since it has six gears, top end is gonna be wherever we want it to be. It also comes with this long shifter for fast and accurate shifts

for all you fabricators making a straight cut in a round piece of tubing with a hacksaw can be a nightmare. Invariably you go crooked, then you have to take it out and grind it down. It's a big mess.

Well, you can fix that problem with a standard hose, clamp, slide it on the tube

and tighten it down,

using the clamp as a guide. You can go to work with your saw and come out with a square cut every time.

Now, the best part is you can use this tip with any type of round stock or tubing that you need to cut

in the mid seventies. A man by the name of Bob Chandler came up with a really big idea whose goal to make his board bigger and taller than any other. It was a heavy right foot. However, that earned the father of monster trucks, his trademark nickname Bigfoot

and now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

If you want the ultimate look and protection for your truck or SUV, catch all floor mats by nifty products are pretty tough to beat.

They come color matched to the current model year and fit perfectly a moisture barrier on the back side, as well as a molded outer edge cats, unwanted elements like snow, mud, dirt or water from penetrating your vehicle's carpet. And since they come scotch guarded, they're stain resistant and can be washed off with a hose, protect your truck or SUV with a complete set of catchalls for about 100 and $30

a while back. We turned you on to raider wheels and they're cool white wall slicks and you've probably been wondering where you can get a front tire combo to match.

We look no further than Coker tire where you can get a wide white wall and a bias ply like these or a BFG radio,

but they don't stop there.

You can also get a classic tire for military vehicles or heck, just about anything that's had wheels since the beginning of time.

So you can have a look of authenticity. Still have the benefits of modern technology.

Coker tires start about 75 bucks.

How many times have you tried to back a trailer up and wish you could extend your mirror straight out? Unfortunately, the only option up until now were those big old ugly towing mirrors that somehow always seem to scratch your paint.

Fortunately, power vision has a solution with their side extending mirrors that take the,

they see your stalkers are electrically operated and extend up to six inches. If you happen to catch them on something, that's no problem because they break away back up with peace of mind and power vision for about $400. That's gonna do it for this week's truck year. Here's a preview of next week's show

Mel and Stacy. Make good on their promise by taking you step by step through the installation of floor pans on project Wicked Willies. Then they'll show you the best of what they saw at one of the biggest off road events in the country.

After that. It's time to give big orange the inside track on becoming the ultimate go anywhere vehicle.

That's all next week on trucks.

Well, that's gonna do it for this week's show. Thanks for being with us. We look forward to talking with you again next week.

Let's get that thing on a rotisserie, man.

Yes.

Well, this is the only way.

Oh,

man.

If you've ever laid on your back with mud in your face, that'll do it. Go ahead and lower that jack down.

I think that power wagon.

That's awesome. No doubt about it.

I

think he'd be mad if we got an airborne, uh, maybe

he's gonna have to deal with it.

I think we could get an airborne

trucks. Is an RTM production.