In every kit builder's journey there are days where nothing much is accomplished, while other days are monumental. When the parts for the California Hauler, the '41 Active Power Willys pickup KIT CAR is building, showed up on our doorstep, it was one of those monumental days.
Up until now all I have been concerned about is getting ready for this day. After cleaning the Chevy S-10 chassis of both grime and factory cab-mounting points, I don't think I could have gotten closer to square one. The final bit of chassis prep involved shaving off about eight inches from the front frame horns, which will allow space for the new nose section, as well as the large, flat steel brackets that will support the new front fenders and apron. The chassis at this point is a basic rolling frame.
All I needed was the kit, so when the semi truck rolled up and the driver tossed open the roll-up door, I was ready. I jumped in our shop's handy forklift and started unloading the parts.
The kit arrives in basically two sections: the cab and the bed. The cab is secured to a pallet, and the inside is stuffed with various other parts of the kit (dash, one set of fenders, apron, etc.). The steel bed, sturdy enough to be used as a real truck bed but light enough to move around by yourself, comes with the rest of the 'glass parts as well as the smaller metal pieces needed to complete the bed.
I laid everything out on our tech center's floor to take pictures and mentally start building the truck in my head. The location of the various pieces on the chassis (making sure the tops of the fenders are at 12 o'clock on the wheel, not too far forward or too far back) is predicated on first setting up the bed's location. The front fenders connect to the cab, and the cab is forward of the bed, so the body line that runs down the side of the truck from the hood through the cab can't be determined until the bed is set in its place. Active Power has done their homework to make a truck bed that literally drops on the
S-10 chassis. The bed brace made from angle iron runs longitudinally and rests just outside the tops of the framerails, making for a snug fit. I didn't have to clearance or hammer on anything. The kit doesn't come with spacers to use between the bed and chassis, so I'll have to make a pair of those for the bed's front section.
With the bed position roughed out, I grabbed the tape measure and marked where the cab should go on the frame, which means I could roughly locate the firewall so I could then figure out where the engine will probably go. It looks like it will be several inches back from where the stock S-10 engine used to reside, which is great news--the farther back the heavy V-8 sits, the better the truck's center of gravity. And from the look of things, I'll have lots of space to work within the engine compartment when it comes time to locate the radiator and other external engine pieces.
Though I wasn't sure how to approach the build before the parts arrived, I now know I'll start at the back and work forward. We'll just have to see if it was the right choice!
