Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Nice work Fred,coming along well.
You could of already thought of this; Your rear bars,you may wish to add a brace,making them in to rear ladderbars. They will work as is,but flex a bit under hard runs,the flex can add up into a prob. down the road. The wishbone style is good on front,but rear deals with HP of V8 an its bigger twist load. The added brace can be many designs,but the thing it needs to do is tie together both bars some were near there centers.

 

Thanks, Dana. I'll look into it.

 

Very good question. I had been advised to try a 12.5" final ride height with 165lb. springs. But on my other T Bucket, 14.5" and a 175lb. spring gave a nice ride. So, for now, I'm going with what was suggested, but as we all know, what works for a few, may not work for all. I'm thinking a 12.5" ride height, but with a 175lb. spring. In the end, the first few drives will tell the tale.

Now, my last T Bucket was a....... I hate this word.... a "kit". Assembled using various parts, but a kit. With this build, I'm having to do a LOT of research. It's like I'm starting from scratch, so all the suggestions and comments I'm getting are important. I've been lucky, so far, in that I haven't made any bad errors in judgement.

I'm just an average guy, with average skills, trying to do the best I can. I'm grateful for all the help and suggestions I've gotten. I am humbled.

 

Fred, the most important thing is that YOU are doing it!

 

Thanks Fred, I was thinking that you were using a previous build for reference but things do change a little. One thing I would not do until all the ride weight is on the springs is the shock mounts (at one end) so not to end with their travel/ stroke impaired, but due to your research etc you on the right track.............carry on JW

 

I've been holding out. This is the other part I received. Now, if you guys remember, my original plan for this car was to use a 9" rear end., but finances kept that from happening. Some time after I started my build, a good friend in a chat room I frequent made me an offer on this Ford 9" pumpkin with Trac-Loc. I turned him down, as I had decided on the S10.

A few months ago, I changed my mind and took him up on his offer. It took a while for him to send it, but since it was a GIFT, I didn't rush him. My plan for it is, to take my time and build a 9" rear end on the side. When it's done, I'll swap it in. I'm in no hurry, so updates on this side project won't come any time soon.





This Hot Rod community is truly a "Band of Brothers".

 

COOOOL !! JW

 

Ewwww....Sorry Fred...but that doesn't look like a Traction-loc or even a Posi.
Some 9" opens used a 4 spider gear setup and center block but they still aren't a Posi...just stronger.
It's always possible someone could have put an aftermarket "lunch box locker" inside the case but it isn't a Ford based posi unit from what I can see.
The bolts holding the crown gear would be partially sunk into a higher inner bulge that contains the single clutch pack setup.
You can see the difference here.

Open on the left...Traction-Loc on the right.

 

I got in touch and it's an after market posi and he's fairly sure it's a locker. Thanks. I spoke with him and he set me straight. He says once he gets his shed cleaned out, he's sending me a Auburn unit for it. And since I know NOTHING about these rear ends or the components, I'll be a Googling.

 

Good stuff! Didn't want to see you spend good money on setting up a 9" housing and then discover it wasn't what you wanted after all!

 

And thanks again for looking out. That's why I love this place and the people.

 

Getting ready to prep for paint. Not sure when. Probably next weekend. Time will tell.

 

Is the rain gone now, Fred? How's the humidity? My mom's out between Seguin and New Braunfels on 46 ( off IH-10l and said it was raining pretty good over the weekend. What type of paint are you using?

 

If it's Rustoleum, don't shoot it when the humidity is high. Learned that the hard way! Shot my Corvette frame in Hawaii and it took a MONTE to dry!

 

Guess you never added any hardener then

 

Nope, but the wasn't anything in the instructions about hardener use or availability either. I just assumed it was because it's oil based. Does Rustoleum make a hardener, or is it somebody elsea?

 

Okay, I'll let the cat out of the bag. When I built my first T, it was a VERY low budget. I'll post a link to the build later. Anyway, I primed and painted the frame and all the suspension pieces with rattle cans. Yup, rattle cans. Not only that, they were the generic brand sold at O'Reilly's (which are made by Duplicolor). It looked great, even up close. Then, about a month later, a lady friend paid to have it all powder coated. My T stayed that way, until my wreck.

When I rebuilt her after the accident, I went back to rattle cans and she stayed that way, until I sold her. Sometimes, I even brushed on some black. No one ever noticed. This time, I've found some Marine Grade Epoxy sold at Lowes. It's made for boats and they say it'll cover fiber glass, plastic and metal. It doesn't come in rattle cans, so I'll brush it on. I'm going to get a can and try it out on some scrap and see what happens. If it looks good, I'll use it. If not, I'll just rattle can her.

One thing I've always done, when using rattle cans is PREP. You have to follow the instructions on the can and prep the surface you're painting. Okay, here's my Miss Behavin' build thread. The paint info and pics are on the opening page. Wow, this sure brings back memories.

http://www.tbucketeer.com/threads/tfeverfreds-project.5426/

 

I shit the other T frame I have with Krylon, it came out just fine. The trick is keeping it wet enough to flow out without running.

 

Errrr.....shot! Damn pain killers!

 

I didn't even notice.

 

Had I Sh*t that frame, I DEFINITELY would have!

 

Valspar hardener is what they use I believe.

 

Oh no, did I kill the thread by mentioning hardener for Rustoleum ?
I was only kidding guys... really

 

We need another ugly bucket to rectify. Maybe post some ugly buckets and see what we would change and fix to suit the period this thread was set up for. Just my bit. JW

 

Fred
It makes less difference the finish on your chassis than the rules Chip outlined in the beginning of this thread. One bad angle one bad line will jump out to the eye 100 times more than a few brush strokes on your frame.

I myself use a lot of "rattle cans" You can get a great finish and on a frame. The finish hardening slower and probably not hardening as much as a paint with hardener added is probably a positive. Not so easy to chip.

The dash below in my '48 moordoor is all rattle cans. I like the almost clear colors made to spray over chrome. You can put the color you want under it. Silver or gold then spray the amount of coats you want to get the color depth you want. Then as many clear coats as you need. Yes it takes weeks even months in colder climates to set up before wax but it is good tough flexible paint.

Gary

 

Nope, actually I replied right away, and it never showed up. That seems to happen fairly often when I post from my phone (especially at work....maybe Uncle Sam's blocking our out going transmissions! ;-D (or it could just be the crappy signal at work, but I can SEE the cell tower about a mile away.) I originally posted "Thanks! I'll have to look into that next time I'm at the paint supply store!

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

What Gary said is true, Fred! Most people never notice that the guy who spray bombed my frame seems to have run out of paint about 2 feet before the firewall on the passenger side. It goes from red to orange right there. That's one of the reasons I want to pull everything off and re-shoot it soon!

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

My radius rods get the final coats of paint tomorrow. Next week, I'll do the frame and rear end. Pics coming soon!

 

Well, put the last couple coats on the radius rods, but not without incident. They were looking great after the first coat and I was gonna call it a day, but I figured I had enough for one more coat, so why not, right? And that's when it happened. I must have held the can too close and got a run on both of them!

So, I cursed until they dried enough to wet sand the runs with 1,000 grit wet/dry. Then a quick recoat. The thing is, the runs were where no one really would have seen them and I was gonna let them go, but knowing they were there would have bugged the shit out of me.