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Projects Just A Big Model (T)

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by BigJoeArt, Oct 4, 2022.

  1. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    We are deep in the "mock it up, take it apart, weld it, mock the next thing up, take it apart again, weld more stuff, cut things, find out the thing you did first wont work, take it back apart, repeat Ad infinitum...

    anyway, how bout some progress?

    In trying to mock up everything, I found a spot for the E-brake to reside, with the ability to route the cables out the driveshaft tunnel.
    it looks a little awkward but it is actually easy to grab, and is out of the way when dis-engaged.
    I also drilled holes in the framerail for the neat little rear shock mounts.
    I'll have to heat and bend them a bit, when I build the bottom mounts.
    I then moved to the front to cut off the frame stubs and make the perches for the grille shell.
    Front mounts are F1, and they fit exactly in one spot. there will be more bracing on the end of the frame, and I still need to fabricate the headlight bar.
     
    drdave, Sancho and guthriesmith like this.
  2. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    What are the rear mounts from? I don’t think I’ve seen those before
     
    BigJoeArt likes this.
  3. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I got them from Mike, he said when he got them he was told they were Dodge.
    they have a really big shank for the shocks. Im gonna have to get them turned down or something.
     
    41 coupe likes this.
  4. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Cool.

    might be able to do push the bushing out of the shock and push a smaller one in? I see those available sometimes
     
    Outback likes this.
  5. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well, its been a minute,

    mostly doing stuff that's boring to photograph, cleaning up welds and making small boxing and gusset plates and welding them in.

    doesnt make for much good content.

    But you know what does?

    Destroying a brand new turn signal switch!

    Bought this brand new switch from speedway,
    cut and disasemble,
    drill it out for 10/24 machine screws and tack nuts to the bottom,
    make tabs to bolt on,
    cut a relief for the wires,
    cut a slot in your seat riser plate,
    and install your switches!
    pretty basic, but very effective, the only one that is hard to reach for me is the fans, but I figure I wont need to turn those of and on frequently.

    I think one of the fun parts of a build thread is showing everything, even the failures,
    and I know what you're thinking,
    "how is THAT a failure?"
    it isn't directly, its a nice little bracket, but it was 100% unnecessary.

    I've talked with friends before about our need to constantly trying to "out-trick" ourselves, and constantly trying to make stuff look clean and simple.

    I was gonna hide the switch, and place it under the dash, or somewhere like that.
    It looked like it would work under the center of the dash, mounted off my dash brace, it seemed like it would be a little awkward to reach, and I would have to move my little dash light.

    So, I took out my little light and low and behold, there's a giant hole behind it.
    Perfect for a ignition switch.
    A quick switch of the gears, and a notch of the brace tube, and a cleaner, better solution was reached.
    There you go, I'm hoping this next week to pull the body off and a start welding the chassis up.

    want another look at that dash with the K.I.S.S. switch in it? ok ill oblige.
     
    brEad, drdave, Sancho and 3 others like this.
  6. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    drdave, Vic Walter, Sancho and 4 others like this.
  7. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Much better after seeing the light version after. Needs a rabbits foot key chain
     
    guthriesmith likes this.
  8. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well this month has been slow, with the holidays and things taking up more time than I had hoped.

    I finally got some time last night to dig into the T again,

    I've been collecting gauges for this car, trying to make a full set, and a week or so ago, I found an NOS SW hour meter for sale and decided it would be neat to hook up.
    so I redesigned the steering drop insert (still have to move the bat gauge down and over) to fit three gauges.
    I landed on a spot to put my coil, that keeps it out of the rain and tucked safely away.
    a friend gave me these little turn signal lights awhile back, and I determined that I could use them as the mounting for the bottom of the grille shell. they tuck away quite nicely.
    I once again dug out my mockup headlight bar to see where the headlights need to be, i think they will wind up a hair more in, and a touch down if possible. I just have to make sure I have clearance for the steering hoop.

    I also did a couple things in prep for blowing it all apart soon, hopefully I can get the momentum rolling again.
     
    brEad, A Boner, drdave and 4 others like this.
  9. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    It’s hard to get back rolling after a brake for sure. Dig the small update
     
  10. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Last night I went over to a buddies shop and picked up some parts,
    he had the original pushrod for the brake master I'm using,
    picked up a flywheel for the t,
    a driveshaft to shorten,
    all the parts for the roller lifters (no flat cams here)
    and some parts for another project.
    when I got home I did some measuring and trimmed the brake pushrod down a little bit, then stuck it in my poor mans lathe (drill press) and turned the end round again.
    Fits good and pumps nice, but I didn't take any pictures.

    After that I went down and visited my dad and stole back a set of spark plugs we used when we painted the motor in the last car, and used them to mockup the spark plug wires.
    this may seem a little strange to be putting on plug wires when the car isn't done, but I am planning on running the radiator support rods under the headers, and my mockup had them right where the plugs exit.

    I also made a template for the start of the driver side firewall.

    till tomorrow?
     
    brEad, drdave, guthriesmith and 2 others like this.
  11. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    not tomorrow, but today!

    got to work in the shop last night and knocked out the driver side of the firewall and floor-frame-flange.
    then I had to cut a huge oblong hole in it for my steering shaft.. (I will clean it up when I pull the body off)
    but I knew, even cleaned up that the whole was way too big and tacky for me to leave, but i needed to get to the bottom of the steering column, so I dug through my stash of old junk and found a grant horn button with a recessed center, cut out the middle and added tabs.
    and Viola! much better.
    with that handled, I moved on to the pedals.
    Coming from vw's im very used to narrow pedals, and being an early T, it needs them, so i picked up these aftermarket pads from the local O'Reilly's, and made pedals like I have before.
    now I just have to finish the clutch pedal.
    here are my giant clodhoppers doing pedal things.
    and here is the (mostly) finished firewall.
    hopefully soon I can tear it all apart, and start welding on the chassis.
     
  12. Been watching and enjoying your build. In case you're looking to "retro-ize" your Sears heater, here's a couple pics of one I used in my AV8 roadster. I removed the front cover that came with the unit, made a new front sheet metal cover with rounded corners, moved the front flap to the bottom of the new cover, used some oven grates cut and tacked together to make art deco looking trim, put a 1940 Ford trunk lid badge on it and spray bombed it with hammertone paint. It got some compliments and looked the part of the era.
    20220610_142851.jpg 20181104_094027.jpg 20181104_093950.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2022
    Paddy Garcia, Tman, Bugguts and 7 others like this.
  13. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    that looks awesome!
     
    anothercarguy likes this.
  14. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    what?! two updates in a row? wow.

    I drove my Tamale wagon out to a buddies place sunday to store it for the next month or so, giving me a ton of room to work on getting the T blown apart.
    so thats what I did.
    I also finished my flange for the bottom half of the firewall.
    I continued pulling the car apart, and making adjustments as I went.
    added a loop on the clutch ball bracket, so I could install the clutch return spring
    stuff started to look pretty bare.
    then I pulled some monkey motion getting the car on those ramps backwards.
    the pile of parts-that-used-to-be-a-car gets bigger.
    I started about 4 PM, and ended about 8 PM, today ill get a buddy to come help move pluck the motor out, and then I can disassemble the rest of the chassis.
     
    metalhead140, brEad, drdave and 6 others like this.
  15. Outback
    Joined: Mar 4, 2005
    Posts: 2,817

    Outback
    Member
    from NE Vic

    Looking good, this is a cool lil T! It'll be a hoot to drive!
     
    BigJoeArt likes this.
  16. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Man T buckets are the ginchiest!
     
    Snicklefritz65, bondojunkie and Paul like this.
  17. Coming along nicely!
     
    BigJoeArt likes this.
  18. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    well slow progress but still progress.

    picked up a couple more pieces, like this sun fuel pressure gauge and fuel distribution block, for less than a new one off evilbay
    I got the motor and trans pulled out and started welding the frame, then disaster struck,
    I started measuring, and apparently while mocking the frame up, somewhere I got off, and while my crossmembers were parallel, the outside rails were at different angles. so I had to cut the rails off the frame and correct the parallelogram I had built.
    I used a stick of 1x2 tubing, welded to the rear crossmember, squared multiple ways. then I marked the front crossmember up and got it centered on the tubing. I didn't weld it to the tube, I just let it slide underneath using the tube as a reference point.

    Just as I got the frame squared up and tacked, I ran out of welding wire, which I took as a sign to take a break and work on some art for the Artist at Large art show, put on by Dennis McPhail.
    here's some excerpts from the show, that's me in the red hop up hat..
    I sold enough to buy the battery, throttle linkage, and some more gauges for the T. :rolleyes:

    as soon as I got home, I started back into it.

    that catches us up again, but now that I tweaked the frame a bit, I am gonna need to re mock up the body and motor/trans so I can make sure I didn't eliminate clearance anywhere.

    till next time!
     
    brEad, Sancho, guthriesmith and 3 others like this.
  19. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Need to check that your body
    Mount holes still line up as well. Glad to see the progress!
     
    BigJoeArt likes this.
  20. Outback
    Joined: Mar 4, 2005
    Posts: 2,817

    Outback
    Member
    from NE Vic

    Thanks for your transparency, something we don't see in this modern 'influencer' world we live in...
    set backs suck, such is life! good to see you cracking on!
     
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  21. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    well last night was alot of welding, jumping around, rotation, more welding, trying not to get smashed by a heavy frame, ect, ect...
    but thats pretty boring to look at, so heres some pretty gauges that I picked up on my last trip.
    a new vacuum gauge to match the rest of the gauges in my dash,
    and a new battery gauge, to replace the no-name gauge I had in place before.
     
    brEad, Sancho, drdave and 2 others like this.
  22. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  23. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    hey guys, guess what I did yesterday?


    yeah, thats it! I welded on my frame more!


    here are some highlights, cutting out the miles of straight welding I've done so far. .
    these are the spring pockets for the quarter elipticals, and they came from speedway with a short bolt that didnt carry the shank all the way through the mount.
    So I went and bought longer grade 8 fine thread bolts and some coupler nuts, bored a hole in the frame, tightened the nut down, then welded it to the framerail. now the spring perch bolts are a one wrench affair. I think ill get a short button head allen to plug the end of the hole, and keep junk from getting in.
    on the same note, I bored holes and installed the nuts for the hairpins to bolt onto. the rears will get the surrounding area boxed, and the fronts will get gusseted to the top framerail.
    I threw the body on so I could look at the subrail bolt locations, and it wound up closer than I thought it would. so with a couple holes made slightly bigger, it fits quite well.
    I did have to modify my cowl bump again to match the curve of the steering box mount, since the body and frame moved just enough to mess up the gaps.

    now with that fixed, I can get back to frame stuff, mainly cutting and grinding gussets and filler peices.
     
    brEad, Sancho, drdave and 3 others like this.
  24. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Together apart together apart
     
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  25. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yesterday I needed to connect some of the dots that make up the front of the frame, and after I bent some pieces for the front, I was left with this hole.
    I started looking around for anything curvy, but also thick. not an easy task.

    then my eye caught this in the corner..
    A spare tire mount from a 35/6 chevy coupe.
    I've had this for at least 10 years, and caught all kinds of flak from my dad, "why are you keeping THAT?!"
    today it paid off.
    a little plasma action..
    looks like it could work..
    trimmed to fit
    looks like it was made for it.
    luckily the other side needs a hole in the side for clearance for the low mounted Alternator, so I don't have to make the other side match. once I can flip the chassis over again, I will fill the rest in back to the motor/spring crossmember and weld it up solid.
    I also had time to finish welding up my motor mounts. kinda weird, but they have to have the hole to install the bottom of the rubber biscuit motor mount.
    its slowly coming together, next I have to reinstall the motor and trans and make sure the firewall clears. :confused:
    wish me luck!
     
    Kreepea_1, brEad, Sancho and 5 others like this.
  26. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    500 miles of weld to dress and you’ll be ready to paint. Should be done before Christmas yeah?
     
    Sancho, drdave, Stogy and 1 other person like this.
  27. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    MERRY CHRISTMAS!

    I had originally hoped I would have the car almost running by now, but time and health have not been on my side, and the weather has been brutal here lately, not helping the previous two points.

    A buddy came over and helped me slide the motor and trans back in, and wouldn't you know? we found more stuff that didnt line up after the frame debacle.
    I had to move the pad on the passenger side forward a little bit so it would sit square, which required me to get a little creative with the hoist.
    lots going on in this little chassis.
    I also realized the alternator didnt line up with my hole like I thought it would, so I made a peice to make up the edge of the hole and will close the old hole back in with the leftover peice of spare tire holder.
    I also knocked out the rest of my list which included things like, throttle linkage, and raising the master cylinder up to have more clearance to the valve cover.
    It looks like ill have a busy day tomorrow with our daughters first Christmas, but I will have all day monday to get things ground away on the T.
     
    brEad, Sancho, drdave and 6 others like this.
  28. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I did sneak in a couple minutes on Christmas day to mess with some stuff,
    finalized the linkage situation, and just have to clean it up.
    If you look back at previous pictures, you'll see the aftermarket, clockable, billet-ish, shiny neck that I used to get the angle of the water neck right, and see the barf-inducing allen cap heads and square edges. I knew I couldn't make it look 100% better, but I was shooting for 50% improved.
    couple slices with a cutoff wheel, a half hour with an assortment of files and sandpaper, and a couple header bolts to replace the allen bolts, and its looking way more presentable. I still may paint it black.

    come monday I had a lazy morning cleaning the shop and putting all the stuff away.
    then I jumped right into finishing closing up the front rails.
    then I cut some clearance notches in the bottom of the frame to better allow for spring droop.
    and to round out the evening, I cut some gusset/boxing plates out from 3/16 plate.
    A good weekend, hopefully this week will be more conducive to getting work done.
     
  29. BigJoeArt
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 693

    BigJoeArt
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well I got a bit done on the T on thursday night, then left right after work friday for Iowa to celebrate new years eve with my wifes family.

    but on Thursday I made good use of my time.
    got all my gusset/boxing plates welded in, and got the high clearance spacers welded to the frame.

    I also welded the lower firewall/crossmember (this photo is just after I tacked it with the body on, then removed the body to fully weld.
    I still have a couple tubes to route, but they should be easy to knock out, and I have the peice of 3/16 marked out for the main floor/bellypan. monday morning I am going over to @Austin kays to do some hot rod horse trading and to pick up some new-to-me parts for the T.
    Hopefully by monday night, I can get the bellypan at least tacked into the frame, and I'll finally have a floor to stand on.
     
    Sancho, drdave and Tim like this.
  30. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 18,204

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Looking good. Does your new smaller alternator pocket allow for tightening the belt and the motor moving a little? Looks pretty tight?
     
    drdave and BigJoeArt like this.

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