Hot Rods The Belly Button Bucket Build Thread

I like the idea of stashing the electric components under the toe boards! Might have to steal that one.

 

Tim, how high up do you sit in the body? I'm a tad shorter than you, and I don't have that much room around the size 9, 8-E feet! I'm jealous...

That looks so good.

 

where do you buy the cardboard for patterns ?

 

Thank you- I’ll try to figure out how to get a picture of me sitting in the car once the patterns are out of the way of being crumpled, but basically I’m at about shoulder blade height at back of body. If I ever did this all again, I would use 32 rails, unchanneled, and drop the floors the depth of the frame rail…. But the likelihood of me getting to that in this lifetime is pretty slim. I’m ignoring all the house stuff to get this on the road, so once I get back on that stuff, I’ll be busy for quite some time.

 

I’ve bought some large sheets before - once splitting the cost with a friend for a huge stack, and once for just like 10 24x36 sheets…. I wish I could remember where I bought those because that’s about the qty I need to get through a couple big projects.

This is what I ended up buying this time around. I like having the smaller sheets as they don’t take up as much space, but for the seat waterfall/console area, I’ll need to figure something out. Anyway, link:

https://www.amazon.com/Chipboard-Sh...7BY8RST3&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_m_grid_dv_rp_0_2_t

 

I’ve been on the search for a suitable shift knob to replace the rare occasion the Norm skull is used. When I was in high school, my grandpa gave my brother and I a beater square body pickup to drive around. The only thing we did to it outside of criminal abuse was put a chrome plated skull shifter on the granny 4 speed, so it seems like I need to keep that memory alive by finding a suitable skull.

While on vacation at the coast with the girlfriend and my family this summer, I saw a lot of crystal skulls at antique shops, but I didn’t find the right one for the T (found something pretty cool for the 32 though)! After one failed attempt of buying one online, I finally found something that fit the bill. I was into it $40, so not super concerned if I screwed up.

After a trip to Home Depot in search of some sort of diamond grinding bit, I came home armed and brave enough to try. My plan was to grind a hole slightly oversize from the brass thread in insert I planned to use (think furniture building hardware). Once I got it ground out, I mixed up a small batch of long n’ strong and stuck it in there. Seems to have done the job! Time will tell but I think it is pretty solid.

 

Dumprat, electric in the footwell is muy malo! Dust, grime, and the big gulp or coffee all having a chance to infiltrate the stuff is not the way to go! It was posted as a cautionary tale, not a construction tip!

Tim, with the old shifter, I didn't bother to mention it, but I was thinking of a big rig or Mad Max style push/pull button at the front of the shifter being the off-on-start switch. Low enough that it doesn't get accidentally hit, but 'falls to hand' easily. Use the main power switch for theft deterrent. Again, just wild peanut gallery stuff.

 

@RodStRace i was thinking of a hinged toe board with the fuse box mounted on the back of the firewall. Passenger side of course. More accessible than under the seat.

 

^ Yep, lots of ways around dust, heat, and moisture. If there's space available, you gotta find a way to use it in these small cars.

 

Not much to show off- lots of scheming and staring, but last night I mocked up a few additions to the floor shifter console. I think it makes sense to finish this up once the remaining pieces arrive, since I am happy with how it’s turned out, then move onto the next thing.

 

Been waiting on some stuff to show up, but I managed to keep busy by making a pair of control pods to mount under the dash, using some 3/8” aluminum bar stock. They still need a little work, but I’m happy with how they are shaping up.

 

Right on!

 

Tape.

 

Getting awfully " busy" looking IMO

 

Well that does it, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm selling everything from the garage and going back to stamp collecting! Nice job, Tim. I'll send you the Whatever project so that it gets the attention to details like that...

 

Well lucky for you, I'm 1/2 done finding homes for the controls/switches, and about 1/3 done building out the interior space, so "awfully 'busy' looking" is about to turn into "grotesquely busy looking", I presume.

 

Nonsense. There's a lot to be proud of on the Whatever project. It's one of the build threads I look forward to receiving notifications of new posts. Keep up the good work!

 

Could you put those pods in the tapered vertical section of the center console? Cut down on the "busy"?

 

I’ve got some stuff planned for the vertical areas of the center console - filling that in, the toe boards, and the waterfall, will probably be my next moves. Hoping to get parts and supplies in time to make some progress over the holidays. Got the pods mounted:

 

Go Tim Go!
The naysayers are retreating as we speak.

 

"grotesquely busy looking" .
Now this I got to see. You wouldn't kidd about a thing like that, would you - not nice to tease... .
"Patiently Waiting..." .
Marcus...

 

Slow progress the past few days as far as pictures showing actual work go, but I’ve made excellent mental progress on next steps. Still waiting on some parts/supplies, but I figured I could get started on the various panel construction. Tonight I laid up two layers of 1.5oz matte and 1 layer cloth remnants - from the cardboard patterns, it looks like I can get the waterfall sides out of this- theoretically it should be about 1/8” thick, so that seems about right. The upcoming steps will be testing my limits of design - I’m excited to share the potential success and/or failure lol.

 

Got some more fiberglass laid up tonight, as well as cut out last night’s layup (waterfall side panels). I also cut out the shifter console panel and waterfall panel out of 1/16” 3003 aluminum. I learned on the small switch pods the aluminum sheet I was using was extremely difficult to weld to the bar stock frame. When I have time, I will re-work those as well.

 

Making great progress! I like seeing you stay the course in the face of differing opinions. You obviously have a very specific vision for where this is going. Looking forward to more updates.

 

Thanks for the encouragement- it’s much appreciated! Without going on an extensive monologue, I’m realizing I don’t have the time I’d like to be able to build multiple hot rods, so I’m just making this my best effort, in case it’s my only chance.

Tonight, I cut out the toe boards, which fit pretty decent, but now need some stiffening and mounting flanges. I’ll scheme that up soon-ish.

 

Tim, I can tell your professional work standards rub off on your personal projects.
By the way, cool FG floor mats!

 

Dig the switch pods and the shift pattern in the console. Nice touches.

how did you bend/ make the perimeter of the pods?

 

I bent 3/8” bar stock in a tubing bender meant for brake/fuel lines. The bender I have seemed to put up with 90* bends no problem, but on the last 180* bend for the switch pod, I broke the handle on the bender. I bought another one, to be able to keep moving, so we’ll see how it goes. I’d really like to find a Made in USA bender that isn’t a small fortune, but I’ve gotten a lot done over the years this Imperial one:

https://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Tool-470FH-Triple-Degree/dp/B007J9FWSA

 

Nice! And then is the turned insert welded to the back side of the tube?

 

I had initially welded sheet aluminum to the tube frame, then fit the insert to drop in from the front, captured by the switches. The sheet is too thin- I got it done, but I will re-work with the 1/16” aluminum as the backer, which should work much better.

I’ll take better pictures of this when I rework them- theoretically you could make whatever gauge panel you wanted to using this method, then you can polish the aluminum frame and with the insert of your choice, they can look like the various Stewart Warner panels made back in the day. I think using this method, I can get a close copy of the “Mate” panel, which seems to be difficult to find, and I’d like to possibly use one for the 32 if I am able to get to it later in life.