Features Traditional Track T or Bucket Build Cost Under $5000??

The stanchions bolt to the body and then the frame bolts into the stanchions. When you see them up close its kind of self explanatory... The corners of most bodies have to be "massaged" a little bit to make everything fit properly. I got the windshield frame and the 30-degree stanchions from Total Performance just before they sold out to Speedway Motors. That's one of the few things (windshield, gauges, seats) I splurged on while building the car. I looked for some kind of material suitable for buildng the windshield frame. I would need to buy tubing and then have a slot milled in it for the glass... I finally decided it was more cost-effective to just buy one already made. Anyway, Speedway has the stanchions in their catalog, but they are on backorder right now. Here's the link:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/1915-25-Model-T-Laid-Back-Short-Windshield-Posts,43783.html

Yes, any automotive glass shop can cut and install safety glass in the frame when you get it (or make it).

 

Ok, cool. Thanks!

 

Will a 1994 S-10 2WD rear end work under the T bucket?

I'm not sure of the years that the S-10 was made and if there is but a few years that will work. I just found a parts truck that is a 4.6L and the guy is parting it out. The motor is bad in it.

If there is anything else like breaks or anything under I could use please let me know.

 

From what I understand, they are all the same. Just the 4x4 is 2" wider than the 2WD version. And there are many different gear ratios. If the price and the ratio is right I would grab it with the rear brakes and drums. If you can measure it, it should be 54" to both wheel mounting surfaces. Or around 48" between the backing plates.

 

Thanks man I sent the guy a text but have not heard back yet. I will ask him when I hear from him.

Whats a good gear ratio?

 

It depends a lot on the trans you are using. An overdrive trans can use a lower (numerically higher) ratio like 4.11 and still get decent highway performance. The car's weight, cam, torque converter and rear ratios should all be chosen to work together. I'm using a 700R4 OD trans so I'm looking for a 3.73 or 4.11. If you're going to use a TH350 or C4/C6 you may want to look at a 3.23 or 3.42. The T Buckets are so light that I think almost anything will work ok...

 

Thanks man those are things I dont understand but learning. I would like to use a Mopar motor and trans but I'm not finding a lot of choices for motors right now.

I also thought about getting a 318 and doing the build up that Mopar muscle did of 400HP. I can find those in trucks, vans and a few cars. Also 360 motors. I found an AMC 360 just to bad its not a Mopar 360.

This is a great thread.

 

The car I posted a few pages back had a '71 Dodge 318 dolled up as a 273. They are all over the place and even cheaper than Chevys usually.

 

Here's a little one I'm tossing together. Short wheelbase, quarter-elliptic front, quickie, 270 Red Ram Hemi with 3-deuces, TH350, cowl steering, touring car trunk that folds out into a pickup bed, wide-5's with dirt track tires. You know, the usual stuff:

 

I wouldn't call that "usual stuff"...nice work. I like the QC rear! Can I have it?

 

Prewar-did u have to pinch the model A chassis for the 27 body??
Nice ride btw!


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Windshields are one of the most expensive single purchases you'll make on a lobuck T build.
There are a couple of options on the 23-25 T bucket body for windshields:
1. 17-22 windshield short stanchions and hinged lower upper frames or one piece frames. These are the forged steel short posts that overhang outside the cowl line. Some originals have a cup built in for using cowl lamps, these work well with modern round cleance lamps used in the "cups" as turn signals/parklamps. The frame mounts to the posts with screws/bolts through the upright into the steel slugs that slide inside the frame tubing to reinforce it at mounting points.
2. Full height or chopped stamped steel 23-25 posts. The lower frame is fixed/recessed between the posts and the uppers pivots on cones.
Both styles mount to a stock body with 2 carriage style bolts at the bottom of the posts into the sides of the cowl and one bolt into the face of the dash on each side.
Most glass bodies have a poorly done corners at the ends of the dash/cowl for original or reproduction posts to mount to and require some modification for a good fit. Often the cowl bead must be ground down and sometime the door beads as well.

 

This is an article I wrote for a book project I'll likely never finsih but it is good information.

T-bucket windshield installation
Part One:
DO NOT PAINT YOUR BODY BEFORE DOING ALL FIT AND FINISH WORK FOR ANYTHING THAT ATTACHES TO IT OR GOES THROUGH IT!!!
Part Two:
Assemble your windshield assembly and set it up on the body finding the ideal mounting position. Ideal means, hopefully, the mounting ears are not overlapping the cowl or door beads and the windshield frame bottom edge is parallel on the top edge of the cowl without a dip (smile)* in the middle. Any space under the frame 3/8" or hope-fully less can be filled with sewn up beading or stock Model T frame bedding rubber stripping.
*(We'll not deal with this problem here. we'll assume you have a body from a manufacturer that has kept up their moulds and eliminated this age-old problem)
You may or may not be able to use the rear mounting bolt on the rearward ear of the post into the dash de-pending on your body construction and whether you have aftermarket posts which often don't have this original feature.
Once you have the frame positioned where you believe it belongs secure it in position with duct tape or bracing.

Part Three:
Step back and look at the assembly? Is it straight and square from every angle? YES? GOOOOOOD!

Part 3 1/2:
Let's talk about posts for a second or two. There are original Ford steel short posts in varying configurations (various shapes of mounting ears and with or without side lamp mounting pads), and various aftermarket manufactured short posts (Speedway and others) which are made from various metal alloys. Some of the after-market posts have body mounting holes drilled (sometimes even all three, 2 bottom and 1 rear), most have windshield frame mounting holes drilled. Some come in a raw state, some polished, some plated. If your posts are already plated hopefully they have all the mounting holes drilled and or squared up (the two lower ones). If not you'll have to drill the posts as well as the body. Best bet to "save" plating, use a large c-clamp (and a good friend) to hold post/windshield assembly in position. Tape over the plating where the holes are to be drilled with some good quality masking tape. Mark your holes and drill through the posts and on through the body. We'll talk about this more later.

Windshield Post mounting hardware:
Original posts use a variant of the carriage bolt, works great. If you find carriage bolts that fit well into the square holes that's super. Do yourself a favor and sand or grind (carefully) any markings, letters, numerals, etc. you may find on the head of these bolts and make them smooth. The plating on these bolts is usually junk anyway so you'll either paint 'em or have them chromed or brassed or whatever.
I like to use old-style stainless-jacketed small bumper bolts for this application. The heads are smooth, polished and look great. The heads are slightly larger than OEM Ford bolts and even modern carriage bolts but they look great on painted or plated posts and they are hell-for -strong.
Of course there as many options for you to use as there are fastener styles so do what you like just make sure what you choose are a good fit in the mounting holes.

Part Four:
If everything looks good and you have determined where the body needs building up mark your cowl with the final location around the posts with either a grease pencil or a common lead pencil. Do not use a "MajicMarker", "Marksalot", "Sharpie" or other of this style of marker. (Chances are good is you do, the ink will bleed right through your primer, Bondo, finish paint and clear and totally ruin your afternoon that day.)
Roughen up the body post mounting area and use your favorite filler (Rondo, White Magic, fibrefill, cat's whisk-ers, corvette repair kit) to build up the areas necessary for your posts to fit well. You can put saran wrap inside your posts and mount the windshield assembly over the uncured filler, wait for it to kick off, and then remove the posts. This will give you a good start on the fitting proc-ess.
Do your fitting work carefully and note how the posts fit on the body. What you're looking for is a nice flush fit of the mounting ears to the body posts and a nice even fit up from the ear to the windshield frame in the front and the back.
You may want be real tricky and "sink" the posts into the body by building up around them and such as that. Have fun.
The important thing for our purposes, a good solid wind-shield mount, is under the posts and inside the body.

Part Five:
OK, your exterior work is done, your post/frame assem-bly fits well, and your mounting holes have been drilled through the body. Now let's look INSIDE the cowl and see what we can do.

First, make a couple of steel or aluminum plates say about 1/16 to 1/8" thick drilled with matching holes to the mounting ear holes on each side. Make 'em shaped kinda like the lower part of the mounting ears of the posts. Mix up some filler, butter the plates nicely and in-stall them inside the body over the mounting bolts. Use flat washers and split lock washers and tighten the bolts lightly. Let the filler harden overnight.
These reinforcement plates serve to spread the mounting pressure over a larger area and give your mounting bolts a "parallel and square" surface to tighten to.
Now let's talk about the rear mounting ear. If it is sitting flush with the back of the cowl and you feel up inside and think there's room for the end of a bolt, flat washer, lock washer and nut.... GREAT.

Drill that hole and use whatever fastener you choose to install.
If the original style mounting just ain't gonna happen, you can make an extension from a piece of strap iron which will go from the mounting ear over further on the "dash" area to be bolted up. You can weld this ex-tension to original steel Ford posts or attach it to bronze or aluminum posts by rivets or small bolts/screws.
This rear ear and/or extension mount is important as it helps stabilize the post/frame assembly on the body and prevent rocking/racking from wind resistance on the road. Even if you have windshield stay rods in front running down to the frame, this original style support is advised.

Part Six:
Take the post/frame assembly off the body and spray some primer or whatever over your bodywork. Rattle can is fine, you'll be sanding it off anyway.
Now, reinstall the assembly and tighten everything up. Only tighten the carriage bolts and other fasteners until the split lock washers are flush, you don't want to crush your pretty new work, do you?
Stand back and check everything out. Are you happy with fit and finish? GREAT!
Now jump in the car, or climb in, or fall in, whatever your entry style happens to be.
How do things look from inside the cab? Is the windshield frame obstructing your vision in any way? Do you feel comfortable looking around? Pretend the wind is hitting you in the face for 16 hours on the road to teh Roundup ........ do you give a happy damn? I thought not.

Get back out of the car. Grab the posts and either side and see if you can shake 'em around. NO? That's what we're looking for.

A properly mounted windshield assembly will feel solid and be solid, and now you have one on your car. Take the assembly off and wrap it back up in Grandma's quilt and set it back in the closet till you're ready for final as-sembly. (Hey, don't really use Granny's quilts for parts storage, use a cheap blanket. Granny's quilts are part of family history and need to be treated with loving respect and used, not stored in the cedar chest for a day that never comes or used as packing rags.)

Hope I haven't left anything out this time and you can see the "pictures" I've drawn while you read this. ...

By Dean Jones

 

Great write-up. Thanks! I can see where the fitment can be a challenge with all the different bodies and assemblies available.

 

gimpy- digging the speedholes in the rear crossmember, can't wait to see the finished product!

here's my first build im slowly working on...last i added it up through all my buying extra shit and trading/selling for stuff i need, im 800 into it. granted the body is trash, but i bought it to learn metal fab.

 

Tough to beat that price! Nice!!

 

I am thinking of starting w a $1000 27 speedway body. Anyone used one of these?


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I hear they do great bodies from a few threads I've seen. I think they may be the only ones making the 27 Roadster. They do have a youtube channel and use the search on youtube for 1927 Roadster Speedway and you might get a lot of people who are building one or built one from their kit. I know Spirit has a youtube page and I found a lot of cars built using them.

Keep us posted on your build.

 

I prefer the 27 body with turtle deck. I built this all at home. The frame is 2" x 3" and is Z'ed 9" in front and 14" in rear. The bottom of the frame sits 4" off the ground. Oil pan sits 4" from ground. The wheelbase is 118". Has a quickchange rearend and wide five hubs. Body is not channeled. The exhaust hides the frame. With the Z'ed frame and channeled, the trans would have encroached too much on the foot room. The Z's already cut the foot room to a minimum. I used a quick release steering wheel for ease of entry. The body came from Class Glass in Maryland. Both doors open. It is built 3" wider than stock. This gives more room for seats, as when Z'ing the frame the drive shaft tunnel comes up into the interior a lot. I had to make my own bomber seats they could only be 16" wide at the bottom. The car is comfortable to drive and is a blast.
I had about $6K in this until I got carried away with the shinys, the motor, and the interior

 

I love that car! I really would like to know more about the Z'd frames in the front. I'm leaning this way when and if I build one to keep my leg room.

Also do you have a link to where you got the body? Im in VA so MD is not that far from me.

 

The website for the body is www.classglassperformance.com. The body costs more than the speedway body, but is very high quality.
The Z's front and rear are to get the body down and still have enough vertical room to get the suspension mounted substantially. Keep in mind that this reduces interior room because the motor stays in the same place vertically and the body drops down over it. If you also channel the body, it reduces the foot space too much due to the transmission tunnel.

 

That really inst a bad price on the body and I think speedway has a few different prices. I think they are very close in price. I just saved the link.

Thanks and great looking car.

 

Very nice car. That interior is gorgeous! Nice work!

 

I think the trunk access is important as that's where the gas and the battery will most likely end up. I'm not concerned about doors. Cutting your own trunk ain't a real big deal, but might also be worth the money of having done prior to purchase.

I've got at least a year to get alot of ideas. I may try to pick-up some small parts between now and then. A steel body would be nice but I doubt attainable on a budget build like this.

 

I'm waiting to hear back from a metal fab shop in my area on pricing to build a metal body. I will keep you and everyone posted on what I find out.

 

That sounds cool...but I'm guessing not cheap

I think since I have some time I will enjoy scroungin for some cheaps parts. Model A frame, front end parts, trans, rear, wheels, etc. Hopefully since I am not in a huge rush I can find some deals. As this is going to be strictly a toy (not a multi-purpose daily like my 55), I am exciting about building it for as low amount as possible.

 

jaw22w- Yes thats what I figured...not really a trunk at all. I do not plan to Z, but I figure mine will be taken up w/ buggy spring and rear-end. Like I said, really a toy.

Old roadster trick if you are going overnight-Wear 2 pairs of underwear. Rotate which one is the inside pair each day!! No packing needed!!!

 

Old roadster trick if you are going overnight-Wear 2 pairs of underwear. Rotate which one is the inside pair each day!! No packing needed!!!

LMAO!!! Yeah that should work!