I know this can vary greatly but looking for best guesses on T-Bucket wheelbases, overall weights with small block Ford or Chevy, maybe ballpark on overall lengths. Thanks
My standard frames are set up for 102" wheelbase, the shorter 90" frames are for around town use only pretty much although I have done the Wildwood run in one quite comfortably, (175Mi. each way). Most weigh in at between 1800-2000 lb. You can build them way lighter than that though. Ford and Chevy small blocks come in about the same, flattys about 200 lb. more. A 102" frame should finish out right around 130" overall. T buckets are all about profiling. Build for the look you want. The first three are about 102" the last a 90".
Mine is 100" wheelbase but when it was finished I wished I had shortened it up by the 3" or 4" of gap between the radiator and the front crossmember tube. The first photo was from before the car was completely finished and before blowing it apart for clean up and paint. Lynn
My 27 that's a old speed way kit is 115" wheel base My 23 T wheel base is 105" as I recall. SBC In them
It's your personal preference when it comes to a T bucket. I built this one in the early 70's and scrounged the parts for the steel body out of a couple of cow pastures. 108 inch wheelbase and right at 1500 lbs when it was pretty bare bones and we took it down to the local grain company scales to get a weight slip. Here the really suspect body work hidden behind me and my wife and son with my 1975 haircut. I drove it 20 miles to college and work that summer quite often with my golf clubs in the p***enger seat. AS Lake_Harley said, getting everything spaced just right is critical to the look though. You can see the difference in wheel-raditor shell relationship between his and mine and it is all about what you like or think is going to look best. I was a 27/28 year old who thought I knew a hell of a lot more than I did when I built it and there are a lot of things I should have done different, The engine needed to sit a couple of inches higher as I smashed the pan pretty bad on a speed bump with it and I think I had way too much caster in it now.
For a T-bucket with short bed a 95" wheelbase is just right; much more than an inch or two longer results in extra space that needs to stuck some place; usually between the radiator and front axle. Worst looking is extra space between the engine and firewall.
Here's the Whatever project, 99 inch wheelbase. Kind of a cross between a 50s track roadster and a bunch newer NE dirt modified ch***is. And a trick paper hood...
Mine is long gone, but I do remember it was 1835 lbs. on a state-certified scale at the local gravel pit. This was with a 270c ci Dodge hemi (which is probably almost 100 lbs. more than a sb Ford or Chevy). I believe the wheelbase was 100", which looked "right" to me.
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