Projects Model T roadster on Model A chassis

Can’t tell you guys how glad I am that body is helping out, Trevor sent me some pics after y’all got it apart. Looking forward to seeing it all back together!

 

Trevor figuring out seating position.

 

And wearing a proper hat!

 

Killer photo! Looks like it rolled right out of the late 40s early 50s, love it!

 

We're on the same page with the cover!

 

As some of yall gathered, @Shadow Creek offered us a smokin deal on a Model T roadster body.



Evidently it was worked to death or wrecked (in a hot rod race perhaps? ), then used as an erosion barrier and laid on the driver side for decades, resulting in a visible water line of rot on the body. The amount of rot in the driver side & subframe meant that, unfortunately, this car was doomed to parts car status.

Euthanasia is the only humane route but fortunately, this Model T is an organ donor. We operated swiftly to save what we could.



We decided we should straighten up the panels we were gonna use while they were still on the car, so here's a panel beating montage.







After getting it close enough, we began to break the car up.



This trunk pan is really cool. It may or may not be savable. I wanna try for sure.



The elusive bucket-side. On my car, this panel was completely roached - it looked like the driver side panel on this car. We removed the door support with it because the one on my car is pretty rough, and because it is easier to just swap them.



Here's what's left. The back of the bucket and seat riser, though smashed, may be of use to somebody. Parts of the subframe might be savable? The cowl is in OK shape - I think I am going to keep that for a future speedster.

After that we took a little break, then rolled my car back in. With the windshield frame for reference, it was obvious that the seat riser was simply too tall, so we removed it as gently as possible, as well as the door support, to replace with the Eldridge Special's donor piece.

That was about all the real work we wanted to do. Summed up like this it doesn't sound like much but it was pretty exhausting. Still, there was time left in the day, so I dragged in the Model A seat springs someone gave me a long time ago.



Nope. Too wide.



We sectioned it and removed a row of springs. Perfect!



Figuring out how to tie this to the body will be its own project - as will be dropping the steering column. We are going to have to rotate the steering box on the frame clockwise 30 or 40 degrees and re-bend the pedals. But we think we have a plan there.

 

On my 27 I cut that bump out off on the back wall, and welded on a straight piece of tin down to the subframe. That way you have more options for the seat

 

I was wondering if we were gonna have to do that, but at 5'6" I might be a little too far back as it is hahaha. With the seat springs we made up, I think it will be exactly the right position once the wheel is dropped and the cushion is added for the back.

 

You will also find that as you lower the seat position, the toe board angle becomes more and more ridiculous. Really should be changed to have a comfortable angle for your feet

 

Great progress @trevorsworth and @RMONTY !

You mentioned “the Eldridge special”, I wrote that on the cowl the day I brought that body home many years ago as a tribute to my grandfather. He was largely responsible for my automotive obsession. That name will live on the side of the other roadster he gave me before he passed.

Once y’all get it together drive it by the house, should be a good 20 mile shakedown run!

 

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Important day!! I stopped at a new friend's shop on the way to Robin's to pick up some working front lever shocks for the car.




Todd has some really cool early Fords but my favorite was this 80s or 90s built '34 street rod. It is a bunch of things that I normally don't really like and not exactly HAMB friendly with its 350/auto, IFS/IRS and air conditioning, but this car is really a gem.





This is the car that the other street rods want to be when they grow up... a completely tasteful restomod that rivals any modern car for comfort and drivability. I won't bore you guys with pictures of the non-HAMB friendly bits. Todd would like to sell this car so if anyone happening through the thread is interested shoot me a DM and I'll get you in touch with him.

Anyway, I was a little late getting to Robin's so we got right to work. First we pulled the panels from @Shadow Creek's roadster out of the acid bath.




Look at that beautiful quarter!!! I didn't think to take pictures but after we separated the rain gutter we were astonished by the excellent condition of the top of the panel as well.



The bucket side was just as nice (forgive the citric acid dust). The quarter panel still had a couple of rusty spots so we threw it back in the bath and decided to work on the steering. As seen above, the stock Model A steering wheel position is way too high for this body. Simply laying it back would compromise foot room and complicate the pedals as the column would have to run between the clutch and brake. We decided to raise the column above the frame rail while also laying it down.



This began life as a large piece of square tube. We chopped it diagonally and began tinkering with it. Mounting the box directly above its old position would have been easy, but pushes the steering wheel into the middle of the driver position, so we decided to push the box forward on the frame.



This sets the steering wheel at a good spot for me and keeps it below the windshield.



Obviously the drag link was now too long, so we shortened it by a bit over 4 1/2". To make it whole again, we decided to sleeve it - a 15mm impact socket worked perfectly for this (once we drilled it out, ruining at least one bit in the process).




I'm not sure if this will have any adverse effects on the steering but I guess we'll see.

That's all for now. We are gonna finalize the bracket with another bolt through the top and a gusset, but it was getting late and we were satisfied with this major step.

Next weekend I will be in Durango, Colorado visiting my grandfather. But next-next week we'll start putting the body together for sure!

I want to thank @Shadow Creek again for offering such a sweet deal on the creek car. It really did catapult us far ahead - saving us weeks of time for sure and the car will be much much better for it. Looking forward to that shakedown run to your place!

 

I'm in Colorado! Of course the first thing I did was check out the antique store next door to my airbnb. Found this Trico vacuum fan for a good price.



It's a little stiff with old oil but once I get it home and flush it out I think it will work great in the T and certainly help to circulate air when the top is on.

Are there any rubber seals or anything to worry about in these or can I just feed it brake cleaner and flush it with fresh sewing machine oil? I took it apart as far as I could (the motor assembly can't be opened up) but you can't see much.

 

https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/trico-vacuum-fan-repair_topic48654.html
This may help.

 

When ever you get back to Colorado head on up to Delta area , I've got four of these T roadsters I'm working on for each one of my kids. The body I'm working on needs much work like your doing, This thread has given me lots of examples of how to fix bad rust. I'll keep watching!! Mike

 

If I was in charge of the trip itinerary I'd love to stop by. I'm staying in Cortez for a bit meeting my grandfather on my mom's side, who neither my mom nor I have ever met. But we have lots planned. Maybe next time I'm up here!!

 

Enjoy your stay, going up I-550 too Delta; over three high mountain passes is too say the least breathtaking as well as beautiful and with the climax being red mountain. I'll see if I can send some pictures of my project hoard. Mike

 

Still in Colorado but need to make a note somewhere I will see it when I get home: I think we should try chopping the radiator ourselves. I can solder… worst case scenario, it leaks, we blow the bad solder off and do it again. The more I think about it the more I think it can’t be that hard, I think it’s a mental block.

I have a junk 49 radiator with a damaged core that we can take apart to study… the Model A’s is probably pretty much built the same. If it works we know we can easily build a radiator for Robin’s AV8, and what a good skill that would be to have!

 

Finally picked up a second Tilly carburetor. Still waffling on either fixing the cool dual intake/exhaust manifolds that guy made up or just buying commercial speed parts... they are cool looking but pretty wonky.

I guess gravity feeding two carbs will work fine?? Can't see why it wouldn't.

 

Man your car is looking great. I read how you plan to chop your stanchions, thats pretty much how I did mine a few years ago and they turned out pretty good. I used a hacksaw to get as thin a cut as possible.

The seat height was a big issue for me using only the lower windshield. I used a school bus cushion and even cut it down some to get lower. (Im 5'11" for reference)



Ive been debating on whether to cut out the "waterfall" behind the seat as well to scoot the seat back for more leg room because my knees kill me on longer drives. Gotta love little model Ts .
Good luck!

 

Awesome, great to know I’m on the right track. Using a hack saw is a good idea.

Nice T! I have always been told at 5’6 I’m just the right size for these little cars. With the Model A seat back, the “lumbar” region of the back panel is exposed and the A seat sits flat above it. Should work great.

 

I pulled the right turtle deck side out of the citric acid bath last week. Been debating on how to take care of the rot along the bottom edge. I'm thinking maybe use the pieces we hammer formed. The body Shadowcreek provided didn't have those pieces if I remember right.

 

Today we finished a very important task - the steering. I made and burned in a gusset to strengthen the bracket, then we primed and painted it. Looking good!






We hacked up my really nice Model A column drop by chopping the base off and flipping it around. Then we shortened the neck, bent it, welded it up and bolted it to the dash rail. This will get a leather bushing.



We also deleted the unnecessary Model A body brackets and touched up the frame where they had been. Looking good!



Then we started working on the cowl patches. But we didn't finish that, so... tune in next Sunday!

 

I scored a Model T steering wheel for $20 on ebay. It is an inch smaller than the A wheel and should fit nicely in the car. Not real pretty but it's in good shape and will clean up. I only had about a finger's thickness of space between the Model A steering wheel and the door so this should help.



I hate to change out the A wheel, but it's just too big. Hopefully the T wheel is as nice in the hands.

 

Looking good man... Look forward to seeing it on the road...

 

The T wheel came in. I buffed the shit out of it but haven't done anything else to it. I'll probably dedicate some real time later to shining up the spider and paint the rim.

 

Lookin good!!

 

I broke the steering shaft trying to remove the wheel haha. It just crumbled as soon as we put tension on it with a puller. I think someone has tried to remove it before as it was already missing a chunk. The wheel is still stuck to what's left so I guess the next step is to drill it out or something... trying to save the wheel because although the rubber is cracked here and there I think it is a restorable wheel.

Anyway, after that we decided to tackle the trunk floor. We spent some time studying the old trunk pan then decided making a new one would be smarter than trying to salvage the old one.



This part was pretty straightforward. We are going to have to make it in two parts - we don't have equipment big enough to roll the whole front edge up like the original trunk pan, so we're going to make that as a separate piece and either weld or bolt it to the rest of the floor.



We decided to make a trick cover for the rear crossmember. We debated the best way to do it before settling on this... it seemed the most efficient use of what we have and will look pretty slick once completed.



Seems like it took forever! That's all we got done today. But next time we'll be punching beads in the trunk pan for stiffness and trimming it to the proper size.