"Sorry for missing the HAMB meetup, guys. My lack of paint prep experience turned this into an all day affair." Hi Fred, You didn't miss much what with the football going on. Nice to see the car going back together. Alex
I got the frame ready Friday and mounted the front suspension pieces Saturday, but something didn't seem right. So after work today, I redid it and all is well. I'm already missing the powder coating, as I got couple minor chips today, but it's paint and will be easy to touch up.So here she is. Almost a roller! The engine cross member should be here Wednesday and I'll start checking out and primping the engine and tranny this week. I hope to drop them on Saturday.
Glad to see this is coming back together for ya..cant wait to see it done.. I remember the post when you got the original one finally done and on the road..will be looking forward to Part 2
After 4 frustrating months, my T Bucket is at least back at roller status. I didn't get to do hardly any of what I had planned today. First off, it took me 4 trips to the auto parts store to get the correct size lugnuts! For my future reference, 7/16"-20. Then my mechanic friend had to go out of town and his helper would only lt me play around for a few hours. So, all I got to do today was mount the tires and rims, but it was enough to get my fires burning full tilt! So, here's her new look. Dropped "I" beam axle and 11" disc brakes. I'm keeping the same paint scheme. I just couldn't bring myself to change that. Also, it wouldn't be a true rebirth without a little video, so here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6sjyUlBqqQ
Fred your going to have to start working out (arm strong steering), those front tires have more contact patch than the others...lol Good to see you got it back on four wheels, won't be to long now.
looks good Fred, I read on an earlier post about your T-Bucket mounts, and how they tore, can you reglass them, and make them thicker to use the same mounting points? keep up the good work.
What happened was the "well nuts" tore out of the frame where the body bolted down in the rear. There was one mount that ripped through the body, so I'm going to redo all four mounting holes in the floor. I plan on glassing in large washers to reinforce the area around the holes. I'm not going back with "well nuts". I plan on using rubber pucks and running 1/2" bolts through the frame. That should keep her in place, just in case there's a next time. *knock on wood*
Great to see her back on rubber! Are you going to have any funds left over to shoot the body? If you have that painter friend on tap, this might be the time to get it done.
Fred! Mike Britton here. First of many things, glad you walked away from playing tag with 4,000 lbs. of crusier! If you look at my avitar, I'm building a 'glass '29 and it's good to know that I might be able to survive a collision in a 'glass car. Now, I like the look of your car now much better than with the spokes. What size rear tire are you using,the stance on your car is just right. You were wanting to put the tie rod in the back, two things to consider. When my car was an altered, the guy that owned it used a complete Total Performance T-bucket front end under it to get the car waaayyy down. He didn't want the tie rod in the front so he used longer bolts with tubing spacers in the heims to lower the tie rod. I'm certainly not saying that it's a good idea, and since I switched to a spring over set up I didn't have to put the spacers back in. Having said that, the No Hot Rods Anymore OK'd the car for the 9:90 index!!??!! And the car made passes like that for decades in the mid-high nines! I drove it like that on the strip a few times before I retired it, and it felt OK. Another idea, would be to "drop" the tie rod. In the late fifties, early sixties, when I was first getting into hot rods, it was common to drop the tie rod the same amount as the axle. If you had a four inch drop in your axle, you built a tie rod shaped much like your axle with about the same amount of drop so there was no interference. Something to consider later after you're back rippin' again. Glad to see you bought a new frame. I'd really feel queezy about the old one after the lick it took. Good luck with the reinCARnation. Sorry, couldn't help myself.......Mike
Thanks, Mike. She took a hit at the front suspension. Don't go "crash testing" your glass body, I was VERY lucky. I'll take a look tomorrow and get the rear tire size for you. I'll also consider the tierod set up you mentioned. Flatheadpete, she'll be looking full on hot rod, when get your grill shell installed. Thanks again. I can't wait to get her back on the street. There's a ricer guy who used to buzz by when I first got her done and then he did it even more when she was broke. I'll be waiting for his butt with a new vengance. I don't need to race him. I just want him to hear what a real car sounds like.
Tonight I made up for not being able to do anything the last 4 days. Brakes bleed, gas tank installed and fuel line mounted. I'll finish cleaning off the engine and other little things tomorrow evening, then Saturday the motor&tranny get dropped in and I'll try and fire her off. Oh, the new brakes are freaking great! Nice, hard pedal. Took me all of 20 minutes. That's good for me. Oh, new logo for her.
Fred, I'm all thumbs at picture stuff, but I'm sure someone here could take these two photos and give you a preview. Someone?
No, the funniest thing you'll see is when I get "Failure to Yield" lettered on the back of the body, just above the gas tank. That WILL get done. I promise.
Oh, had some headlight posts made up and got them last week. The guy who made them is cool and is very nice to work with. Give him a shout if ya want good stuff at a geat price. Tell him Tfeverfred sent ya. http://eztbucket.com/
Today, I was a one man hot rod building machine. I took my time after work yesturday and worked out a one man plan of attack. The goal? To get my car ready to fire off. Possible bonus: Firing it off. I stopped by my local auto parts store and after explaining to the little girl behind the counter why my 1920 Ford needs a short water pump for a 1984 SBC, I was on my way. The rest of the day was just poetry in motion. Radio tuned to the oldies station and no one bugging me (I turned off my cell phone). My mechanic buddie lent a hand in dropping in the engine and tranny, while I kept to my pre thought out check list. So, here she is. Ready to fire off Monday evening. My buddie was tired and had to close, otherwise I'd have a video of me starting my car and looking foolishly cool. You'll have to wait a couple days for that. First minor change of plan was the radiator fan. Tbucketlar had sent me a Total Performance thick radiator a while back. My original build had a taller radiator and I used a 17" fan. This radiator is a lot shorter, so I'll have to nix the engine mounted fan and go electric. The plus side to that is... this radiator is lower and will make Miss Fortunes front profile MUCH cooler! Thanks, Tbucketlar! The next change was the tranny cooler. PaulR had given me a real nice one, but it wouldn't fit where my other one used to go (on the right framerail). So, I mounted it on the left side. Should work out fine. Thanks, Paul! In these next shots, you can see that the lower radiator will give a nice, low profile. I'm pretty stoked with the results. Oh yea... ain't that marine air cleaner BITCHIN'?
The Jalopy Journal
