Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

That would be easy, your the guy that looks like Conan O'Brian..

 

So what's the scoop on the scoop?


jerry

 

Hey Chip, congratulations on making 2000 posts, proves how much of a likeable chap you are with a great car and a wicket sense of humour. I must be learning from you and the other regulars here as I was out at our big Kumeu Hot Rod Festival today and was fully aware of myself been a bit critical of some of the too wide rear tyre wheel combinations on the Buckets I looked at. I did notice one that had small bucket seats in it like from an early British Sports car, MG or Triumph which made me think again about my seating. Most of the others where all of the type that made you sit on top of the car instead of in it.

 

Thanks Whiplash! When I started this thread, I really wanted to help teach what the aesthetics of an early sixties T-Bucket were, along with establish a time line for the changes these cars went through over the years. I really never intended to "dictate" what is correct and what is not correct unless it was so far out of whack that it needed explaining. It's both cool and a bit amazing to me to have people come up to me at events now and say that they noticed something I was talking about! As I said, the intent was never to be the T-Bucket final arbiter, but to get you guys thinking about this stuff, maybe more than most have in the last couple of decades.

I went out to the Pavillions out in Scottsdale tonight, along with five or six buddies in their cars. Our fleet was one chopped, fenderless, blown "A" coupe, one channeled, fenderless, Olds powered '29 "A" pickup, one lowered original '47 Chev pickup, one '44 army Jeep with a hotted up Falcon six, and my 'Bucket. We had a nice 20 mile or so cruise, and the 5and diner let us park our cars on the grass in front of the restaurant instead of deal with Pavillions parking. If I had a guess tonight, I would have to say that this weekly event that normally is about a thousand cars was in excess of three thousand cars! The Barrett Jackson is just up the road from here, and those that don't want to pay auction fees, and those that don't sell make it point to be out there tonight. Everything was for sale, except the 'Bucket, although I did have some people ask. I can't tell you how nice it is to be cruising with friends in similar cars on a 75 degree day through some of the prettiest mountains and desert you can imagine! You guys have to make it a plan to hit Scottsdale and the Barrett Jackson/Pavillions at least once in life! My buddies were snapping pictures on their fancy phones, I'll see if I can lift some from face book.

 

Hey Tim,

Sorry I didn't see this question to answer it the other day. I like my current Firestones and Halibrands on this car lots! I have dreamed of owning this particular wheel and tire combo since I was a little kid, but had given up on that dream as the price of Halibrands rose and rose. A very good buddy gave me a chance to own this set for minimal monthly payments and hot rod building indentured servitude for life... A good trade!

That said, I am having some balance issues with the fronts, and they were not exactly shall we say, "round" right out of the box. I had them trimmed and trued a couple of weeks ago and I did write up on it a couple of pages back, and it helped. I put 2oz of Dyna beads in each, but I'm wishing I had done more like 4 or 5oz each. I think that would have solved the rest of the deal. Traction wise these things are great! They feel very confident and grip very well in every situation. I would recommend them to anybody.

 

got my baby back from my brothers today (he's the upholsterer) its not finished yet but looks good



still got door panels and seat base to do, but I had to get it home so I can start making the important changes that need to be done

 

Well, I was going to hold off on posting this until tomorrow, but I got a major bit of forward motion on the car finished today! Besides, all three of the doglets and Judy are conked out sleeping already, and I have a bit of time.

For the last couple of weeks, people have been driving up to me to tell me I have no brake lights, I have one tail light, I have NO taillights, or no lights on the back of the car period... Or any combination of the above. The wiring done on this car was beyond atrocious in anybody's book, and I knew I would have to do something about it at some point. I already corrected the charging circuit a few months ago, but with the addition of the fuel tank with sender, and the deletion of those F**KING turn signals, plus all the issues mentioned above, it was time to do the rear of the car.

I knew I wanted this one a bit different that others I had done in the past. I usually use hundreds of tiny tie-wraps the length of each harness to keep the wires straight, unbraided and going where they need to be. Not real conductive to keeping within the given era of this project, though. Moreover, most T-Bucket wiring ends up simply dropped on the floor of the bed and hooked up to the tail lights above. That means that when Judy puts her two shoe boxes in the back, they rest on those wires and eventually abrade them or literally pull them out of their connections. Not good. I had a plan though....

First, I determined exactly how many wires I would need, and what their routing would be. I figured for my situation I would use a 16ga. white for the brake lights, 16ga. brown for the tail lights, a 16ga. light green for the fuel sender, and a 16 ga. black for the ground. Since there was already a ground point in the center of the car, the ground wire for the rear harness would start at the fuel sender ground point and work it's way backwards to the tail lights and finally the frame. After procuring the right amounts of what I needed, here is where I started.

1. I figured out the routing of the harness and taped it on the outside of the body following the places it needed to run inside the car, then made my course cuts to length.

2. I decided that instead of doing the tie wrap thing, I would take advantage of one of Judy's gifts from Hong Kong - I giant spool of 1/4" shrink wrap tube! At first, I made small cuttings of the shrink, and installed them at 1 foot intervals to help hold the wires in place and unbraided. I then figured out how long my first chunk of shrink tube needed to be, and cut it. Then it was time to feed the wires through... Easier said than done! Another thought brought me into the front bathroom (or Miss Judy's) of our home. I knew I had seen a small bottle of Baby Powder in there! Powder up the wires, put a little powder down the tube and blow it through so that everything was nice and slippery. I worked from the dash panel end to where the fuel sender line exits first, then incorporated the ground wire into the rear harness and did that section from the other direction. shrink it up and I had a basic, form fit harness that was bomb proof and made to fit my car! Mission accomplished!!

3. The next problem was how to keep this stuff from simply laying on the floor and being destroyed.... A chunk of 3/8" fuel line tubing was laying on the porch for future fuel lines that I haven't got to yet, and gladly gave it's life to the cause. I cut it to length, removed the tube nuts, and turned a flare on the cut end. With a bit more of Judy's baby powder, I worked all of the harness through the tube, scuffed up the upper inside of the bed rail, and used some good old JB weld two part epoxy paste to glue the tube into the top of the bed rails. Now all the wiring drops from the top of the bed rail down to each light that it serves so it doesn't have to fight gravity OR Judy's shoe boxes! The ground went through an existing hole in the bed floor to an existing threaded hole in the frame were it will ALWAYs do it's job - no more weird grounds! I took a bit of time to move the taillights to the position I was talking about a couple of months ago, and I am liking the rear view of the car lots better now!

As always, the pictures are what they are, and using the system I use I can't individually caption them. But you guys will get the idea. All of the removable stuff was fitted with quick disconnect bullet type plugs, and each was shrink wrapped for protection. What do you think? Sure is nice not having to worry about not being seen!

 

Another great idea.

 

Nice job, Chip! Love the idea of running the wire through the tubing. Nice, clean, and safe.

Wiring is definitely one thing that will either leave you stranded far from home or get you pulled over. Oddly enough, it's treated like the Black Arts and most guys either shy away from it or do horrifically dangerous wiring jobs because they just don't care or don't understand it's importance from a safety aspect. I've seen more cars burn up from wiring than any other cause. Wiring usually starts the sequence, and fuel always finishes it.

 

Pretty slick.

 

This seals the deal for me. I've been thinking about buying Hurst tires for my 34 pickup project. Now I know that I will, the integrity of a buisness means alot to me, and this speaks volumes of both theirs and yours... Thanks for sharing Chip!

Sent from my GT-P3113 using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I get the metal tubing, but wouldn't the shrink wrapped wire be a bear to trace and or replace, if only one or two wires needed it? Or am I over thinking this?

 

I left several inches at each end so you can see the colors used and trace each one. The other VERY important fact that I didn't really explain was that I started with BRAND NEW wire of the proper color code and length so nothing was patched together over it's length. It's one solid white wire from the brake light switch to the left tail light, and one solid brown wire from the light switch to the same. It's my experience that wiring only gives you trouble where it has been spliced together, or joined to another wire, or terminated. I do my level best to make each piece of the proper length to get to the car's furthest point, then make a sub-harness to come back to points between.

The tail light wire I took out of this car started at the switch in light brown, changed 1' out to red, 2' out that became green, another 1' out that finished in black.... All of different gauges! ...And completely encased in electrical tape that was already sticky and oozing...And all was joined by improper crimps! How that was supposed to actually conduct electricity reliably is completely beyond me, but it just serves to prove that you don't wire something with "what you have around", you need to get the right stuff! I wish I had taken a picture of Judy cutting the old wiring out! She did it quite enthusiastically, but a sinking feeling set in as I heard the snippers go "click"... Did she just cut the new stuff?! Thank fully no!

I haven't taken pictures yet of the completed job, but the sub harness that services the right tail light is all new wire too, matches the other stuff exactly, is shrink wrapped, and runs up over and to the right tail light. The only reason it isn't also run through a tube is that I still haven't quite decided what direction the plate and tail lights will go yet. I am liking this deal much better with the tail lights in their current position, but the siren song of Chuck Penry's simple Lucas single tail light and plate light still burns in my head. In either case I still have to figure out a plate light...

 

Thanks! I my mind, I pictured a long black wire with several different ends. Time I went for a drive. I'm thinking too much for a Sunday.

 

Chip I also do wiring. I have become a real fan of terminal blocks. Having spent 20 years in Military electronics and 20 years in civilian electronics it serves me well to know that if a wire gets damaged I only need to replace X amount of it and not the whole darn thing. I also use zip ties but have backed down in recent years. I only use them every 5 inches instead of every 3 like in the past when I could " Appropriate" them for free.

 

I would have done terminal blocks on this gladly had I been able to attach them somewhere. Matter of fact, when I get to the headlights I'll be doing them on a pair of terminal blocks, possibly a pair of relays as well if I can hide all this stuff from view.

 

Just took a short cool ride downtown to take a look at a building that is about to turn 100... Something that doesn't happen very often 'round these parts, as our whole state just turned 100 two years ago. Instead of a party and fan fair, Marriot announced the other day that when they so proudly bought this property last year, they forgot tell us that they had decided to demolish it and build a 14 story luxury hotel instead... Looks like we have another fight on our hands 'round these parts! By the way, if you ever see the movie Psycho, this building is right across the street from the first zoom in after the credits. Right where Janet Liegh was having "lunch" with her married boy friend.

What does any of this have to do with T-Buckets? Not a damn thing, except it's January and I drove mine to check this deal out! Sounded great rattling through our new civic centers tall walls...

 

Chip I use JB weld when I need to attach a terminal block in a place where you can't screw it down.

 

Chip, I frequently make going through downtown Houston part of my cruise. I like setting off car alarms and scaring the secretaries.

 

Well duh, you mean like the SAME stuff I used to stick the tubing in place? I've never been too quick on the uptake... That's a damn fantastic idea!

 

One last one from last evening....

 

where is the snow? look out my front window and it is all white!

 

Almost ashamed to admit to all our cold weather friends but from Northern California (where I live) south into Mexico we haven't had any rain or cold weather this winter and none predicted for the near future. It dipped to nearly 40 degrees F. here (burr) last night and should be in the mid 70s this afternoon.
Yes roadster weather if we all don't burn up in the forest fires.

Gary

 

Chip,
Thanks for the comments on the wheels/tires. I saw your balancing/truing write-up and took notes as I'll likely be doing the same once my bucket's on the road. Thanks for sharing.

 

We pulled down to 38 one night a couple of weeks ago! This is a good thing 'cause I FREEZE at 70. Period! All of the Minnesota Swede that I born with is gone, except for the ridiculous accent if you get me to close to a bunch of Minnesotans for too long a time! I'm heading out to Fed Ex right now and it's 75 or so... Could be a bit warmer, but I'll take it! Might be time later today after the work is done to make a nice big Gin and Tonic, go sit on my porch swing and call my Dumb-assed brother up in Wisconsin....

 

Hey, it's your thread... you can digress whenever you damn well please! And loud pipes echoing off of building walls? Perfect!

 

Damn Terry, if you want digression, you have found the king! A good buddy of mine who is a very neat, tidy, festidiuos sort, once described me giving directions to do something as imagining all of the information in the entire library of congress, but with all of the pages ripped out of their spines and scattered in piles throughout the room...
What was I talking about?

 

I need to show you guys something else, and give a hearty HI-Ho to JERRY here on the H.A.M.B.! See, about three weeks ago he summoned me to our local cruise night 'cause he had something to show me... A scoop! It was pretty rough, but absolutely bitchin'! Turns out it was made by Cal Custom in '64 or 5, and I think it is absolutely perfect for this car! It looks a little like a "Surfer Scoop", but on a smaller scale that is perfect for this car. I've had to do some creative, gentle bending, (wasn't that a bear?) 'cause it was at one point stepped on by Godzilla, and the chrome was beyond No Bueno so I sand blasted it away. The plan at this point calls for more gentle bending (there's that damn bear again!!) and possibly some loving persuasion, followed by some tenderly applied hammer bashing to get the shape even closer to what it is actually supposed to look like. After that it is the task of figuring out how to mount this thing and keep it low with out a goofy inch tall adaptor, then bright hugger orange when the rest of the car gets squirtified, then some vibrant striping....

 

but where does the airfilter go? or is it not as small as it looks.

 

great looking scopp bro, i wanted one myself but too pricey for me lol