Thread: Low-budget/T-Bucket Pickup

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That's what I do as well. Just give enough clearance to get to the bell housing bolts. If you can afford a little extra room it would be beneficial to work on it but I'm guessing you don't have the extra room.

A miss is a miss. I found with my 348 an old coil distributor was a bit smaller for more room and more time period correct if a person cares. They make kits to get rid of the points so it's similar to the HEI on the inside.

I would drop the dizzy in and use that as a guide also but I am one of those chaps that likes the engine as close as possible to the firewall so that the side on proportions look balanced.013.JPG

On a 68 falcon I built, I cut holes in the firewall to access the bell housing bolts, and plugged them with plastic hole plugs like the plugs in a floor pan. Darn if I can remember what they're called.

Anyway, it made dropping the trans a snap.

Good ideas.

I spent some time yesterday mocking up the final mounting spot for all of the major components. I ended up moving the radiator and the engine for ward 2-3" from my original plan. I also moved the body and the rear axle forward by 5 inches.

This is complicated a little bit by the fact that I want to use a mechanical cooling fan for the "old school 50's look". I will have to mount the radiator a couple inches higher than I would prefer to. I spent a few hours juggling things around, up, down, back and forth until I got everything into what I believe is the best looking and most functional setup.



T mock up (640x480).jpg

I made a set of motor mounts out of some 1/4 inch plate steel and some leftover 2"x3" frame rail tubing. I just copied the factory mounts to get the bolt hole spacing right.


motor mount 1 (640x480).jpgmotor mount 2 (640x480).jpg

Good progress Steve. Looks very good too.

Nice looking brackets. The little things like that make a nice "flow" to the car.

The only issue I can think of is that by using the mechanical fan is as you have said, the radiator will be sitting higher than desired. That then also by time you add the grille surround over top of the radiator, makes the side proportions look horribly wrong with a nose bleed look from the high radiator. Old style electric fans from an early Jappa from the sixties can look ole'school too you know. I use a very early electric fan on mine and absolutely no one has ever mentioned or commented on it and I built my Roadster to be like early to mid 1960's Hotrod.

One thing to keep in mind is that you definitely don't want the radiator to sit higher than the top of the cowl. This will be very noticeable at a glance when the car is viewed from the side. Your work is looking nice, but get the car in a position where you can back off a good distance and look at it. The proportions will be very apparent when viewed from a distance.

I understand your desire for the mech fan, but the overall look of the car may override that.

There is a very basic issue with radiator height---and it isn't just how the vehicle looks from the side-and its an issue whether or not you use an electric or mechanical fan-----------with a top tank radiator it needs to be well above the height of the engines heads/manifold to insure that the engine has liquid coolant completely filling cooling passages/etc and not a steamy mix------the more modern cross flow radiators with an expansion tank is more modern? but not the visable scene we are looking for in the older cars-------

Take a look at the drive shaft u-joint angles and see if you can possibly lower the front of the engine a couple inches------On most of the early type builds I'd done I usually have the front crank centerline at the height of the upper frame rail------

I will have a go at loading some photo's of T Roadsters so that you can understand what we mean by side on proportions between the top of the cowl and the top of the radiator/grille surround. As you will notice some of these cars have big blocks in them yet are driven long distances. The one named " Blood Shot " is in one of our Car Museum and is one of our top rods from years ago. The orange one is another early sixties New Zealand Roadster that has a Y Block engine and was used to tow the family boat away on holidays.Dodge TnT Roadster.jpg374.jpgVandal and The T Box pickup..jpg561.jpg

Hopefully the last photo is of another early NZ top Roadster named Vandal built by one of NZ's top Rod Builders years ago again using Y Block power and was driven all over NZ to shows and events back in the day. Hopefully these photo's may help you see how well proportioned T Roadster can look with some planning and standing back and checking the " Lines ".

Nice. It looks like there's a couple guys who are about to get wet in the second picture.

Yes, that turned out to be a bloody awful weekend with heavy consist rain but it never stops the annual Beach Hop Event.377.jpg