Thread: Low-budget/T-Bucket Pickup

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

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

Been there, done that. Many times, unfortunately. The worst was a hail storm in Arkansas! Luckily, I have a very understanding wife. The rest of the weekend, folks at the car show referred to us "That crazy couple that drove a T Bucket in a hail storm".

Thanks for the examples.

For now, I have lowered the front of the radiator another inch. That puts the top of the grill shell even with the top of the cowl. I mounted the radiator in such a way that it is very easy to move it up or down, and to adjust the angle of it, in case I change my mind later.

I am using a radiator from a 1966 Mustang. It was only $145 from O'Reilly Auto Parts, with a lifetime warranty.




Radiator 1 (640x480).jpgradiator 2 (480x640).jpgradiator 3 (480x640).jpgradiator 4 (480x640).jpg

I had to cut my Model A grill shell down to size. I also hammered a few dents out of it and notched the bottom to fit around my radiator mount brackets. These old grill shells are made out of some strong material!

I then made a couple small brackets to attach the shell to the radiator.

Thanks for looking.




grill shell 1 (480x640).jpggrill shell 2 (640x480).jpggrill shell 3 (480x640).jpggrill shell 4 (480x640).jpggrill shell 5 (640x480).jpg

Now that is cooler looking and can I say thanks for using an early " A " surround as I personally am so over the use of the chopped down '32 surround that lots like using.

Thanks Mark. I saw a picture of a T Bucket with a Model A grill shell and decided I wanted to do that. I stumbled across this one for a decent price at a swap meet in Lakeland, FL last fall.

Time for a budget update.

Previous investment - $1714

6 rod ends $65
20' of black iron pipe and 6 coupling nuts $40
tie rod end $10
headers $40
Phosphoric acid $17
1966 Mustang radiator $145
Fiberglass resin and cloth $22
front spring $55
rear spring $130
front spring shackles $20
rear shackles $20
4 leaf spring pivots $28
rubber motor mounts $20
transmission tunnel $50
fan $35
angle iron and tubing $140
plywood $52


$784 plus previous balance of $1714= $2498 spent so far.


The biggest "budget buster" so far has been the cost of buying new steel, man that stuff adds up fast!

I've tried to find a scrap yard around here that sells used steel, but it seems no place wants to sell that anymore in small quantities.

Yep, looks good. Keep up the good work!

Hopefully your car stays within your budget, I went so far over budget I don't even keep track anymore.

I doubt that I can wrap this thing up for another $1500 but I am going to continue to keep track, and I plan to finish it at a pretty low cost, while using decent quality parts.

Originally Posted by Driver50x

Time for a budget update.

Previous investment - $1714

6 rod ends $65
20' of black iron pipe and 6 coupling nuts $40
tie rod end $10
headers $40
Phosphoric acid $17
1966 Mustang radiator $145
Fiberglass resin and cloth $22
front spring $55
rear spring $130
front spring shackles $20
rear shackles $20
4 leaf spring pivots $28
rubber motor mounts $20
transmission tunnel $50
fan $35
angle iron and tubing $140
plywood $52


$784 plus previous balance of $1714= $2498 spent so far.


The biggest "budget buster" so far has been the cost of buying new steel, man that stuff adds up fast!

I've tried to find a scrap yard around here that sells used steel, but it seems no place wants to sell that anymore in small quantities.

You missed out the Model A grille shell...

Originally Posted by johnboy

You missed out the Model A grille shell...

A Kiwi Dairy Farmer as the oversight accountant! Keeping you honest! But you can credit that piece you cut off the bottom at scrap prices....

You might make your goal or at least come close. You've got most of the big pieces. The two biggies you have left are windshield frame & stanchions and paint. If I recall, my windshield frame with stanchions (all chrome) was around $400 and I spent a little over $450 on paint and materials (all basecoat/clearcoat urethane).

The interior can get pricey if you have to pay someone to do it, but you can get by really reasonably if you can do most of it yourself. In my Track-T I cut luan plywood for the side panels and covered them myself using 3M spray adhesive and black vinyl from an online upholstery fabric store. My seats came from Speedway and already had snap-in black vinyl upholstery. The carpet came from Lowe's; I cut to fit and glued in with more spray adhesive.

Originally Posted by johnboy

You missed out the Model A grille shell...

Thanks for trying to keep me honest!
But the grill shell is on my first parts list, on page two of this thread. It was 70 bucks.

Originally Posted by rspears

A Kiwi Dairy Farmer as the oversight accountant! Keeping you honest! But you can credit that piece you cut off the bottom at scrap prices....

I might still bolt that extra piece on below the frame, right in front of the radiator.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

You might make your goal or at least come close. You've got most of the big pieces. The two biggies you have left are windshield frame & stanchions and paint. If I recall, my windshield frame with stanchions (all chrome) was around $400 and I spent a little over $450 on paint and materials (all basecoat/clearcoat urethane).

The interior can get pricey if you have to pay someone to do it, but you can get by really reasonably if you can do most of it yourself. In my Track-T I cut luan plywood for the side panels and covered them myself using 3M spray adhesive and black vinyl from an online upholstery fabric store. My seats came from Speedway and already had snap-in black vinyl upholstery. The carpet came from Lowe's; I cut to fit and glued in with more spray adhesive.

I have sprayed a couple cars, my daily driver and my last stock car, with quarts of Rust-Oleum. They both came out amazingly well. That stuff is 8 bucks a quart from Wal-Mart! That's what I plan to do with the T.

I plan on building my own windshield frame, and mounting it without stanchions, similar to this picture.

I am going to make my own interior, similar to yours. I am going to buy new tires, but cheap ones, not Cokers or anything.