Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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I remember a nite that Doug and I went for a ride in his 56 ford, with 312 v8, just to test out the car, he was sitting on a kitchen chair and I was on a milk crate holding my leggs up to keep from falling thru the floor..............What a sight that was...........LOL

Many years ago I built a bugeye Austin Healy Sprite , and swapped in a 289 Ford with some Cobra goodies on it. Got it running, and towed it to an abandoned stretch of highway for some test runs. Had not put the flip front end back on the car, so everything up front was exposed, had not put the windshield back on, and the bucket seats were not even bolted down.

I fired it up, a buddy of mine climbed into the other loose bucket seat, and I did a smokey pass. My friend says to me "hey, I'm watching the secondaries on the Holley carb, and they didn't open, you were running on a two barrel !" So next run, I get it moving and he leans over the dash (no windshield installed) and pushes the secondaries open with his fingers.

It was like an afterburner had kicked in, and he fell backwards from the force and semi lodged in the rear trunk compartment. Found out I had installed the spacer plate under the carb upside down, and no vacuum was getting to the secondaries.

Right after that, we at least bolted the seats back down. I'd like to say it was because I was young and dumb, but sometimes I still do stupid things like that in the excitement to get a car running for the first time.

Don

Now that's funny!!!!

That comes under the heading of:

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Something like that usually follows a statement like this: "Hey, guys! Watch this!"

One time ,I decided that I could drive my truck project thru town to a body and paint shop.
No bumpers,no headlights,no turn signals,no brake lights,no grill,no windows,no mirrors,it was completely striped for paint,no seats.
Well to make a long story short,I mount up the milk crate,my buddie is 6 foot 2 ,so he sits directly on the floor,have to have a comrade when performing acts of foolishness needless to say the state police found nothing they liked when he pulled me over.He did have a pretty big smile on his face,he said he never saw a partial truck on the road before
Lets see here ,I think it was like ticket numbers11072,11073,11074,11075,11076,11077,11078
Which is real nice when the judge looks down and theres consecutive ticket numbers,his comment was ,they must have finished off the ticket book on this one
The officer made sure he wrote down ,non existent ,instead of non functioning equiptment
Believe it or not the judge reduced it all down to basically fix-it tickets.
Once I told him the story of 50 bucks for tow across town was the deciding factor for me to drive it,he fined me double that and said to have it towed next time ,its alot cheaper than me.

Money saved by driving to the paint shop: $50.00

Cost of fines: $100.00

Having that story to tell: Price less

Yeah, Duane is right, you couldn't buy a story like that. Well, you sort of DID buy it, but it could have cost a whole lot more.


Today was more parts getting primered day. I put a 2 x 4 over a couple of ladders, and hung as many front end parts as I could on it. Got them all primered, but had to switch to a different can mid way though. Not sure what happened, I mixed the primer just like always, but half way through it started to gel in the gun. I had to hurry up and clean it all out with laquer thinner, and by that time even the extra primer I had waiting in a cup was starting to gel.

Luckily, Don had some epoxy primer he had bought for his engine, so I borrowed some of it. That batch sprayed well, but is a slightly different color, as it is a different part number. I really don't care, as I will probably be spraying more over it after I do some sanding.

Anyway, here is my "Xmas tree" of primered parts. I sure will be glad when this stage is over. It is a messy job what with all the sanding dust, etc. Tomorrow I have to do some housecleaning in the shop.........it is a disaster from all of this latest work.

Don

Don,

I know you have done so much for us already with this thread. I was wondering if you had a chance if you could put together a list of parts one would need to acquire to build a bucket. I am putting together my project but having never build one before don't know what all the parts are. The big ones are no brainers but the rest allude newbies.

Thanks,
Z

Well, there are so many different ways to build them that it is hard to do that, exactly. But, if you are talking about the traditional T bucket, such as a company like Total Performance, or Speedway puts out, there is kind of a formula to those.

Frame...........a ladder type frame, usually made from rectangular tubing, anywhere from 1.5 x 3 inches, to 2 x 4 inches. I like 2 x 3 with a 3/16 wall, but that is just a personal preference. Frame generally has a perch on the front to support a cross "buggy" type spring, to which a straight axle is attached. The spring is usually mounted behind the axle for a little more wheelbase, and this is called a "suicide" front axle assembly. The rear axle is generally a non-independant type, as used under most cars. Popular rears are Ford 8 and 9 inch, and S10 Chevy rears, among others.

The rear can be suspended by a single cross spring, like mine, or by using coilover shocks. In past years some people used regular coil springs, like Corvairs, but these have sort of fallen from favor in recent times. Both front an rear axles are generally located by wishbones , hairpin radius rods, or a fourbar setup. Of the three, hairpins seem the most common on T buckets.

The body is generally a fiberglass reproduction of a 1923-25 Ford. Some people use a shortened bed, some use a turtle deck (trunk) and some use nothing, as I am doing.

Steering is generally a reversed Corvair box, but some people use mid '50's Ford truck, or VW bus, or other boxes. The Corvair is by the most popular, and Flaming River is reproducing these brand new now (I am using one of those)

Engine choice is unlimited, but by far the most popular is the Chevy small block, like a 350. They are light, powerful, compact, and very reasonable, even in the crate from GM.

Transmission is generally an automatic, because of space limitations. I tried to use a stick shift in mine, and could not find room for the three pedals. The turbo 350 is by far the most popular, because it works well behind the popular small block Chevy engine.

The rest of the stuff is standard hot rod fare, like a custom radiator, gauges, headlights, etc. A very good source that you should have is a Speedway catalog. It is chock full of not only every part you will need, but also lots of hints and diagrams on how to do things. I keep a copy at the shop and at home.

Hope some of this helps you out. Now I have to go take a nap.


Don


Oh, I forgot brakes. Most T buckets use discs up front and drums in the rear. There are tons of kits on the market to install the discs, and the rear drums are generally what came with the rear axle. The pedal assembly usually goes under the floor, and residual valves are usually needed so that the fluid does not drain back into the master cylinder, since it is mounted so low. As I get into doing this on mine, I will post pictures of each step. I am not using discs, because I wanted the traditional, oldtimey look, plus, I am old fashioned and just like them better.

Don go take a nap, you worn out just reading the list.
Brad

I'm glad I took the Evelyn Wood speed typing class.

That was tough to concentrate on at about 4AM.

Don

You must have been on cruise control at 4am
Brad

Originally Posted by BradC

You must have been on cruise control at 4am
Brad

Yeah Brad, I got up to get a drink of water, and saw his question, so I thought I'd try to answer it. Kind of did it half asleep, and was surprised it actually made any sense at all when I read it the next morning.


I got my Speedway order yesterday. Most of the stuff is nice, like the chrome shackles, steering arms, gas tank, etc. But I am sending the poly spring liner back. I bought some for the front and rear spring, and the quality of theirs is really crap. The lip that would be on the outside of the spring,(which will show) is all wrinkled and warped. If I install it, this will show up very badly against the springs, so I can't use it.

I am considering just ordering a Posies spring for the front, like I should have done in the beginning. I may try to find some better spring liner material from some other source for the rear spring. I have the same Model A rear spring in my '27, and used a really good spring liner on it that has held up for all these years. Trouble is, I ordered it about 18 years ago, so I forget where I got it. I'll have to check out Macs or some other such place.

Getting ready to head over to the shop. Plan is to putty in those last remaining flaws in the frame, and try to get it shot black asap. I also have to get the rear end prepped a little more, and shoot some primer on it and the rear spring. If all goes well, by Sunday night I want the frame and all suspension pieces to be painted. We'll see how that goes.


Don

I thought I was pretty close to being able to spray my frame with paint, but once I started putting spot putty on some of the little flaws, I found I needed to fill more than I thought. It's like everything else, you do one thing, and everything else looks bad, so you have to keep going.

I'm using a product called "Icing" that is a thinned down filler. I like it because you can apply it with your fingertip, and when dry it sands very easily. Of course, easily is a relative term.........it still takes some effort and time. I used a trick Brian mentioned, wrapping sandpaper around some small hose, and using it to radius the welds in. I didn't want to completely obscure the welds, just soften them some more.

Between his hose trick, and wrapping paper around things like mixing sticks, etc, I was able to sand smooth most of the spots I needed to take care of. There are still a few more to do tomorrow, but my finger tips are ready for a little rest after a day of sanding. I also scuffed the entire frame, because I used epoxy primer, and to get another coat of primer to stick I needed to do that.

Here are a couple of pictures of what I got done today. Most of the primer I sprayed last week is now on the garage floor as sanding dust. I also found out what probably happened to my primer that was kicking in the gun before it should have. The girl at the paint store told me if the catalyst gets air to it, and sits in the heat, it will do that, even after a couple of weeks. So I will put the next opened can into the fridge until I use it again.

Don

don if you want to start a new line of work you now can start to crack safe,s with them thin finger tips .we all way,s tape are finger tips when blocking out a big job