Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

OK. As I said, I mounted the light and ignition switches in the dash panel and put some indicator lights between them. The light switch is a GM piece that I liberated from a wreck in the local salvage yard. The ignition switch is a generic piece from Autozone. The indicator lights came from Radio Shack. They didn't have green or blue in this small style, so I am using yellow for the turn signal indicators and red for the bright light indicator.:rolleyes: If I don't like them or they don't show up good enough, I'll hog out the holes and replace them with the the larger ones like I have in my coupe.:o

Sorry I have to do this in multiple installments; I've tried everything I know to do, but this stupid program will not load the pictures in order if I do more than one at a time. Roger - I tried to drag & drop; it doesn't work, at least not on either of my computers.:mad:

Good looking panel, Jim!!!! The black background in the gauges really stands out nicely against the turned aluminum panel!!!! Very well done!

Definitely a great looking instrument panel, Jim. I hope there are no smoke leaks ;)

Very good and as mentioned, hopefully no smoke yet. I too like the black face on the gauges against the metal turned alloy panel. I need to find some small little lights to for my dash panel and I have been told about these new LED lights to look for.

Thanks, guys. I bought those gauges a few years ago because I thought the black faces and curved glass lenses were remeniscent of old-time S-W's. Turns out that they DO go very nicely with the brushed aluminum panel.

Here is a look at the back side with the wires attached to just the gauges and instrument lights. The larger "pigtail" of wires will go to the right end of the dash, down the inside of the cowl. Some go from there, back along the channel at the edge of the floor to the fuse panel which will be mounted under the passenger seat and the sending unit wires will go to the engine bay. The other smaller pigtail will connect to turn signal wires from the steering column and the dimmer switch on the left side.:3dSMILE:

This last pic is of the finished wiring on the dash panel. It is now ready to go into the car.:3dSMILE: The big thick (10 ga) red wire in the coil of wires at lower left is the power wire from the battery to the ignition switch. The 12 ga yellow wire will power the accessory side of the fuse panel when the key is "ON". The 12 ga red wire is power to the headlights (I like to keep it separate from the ignition switch power) and the 14 ga black wire (substituted for 14 ga dark green) will be power from the fuse panel to the taillight side of the light switch.

On the right side, in addition to the wires that were there in the last picture, there is the 16 ga brown wire that will go to the taillights and the 12 ga light blue wire that goes from the light switch to the dimmer switch. Also in that coil of wires at the top right are the green and yellow rear turn signal/brake light wires. They are not connected to the dash panel and will go directly to the steering column, but I bundled them in with the taillight wire.:HMMM:

Before I put the panel in the car I need to mount the brake light switch. When I re-install the steering column, I will attach to it the wires for the front turn signals and the flasher/brake switch inputs. That should be all the wires; I'll just need to connect them to all the components and the wiring will be done.:cool:

The brake light switch I'm using is the common GM style. This particular one is for a mid-70s Camaro without cruise control, but GM has used this same part for many years and so have I. The '87 Chevy S-10 pedal assembly that I am using originally had a switch like this, but I had to remove it (and the bracket that held it) to make room for the cowl-mounted steering box. All that's required is a simple bracket to hold the switch where it will be actuated by movement of the brake pedal.:HMMM:

I fabricated the switch bracket from a piece of 3/16" x 1 1/4" flat stock. It is held in place by one of the steering box mounting bolts. Since the switch is in a new location, I had to attach something to the pedal to actuate the switch. There were already a couple of factory-drilled holes in the pedal's arm, so I just cut a small piece of thinwall angle iron (old bedrail material), drilled a hole, and bolted it in place.:cool:

Of course, they're out of order:rolleyes:, but here are the pics:

Simple and effective! Love it!

Looks like you should be ready for a test ride soon. That switch looks faamillyar ( said in Peter Sellers as Dr Foo Man Chu). I used the same switch in both the 48 and 28. Probably alot of other good choices, in my case it's the switch in my 66 Chevy, so I knew what to get at the local Auto Zone.

Yep. I've been using this same model of brakelight switch in a bunch of cars since 1975. Also, whenever I need motor mounts for a small block Chevy, I always ask for '69 Camaro mounts.:rolleyes: I guess we're creatures of habit. When ya find something that works, why change?:D

Oops! Sorry, double post...

One more thing to do... While I still have the dash out of the way it would be an opportune time to mount the accelerator pedal. I received this nice pedal as a gift; I just need to make a mount for it. I started with a piece of 1/8" x 2" flat stock, cut and bent to the contour of the side of the trans tunnel. Next, I cut a piece of old bedrail angle iron to form the upright. Since getting a wrench to the backside of the upright would be difficult, I welded nuts to the backside if the bolt holes.;)

Here is the finished mount with the pedal and the whole thing installed in the car.:D

Well, the wiring is done except for the horn and horn relay (I don't have them yet), but there's really nothing to show because the wiring is all out of sight under the dash. Now I just need to get the carburetor fixed or replaced so the engine will idle and install a new clutch hose. Then it will be test-drive time!:D:D

I DROVE IT!!:D:D The weather cooperated today and I finally got to take my much-anticipated first test drive. I fired it up, moved it out of the garage under its own power, and went down the street. I circled the same block and drove down the same side street that I did on my coupe's first test run back in 2005. My wife clicked a couple of pictures as I came back toward our house.:)

I need to adjust the brakelight switch (brakelights stayed on after the second stop) and set the toe-in, but it was a very smooth first ride. I wrestled with and swore at the cowl steering when I was building it, but it steers really nice. This thing is going to be loads of fun!:D:D

YEEHA!
Good one!

I'll wager that the grin still stretches from ear to ear!

Pleased for ya!

:D :D :D :D :D

Congrats way to go Jim. I took a picture of a track style T this weekend that I'll post up for you. Similar color scheme to what your thinking about.

Looks great Jim!!!! That first ride makes all the grief and aggravation a guy encounters during a build just disappear!!!!!

Does my heart good to see you drive it!
Congratulations on a great quality build.

Hey Jim here are two that you might like, different years, but along the same lines.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...psc4593a3b.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps4ea6fa76.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps46a61f82.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps57991108.jpg

Congratulations on the successful maiden voyage!

Thanks for the well-wishes, guys. Yes, the grin is still on my face when I look at the pics or the car.:D:D

Steve - The builder of that #23 car and I have similar tastes. We're using the same noses, grilles, and windshield frames and we both have two rows of louvers on the hood sides. He really captured the look of the "California style" track-Ts of the late '40s and early '50s. nice car!:cool:

I did another update on expenditures so far. I spent another $97.05 on switches, wire, connectors, zip-ties and materials to complete the wiring. I had to replace the turn signal unit in the steering column for $59.35. I spent $4.61 on nuts & bolts, $19.07 for a clutch slave cylinder, and $127.00 for a new battery. The grand total now comes to $4232.89. :HMMM:

I still need to have glass put in the windshield frame, buy some rear tires and the paint, and of course there are a few other small items (horn & relay, rear deck hinges, etc.) that I'll need. It appears that I will exceed my goal of $4500, but maybe not by too much.:3dSMILE:

Congrats Mr. Robinson! That first ride is always a special time and good to hear yours was a smooth one!

I have been a bit slow to report recently. I've had trouble downloading photos to my old computer; it seems that a while back the computer and my camera refused to "talk" to each other any more. No big deal, I just used my laptop then for picture transfers, but it suddenly died one night without warning. A few days later I bought a new laptop and... Have any of you experienced Windows 8? I'm having to re-learn everything!:mad:

I have the T licensed, insured, and have been driving it for a few weeks now. It's going to be a fun car when I get all the "bugs" worked out. To begin with, the pedals are too close together. It's drivable, but I don't like it, so I'm going to do some surgery on the tunnel so I can spread the pedals apart. The other thing is the gear ratio. The 8 inch Ford rear has a 2.79 gear and it's just too high for a 4-banger with 5-speed. I rarely get above 3rd gear, so a lower gear is definitely necessary.:rolleyes:

I will post some pics shortly of the deck lid installation and exhaust pipe fabrication. I have finally figured out how to download and resize them. Now I just need to figure out how to get them to upload to this site.:eek:

Sounds kewl Jim! Waiting for the pics! Always fun to get the new toy out for some cruizin'!!!!!

Can't wait Jim. Been a long time since I saw that little thing.

Well, I have figured it out for now. This old computer won't talk to my camera, but it will read a flash drive. My new laptop will download from the camera, but won't up load to this site, so... I put the pics on the laptop and resize them, transfer them to a flash drive, then load 'em into this computer and upload to the site.:whacked: Sheesh! What a pain, but here we go

Since I completed the wiring and cooling systems a while back, I have been knocking other things off the punch list. I had glass put in the windshield frame about 3 weeks ago just before I bought the license plates. I installed a horn inside the nose and put a catch-can on the radiator.

Way back when I started this project I said I would show everything, right or wrong, warts and all. One of the pics below (which uploaded out of order as usual:mad:) show the hinges I made for the deck lid which didn't work. The other pics show the hinges I ended up with and the deck lid installed. Those hinges are "disappearing hinges" from the cabinet hardware section at Lowe's (Sure wish I had looked there first!:rolleyes:). The pic with the lid open also shows part of the reinforcement I put around the opening. I used pressure-treated wood (2 x 4 ripped to 1 1/2 x 1 1/4) that I screwed and glued in place with body filler. After the body filler hardened, I removed the screws, countersunk the holes, reinstalled the screws with all-purpose glue on the threads, and then filled over the screws with more body filler. A little sanding and a fresh shot of primer and it looks like it's always been that way.:3dSMILE:

looking very nice. Thanks for the update.

Jim, thanks for keeping us in the loop.
All the little things will keep a body busy!

During my first couple of test-drives I was running this thing with no exhaust system. All it had was the original manifold and about 6 inches of exhaust pipe that had been cut with a torch.:eek: Actually, the manifold doesn't look too bad; it's a welded tube assembly that looks like a header, but the short pipe was not acceptable. Aside from being too loud to keep the neighbors and local constabulary happy, it backfired repeatedly whenever shifting or decelerating.:rolleyes: The solution, of course, was to put a longer pipe on it which gets the sound behind the passenger compartment, mellows it just a bit, and eliminates the backfiring.:cool:

I began by looking for some exhaust tubing. None of the local auto parts stores carry any long straight sections; all they have is 2 ft. pieces in stock. If you want 6 or 8 ft. sections you have to order them and wait overnight. If you want bends, they also have to be ordered and wait 2 to 4 days depending on which store you get them from. I didn't want to wait, so I went in search of alternative materials. At my local Lowe's I found some 90 degree bends in the electrical conduit section. The 2 inch stuff actually measures about 2 1/4 inches in diameter. Next, I went to the chain-link fence section and found a corner post that measures 2 3/8 inches. The conduit bend fits nicely inside the fence post. All this stuff is thinwall tubing, galvanized inside and out, and it's considerably cheaper than exhaust tubing!:D I came home with a fence post and two conduit elbows. Also, in the fence section I found a clamp that fits perfectly around the pipe (post) to use for a hanger.

I attempted to upload some pictures, but for some reason the "Manage Attachments" window won't open. I don't know if the problem is with my computer or with this site. I'll try again later...

:LOL::LOL:EMT conduit and a fence post! Gotta love it! May have to shop Lowe's & Home Depot next time I'm working on exhaust.:LOL::LOL:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J. Robinson

During my first couple of test-drives I was running this thing with no exhaust system. All it had was the original manifold and about 6 inches of exhaust pipe that had been cut with a torch.:eek: Actually, the manifold doesn't look too bad; it's a welded tube assembly that looks like a header, but the short pipe was not acceptable. Aside from being too loud to keep the neighbors and local constabulary happy, it backfired repeatedly whenever shifting or decelerating.:rolleyes: The solution, of course, was to put a longer pipe on it which gets the sound behind the passenger compartment, mellows it just a bit, and eliminates the backfiring.:cool:

I began by looking for some exhaust tubing. None of the local auto parts stores carry any long straight sections; all they have is 2 ft. pieces in stock. If you want 6 or 8 ft. sections you have to order them and wait overnight. If you want bends, they also have to be ordered and wait 2 to 4 days depending on which store you get them from. I didn't want to wait, so I went in search of alternative materials. At my local Lowe's I found some 90 degree bends in the electrical conduit section. The 2 inch stuff actually measures about 2 1/4 inches in diameter. Next, I went to the chain-link fence section and found a corner post that measures 2 3/8 inches. The conduit bend fits nicely inside the fence post. All this stuff is thinwall tubing, galvanized inside and out, and it's considerably cheaper than exhaust tubing!:D I came home with a fence post and two conduit elbows. Also, in the fence section I found a clamp that fits perfectly around the pipe (post) to use for a hanger.

I attempted to upload some pictures, but for some reason the "Manage Attachments" window won't open. I don't know if the problem is with my computer or with this site. I'll try again later...

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Supporting the fine old Hot Rod tradition of take what you got and build what you want!!!! Well done, Jim! Improvising seems to have almost become one of the lost arts of Hot Rodding!!!!!!

OK, the site seems to be working, so let's try again. Here are pictures of the conduit elbows (already partially cut & welded) and fence post I got from Lowe's and the finished exhaust pipe.:cool:

While I was driving one day last week, my windshield suddenly developed a crack in the upper left corner!:eek: I took it off to have the glass replaced, so while it's out of the way I decided this would be a good time to modify the tunnel and reposition the pedals. I removed the gas pedal assembly, shifter lever & boot, and the battery. I cut the tunnel using a combination of cut-off saw and a power hacksaw. After removing a pie slice from the top of the tunnel and grinding the areas to clean and rough them up, I reattached it with a couple of small aluminum strips and pop-rivets, backed the gaps with masking tape, and applied three layers of glass mat and resin. (Of course the pictures are out of order as usual.) All that was necessary then was to heat and bend the brake pedal where I want it and reassemble everything. It's a lot easier to drive now.:D

Obviously mufflers ain't required in Florida ? Excellent idea for the use of materials too.

One other thing I did recently was add a reverse scoop to the hood to make it look more finished.:cool: The gaping hole with the carb sticking up through it was just ugly. Also, back when roadsters were being raced on the dirt tracks of America, it was not uncommon for them to have some sort of shield to protect the carb from flying dirt clods. I made a cardboard pattern, duplicated it in steel from an old door skin, welded it in place, and finished it off with some body filler and primer.:3dSMILE:

Hi Whiplash,
I actually don't know the exact reading of the law. I think it says something about noise level, but doesn't really stipulate HOW you keep it from being too loud. This little 151 cu. in. 4-cylinder is pretty mellow through that long pipe; if I get hassled about it I'll put a muffler on it or put a baffle in the pipe. Meantime, the sound reminds of an old MG-A or Triumph TR-3 from the 1950s.:3dSMILE:

Really nice touch to the hood! That looks great.

Really ingenious use of materials as usual Jim. I'd have spent bucks getting something that said "exhaust pipe". haahaa

Nice detail on the carb protector, gives it an extra old time racer look