Thread: 27 T tudor Hot Rod build

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Well the project is moving a bit slow. I am at the point where I need to get one thing completed just to move on to the next. Hopefully I can get the exhaust bent tomorrow so I can get the frame finished up and move on to the body mounts and fabricating the rest of the floor.
The progress that has been made is from the last couple of weeks.
Trans/Bellhousing tunnel

11 gallon tank for long trips. Yes, there is still room for a back seat.

Duct tapped steering wheel mock up and paper gauges

Headlights and fog light installed.

Got a little bit of work done today.
The exhaust did not get into my hands until today which I was hopping I would get yesterday. I had to cut and weld the tubing until it sat above the bottom of the frame rail and into the cut out in the crossmember. Just managed to get the drivers side done today, the passenger side will be more work. Either I have to cut and weld a lot on the tubing because of the heat riser on the pass. manifold or I will bevel the manifold so the gasket will seal.
What I started with

After cutting and welding, might be a bit restrictive but it looks better than exhaust hanging down below the frame

Not a fan of glasspacks but they fit better than chambered mufflers

Finished the exhaust this evening. All I need to get the car running is a radiator, wiring harness, drive shaft, and to fab clutch & brake pedals and master cylinder mount. Still would be far from road worthy but it could be moved around under its own power. Just something to look forward to.
Please excuse the welds on the frame not being ground down yet. I should be able to get to it very soon after I fab some body mounts and get them welded onto the frame.

Cut slit to bend pipe, for some reason the exhaust tip was too far out.

Welded back up and ground back down.


Finished pipe with bend.

Iniside view with hangers.

Back view of tips. As you can tell I have a lot of body work ahead of me.

Lastly an under car view.

Installed the fuel pump today. Had to trim almost every engine mount and pad on one side. At least now I can finish up the fuel line.
I know it is not much but I helped Dad on his 68 Camaro and was burnt out working on cars by the time I had some extra hours to waste.


Bottom of fuel pump. Picture is a bit blury but you can see where I had to trim the mount.


Thomas

Don't feel bad. When I got the used TCI Model A chassis, and set the steering box and pitman arm up with the tie rod, and welded the steering box mount to the chassis, it ended up placing the Vega steering box so that I had to drill a hole in the motor mount underneath, to get the input shaft for the steering box to line up correctly, and nothing would be in a bind. I have photos of ther fiasco somewhere; I'll see if I can dig them up.
Oh well, it's Hot Rodding. If it was easy, everybody would do it, right?

Yeah it was kind of one of those things that you didn't want to do but knew that it needed to be done.
Kind of funny, when I was cutting up the motor mount I told my Dad that I know that its a hot rod now because I had to trim the mount.

Thomas

Nice looking work going on.

Just a question, with gas tank inside back-how are you going to fill it? I would not think taking a gas hose thru door to inside would be the best of plans. The 50's Chevy PU had the tank in cab-fill from outside and the fumes would get to you.

Earl

Originally Posted by OFT

Nice looking work going on.

Just a question, with gas tank inside back-how are you going to fill it? I would not think taking a gas hose thru door to inside would be the best of plans. The 50's Chevy PU had the tank in cab-fill from outside and the fumes would get to you.

Earl

Also on the fuel tank....I know they look nice, but I sure do hope you're planning on building a firewall around the tank to isolate it from the passenger compartment?????

Originally Posted by OFT

Nice looking work going on.

Just a question, with gas tank inside back-how are you going to fill it? I would not think taking a gas hose thru door to inside would be the best of plans. The 50's Chevy PU had the tank in cab-fill from outside and the fumes would get to you.

Earl

Thank you Earl.

As for the tank I can't think of any other way to get fuel in the tank than an outside door. There was not a lot of room for a tank anywhere else below the body. I am open to any suggestions because this is the first hot rod I ever built and truly want to make it as safe a car as possible

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Also on the fuel tank....I know they look nice, but I sure do hope you're planning on building a firewall around the tank to isolate it from the passenger compartment?????

Yes there will most deffinatly be a firewall isolating the fuel tank on three sides. I know its pinto style but there was no room for any other type of fuel tank anywhere else below the body without running into the exhaust pipes.

Truth be known, most of our hot rods are"pinto-like" in the gas tank department. Just no place to really tuck them away where a stray little old Lady in a Cadillac won't practice her parking technique. You should also consider venting the tank outside the body so fumes don't accumulate in the cockpit. (You don't smoke, do you? ) The vent can be as simple as a hose from the top of the tank that runs out into clean fresh air. I have no illusions that if some big old SUV rearends my T that I won't be smelling like unleaded for a while.

Nice little hot rod BTW.

Don

I got a new aluminum RCI tank, and cut down an old gas filler door from a 1968 VW Bug, and used all of it to connect from the tank to the outside. There was also a built-in vent in the VW filler neck, so it has worked out okay.. I'll try and dig up some photos and post them here...

Thank you for the help Don.
Would a vented filler neck be enough or would it be better/safer to also have a vent tube like you mentioned? The plans are to build a filler neck and door going to the back or side of the car with a vented gas cap. I could run a vent tube the length of the filler neck and vent through the gas door with ease.
No, I don't smoke and hopefully that old lady praticing her parking technique will have a cadillac low enough so that it will slide under the body of my car and not puncture the fuel tank.


Thanks Dave, that would be great if you could post those pics of how you went about using the VW gas door. They would be quite useful.


Thomas

Not the photos I was trying to find, but I think these will work---

Thanks for the pics Dave. That gas door turned out great.
Just out of curiousity, what is the capacity of your fuel tank?