Thread: Budget T-Bucket Builder

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I've been registered for a while and today's Thanksgiving message prompted me to to finally post an intro.

Like many guys 60+, I got hooked on hot rods when I first saw Norm Grabowski's flamed T-Bucket. But, I saw it first in Life magazine in 1957 with the famous picture of Norm munching a burger at the drive-in. When it later showed up occassionally on the TV series 77 Sunset Strip, that was a nice bonus to see it in action.

Got into rod building in high school helping friends with projects like a 409 powered 1948 Austin sedan. Over the years, had a '62 Chevy Bel Air bubbletop and '65 Barracuda. More recently, began a T-Bucket building project about ten years ago (yea, I know, but priorities get in the way). In beginning the T-Bucket build, I did a ton of research on all the different elements, with an eye on keeping the total project within a reasonable budget. I started with CCR plans, bought the Total Performance plan book, and picked up a bunch more. All the while, I was trying with no luck to find the book I'd heard so much about, "How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster on a Budget" and finally popped for one on eBay at $150. But, incredibly, it was worth every penny in terms of the money-saving, detailed information it offered.

Long story short: a few months ago, I came into contact with the author, Chester Greenhalgh, who'd all but disappeared for the past decade and a half. We're now working together to reintroduce his original 250 page "How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster for Under $3000" as a low-buck eBook.

This intro isn't meant to be a commercial, though. My own budget T-Bucket build is progressing, and I've taken Chester's scrounging, build-it-yourself approach all along. Using a 292 Y-block for motivation and have a nice half-dozen Holley 94s to rebuild and put on the Offy six deuce manifold. My objective for joining the forum is to be able to contribute helpful information, while picking up more for my own project.

Welcome YBlock....should be a neat build!!!! Haven't ran a 292 in anything for many, many moons, gotta wonder how many people will even know what they're looking at when it's in the car??????

I just downloaded a free chapter of the e-book and I'm going to get the complete version for the money, you can't beat it. I thought there may be something that I coud use on some of the project's I've had sitting in wait for years.

I also saw that the book was going for as high as $200 bucks by people that had wanted the book.

I think the older books had good information but like everything else today, more books less information.

Richard

I have an orginal copy of Chesters book that I have owned for at least 20 years. Its copyrighted in 1986 but it seems like I have owned it for that long. Mine is dog eared and worn and I refer to it more times than I would ever care to admit. This book has built at least 5 T Buckets over the years for me and friends. I would never sell mine at any price but I am glad to hear that old Chester is doing well and planning a new book. I hope that it will inspire a few folks to just get it done. Over the years I would hit a spot on a build and just not be sure what to do next. Without a doubt Chester has pulled me through some of those tough spots with his "Common Sense" approach.

RS

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Welcome YBlock....should be a neat build!!!! Haven't ran a 292 in anything for many, many moons, gotta wonder how many people will even know what they're looking at when it's in the car??????

Not a bad engine once you conquer the rocker assembly oiling problem and welcome to the forum. Post some pictures when you get the chance.

YBlockT's 292 with 6 carbs will look awesome. The 50's engines, especially the 7 years of Dodge,Desoto,& Chrysler Hemi's are beautiful in a roadster but custom intakes are like looking for a needle in a haystack. Log manifolds mounting 4, 6 ,or 8 strombergs are easy to make. The problem with this many carbs is they flood easy, don't idle good and have a HUGE bog when you mash the gas. Heres a trick I use to make these AWESOME looking systems streetable and avoid the embarrassment of having a car that won't start or stalls on you. Mount one rebuilt carb on each log, and make the others dummies. Use the base gasket for a template and cut block-off plates from thin sheet aluminum (beer cans work good, they can be cut with scissors) and sandwich them between the carb and the manifold. Remove the throttle plates leaving the throttle shafts in, block the fuel fitting (I braze it shut), run your fuel lines and throttle linkage to the dummie carbs. You can actually watch all the carbs working in sycronization and no one can tell they're really dummies. I hope this brings out some of those nostalgic engines out of retirement. Chester Greenhalgh

YblockT: I have a tip for you and anyone else wanting to run 4,6, or 8 carbs on the street. These systems were designed strictly for high RPM racing and are very problematic on a street machine with flooding, bad idle,stalling, etc. But heres a trick I've used to eliminate those problems and still have the AWESOME look of 6 carbs on a roadster. run two rebuilt carbs,one on each side. the other four are actually dummies with the throttle plates removed, fuel inlet fittings blocked (I braze mine closed) and thin aluminum block-off plates (beer cans work good-they can be cut with scissors)cut using the base gasket for a template, sandwiched between the carb and the manifold. Log manifolds are easy to make,and if you have one of those neat 50s engines (Caddy, Olds,Studebaker, or especially one of the early Hemis) and find Performance manifolds on e-bay like looking for a needle in a haystack, this could be an out for you. You can chrome the valve covers, get six bonnets, and run a basically stock engine this way. You don't have to mess with progressive linkage and can watch all the carbs working and NOBODDY can tell they're not real. Hope this brings out some of those engines. Chester

Welcome to the forum. We had a guy on here building a T for something like $ 3K, but he failed miserably. Hope you do better than him.

Y blocks are very cool, and very overlooked. Keep us posted on your progress.

BTW, if you loved Kookies T like I did, get the video "The car that ate my brain." It has things in it you have probably never seen before on Norms car.

Don

Originally Posted by YblockT

I've been registered for a while and today's Thanksgiving message prompted me to to finally post an intro.

Like many guys 60+, I got hooked on hot rods when I first saw Norm Grabowski's flamed T-Bucket. But, I saw it first in Life magazine in 1957 with the famous picture of Norm munching a burger at the drive-in. When it later showed up occassionally on the TV series 77 Sunset Strip, that was a nice bonus to see it in action.

Got into rod building in high school helping friends with projects like a 409 powered 1948 Austin sedan. Over the years, had a '62 Chevy Bel Air bubbletop and '65 Barracuda. More recently, began a T-Bucket building project about ten years ago (yea, I know, but priorities get in the way). In beginning the T-Bucket build, I did a ton of research on all the different elements, with an eye on keeping the total project within a reasonable budget. I started with CCR plans, bought the Total Performance plan book, and picked up a bunch more. All the while, I was trying with no luck to find the book I'd heard so much about, "How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster on a Budget" and finally popped for one on eBay at $150. But, incredibly, it was worth every penny in terms of the money-saving, detailed information it offered.

Long story short: a few months ago, I came into contact with the author, Chester Greenhalgh, who'd all but disappeared for the past decade and a half. We're now working together to reintroduce his original 250 page "How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster for Under $3000" as a low-buck eBook.

This intro isn't meant to be a commercial, though. My own budget T-Bucket build is progressing, and I've taken Chester's scrounging, build-it-yourself approach all along. Using a 292 Y-block for motivation and have a nice half-dozen Holley 94s to rebuild and put on the Offy six deuce manifold. My objective for joining the forum is to be able to contribute helpful information, while picking up more for my own project.

you need to go to www.killbillet.com and check out the sticky " how i built my tee " by donsrods,he's itoldyou so here , everything you need to know to build a hotrod is there plus he;s here to ans your specific questions . PS I looked all over for you don at the Turkey run but no luck . One of these days we are going to Edisons and Fords places maybe we could hook up for a beer and a tour of your shop "drool drool" LFE

Welcome! Sounds really cool, I like the vintage engine approach. When do you think the e-book version will be available to the public?

Originally Posted by ChestersAlive

YBlockT's 292 with 6 carbs will look awesome. The 50's engines, especially the 7 years of Dodge,Desoto,& Chrysler Hemi's are beautiful in a roadster but custom intakes are like looking for a needle in a haystack. Log manifolds mounting 4, 6 ,or 8 strombergs are easy to make. The problem with this many carbs is they flood easy, don't idle good and have a HUGE bog when you mash the gas. Heres a trick I use to make these AWESOME looking systems streetable and avoid the embarrassment of having a car that won't start or stalls on you. Mount one rebuilt carb on each log, and make the others dummies. Use the base gasket for a template and cut block-off plates from thin sheet aluminum (beer cans work good, they can be cut with scissors) and sandwich them between the carb and the manifold. Remove the throttle plates leaving the throttle shafts in, block the fuel fitting (I braze it shut), run your fuel lines and throttle linkage to the dummie carbs. You can actually watch all the carbs working in sycronization and no one can tell they're really dummies. I hope this brings out some of those nostalgic engines out of retirement. Chester Greenhalgh

I have many times for years run multi carbs without any trouble on the street, and I know of many others that do the same. I think it's the way you set them up, and, or the way you tune/adjust them.

Pat

HemiTCoupe: Your hemi is a state of the art, work of art. The envy of all who see it, including me. With a background in engines like that you have to be an expert in tuning. Money opens many doors, one of them is knowledge. I wouldn't know where to begin tuning an engine like that. We're like a Ferrari and an old ford pickup sharing the same road, and we live in two different worlds. For the money you have in that engine, on my side of the tracks, I could build two turn-key T-Buckets. They would be picked apart in your world, reverred in mine. I don't get off on being the envy of others, I get off on comradeship, its much more rewarding. It's also the creed of Rat Rodders everywhere, a group I am proud to consider myself part of. The ideas I post on the forum are simply based on my economical solutions to building rods. Chester

Hello y blockt nice work on that motor I'm a newbie here on this site & was looking for other hemi freaks like myself. that 292 y block is oh so cool for a t we were going to put a 265 chevy in a T but now we are going to a hemi. Presently we are finding the cheapest companies for parts for our hemi collection, a 392, a 354, & a basket case of as yet unknown size & we have a customers 331 waiting for/ to be installed in his fourdoor T bucket. I have recently found some norm grabowski stuff in old car magazines & we believe some of it predatrs his kookie days by at least three years. I like your idea of reproducing that 250 page book on how to build a tBucket for under 3000. that's all for now gotta go to the newbie section.

I would like to once again thank yblockT for offering my ''T'' chassis plans on his site.

I got real lucky and scored a factory rebuilt 292 with less than 1500 miles on it out of a '56 pickup for $300. Got an Edlebrock 573 3-2 manifold off e-bay for almost as much as i paid for the engine and a set of vintage Edlebrock valve covers also very spendy. I'll be mating the to a '39 top loader with an open drive to a '42 pickup rear end.

Here's my version in mock up;

Ron

Neat lookin' setup, Youngster!!! Us geezer type Blue Oval guys have a lot of memories, some good, some not so good, of the old Y-blocks!!!! Really looking forward to watching your progress on this car!!!