Turkeyjerk's Tailgate Torpedo Trad T

[thunderbirdesq]

I thought I'd start a build thread for my friend Matt's '23 T that I've been thrashing on lately. He's a Lurker here, going by Turkeyjerk, but hopefully he'll be chiming in more now that this thread is up. First off, I'd like to thank the HAMB members for making so much great information available. We really couldn't do this without it. This is Matt's first hot rod and he's done an incredible ammount of learning and thinking about the outcome and process in a short span of time. In March, we picked up a front half of a '23 touring and some other parts from 1oldrat here on the hamb (thanks, Chad!) and Matt's been steadily collecting parts for the last few months. He's been obsessed with the famous late 50's-early 60's T's like the Lightning Bug, Ivo's T, and obviously the Kookie car so a lot of inspiration has been drawn from them. Royalshifter's T is also a common reference. (nice car man!) The plan is this: A fast, finished, shiny dark blue, reliable T roadster using traditional parts and methods built within a reasonable budget. No max price has been set and no corners will be cut, but we intend invest a lot of sweat equity in this project. We will probably look like a couple of Goons riding in it, as we're both over 6' tall, but we've decided to do right by the car and keep the build with the car's best asthetic interests in mind. Without further ado...

A quick mockup to get the stance right... yep, perfect!

We picked up 2 lengths of 2x3x0.180" tubing from our cranky steel supplier, Roger. We laid them out on our "frame table" and set up our crossmembers. Some of these pics are less than stellar, my camera got some moisture in it.

Matt, trimming the front crossmember pocket.

checking the fit.

Next, we set it up on the garage floor and leveled everything out. We measured fore, aft, and across about 500 times, tweaking and tapping things to make certain it was straight and square and tacked the front and rear crossmembers in. We rechecked our measurements, cleaned and prepped the weld areas, and welded it up.

[thunderbirdesq]

We split the wishbone on the front axle which we got from Kwmpa (thanks Kev!) And with lots of heat and a big ford tool (hammer) everything was freed up.

A deal was also struck for a restored '37 banjo rear with tall "hot rod" gears. A model a coupe rear spring had 3 leaves removed and was installed on the rear with a 3" spacer. I set up the front end with a model A spring hung from the wishbones and some juice brakes were scored at the Jalopy Showdown Swap. I installed a few gussets and rolled it out of the garage to take a look. Obviously, at this point the rear suspension is not complete and the front is just mocked up.




We're using a rebuilt 71? four-bolt main 350/350 that Matt pulled from his rusty chevelle. Which 46Mopar conveniently helped us dispose of... Thanks John! Anyhow, Yeah, yeah, SBC this, bellybutton that, I don't wanna hear any shit, if anyone wants to donate a reliable vintage rocket, nailhead, hemi, etc... we'll gladly take it and use it! The engine will be dressed nicely with a set of home-brewed headers and traditional induction setup yet to be decided. We all know that the SBC was a hot ticket in the 50's and 60's and just because they've been done to death doesn't necessarily mean they've been done right! We decided to build a Hurst style front mount just because I think they look cool. We whittled this out of some 0.25" plate and welded it up. It will get a few lightening holes.

Yes, the screwdrivers and wood pucks will be replaced with a rubber biscuit mount!

[thunderbirdesq]

We whipped up a transmission mount/K-member from some leftover 2x3x0.180 tubing and some 2x3 c-channel. I didn't get many pics of this, but I think Matt has a few that I'll post later.

Moving on... This is where our first snag became evident. Initially, since we had planned on running a chevy rear with a spring over configuration, the frame was z'd for that consideration. Now with the weight of the engine and transmission on the chassis, the spring behind the banjo axle, and the bones held where the pinion angle would be correct, even with a 3" spacer above the spring there was not enough clearance for the rear suspension. The rear axle would hit the frame and the wishbones would also smack the bottom of the rails if they were installed in their intended location. So, after much brainstorming over a few lagers, we decided to recut the rear section turning our Z into the front half of a mild c-notch. We would have plenty of clearance and it would give the frame a slight rake which I thought would improve the overall look of the car. It's got a 100" wheelbase. We rolled it out of Matt's garage and snapped a few pics. The cows were impressed!





As far as wheels and tires go, He just picked up a set of 40's ford steelies to replace the wires on the rear and she'll be wearing Big-n-Little bias ply whitewalls all around.

[thunderbirdesq]

Speaking of the rear suspension, when we picked up the rear axle, I noticed a shoddy looking repair to one of the spring hangers. I didn't think much of it until we got the spring off and I had a chance to really llook at it. This is what I found...


Sheet metal bubble-gum welded around ground/rusted (?) away perch. Nice... Not really what i'd like to have holding my car up!
So, since we weren't using the perches on the front of the wishbones, I cut both of them off.

And sliced a little bit from one.

I welded the two piece together with an old bushing installed to keep the id straight. Then I heated the perch arm up with the torch to ensure good penetration and welded it up. Good as new!

[thunderbirdesq]

That's about where we're at for now. It's amazing how hours and hours of work can be summed up into a few sentences! More to follow as we do it. The list of projects for the next few weeks includes: Wood replacement/subframe/channeling the old body, A torque arm to save our wimpy wishbones, shock mounts using old wishbone pieces, headlight mounts/bar, mounting an early Econoline brake assy, and maybe if we're feeling really froggy an open-drive conversion and building a driveshaft.

We also have to figure out our steering setup. We have a nice f-1 box that came with the body, but it seems a little bulky for this thing. I suggested a small, inconspicuos cowl steering setup, ala Royalshifter's, but I don't think Matt's sold on it yet. Ideas anyone?

[Kustomkarma]

Looks like everything is coming along nicely. Do you have any shots of how you mounted the rear 'bones or of the mount that they're attached to? What are you going to do for a driveshaft? I'm considering a similar design for my own car so I'm real curious.

[thunderbirdesq]

Originally Posted by Kustomkarma

Looks like everything is coming along nicely. Do you have any shots of how you mounted the rear 'bones or of the mount that they're attached to? What are you going to do for a driveshaft? I'm considering a similar design for my own car so I'm real curious.

I don't have good shot of the rear wishbone mounts, I'll get one later today for you. I used some front wishbone (3/16" wall) sections as standoffs from the bottom of the trans mount with shock eyes to recieve the tie rod ends. I mounted them as close to the center as possible to allow for good axle articulation and gusseted the standoffs for strength. You definitely need a torque arm with this setup, keep that in mind. As far as the driveshaft goes, we're gonna need a short one! 100" wheelbase and an auto trans doesn't leave much room there. We saved the Chevelle driveshaft and slip-yoke, so it will be a matter of shortening it down to about 2 feet or so. I have a no-lathe process that I use and I'll document and post it when we get that far. The open drive conversion has to be done first though.

[Unclee]

I've bookmarked this page! I especially like seeing individual approaches to design and also to problem solving. (I'd also bet that you beat the ugly truck to completion)

[thunderbirdesq]

Originally Posted by Unclee

I've bookmarked this page! I especially like seeing individual approaches to design and also to problem solving. (I'd also bet that you beat the ugly truck to completion)

Thanks Unclee! We'll see, we're really hoping to have all the major stuff done within a few weeks. I'd like to see it run at the Showdown Drags this fall.

[nailheadroadster]

Looking good!!! Please keep us posted.

[alteredpilot]

first time i've ever seen a t with a c-notch...

looks like a cool little deal....

inspiration to get going on mine.

[thunderbirdesq]

Originally Posted by alteredpilot

first time i've ever seen a t with a c-notch...

looks like a cool little deal....

inspiration to get going on mine.

Yeah, weird how it worked out that way... I think the combination of the spring behind axle with the A rear crossmember made it necessary. I thought about simply removing the z, but that still would have left very little clearance over the axle. I also toyed with the idea of replacing the A crossmember with a flat one, but in the end, the use of old ford parts won out.

[60'shotrod]

I like the look of that!Nice work.

[monkeybiker]

I hit the same problem you did. With the same rear axle - well, a '39 anyway. Bit the bullet and cut it all off again... I swapped the casings side to side and put a T spring in front instead. Same 100" wheelbase too!

Not particularly good pictures but,

[thunderbirdesq]

Originally Posted by monkeybiker

I hit the same problem you did. With the same rear axle - well, a '39 anyway. Bit the bullet and cut it all off again... I swapped the casings side to side and put a T spring in front instead. Same 100" wheelbase too!

Wow, I didn't even know that was possible! How is the ride affected by that change? Wasn't part of the reason Ford changed to a spring behind axle that it offered a smoother suspension cycle? I might have dreamed that, but I could swear it's been said... Anyhow, it looks cool as hell and you obviously have fun with it. I like the rear axle sticking out there with nothing to hide.

[monkeybiker]

Ride is unbelievably good, soft 'cos of the T spring in the rear, plus I run a '39 spring in front too. Handles lovely in the twisty country lanes of which there's loads round here...

[kwmpa]

Wow that rear hanger was bad...should have given me a call i would have just swapped you with one i had no questions asked...im gonna take thos pictures to bob and show him

[monkeybiker]

Your mileage will differ–and stop me if I'm boring you, but here's some more snaps for ya of my dreadful parking outside the house...





and an old snap of the chassis being primered in my spotless paint booth...

[Cajun Kenny]

wow! you guys are rocking and rollin on this project , looks great!

[disturber]

Damn, off to a good running start. If I know anything at all about you two this'll be done in no time at all and hard to beat. Matt, I knew you were bit by the bug when I saw you at the drags last year. Maybe I'll follow you guys down on my bike this time around. I'll be checking back here for progress.