This car is actually getting pretty far along already so this thread is more of look back on the project than it is a real time build thread. I'm sure a lot of people have already seen where I'm at on IG or here on the HAMB, but if you haven't and you don't want to spoil it, then don't go searching. I got the call about this project last November, I'm not sure what it is about Thanksgiving but my last two cars were purchased right around then (which means this has been going on for a little over a year now). @slickwilly hit me up and asked me if I was interested in a T project. It was stored in one of his out buildings / barns and the building needed some rehab so I think he just wanted the thing gone. Anyways he already knew I wanted one so the deal happened fast. Upon making it to the farm this is what I was presented.
No origin story on the body except that he'd bought it as a collection of parts from someone on craigslist. It definitely appears to be old hand laid fiberglass and it had a slide out rear tail gate, which is a feature I haven't seen before. I was told that the US Speed and Sport bodies would do this back in the day but I have no way to confirm that, so I guess I'll just perpetuate the concept until it becomes fact. At the end of the day this was the haul of parts; old glass t bucket body, front axle of unknown origin, Chevy spindles and brakes, Vega steering box, box tubing perimeter frame which was crudely set up for coil over suspension and a '58 Chevy posi rear end. I got it home and after a little mocking up this is what I had. Looks great, except I didn't want to use coil overs, the front spring mount was nowhere near strong enough. the transmission crossmember hung a foot below the frame, the motor mounts were in the wrong spot, the steering box was booger welded on and the front hairpin plates were completely crooked. Yep, other than that it looked great. In the end every bracket welded onto the frame would be cut off and fixed.
I've been working on it for a little over a year and I can't see any obstacle to the car being on the road this spring. I'm going to try to bring the thread up to date by the end of the week but getting the pictures from my phone onto the thread is a little cumbersome. I also want to try to document what went into the build because I picked up a couple tricks along the way that I think will help anyone else trying to build a T.
The first order of business was finding a power plant. Chris at Millworks Hot Rods had a '64 283 and a cast iron powerglide hooked to it, supposedly out of an Impala that a customer gave him after upgrading to another engine. It was stuck from sitting but a little oil and heat and it freed right up. I decided that I'd blow the thing apart to reseal and re ring it. It actually looked great inside. I replaced all the rings and put a set of small chamber 350 heads on it as the original heads were destroyed from some animals using the exhaust chambers as a food locker. Also installed a Mellings cam. After sourcing and refreshing the motor I started by hanging the rear end. I was going to use a four bar set up that came with the car but after a few mock ups it was obvious I should find a set of hair pins. A nice fellow I know from IG offered up a pair and I set to work installing them. Model A rear cross member was repurposed from a different build. Then I tried a couple different front end configurations but i was never happy with the "front forward" look that most dead men perches create. I wanted a nice tight wheel base and no excessive spaces between the firewall, motor, radiator and wheels. Honestly they can look great either way but that's what I wanted for this car. Here's how it looked at that point. You can see in the second picture I had cut off the flat plate originally used as a front spring perch and tacked on a more traditional suicide mount.
And here's what the little 283 looked like in the car after a freshening up. You can just see the repurposed F1 motor mounts in the last shot.
Looking forward to seeing it progress. I had to do a ton of work to my T to make it safer, reliable, and more traditional.
Thanks, yes. This was how it was welded in. I've already modified it so everything is more parallel. @rustydusty is this the kind of thing you had to fix too?
For the record I had nothing to do with the prior fabrication or color choice of this bucket o' parts!! It was being put together by a group of younger guys who got in over their heads... I picked it all up with the idea of cobbling it together with a yuge motor and cruising Nantasket for fat chicks but I think its doing much better now than what I had planned! ...and yes, I still lurk around here
Worth stating for the record, sorry if that wasn't clear. Now I can see not wanting to take credit for the fab work but the color on the frame was pretty choice. If it wasn't all flaking off I would've kept it and named the car "Purple Rain". Oh well maybe next time.
I love a build like this, fixing, repurposing and bringing an old project to life. And yeah, that color is cool, I know it would kinda spur me on...... Not so sure about the orange with it though. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thats lucky for you. I am sure there is a secret law that demand every model T hotrods to have a name with the letter T in.
It's true, and so many good T names have been used already. It took a pandemic for me to come up with something new (at least I think it's new). Quaran-T is more appropriate anyways since I've been building this car during the lock down. Amazing how much you can accomplish when every other plan you had for the year gets cancelled.
I'm planning to leave the paint alone for the time being. I'll try to blend in the maroon with a couple of rattle cans. Won't be perfect but it'll give me time to work out the bugs and decide on a final color scheme.
It was at this the point where I decided to install a Model A Cross member instead of the dead man's perch. I figured it would pull the wheelbase in enough for my liking. I had already cut off and replaced every other mount on the frame so why not cut off the front end too? You can see the difference this made in these photos. It eliminated the stretched out front end and gives it a much tighter wheelbase. It also shows the twelve spoke mags I decided to go with in the front. Before After
Love that shortened wheelbase. I wanted to shorten mine, but when I got looking at all the other things I'd have to move I left it alone. Fortunately, it doesnt LOOK as long as it did when it was 1988 teal! I know I saw your build much closer to done, but its kinda fun seeing it starting over again