Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

One of the reasons my project stalled, was the fact that I hated the look of the coil overs on the rear. They didn't seem as organic to me as a Model T spring did. I had used them because I wanted a softer ride on this one than my first t-bucket had, although I had never tried to make the stock Model T spring in it ride any better.
Finally, I just cut them off. The T-bucket I had built in my head when I was 13 years old had a rear transverse leaf and that's the way this one was going to be too.

 

The usual way to do this is to measure your eye to eye, (38") then measure your shackles, pin to pin. Let's say 1 1/2" on that measurement. Double that for two shackles, add it to the eye to eye, and we come up with 41". Now, that would be it on a front application, but I have found that the rear always expands a bit more than the front, so I add in 1". Done.

The other way to do it is to stick with the original measurement, and after the car is all together, double check that the shackles are hanging at a 45degree angle. If they are not, and hanging a bit more vertically, take the spring out and take the main leaf to your local spring shop and have it shortened a bit to compensate. This changes with how many leaves are in the spring, too, so it sometimes takes a bit of screwing around when you stop working with factory Ford stuff.

 

Wow shit guys I didn't even know you were supposed to do shit like that. I wonder if Norm or Tom did either. Shit I just got a T spring and stretched it across the diff. spring hangers and put on the shackles I had. You know I remember how I did it now. It was before I had installed the diff. in the car. I hooked up one end of the shackles to the diff. spring hanger Then cut a 4x4 to fit between the center of the spring and a rafter beam in my shop. Then put a jack under the other end of the spring and started lifting it. Probably lucky to be still alive. As I remember it worked pretty well though.

Also a pretty good photo of the rear hairpins on my roadster (that I made after the stock wishbones that I split cracked) that haven't been working for about 20,000 miles. And probably will never work because on paper they never could. I didn't chrome them because my welds were so ugly I had to Bondo over them. Glad I didn't now. Another thing to think about. Yes you can get too much chrome.

 

Nah, Norm and Tommy had the advantage of the worlds greatest Erector Sets, the stuff that is early Ford suspensions! Eye to eye widths were already set and not very changeable. You tool your "T" spring, your '41 rear end, and you put the two together. Done! Changing stuff around and changing spring widths to suite our whims appearance wise means we need to go back into engineering mode. No more, no less.

It is amazing how things do work when they are not supposed to, right 'Rebel?! Sometimes this stuff reminds me of a Monty Python skit, where a Hypnotist is hired by the government to build a block of apartments. He waves his hands, and a block of apartments appear! Inside, they are modern and nice and comfortable for the occupants, with one exception.... You have to continuously "believe" in them! If you find your self questioning living in the figment of another guys imagination, they fall down, and you with them!

Sometimes you just gotta do the best work you possibly can, (or have hired) keep an eye on the things you have done, and flat believe that it's gonna work correctly. Having a good base of what's physically possible and what's not is a definite must, but just knowing it'll work has to play a part.

 

Or maybe not knowing that it won't work is comforting. You know I'd be surprised if my rear suspension moved more than an inch. Maybe a little more with a 200 + lbs person next to me. Yes almost rigid so all that has to happen is that the hairpins keep the rear strait.
Ivo told me or maybe I read it in his biography that he bought a '40 Ford and him and his friends turned it on it's side in his driveway and took all the suspension parts off of it for his roadster.

 

Steve,

Maybe, but I've got a pair of 16x11 Magnesium Sprints from my FED (It's got ET III's now), so there gonna be my first try. We'll see how I like it with 12' or so rear tires on it. Judt out of curiosity, you have a pair for sale? How much?

Kurt

 

I have 15 X 10" wide Halibrand copies on the rear of my Bucket which I believe is the widest one can go without the car jumping into that era we all seem to want to avoid.
Gary there is something sexy in a banjo rear with a transverse spring as you have and that is one cock up I made when I rebuild my T, retained the Coil overs and to rub salt into the wound, I spend approximately $1500.00 kiwi to have specially rated, chrome and polished alloy springs made for the back of my T. Now how bad is that, I really do need a kick up the darkside but also in my defence, I wasn't a member of the HAMB and here.

 

Rebel: Ya got a WAY tooooo many leaves in that spring. You only need about 5/6 with no more weight than you have on that rear axle. I'm a bit of OCD on making buggy springs ride nice and I have found gennie Ford springs work much better than modern repop stuff.

 

Well the freight truck came and dropped off a rather big box in my driveway Christmas came early, Merry to me

 

I am excited for you, time to get to work

 

John your so so right but it is all about "the look". I actually had a few leaves out and it just didn't sit or look right. I'll just live with the ride to make it look right.

 

Fuck that's some kool shit. Don't know what you paid for it but worth every penny. I really thought about going up north and have a quick change center made for my roadster but you just have to quit sometime and say it's done. IT'S DONE!!!

 

Still do it that way, here's the kid busy at a '36 we stripped down for the chassis parts.

 

Well, I have eight leaves (Real Henry ) in my Rear Spring to start with, ground and tapered,so we`ll see. I remember that I only had 6 or 7 in the back of my A Sedan, but the Gas Tank was still in the cowl. Long way to go yet...

 

I just counted 9 leaves including the bottom one in the picture of the T spring on the rear of my roadster I posted above. What "ground and tapered" spring do you have for the rear of your roadster Tinbender?

 

If my aged memory serves me the A and T springs are similar in configuration but the A spring gave a softer ride having a little softer spring rate.

 

Gary, I have a Model A Rear Spring, Standard Eye. I have always rounded the ends of each leaf, ground the ends so that they have a little taper to stop them digging in to the leaf below, and ground and feathered the marks and divots out of the leaf surface where the leaf above has dug in. Those marks can create a stress riser of sorts, as well as stopping the spring from working (sliding) as it should. I was taught to do this almost 40 years ago now by an old Hot Rodder I knew in New Zealand. He was about as crusty as you, come to think of it....

 

Not as crusty as me! Nobody is as fuckin Krusty as me. I'm so KRUSTY you have to spell it with a K. Okay maybe one guy but you have to go half way around the world to find him.
All good stuff to do. makes the spring work smoother and what you grind off makes it thinner and lighter. I did that to the two leaves I had to add to the front of my roadster when I added the weight of the Cad. engine. Okay another admission I did add poly strips between the leaves of the front and back springs on my roadster when i had it apart. I did cut off the shoulder where it would show. Not sure if they did any good. But I guess they didn't hurt anything.

 

Yep, I have that liner too. I`ll put it in both springs after I paint and assemble `em for the final time. Flat out trying to finish those Cad Convert side window frames, so not much on the T this week. I`ll be making it over to Tim`s Garage tomorrow though--hope to steal...... errr..... purchase some bits as well as look at the T and visit.....

 

Wish we lived closer. You would be welcome to Steel some of Rebels stuff. Anything special you need right now? What running gear are you running?

 

I really like what you did here, very clean. Also dig your fabrication tools - knee and exhaust tubing. Nice!

 

Ya, the sad part is the exhaust tubing is about the smartest part of the outfit! Even the well trained knee is "trick" and "quick disconnect" these days.

 

Gang, I have not for got about pictures of the ongoing upholstery project. I have the seat base done for a few days now, drove over to show my buddy Ronnie, and got pulled into a project rewiring a Model "A" for a buddy of his. Try as hard as I may not to work, it sometimes finds me non the less.

 

Hey Gary.....That`s really good of you to offer to help. I have to order a few things, I could make a front spring mount, but need a set of 35-40 perches for the front,also a steering hoop. Don`t have enough weld in bungs for my LH tie rods either. I may have to run a Chevy , as my pal `PW` needs some foreign panelbeater to fix the back of his son`s Nova, and will trade me an engine for the work needed.... I went to see Tim`s T project yesterday on my frantic schedule of stops and Deliveries. His car is JUST NEAT!! .....It is so tiny, everything packed in together, but some really nice workmanship and cool touches. When he gets those 7.50x16`s on the back, the rake will be about right, I think. Man, It looks like a Matchbox Toy with that short wheelbase....Should be fun to drive!....Oh---Thanks for those parts, Tim...They will help. Maybe I can get my front end mocked up this week. Also going to run a 3 bar type rear setup. I had one on my `29 years ago, and it really worked well...

 

Hey Kiwi Paul,
Thanks for the kind words! Thanks for stopping by to check out the car, too. Glad you can use those parts - if you need help with your project, let me know! I'd love to learn a few tricks for a future build I heard you mention that my front shackle angles looked a little off, so today I did some measuring. It turns out that I need a 29" spring, which is what I remember buying, but the eye to eye measures out to 29.75"! So that needs addressed.

Chip,
Really looking forward to your upholstery tutorial! I just purchased my vinyl today since this local fabric store (Fabric Depot) had what I envisioned for 35% off! My mom, dad, and I did the upholstery on my high school car, but we had the old fabric to use for patterns. I'm very excited to see how you approach this!

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See anything you like. Are those the spring mounts you need. Thought I might change my roadsters front suspension sometime but now know I won't.

 

Hey Gary--Those Perch Bolts I see in those cut off 35-40 wishbones would help. I tried to put my hands into those boxes to search through em, but the Computer Screen was in the way... I`ll PM you my address if you want to mail `em up cheapest way. Let me know the damage for them. I am waiting for the Upholstery Lesson as well......

 

Yeah pm me your address and I'll send them up. All I want is a photo of the T posted here when you get it mocked up. Do you only want the bolts or the spring hangers too.

 

I`ll post pics, Gary. I probably will need some Computer help tho...Tim--You listening? I just need those bolts--PM or Conversation or something on the way...

 

No pressure Paul. Whenever the pictures are convenient. I just like to see what you, Tim, Chip, blue one and others are doing with your builds. Expect a CARE package soon. I love lobuk builds. That's how my build started then towards the end of the build things started looking better money wise and I could afford some chrome and kool parts.

Gary