Hey guys, Long time no see.. Been a little busy with the winged death traps.. But I picked up a Tbucket a couple days ago and got to thinking about yall.. So i thought id share my project goals with my online friends whom i have never met, sept that weird guy at the Giddings show a few weeks ago... A strange little hack job was that done to this frame, not real sure what was happening, front end work he did looked pretty good.. The ass end looks like, well ASS! The guy said he had it all laid out, cut, measured and ready to reassemble, he turned his attention away from the project for a couple of moments. Suddenly a roaming mental patient ran up and welded some crap all over the rear of the frame, then skipped away whistling the "Welcome Back Carter" theme song. Sounded odd to me, but then he told me who it was so, I believe him. This thing was just heartbreaking (so i had to have it) Its a Ford Model T frame, no idea what year tho. Got a fiberglass 27 bucket on it, Cool windshield and frame. original Ford dash panel, something weird shit happened to the dash inner structure, A very rare External combustion 305 V8 block with original rust and rat turds still in it (packing material im sure), and sporting the new No Top End look on both banks, a nicely patina-ed TH350 trans.. I think the water in it is circa 1983. Grill shell embossed with Hercules Power and is totally bitchen, a set of wheels consisting of 1-Ranger, 1-Jeep, 1-Camaro spare and 1-S-10" wheels, pretty sure these are Authentic Road Warrior rolling stock (from the "shit that didnt work on set" collection), A complete S10 rear end. Unidentified headlights, that look kinda cool. Neat front end set up, disc brakes, 6" drop Superbell axle.. And lots of other bits and parts. Im gonna tinker with this in my down time.. an add some aircraft droppings to the pile that is a T Bucket. Seats might be from a 1949 Yakolev YaK-11 Soviet Trainer (although those are probably worth 10X what the car is).. Got a Battery box from a 1942 Piper L-4 Liason/Spotter plane. May even use a dented fuel tank i found that would have gone in a 1938 Ercoup or something like that. Basically.. the bastardization will continue!! I should call this thread re-hacking the hacked, but screw it, it RUNS!
My Girlfriend and my daughter have completed the seats now, and we are getting much closer to driving this thing! This is what out T looked like when we got it in July of 2010 .. this picture is September 2010. This is how our T looked as of the end of August 2010.. Havent been able to work with it much in the last few months, since i have relocated my business and started a second aircraft support business. We finally have some time to work on the T now. Picked up a pile of parts yesterday at the Austin Swap meet. Ordered a Pile or 2 of parts from Speedway over the last week or so. Hopefully we will be driving this around in a few weeks! PS the ass end is actually a bottom cowling prototype that i made in 2009 for a Ravin 500 with an LS1 engine (the Ravin 500 is a fiberglass Piper Commanche kit out of South Africa what normally uses an I0-540 Lycoming) This idea was shit canned.. in favor something that looked more like a truck.. (June 2011)
Well the little T is closer to finished now.. still have some issues to solve. mostly where in the hell to locate the master cylinder and brake arm.. the frame is so narrow, and the trans is right in the way.. any suggestions? We tried several options for a rear end.. upside down airplane cowl, foot locker etc.. but i really wanted a longer bed, and something that just looked different.. so I had this idea.. i dig it, i glassed it up and sealed, now its now ready to paint (well almost). This picture was day 2 of construction.. We also opted to use a Mustang II rack and pinion on our dropped superbell front end, again with the frame being so narrow, it was tough to find a good place for a Vega gear box, just looked way to cluttered we got everything on the frame painted and re-installed now.. basically just need a shortened drive shaft, and a better place to mount the master cylinder
Cool little T. I'm having the same issues with locating my master cyilnder and brake arm. Let me know what you come up with....
No. Mine is sitting on a Model A frame thats been pinched in to fit the Model T firewall, so I'm running into the same space problems as you....
ah gotcha.. I ordered a speedway mastercyl/pedal mount, im thinking of relocating the little tab for the push rod, so that the pedal will lay flat with just the curved arm going up through the floor board.. then putting the master cyclinder behind my transmission cross member.. looks like it will work... i let you know what i come up with
looks great, im hoping to s tart a Tbucket come winter also. keep up the work, and you be driving soon.. sounds like girlfriend and the daughter are gonna confiscated which is all good chris.
i jumped up and down on it, and it doest change the toe of the wheels.. It did with the first attempt.. the spring was mounted to an arched cross member, making the front end too low. I cut that out and made it flat, raising the nose.. Im sure on a large bump, bottoming out the spring it will, but the bounce test with my fat ass on it, they dont move NEW EDIT.. 1/25/11 They dont toe in or out at all when the suspension moves.. since the rack and pinion has a u-joint in the shaft on each side.. they move just like the axle does.. plenty of travel!
We have made ALOT of progress on the ol' Bucket in the last few weeks.. kinda been on the back burner, but managed to get it painted, re-assembled, wired, running and a lot of little loose ends tied up.. BUT! I need a damn shift lever for a TH350 trans! I have no idea where mine went, odds are it was never in the pile(s) o crap that Ive been scabbing together. If anyone has one let me know.. i have some money. first start up video.. not really bad ass or anything but its been a long time coming for us http://youtu.be/yMinI65akiE In answer to an earlier question.. I found a reverse master cyclinder and pedal combo at www.chassisshop.com it was around 140 bucks for the whole set up (its not here yet so i cant give any reviews of it, but looks like a nice set up)
That frame is a shortened TT 1-ton truck frame. Started in 1919 and virtually unchanged through 1927. First steel closed cab truck body used in 1925-27. Previous to that ir was a cowl and chassis with your choice of various aftermarket wood-structured bodies.
As mentioned above, and I'm no engineer, I suspect you need to re-engineer that frame mounted MII rack. With a straight axle, the rack needs to be mounted ON the axle. The way it is, you will get a lot of geometry changes as the front suspension moves about. I would do it, but I'd use a very lite weight oval track racing part and mount it on the back of the front axle. Gary
I had one of those frames that came with the T truck cab that is yard art at the moment out by the driveway. it was bent pretty good from a wreck but those frames are as heavy as all hell. The photos of the 27 after it was painted almost make it look like it's a model car photo shopped into a garage scene.
Man i WISH it was a model car.. would have been A LOT easier to do! As for the front end, im gonna try it like it is.. I am certainly no engineer either.. if it sucks, Ill do exactly as you suggested.. mount it to the axle. Just curious tho, what kind of changes in geometry are you talking about? if tie rods can move through out the entire arc of the axle during its articulation.. i still dont see how it could change caster, camber, rake, trail, toe in, or toe out.. The axle can only go up and down.. the radius arms prevent it from twisting fore and aft as well as prevents any rotating the whole assembly.. The Mustang didnt have its rack and pinion mounted to its axle.. granted it has an independent suspension up front.. but it still mounted to the cross member, the wheels move, the rack is stationary.. pretty much what ive got here.. just sayin
Well the Bucket made it home with no broken shit, or parts falling off.. (from my shop in Giddings to my house in Round Rock.. 72 miles) And Ive been driving it around for week or so now and I have to say I love the Rack and Pinion front end!!!! It doesnt wander, bump steer or bind in anyway! I havent really been setting land speed records with the car (yet) but at 75 MPH it feels great!! A couple fingers on the wheel, just incase some jack ass swerves at me and its just as smooth as my daily driver (well almost) Front shocks were the first things I replaces.. the swap meet junk shocks were replaced by some chrome Pro-Shocks (it was only another 10 bucks for chrome, so what the hell).. Redos now are Seat back (WAY TO THICK) and perhaps rear springs (a tad stiff, since the thing dont weigh shit) Ive been goofing around the Round rock area with it the last couple weeks, I think Ive got about 150 miles on it (not real sure, no speedo or odometer) but 20 gallons of fuel has been purchased thus far (includes a few days of driving around the airport in front of my shop, just "testin" lol) Also thinkin about lowering the ass end a few inches.... the bastardization will continue LOL In short, Rack and Pinion makes a model T drive nicely at highway speeds (but again Im no engineer)!!
And hoghead.. The master cylinder I ended up using was one I found on a drag racing website.. It is a reversed M/C with mount and pedal all loaded and ready to go, for 120 bucks! It fits great!!! Plenty of stopping power!! Its made by CNC Brakes (cncbrakes.com) I purchased it from Pro Werks (pro-werks.com) I really like it (although I have to remove the instrument panel to add fluid, so that kinda sucks, should have left the damn cowl vent door) Sweet little set up, I think.
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