I was contemplating doing this as well - best I can figure you're going to need to have an A bottom tank grafted to the T radiator. This will allow the radiator to sit down properly on the A crossmember. Then you'll need to have the T upper tank scalloped (dished out) to provide clearance for the fan (or give up running a fan) - radiator inlet will need to be moved off to the side if you scallop and run a fan - or adjusted to a different angle if you go without a fan, and you'll need to either fab up a different water neck and/or find a radiator hose to fit. I would definitely suggest moving the body up...normally T's on A's have the firewall in line with the rearmost bolt for the rear motor mount. Looks like you'll need to move it up a good 3". Biggest issue is even moving it up 3" you'll still have too much space between the radiator shell and the cowl to make a stock T hood fit. Check out hotrodfil's excellent T-Touring on an A chassis for details of his radiator mod and hood fabrication; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=727945
HotrodPhil's is an awesome ride. I like his radiator idea but I am going to move the body up tight to the engine instead of making a custom longer hood.
I don't think you'll have room. A '26-27 T hood is only 26" long - the A motor is 26" from the front of the crank pulley to the back of the block. The 28-29 A hood is 28 1/2" long FWIW. You also have the hump in the T firewall that may complicate cylinder head removal if you move the body up too much, but a little clever engineering may get you there...I'll be following along.
Not the best pic but here's a model A radiator cut down 2 inches (I think) with the upper neck reconfigured, pointing more/less straight back instead of down. Cooled the motor nicely. Had to cut the fan blades shorter to clear. Turned out that I didn't need to run the fan to keep it cool.
I've been told that the '28 frame was designed to mount the '26-'27 body as insurance against the '28 bodies not being ready in time. I haven't exactly seen anything from Ford stating that however. It's cool to see a gow coupe coming together. Or I should say another. You should check out xrw urabus's T-framed effort here.
I was out there last night taking some measurements. The stock hood is 26" long. If i can move the body forward 4 inches and get the radiator to come back towards the engine half an inch I can make the stock hood fit. I may have to put a small notch in the firewall for the head. We'll see.
Talk about TITS !! I love that idea, and have often wondered if I should have gone that direction with my '26 Coupe on it's "A" Body... Love it, and anxious to see how it comes along. Cheers...
Just measured some more, It will fit but it will be tight. I am going to have to put the upper radiator hole off to the side to fit up to the A engine outlet with a curve in the hose. I am going to modify the front crossmember so I can keep the stock T radiator. This means it would sit higher than it does now because the T radiator makes for a deeper crossmember. So I am going to swap the front leaf to the wishbones behind the tie rod and lengthen the widshbone to drop her down and this should kick the axle out in front of the grill shell and give it back the model A wheelbase. Sounds good in my head.......
I love 30's/ 40's builds. My true inspiration in hot rod building is making something that someone could have done with parts from then. Pretty or not, it is bringing the past back............ making you look at something and wonder if it is an oldie from back in the day??????
Worked a little on the T this weekend. I screwed around with the front suspension a bit. I need to lower the front crossmember about an inch to lower the radiator to the correct height. This will raise the car so I had to drop it a bunch to get it where I wanted. I removed the leaf from above the axle and mounted it behind it on a pair of 34 bones. I still need to split them behind the leaf mount as they are resting against the frame as it sits. Will just make a pie cut in them and pull them out. It made the wheelbase look long but I am removing 4 inches from the rear of the frame when I z it to pull the body up to the motor where it should be. This should fix the long wheelbase look and get it where I want it.
You can see that my spring is twisting pretty hard and the frame is resting on the wishbones, not to mention my axle angle is pretty extreme. Splitting them, moving them to the frame rail and picking them up should cure everything.
Well, after thinking long and hard about this project, I decided to not do the T coupe as a gow job so I sold the body to a local guy that wants to build a rad 60's style tall T. I am now on the hunt for the front half of a touring body. Anybody got one?
Awww. I didn't think your coupe was particularly traditional, but I thought it was neat. I'm sorry it's not gonna happen.
Damn....me too .......was really looking forward to the coupe body car. I like a roadster...don't get me wrong....but you were really on to something with the lowered coupe. Interested to see what you do with the roadster body. Sent from Mr. ModelT's DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Shame... I did a modelcar to see how a T coupe looks like on A rails, and I will build that thing. Need a 23T body.
Damn, I was looking forward to it also. Don't see too many of them done that way I liked what Clayton did with the photochop to see it come to life, snags and all would've been neat...
Btw. There is this dude from England who had a T coupe on A frame. Actually he had all kinds of bodies on it, currently it's a sport coupe, but as I was looking thru the net the first time I had the idea of dropping a T coupe on my A, I found two pics of his car back then: And here it is from the profile, chopped in Photoshop and added bigger wheels out back, just to see how it looks like: Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I know it is a bummer guys but it was also a question of money. I only had a small budget with the coupe and I basically ran out of money. Maybe in a few years when I make more money I will be able to swing it but not now.
I think I can speak for all of us when I say.....we understand We were just looking forward to the coupe is all....but I know it will be perfect and period no matter what is has for a body ....heck, one of my favorite Gowjobs of all time, the Robert Hodge T, is a cut down '23 touring....has been since the mid 1930's. Just keep going and keep us posted....we all want to see your progress! Sent from Mr. ModelT's DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
I understand as well. More gows is better, regardless of body style. Although I prefer my touring cars fully intact.
Hey, that's me what seems a lifetime ago! That was around 1991 outside my parents place. There was never the question of running a hood on that car so I just sat the body where it looked the most comfortable. The lack of any fender location marks on a 24 coupe meant that nothing had to line up all that accurately. I did plan to chop the car but with one thing and another ended up selling the body to a doctor in Scotland. Wish I could have it back now...
1991! That is ages ago. I found that two pics somewhere after I put a scale model T coupe body on A frame, and liked it so much that I figured somebody must have done it before. After that I found out that this car has been around forever and now sportin' the sport coupe body. Do you have more pics of that configuration? Any troubles with pedals or anything else you can remember? Here is a dude who has a perfectly preserved Tall T, but would sell it just in one piece, and there is no market here to get rid of just the chassis... And just for the body it's too much money he wants... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I might have a couple of pictures stashed in a box somewhere, I'll take a look. The originals are in colour, I've not seen them in black and white before, so someone has had a play with them. There was no issue with the pedals as I made a firewall to suit, for some reason it never came with one. Could you build a very basic speedster out of the T chassis? That might be a way round moving it on. Shame your not closer to Englnd as I might have been interested in a complete T chassis.
I'm in Denmark, ain't that far away. The T dude asks £ 6500 for it. And considering the fact that I would have to keep my A body anyway, ain't such a great price. It's been for sale about 3 years now... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!