I've been a member of the H.A.M.B. for several months now, thanks to everyone posting and to Denise for the after hours Autorama party earlier this year, I have already learned quite a bit and my eyes are a little more open each day to traditional hot rodding. Well, I got a project car for $200.00, it's a 1925 T roadster. Here is what I got for the money: an original non boxed frame, front and rear fenders, original steering column with steering wheel spokes (no actual steering wheel), original rear axle, turtle deck, radiator shell, firewall, hood, original front and rear springs, original flat head four cylinder engine block and crank, original transmission, and some other assorted pieces. Since I got the car, I met an old-school circle track racer from the 50's (very interesting guy with about 20 cars, many of which are old rods that are all licensed and appear to be driven regularly, deserves it's own post with pictures actually) that was nice enough to give me a front axle complete with juice brakes, spring, and (wishbone?) out of an early 40's Ford. I have a friend who will sell me a Ford eight inch rear for a good price if I need it. I will need to find a body or bucket, I would like a steel one. I have a good idea of what I like, no fenders or hood, V-8, not too low, loud header exhaust, etc. My idea is to use a good running 77 305 motor and 200 metric trans that I currently have in my very reliable daily summer driver, and a Ford eight inch rear and go from there. I'm not exactly sure where to start. I have been given a variety of input from different people like don't put a chevy in a Ford, that is boring and I won't be interested. Box the current frame, build a different frame, don't build that car at all, sell the parts and buy something more complete. I am still leaning towards using what I have, do the best I can in building this car and gain the experience that will come with, and see how it turns out. Maybe I would sell it and move onto something else, or keep it if I like it. I have attached a couple pics, Any input would be greatly appreciated as I am in the beginning stages of collecting parts and thoughts. Thanks, Greg
The biggest problem you'll have fabbin' stuff up right now is the lack of a body. But, that shouldn't stop you from the first couple of items I'd put on my list 1) cleaning up the frame - simply in preparation of the welding you'll be doing 2) boxing said frame (they really can't take a lot of torque, you'll probably want to do this) Once I got that done, I'd really need to have either the body or the dimensions of the body I was expecting to use, as I'd want to mount the front and rear end (body isn't critical, it's just that you'll want it to look right). Then the radiator mounting position along with the engine/tranny positioning. At this point, you'll have so much to think about that anymore that I write will be useless. One other idea, there are a couple of 'build your own hotrod' books at barnes&noble, borders, etc., that have a lot of this step by step stuff already laid out. I've found them very helpful for at least getting my mind in the right place.
One more thing, here's a post that details alot of the steps, in a pretty good semblance of order: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74472
My advice? If you want to nail the proportions and stance, find your body first and mock everything up. Once your pile of parts is stacked as you like, you can easily determine how much you're going to need to kick up the chassis, where the motor mounts should be, where the body & grille will mount, where the axles will be, what needs to be done to connect the axles to the frame, etc. Take lots of pictures to reference later during the build. I've only done one of these and I'm not even done yet... this is just my advice from going thru it once. Ed
How about using a Model T engine? You can build up a really fun car, meet lots of nice people and not go bankrupt. You can also amaze you friends on the use of the 3 peddles! There are a lot of T web sites for info. Look into joining a local club. We love new, young blood. Or, you can just build up a plastic, 1-800 car like everyone else.
Neither are really my scene I guess, I want a V-8 but no thanks to the plastic. Thanks for your input though.
Lose that frame entirely if using a V8. Ladder type frames are easy to build. The original Model T frames were designed to twist because at that time the roads were not exactly where they are now. Call ANY hot rod shop in the nation and NOT ONE will recomend boxing and keeping it (even the ones that aren't trying to sell you one).
s.r.i. Thanks for the info, this helps. I keep looking at the frame thinking, nah, doesn't look like what I should use...
From what I see in the pictures the only part I would use is the front axle and hydrolic brakes. That thing is beautiful. If the guy gave it to you you owe him big time. As stated before,the frame is worthless for anything but a restorer but would be handy for use as a jig for repairing a T body prior to building a new frame or buying a model A frame and reinforcing it for your V-8 project. Ts fit quite well on a model A frame. Good Luck. Let's see some pictures of the oldtimers cars.
In my opinion, T's are awesome. Any type/style, fendered or fenderless. The only thing that makes me sick is when a builder stretches the frame in order to 'fit' an engine. Taking the time to build it right, and if necessary, fabricate the parts to squeeze whatever engine you want into a near stock wheelbase is what sets a true rod apart from the rest. Just my 2 cents.
Good looking work there! I agree, I told him to let me pay him, he said "nope". I told him if he ever needs anything moved or any kind of grunt work to let me know, I would come over and help him out. With that he laughed, picked up the axle assembly himself and walked it over to the truck for me to load, this guy is in his seventies. Since then he has stopped by a couple times on a motorized bicycle to check up on my progress. He got pulled over going 47 miles per hour on that thing, he had to license it as a moped to avoid problems with the cops. I will get over there sometime soon and get some pictures of his cars. Thanks for the tech advice!, all this input is helping me sort out what I need to do. I am taking notes big time.
The best Model T period is Ed Iskenderian's. You could pull off that look using a smallblock, since he was running an early Ford V8 with an F-head conversion. He used Essex rails, but you could probably substitute a modern box tubing frame or some kind of mail-order bucket T chassis. The rear crossmember off that T frame is a beautiful piece. Personally, I'd be tempted to build a 2x3 box tubing frame around it.
Not that i know anything from anything, but you could start by gathering all the pics from hot rod magazines, do a search here on this site and get all these photos together and see if there are any styles of build that you really like. Maybe take some of the pics, cut them apart and but different parts together to see if you can take the best parts to make your dream. Anyway, try & get the dream out of your head and sorta on paper. Now, you have an objective to work towards and start gathering the necessary parts to get there. For the actual car, get the frame with axles, wheels/tires going to get the ride height. Then go for the body placement. Finally, wire the ignition and a brake light & enjoy. Just remember to have fun along the way.
That looks sweet, pretty much the look I have in my mind for my car. Thanks for your input! I am going to go on the web in search of more pictures of this car and other Ts. Thanks again.
>>Lose that frame entirely if using a V8 I have an all steel 27T modified using a boxed & Z'eed 21 T Truck frame with lots of tubular K & cross members. The Truck chassis is twice the depth of a standard T frame but tapers towards the front - it is also much thicker and stonger to start with. I'm using 30's Ford springs and a late 30's front axle with F1 Bendix brakes at the front and a Mustag axle at the back. Steering is side steer via a Land Rover box. Front bones are split but the rear is unsplit on a rose joint. Engine is a 1957 347 Pontiac on a manual gearbox. Here's some pictures - if I can manage this over in the UK it should be a piece of piss in the US of A.
Thanks for the thoughts and the pics! How much for that steering wheel on the wall, the one on the right? I like it!
Steering wheel is just a Series 2 Land Rover Banjo wheel sprayed gold. Would cost 4 times what it's worth to ship it. I think these were also fitted to quite a few British cars back in the 60's.
I would agree with SRI and loose the frame. And use it to take dimensions from for building one out of 2x3 or 2x4 tube steel. You need to find the missing middle piece of your body to start the mock ups. The front wishbone you have is perfect for splitting with the step in the front you can use a rear cross steer set up. Do a search on splitting bones and welding in bungs. One problem with using the 40's front and 8" rear is wheel bolt pattern (5.5 frt & 4.5 rear), there was a post about converting a 8" to the big 5 yesterday if you dont want to go with wheel adapters. My last piece of advice is buy Vern Tardells A-V8 book, even though you are building a T there is an ass load of relevant info to learn there. Keep us posted, I think you will be reading a reply to progress pics on here next year "I remember seeing that post where you didn't know if you should keep the frame and now you are a RULER"
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