New goodies

Well with the sale of the manifold and carbs I have been looking at what to replace it all with. My main aim is a very streetable drive, with a good accelerator punch. I'm not looking for top end speed, Hell its a T-Bucket for goodness sake and not the best handling of beasts at the best of times. But for point and squirt it should be a blast. So after getting some really good advice from Wayne Martin (The Certification Man) and Paul French from American Autoparts I went with an Edelbrock performer manifold and will be getting a Holley 465 carb.

This should give crisp acceleration response and not flat spots that it had with the tunnel ram.

Radiator mounting frame

Today was a good day, the joys of getting into work an 5am is that I get to leave early, So I had a good couple of hours to work on the radiator mounting frame.

The first thing that I need to make was a small angle iron mount that will be bolted to the frame. I am going to use the same holes that are used for the lights. So I measured and cut the 60mm lengths that I need and mark the positions of the holes so they matched up to the existing frame holes. First surprise. These holes were not straight. This made it very much a trial and fit process to get them all lined up. There was 5 mm difference on each of them.

Drilling the 4.5mm pilot hole before drilling the 10mm hole.

Test fit of one side then move onto the next one

Both done and now creating the cross bar, this is only temporary until I weld in the main radiator mount, the middle part of this will be cut out. It was easier to do it the way to make sure everything was square and lined up.

Ok the first really dumb thing that I have done, I welded the radiator frame on the wrong side of the cross member ....... S*$T, I think I said... plus a few other words. But the great thing about steel is that you get a second chance. So I cut the welds and ground it back and redid it correctly.

Once that was done I was then able to cut the middle cross member out. And there you have a completed in the rough a new radiator mount.

Welds, I will put end caps on and tidy it all up before the fine fit.

All test fitted into the car.

Radiator clamped to the frame and test fitted to make sure that it all fitted and the clearances are as I expected. It all fitted and I'm pretty happy with the result so far. I have to tidy up the mount but it works and fits around the steering box.

Now one thing that may up set the purist is that the radiator is not dead center. its about 20 to the left. Now to me that fine as I am going for a ratrod type feel with function over form, and don't want to hid things, as on a T-bucket you cant. So with the color scheme I have in mind and the other decorations I actually really like that its slightly off center.

Hell at the end of the day its my toy :)

Removing the sold inlet manifold & tunnel ram

Ok as previously posted I have sold the tunnel ram and carbs. So my next mission learning curve is to remove the inlet manifold. I pretty straight forward process.

I had to disconnect the water pump hose and remove the water inlet, fuel line and bled that into a petrol container, Then remove the distributor.

Once that was done it was just a matter of undoing all the bolts and pulling it off. Very simple, even for me. Im sure putting on the new one will be interesting.

Motor minus the tunnel ram

Tunnel ram waiting to be picked up.

The inlet manifold gasket are a real mess, it looks like some body had used two, so I have a mammoth clean jobs ahead.

All tucked away for the night

Awesome

Start of the radiator Frame

Well Saturday I had a couple of hours, so I spend it tiding up my outside shed. Since I don't have a full garage as I have to share it with my wife's home business, I needed a space to weld, cut & grind metal. Funny thing that hot metal and licra don't mix.

So I spent some time getting the shed cleaned up and usable enough to do the limited metal work I have planned.

Sunday, a very cold day, but I needed to keep getting little bits done every chance I get.
So I pushed the car out so I could work on it and not disturb the leotard making and keep the garage warm.

So my task this time was to start on the radiator frame. Since the mounts that the radiator did have were very Micky Mouse and a temporary measure on the last owners behalf.

The ratty T pushed out and radiator ready to be worked on.

You can see the shed and the new space I have. Well its better than nothing.

After some measuring and trial fitting it was time to start the new mounting frame.

I had just tacked the frame up and I ran out of wire for my mig welder .... arrgghh. Well I had to pack up anyway as we had to go visiting friends. So not much work done. But small steps.

Steering Box mounting

So after a few more visits to discuss the mounting of the steering box it was time to get on with it. The issue with the Tabs on the spline were overcome with filing the key ways out. I was then able to put the arm are the correct angle.

After talking to the Cert man again, He though the angle of the connecting arm shouldnt be to bad. So the plan is to try it with the standard arm, see how it going once its all up and running and we can alter it later if required. This way it reduces the amount of work required now, but also gives me scope to fine tune if required.

I also called into the engineer that I will be getting to do the certified welding on the steering box mounts and chatted to him and got the best way to mount the steering box. It was as I though, but best to get it double checked. He also help out with the key ways on the spline.

Steering box and arm all set at the right angles

First mounting hole drilled. I first clamped the steering box in place and used a center punch to indent center. The drilled a 5mm pilot hole.

Test fit after first hole and then marked and center punched the other hole.

Pilot hole drilled for the second mounting bolt

I also double / triple checked to make sure that the hole were straight vertically and horizontally. It they were when we went to put the lugs in it would be a nightmare. I used a stainless steel chop stick as my tool of choice.

Both mounts now done and steering box mounted to double check fit.

Looking good. The engineer will make lug that he will weld into these mount points. He will drill out to about 20mm and weld in the lug that will have the 10mm hole for the mounting bolts. Doing it this way give strengths back to the frame and will stop any deforming of the frame when the steering mount bolts are done up.

Next I had to cut the old radiator mounting off, as it was not required anymore. Since I was in the shed next to the wifes leotards that she makes for gymnastics, I couldn't use the grinder with a cutting blade. So it was good old fashioned hand hack saw.

Mount gone, will tidy up once I get the car out side so I can use the grinder.

Steering box mocked up with some of the joints i have to test, and double check clearances again.

I'm pretty happy with it so far, Will be very happy once I get the engineer to do all the welding on it.

Tunnel Ram and all the bits SOLD

So the top end from the inlet manifold up has sold. I am in two minds about it, But after talking to more people I think its the best decision. Tunnel rams are great if you drag racing and using the top end all the time. But this will be a cruiser and maybe a little high jinx. From what I have been told I wont really notice much difference in performance with a normal manifold and single 600 Holley. As long as I have smooth progressive throttle response and no flat spots Ill be a happy camper.



Well its a done deal. I will soon find out if it was the right decision. Well maybe not for a couple of months until I get it back on the road.

No ... I am happy in my work

Not that you can tell from this shot...
Just trying to get the new steering column sorted out in my head, the angle, how far it comes up, where is will go through the firewall.

Radiator removal and Steering setup

Well another busy night on Ratty. I needed to clear room for where I want to trial the location of the steering box. Of course this wasn't a simple task. I first needed to remove the radiator, wiring.

To remove the radiator I needed to drain it first. To get a larger enough container underneath I needed to jack it up.

That should be large enough :)

Remove the lower hose as this radiator didn't have a drain plug.

Remove the top hose, and temp sensor for the electric fan.

Start unbolting all the surround and then the radiator.

Job done, radiator all gone, now i have access to the frame where I want to place the steering box and check to make sure I can get the radiator back in.

Surround, Radiator, over flow bottle.

First I need to remove the pivot arm from the steering box, I had to go get a set of pulley pullers, when it did come off it cam with a bang.

Test fit with a clamp holding it, checking the clearances.

Now checking what the angles look like for the connecting arm. Not even close. I will need to get the pivot arm extended about 70mm, That will require an engineer, as the spline will need to be removed and welded into the new arm. The Spline on the arm also has key ways which only allow it to be place at certain angles. So when I get the new one made I will need to have that setup correctly. Im going to take it first to the Certification man first, then if I get the green light Im off to an engineer to fit out the cost of getting a new one made up.

Measuring what length I will need the now pivot arm, it worked out to be an extra 70mm,

Also the three mount holes wont fit the chassis, So I will need to talk to the engineer on how best to get the bottom mount sorted. There other two are easy, Drill a hole through the frame, weld in an insert with the correct diameter hole for the mounting bolt. So the insert will be about 15mm and a 8mm hole. Will need to talk to the engineer about that too.

Well that was it for tonight, another busy night. But more slow progress.

Steering ...

OK, after a number of chats to a number of people and three changes of mind, I think I have finally come up with the best solution to the buckets steering. I now have a conventional steering box out of a Datsun 180b, and a collapsible steering column.

The plan is to mount the Steering box so the the control arm will attach to the pivot arm via a connect rod, (I will add photos). But to mount the steering box where it needs to be I have to move the radiator about 40mm to the left. Then make a surround that make it look centered. Not a biggy really as I had to remount the radiator anyway as there are just a couple of really ugly temporary supports holding it currently. The person who put the Gilmor belt drive on had to move it forward to allow room for the belt, and it was a rushed job.

I also found out what block I'm running, a Ford 302 E7TE-CA. So slow progress, but still moving forward.

The tear down begins

Well I bit the bullet and have got stuck into tearing down the T-Bucket, The following shots show what was hiding underneath.

I now believe I will have to make a steel sub frame and put a new floor into the body, as you can see there isn't much left of it. Also I plan to change how the steering is located and functions so there will need to be a sub frame for that.

Battery under the seat, and the rough plywood floor.

Ready to remove all the flooring

Seat, note that the seat belts were mounted to the underside of the seat ....

Battery cage removed.

Tin remove from around the trans bell housing

All the removable flooring parts that can be are now gone.

As you can see that there isn't much floor left. I want to strengthen the floor, I think that I will completely replace it with new marine ply and make a much stronger mount system for the body. I will need to visit the certification man to find out what options I have.

But progress, and a lot of learning as I go.