Greetings From Sunny St. Croix, USVI

[Island Girl]

Yes, the little island in the Caribbean, not the St. Croix in Wisconsin. . . . We're the one with the clear blue water, white sand beaches, and 365 days of summer, . . . . not the one with the snow, ice, and cold for half the year.

Anyway, I'm probably one of the few female gearheads around, (credit my misspent youth for that) and my friends, in their best attempt at being charitable, just refer to me as the "senile senior citizen". Others who don't know me very well yet, still just call me Darlene.

I grew up on the East coast, and had wayyyy too much infatuation with guys into hot rods and Harleys.
But I digress,

I have been looking at building a t-bucket/hot rod for the last year and a half or so, and I just finally pulled the trigger and ordered a 27 T roadster super kit from Spirit.

I don't have a garage, so I thought it best to get a complete kit so that I have minimal assembly and fabrication headaches that usually come with doing things piecemeal.

Given Spirit's lead time, the time to ship it here, and then have it clear customs and excise, I hope it comes with a big red ribbon and a bow, 'cuz it'll be about Christmas time before I get to see it.

On the flip side, it'll give me time to get the engine ready and buy a transmission, wheels, and tires.

Thanks for letting me ramble on like a magpie, I'll try to get some posts up so that I can add pics to the buildlog thread when the arrival time approaches.

Darlene

 

[RPM]

Welcome to our site, glad to have you.

These cars are popular in the islands. We have shipped several to Puerto Rico and to St Thomas

 

[Island Girl]

Welcome to our site, glad to have you.

These cars are popular in the islands. We have shipped several to Puerto Rico and to St Thomas

Thanks for the welcome.

Puerto Rico has a population of about 3.5 million, or at least it did before the category 5 hurricanes of last September, so I can imagine they are not all that rare there.

We have about 60,000 here, and the only "T" I know of is an old Total Performance, that's still as yet unfinished and badly rusted. It would be nice if there was a hot-rod/muscle car culture here, but mostly, it's just a rice burner crowd . . . . Honda Civics with 3" exhaust tips worth more than the rest of the car.

Ohhh, and a few fiberglass kit bodies on VW's.

Darlene

 

[Spanky]

Welcome, Darlene. Sounds like you have this thought out pretty well. What are your plans for engine/transmission?

PS - Your weather sounds like perfect weather for a T roadster!

 

[old round fart]

Welcome to the bucket world. When you embarrass a few ricers you may find come more hot rods over there!

 

[Island Girl]

Welcome, Darlene. Sounds like you have this thought out pretty well. What are your plans for engine/transmission?

PS - Your weather sounds like perfect weather for a T roadster!

I've got a 454 BBC, all I have to do is take it out of the mini monster truck it's in. I'll do some serious mods on it down the road a bit, (looking to add an Edelbrock top end kit) as I spent a bit more on the super kit and options than I had originally planned so that overall, everything would be easier to manage.

I'm almost 70, and don't have anyone much to help me do things, so I have to plan around that . . . finesse gets me a lot more success than muscle these days.

I'm going to go with a 700R4 with a nominally 3200 stall converter, and 4.11's in the rear.

I'm looking at the big, 33" Mickey Thompson radials in the rear on 15" wide Weld Prostars, (since there's no more Centerlines).

We have no Interstate here, not even any real ,concrete, limited access highway, so on the few decent roads, it's nice to be able to light 'em up anytime you stomp the gas.

 

[Spanky]

I'm almost 70, and don't have anyone much to help me do things, so I have to plan around that . . . finesse gets me a lot more success than muscle these days.

I assume you are retired (as I am) so, what did you do before retirement?

 

[Island Girl]

Still working full time and loving my job . . .

I came from a background in electro-mechanical design and prototype, but ended up managing the slot department in a casino when I came here from Houston.

 

[EWTALLEY]

Welcome from Ocala, Florida.

 

[Island Girl]

Welcome from Ocala, Florida.

Thank you kindly, Sir.

 

[rbsWELDER]

Welcome from North Carolina! You have found a place with very knowledgeable bucket-heads. If you have any questions, just fire away!

 

[Island Girl]

Welcome from North Carolina! You have found a place with very knowledgeable bucket-heads. If you have any questions, just fire away!

Than you kindly, and "Roger That" on the just fire away . . .

I've spent some years rigging and wrenching on drag boats and river racers, but this is my first automotive hot rod project, so as I get into it, I'll surely need the braintrust represented here.

The one thing that really makes big old carbureted engines practical here, in spite of the massive shipping and availability issues, is that we do not have vehicle emissions testing, which I imagine hasn't helped the hobby thrive in the "environmentally friendly" political climate.

Darlene

 

[Spanky]

The one thing that really makes big old carbureted engines practical here, in spite of the massive shipping and availability issues, is that we do not have vehicle emissions testing, which I imagine hasn't helped the hobby thrive in the "environmentally friendly" political climate. Darlene

The one grace we have is that our vehicles represent such a small fraction of the vehicles on the road, most states ignore emission testing for this class - hot rods/street rods/specialty vehicle, etc.

 

[Island Girl]

The one grace we have is that our vehicles represent such a small fraction of the vehicles on the road, most states ignore emission testing for this class - hot rods/street rods/specialty vehicle, etc.

Now that is good to know!

Just in case I ever do retire, at least I can take it back to the states.

I always figured it was because they were usually titled as older/antique "pre-emissions" vehicles.
Since I'm getting a Spirit kit, as I understand, they title, (if you get the Arkansas title) as the year they were made.

On another note, now that I have the kit on order, I thought it might be a good idea to make sure the engine I was planning to use wasn't locked up from sitting for years without being so much as turned over.

The 9 year old battery was dead and dry as toast, but I jumped it from my little Nissan truck, and it at least hasn't seized. Once I find out what the dimensions of the battery box are, I'll get a new battery that can eventually go in the '27 after it gets this engine running again.


Darlene

 

[Spanky]

Use liberal amounts of ATF to free-up cylinders. It has lots of detergent in it which will be good at dissolving sludge.

 

[Gary49]

Welcome from Clearwater, Fl. Sounds like an interesting project. Good luck and happy building from someone else that's closer to 70 than 60.
Gary

 

[Island Girl]

Welcome from Clearwater, Fl. Sounds like an interesting project. Good luck and happy building from someone else that's closer to 70 than 60.
Gary

Gary,

Thanks for the welcome.

we're getting better, not older . . .

Darlene

 

[lincolnuT]

You young ones always make me not feel well past 70......But I still work on hot rods.....As for your battery needs Darlene I would recommend using an Odyssey 680 for the truck you are working on and then in the Bucket...I have use them for many years in several cars with good results.....Just my .02

O' Yes by the way welcome from New Mexico.....
Mike

 

[Island Girl]

You young ones always make me not feel well past 70......But I still work on hot rods.....As for your battery needs Darlene I would recommend using an Odyssey 680 for the truck you are working on and then in the Bucket...I have use them for many years in several cars with good results.....Just my .02

O' Yes by the way welcome from New Mexico.....
Mike

I'll be looking into the Odyssey.

Was initially thinking Optima, but looking at the reviews on Amazon, seems they have taken a big drop in QC and getting a decent one is hit or miss at best.

Thanks for the great the great NM welcome.


Darlene

 

[Spanky]

One more message, Darlene . . . then you can post pictures!