reasons for buying a complete chassis kit...

[Ted Brown]

Kits... why buy a kit? the MAIN reason to buy a good kit (a complete kit)

I believe the main reason that I made a set of plans and made a kit to sell, was to keep the customer from having to go through all that it takes to end up with a great looking and working chassis... How it that?? Well if you saw my first few chassis you would understand, as a good thought at/during the building stages, turned out all wrong at the driving stage, under curtain driving conditions... Then I had to make a change in the design... Well I made several over the first few years of driving my T Bucket most everyday, 7 to 10 hours every day & nights.
What I wanted to do was get all the bugs I could out of that crazy design of a T Bucket that I could...
Try and turn an impractical car, into a real driver... That is a hard task, as these small cars are made up from a lot of stolen parts from other cars, with a much different wheelbase - weight - top weight - width - angle of attack - You name it and a T Bucket is waaaay off course, as far as a great design for comfort and drive-ability... Like stopping - turning radius and effort - ride/soft, yet still handle - noise factor - safety in most every way - and sooo much more...
I LOVE these cars, I just hated the way it rode and handled at first, the looks made it worth all the bad points at first, but I could not make them to sell, being so far off base, so to speak..
That is the reason I decided to make the complete kit...
I even changed the name of my Company from Ted Brown Chassis, to CCR - California Custom Roadsters
I built many, many Drag Race chassis over the years that were a testing platform for my street chassis.

Setting up the (close to correct as possible) Chassis for everyday street driving, was much harder than I thought it would be, it took many miles of testing and lots of Horsepower (in the AG/S cars I built) to bend and break as much as I could, so that the buying customer would not have to go through all those troubles, and still it proves impossible to control all that other people can and will and DO to the chassis when/after they buy it and make changes to that design that worked great with the set up, as it was intended to be used...
Just like the factory cars of Ford and all the rest...
But, people will be people and want things different, their way, (as if it were Burger King) well as far as chassis changing, that will affect so many different end results, that now the car is back to having bad habits..!!
They are not really intended for as much HP as people want to try and run on the street, they were designed to LOOK like they have a ton of HP without really having that much... no real need, as they are too fast as they are with a stock engine of any type...
They are not built/designed for really fast driving (over the max speed limits)
I hear people talking about trying to set up (make changes to) main geometry to the chassis- steering and U-joint angles - braking and all the rest, that were all taken into consideration in the building of a complete kit....
To buy part of a kit from one Company and another part from another Company, is like putting Ford parts on a Chevy and hoping they will work fine, no way is this right as far as the chassis design was intended to do the right thing...
SO; I hope every Company out there that builds a "complete" kit, also makes up a disclaimer notice to the effect if it is changed from the original design, they are not responsible for any bad habits the chassis will develop. and it will...
Ted, of Ted Brown Chassis, as now I can build one off cars again, much more fun...

 

[Rick]

Very well said Ted.You know your smarter than you look.:rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

[Ted Brown]

Thanks Rick, I believe you are also...

 

[Rick]

Why thank you kind sir.:lol:

 

[Duke]

Yep, What Ted Said.

 

[Humidi-T]

Question for you Ted, if you'll take the time to answer

I built my frame based on the CCR plans that I bought, though I did make some changes. I used 2x3x1/4 tubing for the frame rails instead of the .188" tubing recommended in the plans, mainly so I could drill and tap bolting points, but also for additional strength. I also added 5" of length to the main rails, and 4" behind the kickups. I wanted a longer wheel base and more room for a BBC if I so desired. It also allowed me to move the motor forward a couple of inches, reducing the transmission intrusion in the passenger compartment.

I added gussets to the rear corners & built a very strong square tubing trans crossmember that bolts to the frame rails to allow removal of the trans without removing the body. I fabricated motor mounting using modified P&J model A to SBC mounts that I then completely boxed in.

Front suspension uses long split bones that mount about an inch behind the pitman arm, and the car has no bump steer. The rear axle is mounted using jag coilovers and a panhard, both with mounting designed by me.

From your vast experience, do you see anything inherently wrong in my approach? Sorry to have diverted from your plan sets, but these little cars are as unique as the owners. Thanks for all your research time.

 

[crossingts]

maybe im missing it. but you have these for sale? do you have a webite or anything so i could check out your stuff??? thanks sounds cool

 

[Ted Brown]

I am now retired, Thank God... I did have a sign in the shop that read this is not Burger King.... As far as trying to tell you if you did right, there are two many variables here and no pics either, so many things come into play when changing from the original plan, it was all in a place that made it all work, I can not say at this point if your setup will work or not, as I can not see it, and it would have to be balanced out.. Sorry... Good luck and have fun... when you change the wheel base and mounting points, everything changes... I am sure you will make it work, one way or another...

 

[oldtman]

I bought a set of CCR plans about 20 years ago, Ted did a Good design and I build 2 cars from them. Everything fits and works. NO NEED to mock up the chassis with 2 x 4's and it goes together a lot faster. I changed the motor mounts to be able to use stock chevy mounts. Years ago I had clutch vibrations when using the Ford flathead biscuit type mounts . The engine-trans moved around and it was a junkyard parts build with everything as cheap as I could find.

 

[Humidi-T]

I am now retired, Thank God... I did have a sign in the shop that read this is not Burger King.... As far as trying to tell you if you did right, there are two many variables here and no pics either, so many things come into play when changing from the original plan, it was all in a place that made it all work, I can not say at this point if your setup will work or not, as I can not see it, and it would have to be balanced out.. Sorry... Good luck and have fun... when you change the wheel base and mounting points, everything changes... I am sure you will make it work, one way or another...:lol:

I kind of figured this would be the response, and almost started to not post it. It would be like one of my customers asking me to give a firm quote on a job in South America without any information on the tool we are to work on. Impossible. Your plans worked well. The car drives and handles well, weight is 2080 lbs, almost 50/50 blanced between front and rear axle. Lots of modifications to the body, stretched 6 inches and widened 3 inches. It was a learning experience. One day I'll rebuild the frame and repair a couple of lessons learned.

Thanks for your contribution to our hobby. You certainly were instrumental in making the Bucket as we know it a fun and safe little car.

 

[Youngster]

Humidi-t, you pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said these cars are as unique as the owners. Everyone has different skill levels. Plain and simple, if it's a kit or a scrach build, you have to be a problem solver. Build your car to the best of your abilites and you will never hear a complaint from me.

Kits defintly have aplace in the ranks. Not everyone aspires to be a chassis builder. As such, some tools like welders, plazmas, etc, are a cost factor that can be eliminated with a kit.

Witch ever way you go, the ends justify the means. A great little car that is going to put many smiles and a wonderful sence of accomplishment on the face of the owner, his passengers and the general public.

Ron

 

[Ted Brown]

Humidi-t, you pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said these cars are as unique as the owners. Everyone has different skill levels. Plain and simple, if it's a kit or a scrach build, you have to be a problem solver. Build your car to the best of your abilites and you will never hear a complaint from me.

Kits defintly have aplace in the ranks. Not everyone aspires to be a chassis builder. As such, some tools like welders, plazmas, etc, are a cost factor that can be eliminated with a kit.

Witch ever way you go, the ends justify the means. A great little car that is going to put many smiles and a wonderful sence of accomplishment on the face of the owner, his passengers and the general public.

Ron

Ron, I was just wondering, what type of T do you drive now?

 

[Youngster]

been "T"less for three years now ted. working on my '27 modified and will be building a '23 for my daughter this winter.

Ron

 

[Ted Brown]

I am content if mine is sitting waiting for me to take her for a ride, but if She is sick and not wanting to ride, I feel real down, same as the jail thing, if the door was not locked, you could live the rest of your life there with no problems, so to speak... hehe

 

[Brucer]

another reason would be speed of the build..

if your wanting to get a car built quicker you could buy a chassis kit and it speeds things up very much..

in my case ive had my car for a long time now. i started building it when i was younger and really didnt have the money or know how to build it the way i wanted it..

a couple years ago i come down with a very nasty internal infection that put me in the hospital for 4 months , i actually died 2 times in the hospital and they used a defibulator on me to bring me back 2 times, i was at deaths door literally.. in the mean time this was going on i played with my dog that had been dead since 2005.. God pushed me away and told me everything was going to be ok, yes God spoke to me.. When i got out of the hospital, my health returned to somewhat normal, i finished up a couple jobs i had lined up prior to this happening, then everything I had has been focused on my T..

Basicly what i'm doing is buying odd and end parts here and there to speed my build up, saving some time here and there by not having to make something here, and i can use that time elsewhere... just wish i had more time to spend on my lil roadster..

I'm trying like crazy to have it built by the end of the year..

 

[Ted Brown]

Well Brucer, If I lived closer, I would come over and give you a hand with completeing your project... If I can be of help from here, let me know.. :lol:

 

[Hot Rod Todd]

Im big on enthusiasm and very small on ability when it comes to my cars.

I got the chassis rebuilt professionally on my bucket (to handle the blown big block) and it wasnt cheap.

If you have to pay retail for stuff then a kit is a great way to go.

Over the years I started seven buckets and only got two finished, and they only got finished because I had capable friends who I paid to do the job.

I often started out thinking I could do it myself, but I was often wrong.

If you have the skills and tools to make a safe bucket from scratch, then go for it.

But theres will be a bunch of buckets out there that never got finished because the hopeful owner underestimated the job at hand and overestimated his/her ability to do the job.

I would quite like a CCR kit because I like the way Teds car looks. But my wife doesnt agree I have a need.

But then we have a bucket, a 26 T coupe, a 37 Topolino and a 37 Nash, oops, nearly forgot the Austin A40 gasser project too, so she has some ammunition for her arguement.

 

[Ted Brown]

That She does...

 

[putz]

Ted you probably remember one of the biggest headaches was wiring. I used to wire cars in the 80's I would start with a honda civic fuse box and build from there. Me and my neighbor did 5 or six cars that way until I moved away. Wiring kits are a blessing.

 

[Ted Brown]

Awwww wiring, yes I used to sell a harness for the T's also. was $49.00 I started with a long circirt breaker block, I hate fuses, you never can find one when you NEED one.. If I can get a deal on wire, I just may do another harness/wiring kit again...