How I scratch built a Modern T

[Tbuilder]

I moved the engine/tranny to the right an inch to have it line up better to the pinion offset in the rear axle. This also has the advantage of leaving more room on the left side of the engine for the steering, ignition and the carb/intake manifold. One cannot tell it is offset without looking at it very carefully.



The cross member for the small block Ford with the C-4 transmission fit perfectly.

 

[Tbuilder]

Running gear all fitted and bolted in place.

 

[Spanky]

With the exhaust on the passenger side and the reduced room there, you're probably looking at custom headers, huh?

 

[butch27]

Looks like a fun ride

 

[Tbuilder]

With the exhaust on the passenger side and the reduced room there, you're probably looking at custom headers, huh?

Nope, there is enough room for the exhaust pipe as it is.

 

[Spanky]

Cool! Always better when you can use the existing manifold.

 

[Tbuilder]

I removed the yoke ends from the truck driveshaft then bought a piece of driveshaft tubing the correct inside diameter to fit the yokes. I pressed the ends in the tube and lined it up in the lathe then welded it together. It came out pretty good, within a few thousands of an inch of straight. Anyway the angle looks good, well within the max recommended. We will see if there is any vibration once we get the car on the road.

 

[AusBucket]

This is a very cool build!

 

[Tbuilder]

With the running gear in place we can start mounting and fitting together all the body parts, starting with the fenders, running boards and splash pans. The gel coat on the fiberglass parts from Speedway is flawless but as is typical with fiberglass parts when they are removed from the mold and have sat for a time the final curing of the resin causes them to twist and warp a little bit. With some pushing, pulling, clamping and a generous amount of cussing, I was able to get everything lined up.

 

[Gerry]

Cool, full fendered. Don't see too many of these around...

 

[Spanky]

Cool, full fendered. Don't see too many of these around...

True enough. Here's another, being built by LincolNut who posts on this site . . .

 

[Tbuilder]

With the fender assembly lined up in position on the frame I could see what was needed to start making the brackets to support the running boards and fenders.

 

[DonnyRay]

I like what i'm seeing

 

[Tbuilder]

I had ordered the T bucket with a flat floor, I thought that meant that there would be no tunnel, apparently that is not the case as it came with a tunnel suitable for the Chevy automatic transmission. It was obvious that this was not going to work for me as there is not enough room between the tunnel hump and the body for the clutch, brake and gas pedal and my two feet. So I was going to have to cut out the transmission hump and make a new narrower one for the std transmission.

I started by cutting the old tunnel off with a sawzall and gluing in new plywood spacers in the floor and firewall to make up for the extra space.

 

[Gerry]

If it helps I 'moulded' the tunnel around the trans, rather than just doing just a cover over the whole thing. It gave me precious inches for my feet and opened up a lot of room that would normally be air under the tunnel. After all how much does the engine and trans move in a T, unless they use factory mounts, which I don't.
G

 

[Tbuilder]

That is an interesting idea, I never thought about doing it that way. Were you still able to remove the tranny without lifting the body?

 

[choppedtop]

I do mine about like Gerry does. I put 1/2 inch padding over the trans, then used a trash bag duct taped over the padding so fiberglass wouldn't stick to it. Then added mat and resin to the desired thickness. When set up remove the cover, remove the padding. Left about 3/4 flat edge to screw it to the floor.

 

[old round fart]

I saw on Bob Hamilton video he put foam on the trans with wax paper I think as a mold release.

 

[Tbuilder]

Ok, I see you guys are making a separate removable cover, never thought about doing that, I just made it part of the floor as it was before.

 

[Tbuilder]

I took a piece of aluminum and formed it to a new tunnel shape and temporarily nailed it to the floor and firewall. By coating the aluminum with some mold release agent I was able to layup a new fiberglass tunnel in the floor. I put some extra layers of mat on the area that the shifter boot cover screws are going to be located.