New guy from PA with a 1923

[boostedzx3]

Hey guys, Im excited to find this forum and it looks to be a great place from what I have seen. Ive found that car forums are a great way to exchange and learn all kinds of new information. Its been a long road to get where im at and some hard times the past few years that I finally came out of. The day I acquired this car was actually the start of a very positive spin on my life.

A little about me is that im 26 years old, so the looks I usually get in the car are quite different. Most people for whatever reason are somewhat amazed that the younger generation can too be involved in the street rod scene. It started when I was younger around 6 as my dad started taking me to the NSRA nat's in York PA. I grew up around street rods, car shows and Saturday night races at a local dirt track. My dad however knew nothing about cars so when I turned 16 I realized that I could probably never own anything like a street rod and I started to lose interest.

Around the time I was 17 however the tuner car scene started coming around. I went and bought myself a Ford Focus and started messing around with it. I started buying my own tools to work on it, and have since aquired anything I need to work on anything that I have. Ive taught myself everything that I know and am still learning. In 2005 I started building my own turbo kit for it from scratch, with a friend doing all the aluminum welding and me buying all the parts and fitting them up.

Then a few years later I stumbled upon a 1969 mustang grande coupe that needed a motor but had a great body to work with. I ended up putting the original 351w 4 barrel motor back in the car and had something nice to run around in for awhile. It was only a FMX transmission so it wasnt as fun to drive as a 4 speed would have been.

So I started looking for something I had been after for some time. I was on ebay one morning before work when I spotted a 1923 t bucket. The owner had passed away the year prior and his nephew was auctioning the car off. He was also looking for a trade of a vintage muscle car. I decided to email him and after running up to see the car we decided to make a deal. I was now the owner of a 23.

The car is powered by a 1970 440 CI mopar out of a superbee which has a 727 bolted onto it with a manual valve body. Its a Ford 9" rear with 3:73 gears and it is pretty powerful.

I brought the car home on a cold day in April of 2010. It wasnt a perfect car and is still not by any means. The good was the car was running, the interior was in need of a little work but overall was ok. The electrical is an absolute nightmare, the car couldnt stay cool on a 60 degree day to save its life and the steering is downright scary.

I have since put a 3 core radiator in with an electric fan, instead of the single core with a belt driven fan. The interior was just recently recushioned and redyed by me which turned out remarkably well. Now im after tackling the steering and the wiring.



The thing I need the most help on is the steering


With the big block theres not much room to put a steering column on a slant through the firewall. The way its currently done looks like a vega box with a column brought up vertically through the floor. The radius rod then runs off a pitman arm down the side of the car outside of the frame and attatches to the top of the spindle. The steering flat out sucks, the tire rubs up against the radius rod if a sharp turn to the left is needed and the vertical column makes driving it cramped and somewhat shakey.

Thanks for the read, ill be around and i'll see what pictures I can attatch here to help you see.

 

[boostedzx3]

I see that there is a size limit to pictures so I will just provide direct links.
These were taken shortly after I got it home:

http://i22.photobuck...um/IMG_3508.jpg
http://i22.photobuck...um/IMG_3507.jpg
http://i22.photobuck...48lCBLufiCC.jpg
http://i22.photobuck.../streetrod6.jpg

This is how it sits currently and in here is the best picture I have of how the radius rod is running. Its really hard to see here but its on the lower left.
http://i22.photobuck...od/IMG_4713.jpg
http://i22.photobuck...x3/IMG_4820.jpg

 

[Youngster]

Welcome to the site. You'll find lots of guys here eager to help. Work on the picture thing. These guys are picture whores!

Ron

 

[boostedzx3]

Thanks its great to have so many others here that know all about these things! The radiator install alone was a bear as not many people run mopar blocks. I finally found a company that had the radiator outlets on the correct sides for the waterpump. Then when it got here I had to fab up new mounts on it to mount it to my frame. Once that finally worked out I had to engineer a new lower rad hose but then the oil filter was in the way. So I ended up having to relocate the oil filter to the other side of the motor on the lower frame rail. Its been fun but worth it, I love seeing the cameras pop out everywhere.

 

[Youngster]

Could you post a picture of the left sindle that shows the steering arms?

Ron

 

[boostedzx3]

Yea let me see if I have one i'll post it in a few minutes here.

 

[boostedzx3]

I think this one is the best I have, I can get a better one if needed but it shows the linkage out from the box and most of the radius rod.
http://i22.photobuck...Q46BLufgjZF.jpg

Even if I can get something that would allow better more solid turning I would be happy. Im afraid I may have to keep the column vertical as the starter and everything else seems to be in the way.

 

[Youngster]

What I'd like to see is the arm the drag ling goes to at the spindle.

By the way that a kool bucket. Nice to see a turtle deck every once in a while.

Ron

 

[boostedzx3]

ah here is a good one of where it attatches there http://i22.photobuck...od/IMG_4437.jpg

The bottom right you can really see it, my thoughts are that I could somehow get linkage that would run in closer or even underneath the frame completely then over to where it attatches at the spindle. Then maybe theres a column that could put on a tilt while still coming vertically through the floor.

 

[Youngster]

Awwww .... that's it! That's not really a good place to have the spindle steering arm. Copy the shape of the arm on the top of the spindle on some 3/8" material and weld it to the underside of the top arm. After welding heat and bend the arm down slightly so it clears your tie rod.

Is your drag link straight? It looks bent in the picture. If it is bent it will give you some very peculiar steering chariterists. It will sort of act like a spring. If it's bent, don't try to straighten it, replace it.

Ron

 

[Keeper]

Welcome!

Thats a nice looking bucket.

 

[putz]

Lets see if I can post a pic of your nice looking bucket.

What I did was look at the pic right click on it copied image location the pasted it in the pic url
I use Firefox it is easier that way

 

[boostedzx3]

^thanks and o ok, I may be able to use a IMG code from my photobucket account. I just wasnt to sure if there were size restrictions with the forum, I tried to upload them right off the hard drive and it told me the image was to big.

 

[boostedzx3]

Awwww .... that's it! That's not really a good place to have the spindle steering arm. Copy the shape of the arm on the top of the spindle on some 3/8" material and weld it to the underside of the top arm. After welding heat and bend the arm down slightly so it clears your tie rod.

Is your drag link straight? It looks bent in the picture. If it is bent it will give you some very peculiar steering chariterists. It will sort of act like a spring. If it's bent, don't try to straighten it, replace it.

Ron

It is definetly slightly bent, I need to get on replacing it ASAP. Gotcha on the spindle trick, I will give this a shot over the winter months. I'll have plenty of time then! Do ya think that will give it a bit more stability in the steering? The second thing I would love to find now is a tilt steering column so I can really get a handle on this thing. Its a bit odd steering it straight up and down, I drive forklifts so its not as bad as that but close.

Seems like a great forum, lm learning lots already and thanks for the compliments!

 

[VegasBruce]

Welcome :ciao: Yep just use the image straight from Photobucket or cut and paste them back to your computer from there. Then you can attach them here, thats how I resize my pics.

 

[Youngster]

Ya got 2 things goin on there that effrct your steering. First is the bent drag link. It will flex as the front tires try to turn when you want to go straight. Second is the distance from the king pin center to the heim on the drag link is very short resulting in a very quick steering. Ya want to try to get that distance the same as from the king pin center to the heim on tie rod arms. Probably around 6 to 7 inches.

Ron

 

[butch27]

welcome: Great looking bucket.

 

[GAB]

Maybe it's just the photo, but that head on shot of the front end looks like the axle has more drop on the left than the right and the whole axle center section has a slight bow to it. That seems rather peculiar for a tube axle to have that as most are a straight piece of tube with 2 reverse bends on each end. If that bow did in fact get there, it raises the question as to why it is there. Did someone put it in the tube on purpose or is that the result of material choice or too light of wall tube for the application.

If any of these questions turn out to be true, perhaps a start over on the front might be in order. Or maybe its just the camera playing tricks on my old eyes.

 

[boostedzx3]

^ I see what your talking about there, its actually the way it was sitting in the picture. I had the front end up on ramps while I was working on it and the left front tire was sitting up on the edge a bit, heres a better picture of it sitting level.

 

[boostedzx3]

Ya got 2 things goin on there that effrct your steering. First is the bent drag link. It will flex as the front tires try to turn when you want to go straight. Second is the distance from the king pin center to the heim on the drag link is very short resulting in a very quick steering. Ya want to try to get that distance the same as from the king pin center to the heim on tie rod arms. Probably around 6 to 7 inches.

Ron

ah i see exactly what your saying now, took a second. So this winter i'll get that arm welded to the top of the spindle slightly bent downwards and the same distance as the tie rod arms if im understanding correctly as well as a new heim.