Restoring 1970's California T-bucket with Tube Frame

[Flatsman]

Yep Steve, it is amazing what you run into when you take an old car and try to restore it to its former glory. This car has been like the dog that you find in the kennel that has been beaten all its life. I think I would really like to try a new T next. It would be so much easier to deal with. Today I noticed that the timing chain cover was a little beaten up so I bought a new one with a new seal. I will be getting some nice stainless fasteners for it. I also found out that I have a quiet gear drive. I also bought a new oil pan and one piece gasket and that is all going on tomorrow. I will have you some pictures of the frame as soon as I start bolting all the suspension back on it.
How is your car coming along?

 

[Flatsman]

Here is the way the engine turned out with the new water pump, timing gear cover, and chromed oil pan, painted Ford Sonic Blue.

And this is what the satin black frame looks like.

Next week I will start bolting the suspension back on and finish painting the 350 transmission Sonic Blue. I am doing some paintwork on the valve covers and the Air scoop to match the paint on the engine.

 

[sstock]

My T is getting close Fred, just need to finish up the dash wiring, then it will be ready to fire up for the first time. I plan on titling it and do some trial runs before the body comes back off for painting in the spring.
I really like that water pump you have, frame looks great, can tell you are putting some hours in.
Steve

 

[Zack]

Looking good! That engine color is sweeeeeeeeett!

 

[Flatsman]

I got back in the shop again for the last two days and got a rolling chassis again. I finished the GM 350 in Ford Sonic Blue to match the motor and I will be joining it to the motor on Monday.

I also got the pumpkin painted to match the rest of the running gear.

And finally a rolling chassis.

I will have the engine and tranny in by the middle of the week and will start plumming the brakes.

 

[Flatsman]

I got the engine and tranny installed today and did a mock up on the brake pedal.

I found out that I had a GM 400 instead of a GM 350 transmission when I went to go buy the new tranny pan. Like I said, I am a Ford Guy. Here is a picture of the rear panhard bar that I made. It cost me 5 bucks to get the pipe bent to 5 degrees.

I am taking a little break for about a week and will get back on the project toward the end of February.

 

[Flatsman]

I have been back on the project for the last three days and have some pretty good progress to report. I have installed a new harmonic balancer and finished making the final adjustments to the tranny. I bought a new oil pan and flex plate/convertor cover in chrome and a new chrome tranny pan and got that all installed. All the fastners are stainless.Yesterday I got the radiator and headlights installed along with the turn indicator lights. The car had no turn signals before. I also installed the starter. Today I started plumming the brakes and got the Master Cylinder mounted hopefully for the last time. I will be going with 3/16 steel lines and started rounding up the parts for that today. I also "bench bled" the master cylinder and will hopefully have some brakes this next week. Here are a couple of pictures.

I just ordered the 12 circuit wiring harness for the car. The wire in this thing is around 40 years old so I just thought it would be better to have a complete new harness since everything else is turning out so nice. Well that is about it for now. Have a great weekend!

 

[Flatsman]

The Grand Kids were visiting from Texas in February and they liked the T! I just finished the brake lines a few days ago but still need to bleed the system. Right now I have the tunnel ram all apart and I am cleaning that up and getting it ready to reinstall.

 

[jmr122848]

Do you know what rearend that is?
goo lookin kidos

 

[Flatsman]

Do you know what rearend that is?
goo lookin kidos

I was told that it came out of a 57 Chevy but I was also told that it had a 2-speed Powerglide tranny, when in fact it had a Turbo 400. It is about an inch offset to the left but we did install 57 Chevy brake shoes.

 

[jmr122848]

Thanks!

 

[sstock]

Thanks!

Looking good Fred, keep at it and keep the progress pics coming.

 

[Zack]

Great progress. Keep those pics coming

 

[Flatsman]

Well the brakes are all plummed and now I am working on the tunnel ram intake. I believe this car sat outdoors under a cover for part of its life and the tunnel was very dirty and had lite corrosion all over it. The throttle linkage was also corroded and the threaded rods were rusty. I spent parts of two days cleaning the tunnel and applying all kinds of stuff to brighten the aluminum. I fabricated and threaded a new linkage bar to replace the rusty one and now I am polishing up the aluminum parts and painting the rusty threads with black rust restorer. Here is a picture showing the new polished linkage bar and the left carb linkage which has been polished.

The original bar is laid across the bottom of the ram showing the condition it was in

 

[Flatsman]

I got the tunnel installed today and will be rebuilding the carbs next. I am looking for some "cheap" 390's or 450's.

Here is a shot of the new master cylinder, rear residual valve and preportioning valve.

I also installed a new chrome drag link today and the new chrome tie rod is supposed to arrive from Speedway tomorrow. I plan to set up the chassis, pinion angle, and engine angle for the rest of this week. I am planning to bring the rear end forward a little bit to get more splines into the transmission. When the car is on the ground, it looks better.

 

[Flatsman]

I just picked up two Holley 9776 450 cfm tunnel ram carbs. More later! If anyone needs one or two Holley 600's cheap, send me a PM. They will be going on Craig's List soon.

 

[kgrimm]

Your car is looking great so far-I can't wait to see it finished. In the meantime, please don't forget to post more pix of your progress!

 

[Flatsman]

I got some more work done yesterday setting up the engine and pinion angles. I also had to bring the rear end a little on the left and kick it out a little on the right. The dash in this car was poorly done and the holes for the gauges were not aligned properly and the dash itself was pretty well beat up for some reason. Here is a picture of the dash with all the gauges out of it.

I decided to make a template and put a polished aluminum dash in this car which would allow me to align all the holes and cover up the ones that I don't need. I decided to cut out the entire inner dash and leave a lip so that I can fasten the aluminum piece to the fiberglass. This way, I can unfasten the aluminum insert and gain access to the back of the dash and all the gauges without pulling the entire piece.

 

[Flatsman]

Sorry about the nonworking picture link. Tried to edit that out so I guess I need to be educated on how to do that. Anyone?
Back to the T. This car had a really screwy gas pedal setup that I had never seen before. I finally figured out what the builder did but still don't understand why he did it. Here is a picture of the pedal assembly as it came from the factory except that I welded it together where it had been cut into.

This is pretty much the way it was found in my car. What they did was cut the pedal, drill and tap a hole through both pieces, put a 5 inch threaded rod with lock nuts to join the two pieces back together inorder to kick the pedal about 5 inches to the left. I may find out the reason for this when I start to attach the pedal to the inside of the firewall but I will come up with something that leaves the pedal assembly as it was meant to be.

 

[sstock]

Coming along nicely Fred. Looks like soon you will have it on the road and will be tuning those carbs in.