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T Buckets practical or impractical

Ted Brown

Member
T Buckets practical or impractical that is the question...



I Ted Brown am guilty of trying to make a very impractical car, practical...

Why?? Because I love to drive mine all the time, to any and every where... To work, the store, my everyday transportation, except rain, I don’t care to drive in the rain...

What is impractical about a T Bucket you ask, just about everything it seems.



The bodies are fairly small to begin with, and many people tend to make them even smaller by putting a lot of un-needed wood in them. That turns out to be 8” lost, in the end from the sides, and even more to the rear, which is needed for good leg room...

But; if you are only going to drive it to a car show now and then, or around the block giving people short rides, then impractical may be OK for you...

But; if you want to drive it to rod runs many miles away, maybe even to another state, then you better be thinking more in terms of a bit more practical...

Comfort and safety wise, not to forget, to be legal for most all the rules of the road... (which, would be almost impossible) as there are many that a T Bucket does not really comply with, like fenders, windshield wipers, headlight height or even hoods in a few States...

But, for the grace of God and a few nice patrolmen out there, a nice clean, well built T Bucket can slide by a few of those laws... If you run into a patrolman that does not care for “this type of car or You!” you just may be in trouble, big time...

I have found that attitude is the biggest factor when it comes to dealing with the law...



How does one make a T Bucket more practical? Comfort is probably #1 along with peace of mind in knowing that the car will stop on a dime in case of an emergency, and will turn into a parking space with only one turn or try...

A cool running engine is also Very important for longer trips or town driving, as traffic will sometimes slow to a crawl, and that can be a very bad thing for an open engine car with a smaller radiator air-intake surface...

As you know, air takes the path of least resistance, and that would be around your radiator, not through it... That means that a real good working fan is in order... plus a lower temp thermostat may also help keep things running cooler... There are many factors that determine engine running temp and they all must be taken care of and set correctly... Correct Timing, Fuel mixture and the speed of the moving water are also very important...

The engine running temperature is probably #1 and the driver’s temp is #1 also... J

Many a show only T Bucket, makes for a very uncomfortable driver, as many drivers looks like a Monkey humping a football, not good for a long ride...



Now Days, I see they are trying and have passed; a new law about smoging all cars, even Hotrods, so this is a new factor that must be well thought about, and the car chassis built to handle the correct exhaust system... This is a do-able thing, like everything else; it all depends on how ingenious one is... Let’s face it, if it can end up looking the way you like when driving down the road, then you are winning... if you are wanting it just for shows and driving at rod runs, on private property, than nothing is limiting you at all, nothing except your imagination... and pocketbook.. Plus a great in-closed trailer... The older I get the better that is sounding J I still love to get out there and feel the wind and the road running under my tires... kind of sets one free...






 
I certainly wasn't thinking about 'practical' when I bought mine. :coffee: I mostly drive it short distances because I find it wears me out with the poor steering and the loud noise on the highway. It is not bad, and I enjoy every minute of it but when I get home I am pooped. The longest trip I have done is a little of 1 hr. I would like to get to the point where I could make longer trips but I am just too big to get comfortable in there. If I end up keeping this car for a longer period of time I am looking at adding a stretched body from K&S or CCR. I will also add an AOD at the same time I stretch the frame to make cruising a little nicer.
 
I hope mine will be practical when it's finished. I am going to put a wind shield a top and a heater, I don't know yet exactly what to do for side curtains. I intend to put a hitch on it eventually, not to pull a trailer but for a carry rack. I may be blowing in the air but I intend to drive this car a lot
 
Building a 27T because it has more leg room. Driver a bit cramped, passenger has nice ride. Going to use Lakester headers with under-car exhaust and some decent mufflers. Plan to drive it frequently...weather permitting. Might get a removable hard top too. It will be somewhat practical....more so than a jet ski or snowmobile.
 
Just call me nuts, but I drove my first T-Bucket (without a top) from Palo Alto, California to Lubbock, Texas and back on a vacation with my oldest son when he was 10. Fortunately I had the experience of an old T-Bucket builder (John 'Able' Romero if anyone remembers) showing me the way when I built that car. We butted heads more than a couple of times over what I wanted versus what was practical . . . and fortunately I wound up taking most of his advice. The result was a car that I never had a second thought about driving anywhere or doing anything with. And Ted is right about safety and comfort being the two most important factors in a T-Bucket. Less wood and more attention to good foam and support made driving that car fun on long or short trips. Ted is also right about the out of state driving and Johnny Law. On the cross country trip we got stopped three times, twice because the officers wanted to look at the car and once by a not so cool New Mexico trooper who saw all of the legal shortcomings of the car . . . but attitude . . . and having my young son with me helped get me out of a ticket on that one. I would love to do a trip like that again but as much as I hate to admit it, the age factor puts a kabosh on that idea . . . so I stick to everyday driving and short 50-75 miles trips locally.
 
Well I will say mine is a driver for sure....On the road for 15 months and now I have alittle over 16,000 miles on it. Heck I just put the new motor in and drove it for the 1st time on August 14th and as of yesterday I have 800 miles on it. And that is mostly from weekend driving since i have a work car for the week. And for comfort I am. Now I just need a top.
 
Ted, please explain about extra or excessive wood.


Isn't that what you get with those products like Extenze? ...... Ted will know for sure. :hiding:

Russ
 
Way to go HAceT.

I know a top is one of the comfort items we are discussing but from my experience I would never put another top on my bucket. I had a nice custom (upholstery over a steel frame) top made for my first T-Bucket. It was cool looking and kept the sun off of my head but I found it functioned kinda like a vacuum cleaner. I was always sucking air born things into the car . . . leaves, paper scraps, bugs and such. I never gave it much thought until one evening on a drive thru the mountains it sucked a bird into the bucket. The bird hit the brace where my head should have been had I not been leaning over to pick up something that tipped over on a curve. It killled the bird and I hate to think what it would have done to me had I been sitting normally. It may have been the shape of the top or just a freak thing but the top came off immediately after I got home.
 
the top came off immediately after I got home.

I've wondered about this, since starting my bucket build. I love the look of a top, but with the sides extending out beyond the sides of the wind screen I would expect it to pull in some air. Do others have similar problems? do the deflectors on the sides of the wind screen help? would having an open rear window help or hurt the situation?
I'm not expecting to daily drive my bucket, but comfort is still a fairly high priority.

Russ
 
My usual reply is "Practical? It's not supposed to be practical. It's a hot rod. If i wanted practical i would have bought a mini van".

But i hear what you're saying Ted. Build it safe and comfortable.
 
My longest trip was Atlanta Ga. to Memphis Tn. on my honeymoon for the Street Rod Nationanals in 1972. The 11" I added to the cowl made plenty of leg room and the 144" wheelbase made a real nice ride. I put over 100,000 miles on that rod in 7 years. Went to Gatlinberg Tn. 5 times in Oct. Sometimes leaving home in the rain! Oh to be young again!
 
I consider mine to be at least as practical as a motorcycle. I have a touring bike and find the decision on which to drive for fun to be hard to make.

My longest day in the bucket was 470 miles or so. I've done several 200+ mile trips. I don't have a top, but have considered adding one. My windshield is short and I find the wind noise at highway speeds to be the worst part. Air bags on the rear and 4-bar suspension at both ends help out a lot in the ride department. I had one bucket owner at last years Bash say that he was following me and was impressed by how easily my suspension reacted to bumps. The quarter elliptic front suspension is very compliant also.

I don't have a lot of bump steer either. It's there, but it's at the extremes of suspension movement. I have a about 8 degrees of caster dialed in and that gives the car a strong "center pull" on the highway. The steering is a little heavy, but you can relax at highway speed and drive the car with one hand if you want to. I have cruise control and that helps keep the leg cramps at bay on long drives.

My body hasn't been stretched, but RussNoMore (who made my body) cuts out the rear of the tub in the bed area. They have a seat insert that uses this "extra" space to get the seat down and back a little more than most cars I've seen. I'm 6" 10" or so and weigh about 250 lbs. and I fit in the car OK with room left over for my wife.

The 700R4 gets the revs down and keeps the engine noise down to liveable levels. Helps with the gas mileage too.

I think most people think of a Bucket as a short distance car, but I just don't see why. Having ridden motorcycles since I was 10 years old (52 now) may have skewed my thinking on this a little. When I started my bucket project, I expected it to be useable for most any trip I wanted to take in it and I worked toward that goal. It may be small, but I wouldn't hesitate to drive anywhere, provided I could carry enough sunscreen.:jester:


Mike
 
After I finally put Wing Windows on the YeloT I won't have one with out them. Those send that wind right around you and I have a top on mine that's for shade only but it works real well. I have about 6000 miles on the YeloT and I haul it on long trips but I do drive it very often and enjoy the heck out of it. We went to San Diego for the 101 and drove about 300 miles in southern Ca. Yes I did trailer it out there behind my motorhome.

You can make a T very comfortable with a little work.............Drive it that is what you got it for.........
 
The motorcycle analogy is pretty close. I look at a T and see a 4-wheel motorcycle. In this part of the country, neither one are year-round transportation. And the power/weight ration of even a mild T is more than enough to get someone hurt, if they're not paying attention.

But Like Larry said, I bought a T and not a mini-van. I've a quad-cab, 4WD Dakota that will get me anywhere I need to go, when I need to be practical.
 
http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d3/leonrenaud/Busters T/?action=view&current=bustersT001.jpg
This isn't mine but that's me in the first pic,I've known this T for 18 years it had 50,000 miles on it when my friend Buster bought it I put a bit over 4,000 miles on it in 1 month "road testing"it! Not shown is the full top and side curtains.Wind wings and a top made it much more enjoyable to drive.I'm building a 27 T RPU so I drove this daily for a month keep in mind it is a proven car I have known for many years and was daily transportation for another friend and his wife they hit every US border with it in that 18 years but they were both small of stature and it was HER favorite car!If anyone cares this is what I found wrong in those 4,000 miles and month long "test drive"
First the steering wheel is almost vertical fine for the small origional owner and for the drive position was really quite comfortable,But it leaves almost no foot room for your left leg!while my upper body felt fine and I did like the wheel location to steer that left leg became a real pain in short order and although I'm 5'7" I only have a 28 inch inseam so short legged!

All the switches are located in the seat riser under/between the drivers legs if you are skinny as a tooth pick I'm sure thats fine but neither of us could reach anything sitting in the drivers seat because that vertical steering column stopped you from bending forward and it is chest (46 inch)not gut that got in the way !

The springs/shocks are Chevy Chevette all around it rode fine out back, But I think it let every road bump transfer directly to the frame corners in front this could be because the springs or shocks are too stiff I don't know ,But on things like road joints it would give the front end a hard jar on the tire that hit a bump(I'm going with reworked Ford transverse springs for this reason )I think that will allow the front end to pivot easier at the center rather than going directly to the front frame corner.

The windshield wiper as installed on this car was useless!It was installed wrong and the driver would have to lean to center to see in the rain.It got the car through inspection and the PO didn't mind it but I don't know how much driving he did in the rain ( I will run 2 wipers)

getting in and out of this T really wasn't bad even with the top inplace once I did it a couple times (My 27 does have working doors and will get a matching top)

The high home made shifter would have gotten changed because it could and did easily get knocked out of gear

The cloth bench seat interior was great! (I will stay with cloth in my 27)

The sprint car exhaust looks real good and sounds good parked but got annoying after a hundred miles or so(I did over 400 miles in my first ride.

There is a matching Mullens trailer not shown, The trailer hitch was mounted directly to the rear end not the best approach because now the trailer weight was all unsprung at the back of the car (my hitch will mount to my frame)

The very short fire wall mounted brake set up was very hard and took getting used to because of the short leverage ratio.

I know that most like the no fender look but those fenders made the ride much more enjoyable no road debris getting tossed all over me and here in New England there's always plenty of sand/pebbles on the road year round( my 27 will get fenders similar)
All this stuff is pretty much what you see in any T in a magazine but none of this worked right for me as a daily driver. I still loved every minute I spent in this car these are just the things I would add/change if it were mine.My T is being built as a daily driver as long as it handles well in winter weather and I think it will I will drive it as my main transportation.
 
My presant stable of vehicles, the Track-T is the least comfy for drives of greater than 500 miles, but with good weather it isn't much worse than a 2007 Mustang. I've driven the same route of 500 miles 3 times in the Track-T. The '97 Ford T-bird is the most comfortable on a long drive followed by a 2001 Ford diesel Excursion 4X4, next down the list is a 2000 F-350 diesel crew cab dually 4X4, then the 2007 Mustang, and bringing up the rear with the least comfort (but not by much) the Track-T. The steering at freeway speed is light and one finger, road bumps are transmitted with no more harshness than the Mustang, but neither set of seats I have for the T are as comfy as the Mustang's for long drives.
 
Well it sounds like there are many T Bucket lovers here... That makes up for a lot of discomfort... When you are in love, you don't see or feel too much wrong... As far as tops go and wind, if the windshield was left up from the body about 1/2 inch, I think the wind would go in the rearward direction, like the motorcycle windscreens with the adjustable 3" openings to let the wind through, rather than be in the back draft, hair going forward rather than back... I really dislike wind wings, they are in the way for getting in and out of the car (I found) with the rear window out, it acts just like a truck with the rear window open, sucks everything out of the car, hat, the Wife's scarfs, sunglasses, you do not have it nailed down, it is going... I really did not mind the back draft, I drove mine for 10 years straight without taking the top off once... I solved the exhaust gas and noise problem by running closed headers and mufflers next to the body inside my rear radius rods, out to the rear of the car, so much nicer.. but I will say this, the ride is a lot quieter without the top, as it collects outside noise, and I do hear the engine a lot more which I really love...
If I want to go somewhere and not be bothered with people, I drive a stocker, because the T gathers a ton of lookers and questions everywhere I went... Mood controls what I drive, but it is the best getaway from everyday troubles just following that Brass radiator around... Is it live to ride, or ride to live? both apply to me... Drive safe... :) PS, Put the mustang seats in for max comfort... easy
 

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