Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

I would say that his sedan has about a 30% chance of making it to Daytona; there's about a 70% chance he'll be riding with me. He still has to fabricate the battery box and finish the grille shell. He also needs to finish the mounts for his windshield frame so he can take it and have glass put in it. Then he still has to wire it and put some kind of mufflers or baffles on it.

None of that is impossible, but he still needs to register it and get insurance. Money is an issue for him right now, so I guess we'll see what happens... His real goal is a rockabilly rod run called the "Groundhog Gala" in February at "Destination Daytona". We've been to it the last two years and it's a pretty good time. He should make that date with no problem...

[Itoldyouso]

Then there is always the Billetproof thing at Garlits place in March. That will be fun too.

Don

[J. Robinson]

My son finally drove his sedan for the first time today! (See pic) Hot-wired ignition, no mufflers, and no windshield, but it circled the block under its own power. Hooray!!

Now maybe I can get back on the roadster and finish up the fabrication stage.

[Hotrod46]

Glad to hear about your son's car.

I've been keeping up with your's and Don's projects just about every day. Noticed you hadn't posted any new roadster stuff for a while. It's looking good by the way. Glad to hear your going to get some more done too.

[tango]

My son finally drove his sedan for the first time today! (See pic) Hot-wired ignition, no mufflers, and no windshield, but it circled the block under its own power. Hooray!!

Now maybe I can get back on the roadster and finish up the fabrication stage.

COOL car I like where you showed how to shorten a drive shaft . I made a drive shaft for a early Toyota pick up that we installed a 307 Chevy with a 3speed manual trans . It work out fine . This was when the guys were putting V8s in the Chevy love trucks .

[J. Robinson]

Well, I have reassembled the roadster with the body back in place. The master cylinders (for brakes and clutch) fit fine. I had to put some shims between the front hoop and the inside of the firewall so the diagonal braces could be tightened up.

While the body was off, I cut the hole in the tunnel for the shifter. When the body and steering were in place, I installed the shifter and climbed in to see how everything fits. At first, the stock S-10 shifter was too far back and too far to the left. Twice I took it out, took it apart to protect the nylon parts, and reshaped it somewhat with the assistance of my torch. It's pretty close to being acceptable now, but is still not quite right (see pic). The problem is, when in second gear, my knee is trapped behind the steering wheel and I can not pull my leg back enough to get my foot on the brake pedal. The situation is not acceptable, but I elected to leave it for now until I get the seats mounted. Then I will make final adjustments to the shifter.

The seats, by the way, are tractor seats I got at Northern Tool. They are light, comfortable, and weather-proof. They were $99 each.

[Itoldyouso]

I bet your kid is stoked. Nice looking little tudor. Heck, you guys are just a stones throw from Daytona, maybe he can make it?

Your T is really coming along great too. I know what you mean about space for things like legs though. Luckily I'm a short guy at 5' 9". but you still have to sit a certain way to work the brakes and gas.

Now that you have your Son pretty well along it looks like you will be back on the T more often. As you can tell, the guys on here are not going to let you slack off at all !!

Don

PS, good idea on those seats.

[J. Robinson]

I put a 350 Chevy in a 1983 Volvo 780 Sedan once... That was a driveshaft I couldn't do myself; two drastically different diameters involved.

Here is a better look at the seats I got from Northern Tool. If it turns out that I can't use them here, I will put them in something else. They are really comfortable.

Sorry about the dust on the lens...

[Hotrod46]

Looking good JR.

Have you thought of "doglegging" your shifter stick slightly to the passenger side? You could hide the dogleg under a boot.

Mike

[J. Robinson]

One of the nice things about building this car has been the possibility to jump from one thing to another. After fighting with the steering mount assembly and now the shifter location , I decided to soothe some of my frustrations by doing something that is relatively easy and shows visible progress...

Most original track-T's had side nerf bars on them like modern sprint cars and midgets (track-T's were the forerunner of modern sprint cars). The purpose of side nerfs is to keep race cars from hooking or interlocking their rear wheels together when they are racing in close quarters. If you hit another car with a front wheel you might have your nose sent skyward momentarily and get a jolt when it comes back down, but the results are rarely disasterous. On the other hand, if you hook rear wheels, somebody usually goes end-over-end.

I fabricated the side nerfs from the same material as the front bumper, 3/4" O.D. tubing. First I cut two pieces 48" long and then bent them about 120 degrees on my trusty Harbor Freight tube bender. (Bending the small tubing is easy because it bends successfully without having to pack it with sand and cap the ends. ) After bending, some trimming of the lengths was necessary. The exact lengths and angles are unknown; I just did it by the "cut-and-try" method.

At the rear, I welded on a short piece of "sized" tubing so that it will slip inside a piece of 1" O.D. tubing. The two short pieces were drilled through with a 5/16" hole before welding. This is so a bolt can be installed through them. The 1" tubing is welded to the frame and becomes a receiver for the finished nerf bar. At the front I welded on another short piece of the 3/4" tubing so a bolt will fit through it. ( The pictures show this better than I can explain it.) The front of the finished nerf bar bolts through a 1/2" hole drilled in the radius rod bracket just under the body. There you have it. In just a few hours I have something that I can actually see the progress on.

[J. Robinson]

Yep, Mike, I think that's probably the solution. But I decided I should probably wait until the seats are mounted so I won't have to do it again if something changes. I may just fabricate a whole new upper section so it looks more "period correct".

[Hotrod46]

I like the nerf bars, been thinking of adding them to my car. They really add to the "race" look.

[Hotrod46]

Just another thought on the shifter.

If you used an old Hurst stick, you could just fab up an adapter to bolt it to the side of the existing stick. Be easy to add spacers to get it over as far as it needs to be. Just thinking out loud.

Mike

[J. Robinson]

That's another viable suggestion; I appreciate your thoughts. I can bend or space the lever over to get it away from my knee and the steering wheel, but the problem is that I begin to crowd the passenger area. Fourth gear puts the shifter against the passenger's leg and if I need reverse... Well, if my wife is sitting there, she'll just think I'm getting frisky ; if it's someone else I cold get my face slapped or my nose broken... What I really need is a shorter shift pattern. I have looked briefly online, but haven't yet found a short-shift kit for this trans. If I have to, I'll make one...

[Hotrod46]

Yeah, I know how important it is to keep the wife happy!

That's why I ripped the B&M shifter out of my T, just too crowded.