Ghostchips 1920-26 ford T bucket (of rust)

[Ghostchips]

So people talked me into this, and i need the advice (clueless).  Noticed the following for really old crap is small on here (sure there are forums for this but they don't need to obey NZ road regulations and those that do are esoteric to me) but there is some people into it so...

 

So after buying piles and piles of rusty parts at swapmeets i decided i want to build a car.

End goal would be something like this pictured.

 

But i lack enough V8 parts yet and for some reason the NZTA type people make you register them as a 'replica' with stoplights, window wipers and seatbelts, stuff i don't want or I'd go buy a modern one.

 

So how do i get around that?  Register it as an original, but then i have to use original parts when getting VIN right?

OK, first incarnation can look different and i change it later right?  Changing it being swap body onto V8 chassis and return existing chassis to stock and resell it.   (not sure if this reasoning is correct...)

There, that one looks cool.  Would be keen to replicate that look.  Just so happens the chassis parts were cheap or free at a swapmeet last weekend because nobody wants them, body parts are expensive though.

 

 

So how to lower?  Because 2 feet of ground clearance apparently isn't cool these days.

 

 

Think these are called Z shackles. Is this legal to do in NZ?  If so i might do that.  Problem is i would have to move the spring from rear crossmember to another new one installed a few inches further ahead.  And rules around that?  Is bolt in or riveted acceptable?

Alternative is to move spring forward and put crushtube? (anticrush tube?) in radius rod and the bolt spring hanger in it.

 

Small problem is the chassis i have has steel plates riveted inside the rails along its length, fishplating, not surprised considering how much they flexed back in the day.  Is this going to need a cert or can a friendly inspector ignore/sign off as satisfactory?

 

Then there is the front radius rods.  If i lower it using the Z shackle style depicted above i would need to extend them.

Then there is this bracket which does not need Z shackles or extended radius rods.

 

This would work but i don't know if it is legal to fab one from steel (Xray testing?) or have a pair cast somewhere, although cast would be kinda awesome, what is the regulations around cast one-off parts? 

 

Or replace entirely with later model ones, with welded on brackets, i can't see this being a piece of cake to cert' though.

 

 

 

Also wanting to move the body back about 2.25 inches to gain clearance for using studs to hold the head onto the block (and maybe aftermarket cylinder head).

  If it is only lowered and body moved a little i won't have to pass the 5 cycle brake test (or whatever it is) thing or anything will i?  Pretty sure the 2 wheel brakes would never ever pass that.

 

 

So what parts do i have so far?

A rusty body with missing subrails.

Is it legal to repair this with box tubing with the bottom cut out of the tubing?   Or even tubing left intact?

This is the only place the body brackets would be a problem if i moved the body backwards 2 inches.  Fortunately this area needs repair and the bracket is riveted to the subframe and the rivets look crap, there is only one bracket, the other is missing so i can rivet it on further forwards when i install one.  Would this need a repair cert' or would an inspector kindly overlook that it was moved?  Don't know the regulations about this myself...

 

 

This picture shows the frame rails with the bracket to the firewall.  Is it acceptable to redrill the holes in the frame back 2 inches or should i use spacer blocks?  New holes would be better.  Also visible is the rivets for the fish plating.

 

This is a rusty wishbone in case i had to split it, didn't want to split the one that came with the chassis, its like, 90 years old and still in good shape, this one is rusty, might have too deep pitting for a cert'?

 

Then there is the rear ones, options include repairing or replacing with a new tube with a kink in it (for the correct geometry) and a crush tube for the spring mount.

Can only guess there was water in the tube and it froze and burst?

 

 

So yeah, am i on completely the wrong track here?  Lost my mind? (think that happened last year) or is this a good idea?

 

Better make a discussion thread as per forum board rules so you can tell me which is best for VIN/cert'/tell me i lost my mind and to give up already.

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/47381-rustiz-1920-26-ford-t-bucket-of-rust-discussion/

[Ghostchips]

Here is a problem i believe i tried asking in one of the technical threads but those posts are apparently deleted for being weird.

 

Today while measuring whether i can fit ford wide5 hubs on the old spindles i found i cannot, so i tried measuring up the hubs next to each other. i believe the hub flange will sit slightly inward of where the wide5 hub flange would be, but the original hub was designed to carry the weight in between the 2 flanges it has on wooden spokes.  The ideal place to have the wheel adapter wound be between those 2 and they are 30mm apart.

From what i read on some government looking website http://www.lvvta.org.nz the most you are allowed to space the wheel is 20% of the rim width, the wheels i would like might only be 4-5 inch wide (they still have tyres on so i can't measure very well ATM)

 

So what do you recommend the wheel adaptors be made from?  i would like steel, 5mm would be be about right weight wise and be thicker than the wheel pressing but 8 would look beefier, but stupidly heavy.  Would i still be allowed spacers behind the adapter?  It's ok if not allowed but i would like to have the weight of the wheel nearer where the factory intended.

[Ghostchips]

This is progress right?

Just so you know i'm not making this up out of my head.  i even had a workshop weld the steering column mount.

This is a new floorboard riser thing, i made it myself and had someone redo my welds because my welder kinda died.

 

Only 2 exit wounds that i can find but little bullet shaped dents are evident in the dash and firewall, focusing on the gas tank.

 

[Ghostchips]

 

 
 

Arc welding panel steel is painful.  2 weeks of searching to find panel steel and it wasn't even the gauge i wanted, and no sheetmetal shops had a functioning guillotine and only one had a folder, it was worn out and the metal slipped out and wouldn't fold properly.  What a terrible world we live in / normal for outside world i guess.

[Ghostchips]

 

Looks nothing like the real thing.  Real thing has less compound curves, how did i mess that up? i must be brain damaged.

[Ghostchips]

 

 

Edit: it looks the same as last time? pretty sure i hammered it a little more and bolted it...

Had to make a new rear panel that forms the seat back as the bottom had rusted off and someone cut the top part away as a rust cut to repair their own, here is the piece or original panel sitting atop the new rear panel.

 

[Ghostchips]

After reading this tech thread, //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/46841-swaging-panel-steel-with-simple-tools/#entry1459298 i loosely followed tortrons method with a piece of rod and 2 rough lengths of wood.  Didn't even grind the rod like he suggested because i am running low of grinding disks and true enough the end of the rod cut the sheet metal in one spot.

 

This took me so many hours and yet ...

it is only a flat sheet and i didn't even bother to make the lines pretty or anything.  Riveted in as the original cars had no welds, i could only find rivets.

[Ghostchips]

Made a terrible mistake  

  Looks yuck.  rear curve is wrong.  Might just live with it.  Looks like i should have used more cardboard during design instead of bending wire and saying "close enough".  Looks like someone tried to blend a 32 rear and a 26 rear.

[Ghostchips]

 

Looks less bad now.

But it looks like i gave up on the bootlid...  One day i may make a new one. the panel gap is terrible.  People see this and ask me why i'm not a panel beater.  This is why

 

[Ghostchips]

Believe it or not this is not the fabrication disaster thread, i really did make the deck lid from a discarded road sign that was run over by a car, and then another car.  And this is the inside of it.

[Ghostchips]

 

Hinges look lame.

 

 

And i tried to make a nice latch, only to find it does not like the angle the lid closes on and one of my home made captive nuts has gone missing...  Even bonnet pins don't like the angle.  Might take the internals out and leave a handle on the outside and simply screw leather straps to the lid to keep it shut.  Even considered external gate hinges on the outside but.. nahh not unless i have to.

 

lol i don't know what i was thinking.

[Ghostchips]

Reworked the latch until it worked.

 

The rusty door knob was for setting it up but it's growing on me..  not sure they'd VIN a car with it though so i'll make another handle.

[Ghostchips]

Boot latch thingy looks correct?

 

So i took some pieces of a torn rotted raincoat and some flax and sewed them to make of that piping/fenderwelt stuff.

 

And here it is hiding the gap under the wood where the upholstery would be nailed, my choice of manuka and flax roughly cut with an axe not be the commonly done thing but i wanted it to be NZDM...  luckily it is only held in with some screws and little bolts so i can remove it when i change my mind.

[Ghostchips]

Wooden parts need to be replaced with metal and the metal needs to have someone go over it with a better welder, i really need to acquire a proper MIG or TIG..

 

Imagine a picture of the windshield frame mocked up in wood, with tubing that has slots cut in it for the glass, bent to shape in the fork of a tree, then welded together with an arc welder.  It's not as bad as you might think!  It's so good it fools everyone except the most knowledgeable experts.

[Ghostchips]

This seat is lacking in padding.  Has more padding than the alloy bomber seats i was thinking of making. 

 

The wooden frame is based on the original seat frame, except the originals had coil springs and horse hair padding.  i don't know how to make horse hair or coil springs.

 

 

Bundled reeds tied up with flax as padding.  Not that comfortable.  Probably alloy buckets would be slightly more comfortable?

Edit: After 3 years of driving, the bundled reeds have proven to be good enough, at the time.  Only now (February 2020)are they losing their springiness.  Guess i should find some seat foam soon. 
Lucky the 'wastelands' as some people jokingly refer to the place i live, is no longer suffering from the 2009 GFC.  Could be a new GFC with concerns over that virus (common cold?) coming from wuhan lately though..

[Ghostchips]

This week i spent way to long making and remaking parts.

 

 

Replaced wooden things with metal ones.

 

This is an image of the windshield frame left hand edge, upright post thingy, with a metal cone replacing the wooden one, and some leather inside the metal cone to form the friction material.
It's supposed to allow the windscreen to be tilted or folded flat, but only when i want it to be.

Repaired the old oil fired tail light.  And by repair i mean replace most of it.

 

[Ghostchips]

Took apart a diff'.

Great thing about the old dinosaur oil is it has been underground for 100 million years and hasn't gone rotten.  This bolt still had some on the threads after 70 years in the weather.

Under the crumbly leather and felt oil seals the bearings look perfect.  Too bad the shaft sticking out the end is so rusty, only good if i wanted to narrow the diff now.

Brake backing plates might need replacing but the brake cams freed up nicely.  Will probably replace those though because they have some rust pitting that the LTSA might be prejudice against.

 

In with the old and out with the new. Replaced shiny bracket with rusty old one.  Floor boards don't fit exactly but i guess i can trim them.

Free bracket with chipped paint anyone?

 

Another oldschool user has provided me with a a template for making the windshield glass, just one problem.  My frame is made of round tubing while the originals were flattened tube, hence the glass would be a tidy bit too small.

Random shot of light bracket.  Only problem is there are no places to bolt fenders which i'd need if i don't get a fenderless exemption.  But i think fenders would look dumb on this particular car anyway.

[Ghostchips]

New handle, not much happening.

[Ghostchips]

 

Bog and fibreglass shape.

Add a little petrol and the polystyrene core disappears instantly.

 

Tail light has some glass now

That fibrebog bowl painted to match.

[Ghostchips]

New brake plates fitted.