The FREE T Bucket plans

For mounting stuff to the frame you can use 3/8 nuts welded for a flat surface; the tubing wall is too thin for mounting anything substantial. Try to find un-plated nuts. To remove the cad or zinc plate you can buff them. Muratic acid is supposed to remove it after soaking for a few hours. You can use your Unibit to make a tapered hole just smaller than the nut hex size. Then, use a long bolt and screw the nut on the end. Tap the nut into the hole and square it up, carefully weld the nut to the tubing, let it cool, remove the bolt, clean out the thread with a tap, grind smooth if required.

I just put 1/4 elliptical springs (kind of ) on My 1922 T speedster I needed to lower the rear and didn't want to Z the frame since this car was an authentic old Racer. The springs were free from a swap meet at the end of the day and the guy didn't . know what they came off. I think they were probably overloads for a pickup. they are S shape, and look like half of a stock T or A rear spring. I used some 4 X 4 angle iron for an L shaped bracket and added gussets for strength. I drilled holes in the frame to mount them to the outside of the frame rails, I have a Moore rear mounted drive line aux trans that uses the modified torque tube and modified rear stock radius rods. With this set up I used the shackles that came with the springs and made new brackets that I welded to hang under the rear axle housing. The first time out was last year's local 4th of July parade and there was a lot of rear side sway motion on rough spots in the road or the railroad tracks so I have since added a panhard bar. I have seen a few 1/4 elepticals on the front of T buckets that looked good. There is limited space at the rear of a t body, some of the T Lakesters rear 1/4 eliptical springs look good and fit well in the chassis.

You can build your own hairpins from 7/8 DOM steel tubing. If you have a blower or lots of horsepower you will want to use 1 inch dom tubing. You can use a harbor Freight pipe bender to bend the tubing. You have to cut the pieces longer than finished length to work in that style bender. Cut the end that has to be tapped 1 inch longer than the finished dimension, weld a small piece of scrap in that 1 inch area to grip in the vise so you won't get teeth marks on the finished piece. Use a large right angle drill and start with the bit that will just remove a little bit of material then keep changing bits until you get to the size required for the tap. Then, drill out that extra one inch with the bit size to match the OD of your tap. ONLY GO ONE INCH DEEP. This will allow you to start the tap in straight and get good threads. Then you can cut off that extra inch re drill with the correct size for the tap, finish tapping to the new length and have good straight threads. Any time drilling or tapping use plenty of tapping fluid or thread cutting oil; you can use a tubing notcher that you bolt to a steel table top and tack a piece of scrap angle iron so you can clamp the tubing at the right angle to cut the ends.

If you use coils on the rear you will need a panard bar from the frame rail to the oposite side to the rear axle. the longer the better and should be as close to level as possible.

Use the currently available Corvair or Vega boxes, Speedway sells brand new Corvair reveresed boxes that are safe and ready to go. They also have the Vega box for cross steering.

It is recommended that conventional tie rod ends be used on the steering drag link from the box to the steering arm as well as the tie rod rather then the clevises often supplied by some vendors. Tie rod ends are specially built for this kind of service and are extremely strong while the clevices have been known to bend, split or bolts break. Also, Speedway can supply tie rod/drag link lengths to your requirements in either raw steel or chrome plated.

For cleanest and simplest body mounting, weld your mounting tabs inside the frame rails at the side part of the cowl, a simple straight 1X2" full cross member at the back edge of the "door" edge bead, and the last about halfway from the "door" bead to the back of the bucket. If you have chosen to not have the framerails sticking inside the cabin with you at the back, weld a tab to the top of the kickup and form it to meet the back wall and install a bolt on each side to stabilize the back wall on these tab mounts.