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How many gallons U.S. is your fuel tank in your hot rod ? If you had a chance to make it larger , would you ?  I am asking because as I sit here staring at mine and wondering what to do , I think I can make a pair of 8.4 gallon U.S. saddle tanks that can be removed without taking the car apart . If I go any larger I would probably have to remove the running board apron , a wheel and a fender in order to work on a tank . I am hoping to make this car a regular use vehicle with longer trips in its future . Is 16.8 U.S or 14 Imperial gallons enough ? Small block 10:1 ,.474" solid , Eddy performer w/Qjet , patriot 187cc heads , headers , 2 1/2" exhaust ,T350, 3.98:1 8" locker , 285/70/15 rear tire (31" ) . Eventually I would like to do aftermarket TBI and 700R4 .

OK , I am rethinking my fuel tank situation and am now considering saddle tanks . I would like to have useable trunk space . If I use non vented gas caps and run the vent to the opposite end , bottom of the tank there should be no drain issues ?? Has anyone used them and what plus or minus could you tell me of ?I will run a series of baffles and I have robust running board mounts so load bearing should not be an issue . Also the car sits with a 4degree rake  so the front edge of the tank should always be low ( except up a steep grade )

OK I am making upper door hinges for the T . I have noticed that the existing ones attached to the door side are not in line . Anyone have a few tips for me on aligning them ? Not real sure which one is out of whack . I have a "pin" for the hinges that is long enough to go through all 3 at once to check alignment . I am fairly sure the main tool requirements are a torch and a BFH but please steer me if I am wrong . ...and pray for me if I am right !

I have been on this site for 10 years now . Wow where does the time go ? I would like to thank everyone for the entertainment , understanding , and experience , automotive and otherwise , that you have shared with me . I have never seen or been on another place on the web as friendly , experienced and inclusive as this one . This is truly a place for gentlemen and their cars .

Well , been there, done that , and going back next year ! I have been back almost a week and we have already made plans to return next year . From what I saw and have been told , the salt was not good . The long track was moved 3 times . Unusually high number of cars spun out , us included . One racer I talked to has had their roadster in the family and at speed week for the last 41 years with many drivers , this was the first year it has ever spun out . The road out to the short track was so pot holed that I had to build another steering stop as one on our car got pounded out of shape . I have been out of drag racing for 5 seasons now so it felt good climbing under a race car and fixing things . The car I was working on is an AFR  BBC/Lenco injected on methanol and we are well short of the 272mph record . About $60,000 short as one of the owners says.(a 30% load of nitro and taller tires might do it , but its not my motor ) We had a pit spot just before the 4 mile and it was a blast to set up each morning with Poteet and Thompson making 400mph pulls past our pit . We stayed at the nugget in Wendover and there was a car show there every night . I think I have seen enough rat rods now . One car even had a steering shaft made of rebar with a plate welded to it to mount the steering wheel . There were plenty of 'traditional' rods there as well . They are not my cup of tea but nice cars and pretty well built for the most part . I would rather put a decent paint job on them if they were mine but they are still quite interesting and full of character as they are . I am a bad guy to go to a car show as I have done too many years of NHRA tech inspecting to not look too deep at a car and not just enjoy the wheels and paint . There is no shortage of variety and innovation out on the salt , right down to the purpose built support vehicles . We are currently making plans to start building a belly tank car .

Happy Canada day we are 150 today.

I have just determined that the master cyl I was sent has a 1" bore , not the 7/8" I was expecting . I have a question about designing pedal arms . Does the stroke of the pedal need to be able to bottom the piston in the master cylinder?  This cyl has     1 1/4 " of travel making the pedal need a 8 3/4" stroke to bottom the piston in the bore . I realize it will come nowhere near that travel in normal use but should it have that capability ? Trying to make a 90 degree pedal set up in the T .

I looked over the master cyl on a co workers Dakota yesterday and it is only 6" long and about 5" high . I am sure it activates larger caliper bore pistons than the metric GM ones on my car and likely has larger wheel cyl on the back than the maverick ones I will be using . I read somewhere that they are 7/8" bore . I think it would make a good master for a 90 degree master under the dash area on my T coupe . I will run manual brakes so I need the piston to be bored for a manual pushrod .  Just wondering if there was a manual brake version of that master cyl .

Just confirmed that I am going to be on an A fuel roadster crew at Bonneville this August . I spent some time on a BB/FC crew with this guy in early 90s . Also going to be in on a belly tanker build . I will be getting a rule book soon so I can hopefully get up to speed on the proper goings on so as not to be a tourist with a pit pass but rather a helpful member of a team . Maybe I can meet up with an RRT member or two while we are there .

OK guys lets have it , how much clearance do you need as a minimum steering/frame and steering/engine  ? I am thinking I can get closer to the frame than the engine as the engine can move around but how much do I need ? I am looking at 1/4" for the engine and less for the frame right now . Non torque side of the engine so I am thinking it should be OK but what do you think ? I will also have to have a look at the aftermarket heads I will be using to see if they are much different than the stockers on now near the deck surface . Thanks in advance .

OK guys , I am about to finish up my fuel tank and I have bought a 12V fuel level sender that I hope to use with my 53 ford truck guage set . They are 6 volt converted to 12 with some type of resistor .  How do I measure the guage inputs and sender inputs and make them work together ? When full volts are given , the guage reads past full . When the sender is supposed to read full it has its highest power reading . At least I know the guage and sender both are at their highest at a full reading . Now what ? Our electricity teacher may be doing this for me but I would like to give him some Ideas as to what people have done that works . I am actually planning on setting the sender in the tank to read empty with at least a gallon left . I have ended too many trips with a gas guage pointing due east !

I just started teaching my machining night class tonight . Holy cow , I have 20 students ! Lots of them are return students going for the next level but I have 12 new students from 3 other high schools in town . I am over enrolled !

I have a 65 merc 1/2 ton and I was hoping someone could tell me if the front end  from my 82 f150 would swap in easily . I'm talking the twin I beam set up with radius rods from the 82 going into the 65 . Am I dreaming or will this be a relatively simple swap ?

Before you get all excited for me wondering where I got all that work done in so little time , let me say this . I registered and licensed my T today because all it takes is a valid serial # and a bill of sale to register it as an antique . That may not be the case in the near future . other provinces have been tightening up the procedures to license and register an old car or any car for that matter. My plates and insurance are $8 /month with $800 max insurance if a total loss . I can put regular plates on it later on if I want . I have built it to date following all of the legal requirements so that if it were to go through an inspection it would pass .Two years of plating the car as an antique is less expensive than an inspection . We have a year of manufacture license plate deal in this province where if you have a plate from the year your car was made from this province , you can register the car under that plate and use it as your only plate on the car . I have a 1926 Saskatchewan plate so I will restore it and use it when the time comes to put this car on the road . According to my serial # (which I will cut off the original frame and attach to the new one ) this car was built in late may of 1926 .

Looks like I will be in las vegas on the 24th and 25th . Are there any car shows in the area then ? We went to the car show recommended by rrumbler last time we were there and really enjoyed it .  Rrumbler , would you mind PM ing me your phone # ? I have a phone that will actually work in the states now . Last trip my phone would not work down there .

I am going to pick up my mill on Tuesday 21st . I will be putting it in my shop at work for now  until I figure out where I can put it in my home shop . I may also change to a single phase motor so I might require my machine shop to make some sort of adapter . I also need to figure how thick a pad to pour for it . The mill weighs 3300lbs on a 40" x 30" base.

I am seriously considering putting in fixed glass for the front windshield in my T coupe . I do not want to fix my window frame .I may also slightly raise the top of the window as well . How wide of a "landing strip " is needed around the perimeter of the window opening to allow for bonding the window in place ? I am just trying to figure out how I will do this , I was thinking of putting in a couple of adjustable vents above the window , under the visor to get airflow through the interior with possibly another pair at the back of the cab that vent to the rear of the car to get air circulation through the cab .

I was bidding on a vertical mill today and now own it ! I now have a mill just like I have wanted for years . Induma 9x42 table x axis feed quill feed , coolant , self oiler  . I am going to start bringing all my specially made tooling home from work . I am not going to retire for a few years yet , but now I will be able to set up my shop so that when retirement comes I will not have to worry about access to a mill or lathe . Now I am looking for a digital readout .

Lost my father in law last night . We were at his side and it was peaceful , he was ready. Still hurts even though its for the best. He was a retired teacher . He lost his mother at a young age which made him very helpful to me when the same occurred to me . We didn't always agree with each other but he would always respect my opinion and I his. He will be missed

I am slowly getting back to working on the T. I have been encouraged by a local body guy who does a lot of high end builds not to sandblast the body unless necessary . So for now I am going to rough up the sub rails and coat them in POR15  . Then I can make the floor panels . I think I will rivet them in with the original rivet holes . I want to coat everything and do not want to burn off any coating with the welding . I can also use body caulk between the floor pans and sub rails while riveting for a leakproof fit . The guy at the paint store said that he stores his POR15 by placing saran wrap down in the can touching the paint and uses a stick to get the wrap to adhere to all the edges of the can . Then put it where it can't be bumped . I was also thinking I could purge the air with mig gas before closing the lid .

Went to look at what was supposed to be a nearly finished model T roadster pickup tonight . Priced for quick sale , so a buddy and I went to see if it is something we might finish and sell. It was not what we were expecting . T bucket with a front end that had the spring hanger welded on upside down , body in 2 feet of snow in another part of the yard .No motor or trans mounts and no rear suspension either. Lots of parts here and there but definitely a you build it model . I don't think there is any money to be made building and selling a T bucket , besides which , I could better spend my time working on my coupe . At least they didn't say it was a "deuce coupe" like most folks would .

I picked up a copy of I think engine masters the other day as there was an article in there dyno testing an engine with progressively larger damage to the headers in each stage of the test . Results made me wonder why I ever studied header design to the extent that I have . Evidently , and supported by dyno testing you can feel free to clearance with the BFH  and feel little to no noticeable difference in performance . They beat those headers down WAY more than anyone here would ever feel the need to with nowhere near the effect on performance that I would have expected . I suggest you read it so you can set your mind at ease when you next have to clearance a pipe . The effects are mostly cosmetic . interesting read .

I thought I had my 92 chev  truck 5.7 L fixed the other day with a new ignition module but it now has a fluctuating idle problem . I took some throttle body cleaner spray and went at it tonight thinking that the IAC was clogged up but after a half can of cleaner I would be optimistic if I noticed much of an improvement .The idle will not fluctuate when idling in park or neutral . It fluctuates less in reverse and more when sitting in drive . When you come to a stop at an intersection it takes about 5 seconds before it starts to fluctuate and it seems to do it at a regular interval. If I push the throttle to even 600 rpm the problem goes away .It appears to be idling at 300 to 400 rpm in gear. When it fluctuates you can see the injectors momentarily pulse the fuel supply . I put a bottle of sea foam in the topped off fuel tank tonight . When I installed the ign module I did not disconnect the battery , I did put all that insulating goo under the module before installing . Whats up ? It ran fine right until it stalled out and died the other day with no signs of a problem . I replaced the module , cap , rotor and a very dirty air filter .

I realised tonight that I had better mount the steering column in the T coupe BEFORE I make and position the steering shafts from rack to firewall.I have heard of using a broom handle with a wheel on it instead of the column itself . I have a good idea where the steering column should exit the firewall , is that the best place to start ? I have not mounted a seat yet as I do not have a floor in the car . I think the body needs to go back on the car for a while . Any hints or  ideas that you have found helpful in the past ?

I have a  can of por 15 Ive had for a few years never opened. I know its called poor mans powdercoat but is it hard to remove? the reason I ask is that I am about to make the firewall and floors in my T and I wonder if por 15 is hard to remove if I get it in a spot and need to remove it later . I was planning on removing most of the rust from the T inner body frame and coating it with por15 , then spot welding my floor pans to that frame and painting them after that so everything gets coated.

Going to las vegas next week and was wondering what car type stuff is going on at that week . I have done barret Jackson there, counts customs , and the car display in one of the older hotels that was being rebuilt 3 yrs ago on the strip. the couple we are meeting up with are car fans from home so it could be couple type things or we could leave the ladies to shop .Any local cruise events?

I just got a 97 gmc 1500 for my daughter to drive and she informs me the headlights are a mess . I checked it out and there are daytime running lights , low beam lights , but no high beams . I doubt both bulbs would go at once so what do I start checking ?It looks like the dimmer switch may be the culprit but I hope not because it appears to be a bear to access.

My daughter won her first stock car race today ! She races in the powder puff class on a short dirt track . She was thrilled to tell me about it . I have to say I was overwhelmed with pride. I retired from drag racing my front engine dragster in 97 , the last event I won was in 96 , the same year I won the season championship . You never forget the feeling .

Hey guys , I have a question that I would like some opinions on . I am routing my steering shaft from column to rack and it gets the spherical rod end I am using as a shaft support within 1/2 " of the exhaust just as it exits the shorty headers collector . How close is too close? Would I be better off making a bushing in a tube as a support and gaining some clearance as opposed to the rod end ? Even if I curve the exhaust right out of the collector it comes close to the rod end .  Everywhere else there is at least 1/8 " clearance between frame /steering and engine/steering .Opinions please .

I am removing the rust under the cowl in my T coupe before I weld in my recessed firewall as access will be minimal afterward .I will por 15 the area as well as the entire interior surfaces of the car at some time before I am finished . So far I have had 36 grit sanding discs on an angle drive die grinder. The discs don't last long and the rust starts to just shine when the disc plugs up. If I use 80 grit emery cloth by hand the rust comes off as fast but again the cloth gets used up pretty quick . Is there a more efficient way ? I am trying to do this without chemicals as I don't want chemical leeching later on . Not real keen on blasting either . what to do ? how clean is clean enough as far as getting all the rust? thanks in advance for your replies.

I unloaded my T coupe body at work where I am working on the chassis. I have been doing a lot of things other than the T coupe lately but will hopefully get back to it this week. My goal for the week is to cut out the firewall and move it back to clear the engine . I also need it moved so I can properly locate the shaft from steering column to rack and also  hopefully mount  or at least locate where the column will go. I have an early 70s chev van column I think I will use .

Not that I am there yet but just wondering . What type of paint do you use on your front hubs and spindles that stands up? The T will have these parts showing at the front of the car and be subject to everything I manage to drive through . I would like to use something that can be retouched if necessary but not so soft as to need doing frequently . Also wondering if it is a good idea to paint inside the cooling fins of the discs and what product would work well in there . I understand POR15 is not good in this application because of UV exposure . I will likely be painting my front axle as well . What have you tried and what has worked ?

Hey all, I thought I would ask here before going to pester the parts guy. He is going to ask for an application and when I say 77 -88 GM metric caliper  he is still going to ask for an application and I am not sure what that application is. I am thinking it is a Malibu or similar body style car that I need front calipers for. The speedway caliper brackets I have are for GM metric calipers but they don't give a model or a year so I am not going to be able to get a parts guy around here to dig up a set on their computer screen .Can someone help me out ? Thanks in advance .

I want to machine my econoline spindles to match my axle which is set up for 39-48 ford spindles. I need to remove 1/16" in total from the inside faces of the spindle to make it work as I understand it. I have made my own kingpins from material I got from Enjenjo , 4130 I believe , and it is .750" OD , this is .009 larger than the original econoline king pin . I don't know what to call the bearing between the spindle and axle at the bottom , but I wonder if the econoline one will even fit as this pin is .009" larger. Also I don't know where I would look for it or the part # for just that bearing as I have made spindle bushings and pin and have no need for a complete king pin kit . I am wondering if anyone would have the part # for the bearing for a 39-48 king pin that I could sleeve to fit my application.If I can locate these parts I can start to fit the spindles as I can calculate exactly how much to trim my spindles to fit this axle.Any help would be appreciated. I have found a neat way to disc brake the front using GM metric calipers and a $9 speedway bracket with aerostar AWD front rotors from a thread on the HAMB .

I am stripping down a 300 6cyl for a quick re ring and bearing to put in my 65 merc 1/2 ton. the engine will turn 1/3 of a turn and stop. I took the head off and there is a bit of rust in 2 cyl. The rust does not seem to have eaten away at the cylinders too bad but I want to remove it in the least destructive fashion. I am hoping to hone it and pop in some rings and not have to bore it. What have you tried that works to de rust the bores? Thanks in advance.

My school takes our  kids to a trade skills competition each year and this year is no exception , however ,  the funding to get them there is now not enough so we as a staff are finding ways to fundraise for the trip. Another staff member brought up that I could shave off my moustache if enough funds were raised and I chimed in that I would shave off HALF for a week if a larger sum was raised by the end of the month. So now we are going to see if it happens. I have had my mustache for about 20 years.

I had an unusual but fun experience at parent teacher interviews tonight. I have a few older students in my machining night class , a couple guys in their 60s and one in his late 50s . I was telling them it would be fun if they brought their parents to parent teacher interviews tonight and one of them took me up on it!I met both parents and showed them around the shop.Dad was quite interested in the model T but I got a little ribbing from him about not having a T motor in it. We had rehearsed what I was to say to the parents about paying better attention etc. just like they had heard in the 70s and the parents got a good chuckle out of it.Had a nice visit with some folks in their 80s  and they now know what their son is up to at night .

How do you store your magazine collection? I am moving my collection out to the shop and would like to store them so I can look at any of them without digging around. I have a couple filing cabinets and some Tupperware tubs that I am storing them in now. I am thinking about 500 magazines ,probably more.I don't like storing them in piles but that is what I have been doing up until now. Suggestions?

Ok ,I have my steering arms almost done for the T and I have run into a problem. Where is a person to get a tapered reamer that will do the job for the hole for the tie rod end? I have a tie rod end that allows you to put another tie rod into it for cross steer from speedway motors. That is the one I need. It measures about .110 taper/inch ,roughly double of a morse taper.

So we know about the proper ackerman and how we come about these angles. My question is this ,do we measure from the center of the bottom of the king pin or from the center of the middle of the king pin at spindle height? I am inclined to want to do it from the center at spindle height.I have steering axis inclination of about 8degrees which puts the center of the kingpin at spindle height about .380" inward from the centre at the bottom of the pin.I would like to get on this part of the build right away so your input is appreciated.I have the 4130 rough cut and I want to make the chips fly and get this done. We have a car show in 2 weeks at the school and I would like to roll out the T with steering and suspension mostly complete.Thanks in advance for your input and reasoning behind it.

Found a rack from a 92 festiva. Stroke is 5" and front end weight says 1465lbs on the door tag.Should work great on the T coupe. My steering arms are longer than the festiva and move 4 1/2" lock to lock.Looks like it should be a good candidate to shorten and mount under the frame.At full lock right turn the outer end of the rack on drivers side will easily clear the radius rod.I think I found a winner.

I will have to make steering arms for my econoline spindles on the T coupe. The ackerman is off too much for me to accept.I will make the arms from  a 1 1/4"square piece of material as one flat locating edge requires it. I have a nice length of it in mild steel. Is that a good enough material or should I use something else?My intent is to make these with a correct for the vehicle ackerman angle.After these it will be on to the steering and panhard rod.

I am going to start work on making the steering for my T coupe soon. I want to use a rear steer rack and do a unisteer type deal. I will likely make my own steering arms for the econoline spindles I am using because the ackerman is out to lunch .I can modify (shorten) the rack in my machine shop. What rack do you guys recommend I look at ?I am thinking non power and the front end maybe 1200lbs. I would like to do a unisteer job and then make my panhard the same length and angle as the steering shaft to minimise bump steer.What material would you make the steering arms out of?We will be hitting -59C or -75F this weekend,I will not pick the wrecking yard this weekend!

Ok ,I think I have settled on using block hugger headers on my sbc in the T coupe.Are there ones to stay away from? Are there any that are standouts in price or quality? I also need one dimension from anyone who has a set on their car. Since the back exhaust pipe on each side will be behind the original firewall I will have to move the firewall back. I will have an inset into the original firewall that is about 26" wide. How wide are the headers on the back 2 cyl. on anyones sbc block huggers?I am reading product descriptions on the interweb that say anything from 3 1/2 " to 4 1/2" ON THE CENTER PIPES. The end pipes go behind the center ones into the collector so they should be narrower? If I could get a measurement from Exh flange to outside of a back pipe that would probably do.I hope to have 1" clearance from the header to firewall edge. How much clearance is too little?

NHRA reported yesterday that Gordie Bonin had passed.Gordie Bonin was a Canadian and drove a few famous funny cars in the 70's .

I have been trying to decide on the proper engine location in my T coupe project.I have an engine driven fan on it and was hoping to leave enough room to put in an electric fan if cooling becomes an issue. The problem becomes one of the engine sitting so far back that the trans interferes with the body cross brace at the leading edge of the seat.To get rid of this problem I have positioned the engine with 1" clearance from engine mounted fan to rad ,leaving no option for electric fan.I want to run a full hood with the 18 louvers like stock. Less than 400hp with a 3" thick (4 core ?) rad in the stock T shell.Am I going to have problems with heat? I have the engine positioned as low as it will go with block huggers on it(sbc) . If I switch to ram horn exh manifolds I may be able to lower the engine but the exhaust leaving the manifold will get rather ugly.Lowering the engine may allow me to move it back far enough to give me the electric fan option.Do I have a valid concern or do I have enough cooling capacity to not worry about using the electric fan? Suggestions , opinions?Thanks in advance.

Is there anyone on the board that has a 26-27 T ,full fendered ,that can tell me the measurements to the outside edge of the fenders front and rear?My coupe is completely blown apart and I have no way of mounting front fenders properly to get a measurement. I do not own a set of rear fenders to get that measurement from.I have found another set of tru spokes and am trying to find out if the offsets will work for my car.I would love to put a set of wires on this car. That was the hot look on rods when I first discovered street rodding in the 70's.Trying to build the dream car of my youth!

What is the least expensive method for shipping rims? I am looking at a set of rims in Alberta and it appears like $40+/rim to get them here.Thats by greyhound.At that rate it might be cheaper to drive there and get them.

Ok,so today I park my 92 chev 1/2 ton and coolant starts to run down the back of the block. I located the leak to a corroded fitting into the pass side rear of the intake that hooks to a metal section of pipe going to the heater core(rubber hose for the last bit).I suspect this is a pipe thread fitting and due to the corrosion ,I expect the removal shall be somewhat dramatic before stories end.I have never removed a pipe from one of those quick connect couplers before either.Anyone have a few pointers? My tolerance for less than straight forward automotive repairs has hit an all time low lately.Thanks in advance.

Ok I did a search through the tech section and I can not find the post about how to set up and find the right length for the brake pushrod.A friend has had his 62 T bird apart for 2 years and in that time the brake pushrod has been lost. The car went out of service due to an overheated/siezed engine that may have been caused by dragging brakes as someone had removed the power brake booster and may have altered the length of the pushrod prior to reinstalling causing the brakes to be constantly applied.I seem to remember a rather long how-to post about making a pushrod and determining the proper length.Anyone remember where to find it?