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I been working on the brake system for the Coupe and finally realized I bought the wrong brake pedal assembly to use. I am using frame mounted hardware and naturally bought a pedal that goes forward almost 11 inches before it turns upward. I figured that would work but what the problem is I didn't think of the 11 inches of space that pedal is going to need to operate. With the pedal assembly clamped to the frame it has to set back so far on the frame that there is no room for a master cylinder as the frame cross members are in the way.  I did some research and found another pedal assembly that is almost vertical and it will allow me to move the pedal assembly forward and have room to mount the master cylinder. I just hate spending the extra money for another pedal assembly but it looks like it's going to be the only way..   :x

Tony,

My wife has been dealing with that same exact thing on her tooth. She got in to the dentist today and a round of antibiotics was prescribed but nothin for the pain.  My sympathies for you sir. My wife reminds me how painful it is but they will wait a week or so for the infection to go away... Then I may get some relief... Ha Ha Ha....

I have had good luck at finding small hardware like that cable clamp at McMaster Carr  https://www.mcmaster.com/ hardware heaven..

Thanks Chimp.

I had to notch the rails just above the reveal so the body would fit flat on the frame. The duce frame angles up a bit from mid frame and of course the T body is flat as Kansas on the bottom. The notch is visible but not to noticeable. Yeah I am liking the way the body fits and that took several weeks to get it to set where it is now.  On mounting the body I used crossmembers located below where the T body rails were to take advantage of factory mounting methods. I did not use wood on the mounts but instead made some metal blocks with a layer of 1/4 inch rubber belting to give the body a little resistance to sound travel but still not be loose.

Tomorrow I am going to cut a wood panel for the front floorboard so I can get the column and brake pedal mounted.  I originally thought I had set the engine in the frame low enough so I wouldn't need a cover over the bellhousing but alas not quite low enough so I am going to have to find one as I want something symmetrical so I will look for some floorboard parts like a bellhousing cover if that is what it is called.

If anyone has a good source of these bellhousing curves / Transmission humps or what ever they are called let me know as I really don't want to make one but if I must I will.  

Well well well, I made a rough mock up of the floor to establish where the bottom of the firewall should be but during this task I found some problems with the trans interference with the floor board. The trans is 3/8 of an inch higher than the bottom of the floorboard. So that means the bump or hump for the bell housing will have to go almost to the front of the seat.   Then I realized I will need more room to clear the shifter and linkage so that throws a wrench into the works.. I did find a trans hump/driveshaft tunnel at speedway Motors that will fit the bill for giving me the clearance I will need. So much for a completely flat floor!

I removed the floor board and decided to bolt the shifter on the trans and get an idea how much room the shifter needs to clear.  So about 5 years ago I ran across a "Craigslist find " of a Lokar shifter supposedly to fit my Ford FMX transmission.  Well when I went to bolt it on it wouldn't fit on my transmission and finally determined the shifter was for a chevy 700 series transmission.  So I called Lokar and talked to the tech there and explained what was going on. The tech says no worries we will sell you the parts needed to make it a FMX shifter. They make a kit to convert their 3 speed auto shifters to fit whatever you need it too. The kit isn't cheap at $118 bucks but he assured me everything I need will be there. So I ordered up a kit and will get it next week I hope.   So back to the height/bellhousing problem and found a fiberglass Trans tunnel sold to fit TBuckets and looks like it will solve the clearance problem. So I ordered that and that should be here Friday.

So another problem I found was with my floor board template. It seams there are 2 different angles on the side rails from the front of the floorboard and I missed that and made the sides straight so the fit on the sides is real sloppy so I have to correct that when I build the final version of the floor board. Tomorrow I am going to clamp the brake pedal in place and see how much real estate is available for the column to fit.  

So a bit of setback but a good recovery is in store.. Sometimes the setbacks really set me back but so far no complete show stopper.. Onward to the bench!!!

Thanks Chimp.

I had to notch the rails just above the reveal so the body would fit flat on the frame. The duce frame angles up a bit from mid frame and of course the T body is flat as Kansas on the bottom. The notch is visible but not to noticeable. Yeah I am liking the way the body fits and that took several weeks to get it to set where it is now.  On mounting the body I used crossmembers located below where the T body rails were to take advantage of factory mounting methods. I did not use wood on the mounts but instead made some metal blocks with a layer of 1/4 inch rubber belting to give the body a little resistance to sound travel but still not be loose.

Tomorrow I am going to cut a wood panel for the front floorboard so I can get the column and brake pedal mounted.  I originally thought I had set the engine in the frame low enough so I wouldn't need a cover over the bellhousing but alas not quite low enough so I am going to have to find one as I want something symmetrical so I will look for some floorboard parts like a bellhousing cover if that is what it is called.

If anyone has a good source of these bellhousing curves / Transmission humps or what ever they are called let me know as I really don't want to make one but if I must I will.  

I worked on the T some more today and todays task was to stuff the engine back into the chassis. That actually went pretty good!  I am now down to the part where I have to formulate a floor plan for the front.  I am thinking of going stock material for floor boards. Model T's used wood floors in the front and where the pedals penetrate. I think I am going to do the wood from the front to the back. The OEM fit in the front would be perfect for wood and going that way I can make the new firewall fit and meet the floors at a 90 deg angle. This simplifies the meeting of the floors and firewall and I can save a bit of labor and time building by not building a 16 to 18 Ga steel floor.

Looks like I may have a perfect place for the column to go through the floor and not interfere with the brake pedal. But like everything you have to fit things, Then take them apart and put them together again only to find part B is in the way of part C and part C won't fit with part A and B.  Arggggg. Makes me Nauseas! I also added a couple of body pictures one showing the body sitting down nice on the frame and another from the rear and it looks pretty level. Oh the first picture is of the front floorboard idea..

So for show and tell here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure:  Enjoy.

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I went out to the shop today to work on the T. All I got done was fine tuning the firewall template and trim it to pattern making size.  I also reinstalled the trans crossmember after finish welding the mounting ears.  The body is now centered and positioned and bolted to the frame so next on is the firewall fitting, Front Floor, Brake pedal and steering and Shifter. Oh I can't forget E brake.  For all of the above I need the Engine and trans in place Again!!!  So dang there is an awefull lot of things to stuff into a tiny place as a TCoupe. Steering is going to be Fun!!! There is just no room.. Gonna be tight.  I am NOT looking into shoving the engine trans back into the chassis again.  My Bad shoulder is acting up again and it makes manhandling things like a engine/trans combo a real pain!! I sure wish I new a few rodders in this part of the land. I could enlist a crew to do this engine trans swap in. So in the mean time I will watch late at night for some friendly shoemaker elves!  

Good one Matt, You slippery ol sidewinder....

I removed the rear end from the crown vic chassis that donated it's drivetrain for the 72 F100. The narrowed front suspension is from it. I'm going to look it over to see if cutting it up and trying to save some parts of it has any merit. If not, it's going to my friends scrap pile. Less stuff to mow around this summer. In looking over the bare frame, it's very well engineered. There is nothing thick on it. There are geometric shapes and some overlaps in a few places that I think may have been just to enable production operations to be more efficient. Happy April 1st to everybody. In my world we're getting closer to warm weather.

I did my first TIG welding job today.

And I thought you were a Tig Man from way back.. Who coulda guest!

So tell us how it went, what do ya think of it, what did ya weld, huh, huh, huh, gotta know  

Hey Matt,  Is that a secret agent IDJ Antenna protruding from the right taillight???  

Just rattling your cage!!!!

We got our first Moderna shot Thursday. Sore arms, that's about it.  
Ever since this started and the news was talking about vaccines my wife and I have never thought about not getting the vaccine.  
But our closest friend is a anti vaccine person, and listens to all the radical news and believes everything he reads on the Book. We have had some heated talks. He is a good friend so we just avoid the subject now.

My Brother is one of the anti vaccine radicals. He goes on and on about how I am going to grow an extra arm or some other equally nonsensical abnormality.  He also is a Political Radical and he use to go on and on about politics. He knew how to spark a reaction in me and it was almost a pastime for him!  We had it out about 10 years ago and I told him he had a choice, he could continue to be an * in which case he would no longer be welcome in my home.  He thought about it for a month and then came over to my house and made a passionate plea for my forgiveness. We both agreed to end hostilities and not talk about politics any more.  He still jabs me once in a while and I jab back but stop before it escalates.  He gets so passionate about his beliefs but I told him flat out I won't accept his force feeding me his beliefs.  We get along much better these days but there are some conversations I will not get involved in...  Ahhhhh Family....don't ya just love them!!

The New Pushrods are here, The New Pushrods are here at last your somebody Mr Chimp!!!

The wife and I got our second Covid shot today too. Same routine as the first and besides twisting my neck trying to see some commotion I am doing fine like the last shot.. Thank goodness this stage of the pandemic is behind me. I will set back and keep a low profile till they decide we all need a booster..

I finished the wiring part of my wheelchair Lift in the new van today. All works as advertised now. I cringed a bit tearing the trim off along the inside off the van to run the wiring harness from the "Up fitter Harness connector under the dash to the lift in the back of the van. Fortunately all went without a hitch and it's all back together. I am finally mobile again. This was week 3 since I got this new van so now I can go when and where I want.. Waahooo..

Next Tuesday I go back for shot Number 2 and Then another 3 week wait till I will be fully immunized..  

I ordered a Wheelchair lift from a company out of Florida 2 weeks ago. The package arrived yesterday in rather * pore condition. One side of the box was crushed all the way down. The other side of the box had 2 well placed stab marks from a forklift about mid way up the side of the box. Oh the lift and all were bolted to a pallet. The whole box was loose from the pallet and a box of small parts was taped to the top of what was left of the box with masking tape. The whole thing looked like it had been on world tour for months. I asked the delivery driver if this was common to get your product all whacked up and he just shrugged and says I don't know.. I wish a person could trust that their items would be handled property when shipping..  Now today I have to go through the entire order to determine if all the small parts are still there... The upside is at least it wasn't shipped USPS...