One day at a time. The journey of a T Bucket build

[T-Rex]

Hi. I'm Ed. New (again) here. I've done a few modified cars, from mild to "you can't do that, it will never fit, work,..whatever"...but it did. I have the trophy to prove it. However, this is my first ground up build. I'm sure I'm going to be asking for advise or opinions so please be patient with me.

At this time I'm just getting started so this thread will be a little slow for a few weeks, but once I get the foundations done I hope to be moving along rather quickly. There are some obstacles I need to work around due to being in an apartment with a strict policy of no mechanical work, even just checking coolant is grounds for eviction, but .."we shall overcome". I have some parts collected and gathering more every week so I should be able to wizz through this once I get started. The only thing slowing me down is the budget, which I'm sure most of you have experienced.
I started with nothing more than an idea and childhood dream a couple years ago. The build was on, off, on again, and off permanently. Until now.
This time I'm determined to 'get-er-dun'.

For now here is a teaser of what is to come. This was my first purchase when I decided to build me a T Bucket.

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Stay tuned for frequent updates.

[Dennis Neblock]

We all have to start somewhere.
We're with you and interested.
Keep us informed.
Good luck!

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[winfield scott]

looking forward to it!! Lots of pics we like lots of pics.

[Bill Cleveland]

And they call these "kit cars" . . .
.

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[T-Rex]

Every modified car I've done started with a brake upgrade. My feeling is don't go fast unless you can stop. So... for the T Bucket I'm going with these on the front...

[Indycars]

Lookin good so far !

[Dennis Neblock]

Thanks for the caption Spanky! Good job.
After 3 1/2 years I ended up with a complete car.
Moral of the story is ...Don't Give Up!!!
It's a journey.

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[T-Rex]

Dennis Neblock wrote:
Thanks for the caption Spanky! Good job.
After 3 1/2 years I ended up with a complete car.
Moral of the story is ...Don't Give Up!!!
It's a journey.

It is a journey (see thread title :) ). Nice Bucket, good job.
I don't think I have ever given up, but yes I did have to stop, rethink, and come up with a different way to do this. Even now it's far from ideal and things are so hard to do that It's not going to be fun... but I'm doing it and the end result will be the payoff and enjoyment.

To all posters so far at this early stage, thanks for the support and encouragement.

[T-Rex]

This build is happening in parallel, the rolling frame / body... and the engine. Goal is to get both finished at the same time. I'd hate to have the T done and have to wait months for the engine to be done. Anyway, we'll see how the plan goes.

Here is a start of the engine build. It's a 1996 -2000, 4 bolt main, one piece rear seal, factory roller cam, 0.030 over bore. All machine work done, including clearancing for the stroker crank. Will be 383ci. I need to strip the new black paint and redo in the correct color... which I will do soon.

Please excuse the clutter in the background.

[T-Rex]

Today I took some steel to my welder guy. Progress has started.