37 years later - she's back in his garage

[Russell]

I love the story and the car!

[BOOOGHAR]

I love the looks of the 2TC and 3TC, just cant seem to get any power oout of them, but they are super cool to look at

[Dignlif]

So how often did Al come to a component and wonder, what in the heck was the kid who put it together thinking?

yeah he's had a few moments of realizing just how much he's learned over the years.

glad you guys enjoyed the story, I figured that would be the big hook for it. I've got more pix so I'll post some tomorrow showing the chassis as a roller with all new chrome and wheels/ tires.

[Beagle]

good to see beer in at least one pic. I was starting to worry.

When I was a little kid I had a love for the neihbor's Pantera and oh my gaudy T's. After Gumball Rally, I morphed my taste for T's into a taste for AC Cobra's. I got a little older and the T thing is still there, back in the back of the mind, like an unscratched itch.I'd like to see how the steering change goes, that's the only dealbreaker for me now (vertical wheel). I've given serious consideration to a 2.3 Duratec / 5 speed from a Ranger in a T for a driver recently, if for no other reason than to whizz off Chad's beard.

Deckofficer is a T guy. He used to come on here a bit, I wonder if he still lurks. This would be something he'd get a kick out of I think. Great story, waiting on the conclusion!

[Dignlif]

Ok time for more pix. With the chrome all back from the shop and the chassis painted, it was a pretty quick job of bolting it together. Here are a couple pix of the chassis as a roller. He picked up Rocket wheels with M/T Sportsman s/r tires. The fronts have the original hubs rechromed, new 16" rims, and new stainless spokes.

[Dignlif]

Engine Teardown and refresh

Now the engine. It was running fine when taken apart for the stripped spark plug hole so Al just went through and cleaned up the block along with replacing all the gaskets and seals. Of course there was some chrome that needed redoing and some aluminum to polish.

There was a little drama with a couple bolt holes but all was fixed and is good to go now.

engine still in the chassis



on the stand ready for tear down



mockup



block painted and chrome back plus the aluminum he repolished there in his garage.

[Dignlif]

Engine dropped in the chassis. You can also see the new header from Sanderson built using the original one as a pattern. There is still another section that is about 18" I think that contains the muffler.

This first picture is Al on the left and his bud Allan who has been helping with the rebuild. They just dropped the engine / trans in.



Here you can see Al polished the bell housing and everything is painted. The radiator looks killer after he spent some time polishing it.



All new brake lines and the obligatory oohga horn...shifter has a clue as to an attitude change coming for the car.

[Dignlif]

Great story! Sure doesn't look like it "needs paint" to me - should be a fun and super light cruiser that's easy on gas.

The weight is somewhere around 1400 so with the dual Webers and upgraded cam, it will be fine power wise for cruising. He said it starts getting squirrely at 60-65 anyway.

Al started on the body by adding a roll pan in the back and reinforcing the structure where he though it needed it underneath.



The original idea for the paint itself was to 'buff it out' but the closer he looked, the more pin holes and cracks he found so then it changed to scuff and paint. Well, as the scuff started, he found the paint just kept balling up on him and making a really bad surface. What comes next? Yup, gotta strip it all the way down...






Well after stripping it, Al decided to make a magnetic attaching setup for the tonneau cover. It was then that he noticed to his horror that the driver side of the bed had been attached about an inch higher than the passenger side. Back in the 70's he had not noticed it and neither had the new owner all the years he had the car. It kept bugging him so he had to take the time to fix it.

The best picture I could find to show the condition is this one when they were loading it into the trailer. If you look closely at the gap between the seat and the tonneau, you can see the slope.



Let the cutting begin...ugh!



It cost him an extra day but it did come out nice when he was done.

[Dignlif]

Time for paint...decisions decisions.

Since the paint was a complete redo, Al let his mind wander and decided to go with black. He already had plans to paint the 47 Ford red so why not make the T contrast? I then introduced him to my cousin Daniel and a paint scheme hatched that would make this bucket stand out among its peers.

Here was the process...

[Dignlif]

Painted body on chassis

For now these are the last of the pictures I have. This shows how it looks with the body in place and it looks cool. It still doesn't have the muffler extension on the header but I saw it on there last night and it's closer to 24" long. I'll get pix soon.

Al and Allan bolting it down, look at that brass shine!!



and now some shots of coolness

[Scott Liggett]

They did an amazing job on the car. The La Valle style flames work for me too.

What kind of engine is that?

[Dignlif]

yeah they're doing a really good job and having a blast while doing it.

Daniel had a great time doin the flames and he actually took a day class with La Valle years ago.

The engine is a ’75 Toyota 2TC hemi head engine and matching 4 speed. He told me last night that it has a custom cam he had made back when he built the car and if I remember correctly it has solid lifters.

[65RHDEER]

I'm really enjoying the rebuild, thanks for taking the time to document it all.

It would be great to see a video of it the first time it returns to the road.

[Dignlif]

That's a great idea, I'll try to capture video of the first engine refire and first cruise around the block.

[milner351]

The paint quality is outstanding! Thanks again for sharing this.