Ford Model T - Overlander

[modernbeat]

Is that weird? A Model T built for camping, off road trails and dirt roads?
Longish story, I've been doing long dirt road trips for ages, and the occasional hard trail. I've pestered my pal to go with me on these trips for 30-ish years. But, he's got two careers, a wife and a couple of kids and always turns me down. A couple years ago he finally said "yes", that he wanted to go on one of these trips, but with some stipulations. He wanted to do it in a vintage car.

We're no strangers to vintage cars. We've each had dozens. We campaigned a '63 SAAB 2-stroke in Rally America competition. We've driven '50s VW Busses all over North America, and I've driven on all over South America and Canada.

Well, I had a decently prepped TJ Rubicon at the time, and have had dozens of older cars, including a bunch of pre-war stuff. So I told him I'd buy a flat fender Jeep and we could prep it for the trip. NO, he said. He wanted an -OLD- car. Not anything post war. In fact, it had to be 100 years old! Ouch. That meant Model T. I begged him to relent and let me build up a Model A for the trip. At least it was a "normal" car. I have had a Model T before, a 1913 model. And they are weird and fragile.

So, I surveyed the various models and bought a decently running 1926 Model T Roadster Pickup in Denver. We went to pick it up and I gave my pal a driving lesson on the Model T and told him it would be similar in size and speed to a modern Golf Cart.

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After driving it around for a while we both realized that using this body was not going to cut it. We were hip-to-hip in that car and it was just too small. That was easy enough to solve. We'd build up a custom wooden wagon body. And after studying all the ways the Model T fails, we made plans to address the worst of the mechanical failures.

Stripped it down and sold the body to a hot rodder in Houston.

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Stripped off the two-speed rear end to rebuild it.

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Decided to stretch the wheelbase 12 inches and add an auxilary transmission between the stock transmission and torque tube.

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Designed a wood drop side body in CAD so I had a good idea of the wood involved and could build a cut sheet.

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Stretched frame, rebuild two-speed rear axle and added disc brakes to the original drums. Converted to wire wheel hubs.

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The rough beginnings of the body.

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More adventures in wood.

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Drop side gates taking shape

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Finished most of the body. Still have to make the canopy.

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Custom pistons I had Wiseco make after scanning my custom head. Trying to get the compression up over 6.5:1

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Full counterweighted SCAT crank going into the engine.

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Engine mostly finished

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Building up the Model T transmission. The three drums are the clutch, reverse gear and low gear. They work through a planetary gear set.

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Transmission and engine

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Installing it in the truck

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All the rods, levers and pedals. Most of them do not do what you'd think they do.

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The build has been long and involved for the last two years, and we are still working on it. The engine was finished a few months ago and went into the car in November. We're plumbing and wiring it now.

 

[Hipster]

Neat

 

[Drunkcanuk]

This is friggin awesome!!!!!!
Any timeline for completion and road tripping?

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

That is seriously cool! Thinking way outside the box! I love your design and fabrication skills!

 

[GrimsterGMC]

That is so cool. We are only limited by our imaginations and yours is clearly unlimited. I look forward to more updates and any other projects you may wish to share.

 

[modernbeat]

This is friggin awesome!!!!!!
Any timeline for completion and road tripping?

Yes, this spring we will be taking it on the trip we are building it for.
We'll be driving from Trinidad, Colorado to Agoura, California (inland from Malibu). We'll be on Jeep trails, dirt roads and tiny back roads for most of the trip including going through Engineers, Hurricane, California and Ophir Passes in Colorado, Mohab and the Shafer Trail through the Canyonlands in Utah, the Southern Utah Escalante (Burr Trail Switchbacks), Zion National Park, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and the Mojave Trail through Southern California. This last August I ran a scouting trip on the way to Speedweek to double check that the trails I had chosen were easy enough for the Model T and had to scratch a couple off the list that were just too hard or risky.

We plan on leaving as soon as the Colorado passes are open. We don't want to wait too long because it starts getting hot in the Mojave.

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[618 Syndicate]

Is it weird? Yes, very.
Also super cool!

 

[modernbeat]

Random detail shots.

Made this dashboard / parcel tray. It's a frame from welded up angle iron and leather thong knit into a baggy tray to hold items while we bounce around.

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[modernbeat]

I'm using a small Holley 1904 from an early 4-cylinder Ford Falcon. The venturi is about the size of a nickle. The standard Model T carb is an updraft version that is down by the frame rail. And it's about as sophisticated as a toilet bowl. This small carb has more modern circuitry, an actual accelerator pump, and gets the intake up out of the dust and water. We're making a trick linkage that can use the stock accelerator lever on the steering column or from a converted tractor foot accelerator.

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[modernbeat]

The drop gate hinges are converted gate hinges. Reversed one side and mounted it flush to the bed surface. Made custom long hinge pins. And everything it put together with square nuts.

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Backing plates for the hinges. The extra threads will be ground off.

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And the flush mounted hinge half in the bed. Used carriage bolts to make it as low profile as possible.

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Detail of the end of the hinge pin

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