well I spent the day helping prevent a great deal of wasted money...

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
I got a call from one of the local guys that I've built a few engines for in the past,
his son has been shopping for a T-BUCKET at a good price ($4000) and thought he had found one listed in the orlando area .
the guys son was almost bouncing he was so thrilled to have found a good T-BUCKET project car at a price he could afford,
his dad asked me if I would go with them to inspect the car, before his son bought it!
(because He knows from long experience,
( I should have taken clear detailed pictures but I did not have a camera and it never occurred to me to try the cell phone)
I can spot problems much faster than he can, and he was hopeing too avoid ,
having his son, purchasing a money pit,

rather than a decent project car,
I think were all glad I made the trip even though it took all day to drive up to the place the T-BUCKET was for sale.
Of course we asked for detailed pictures and we made it clear that because it was sunday that we would NOT be bringing more than a minimal down payment to hold it if we decided to buy it until we could go to the local DMV, and the BANK to change the ownership paper work and verify a clear title transfer.
we made it clear that the car must have a clear title, valid documentation, and that we would like the owner to take one of us for a short test drive to verify the car runs ok.
well we get to the agreed upon location, which according to the current owner is the parking lot of the local police station. (our suggestion)
At first glance the car looked fairly decent as we drove up, Too be fair,
it did run, and the engine seemed to run without any noticeable exhaust smoke at least at idle.
It was painted decently, and it had huge rear tires and front spoke wheels,
but once I got to look it over,
it looked like a well done example,
of a good many engineering and fabrication mistakes,

it was as large a list that could be made, too a single car.

THE BODY looked similar to this



7152001_L.jpg



(1) the oil pan to ground clearance, and bell housing to ground clearance was UNDER 1 INCH
thats WITHOUT passengers or driver

(2) the car was built with a 10 bolt G.M. rear differential, with a single transverse leaf spring similar to a corvette, but it was mounted in such a location that the rear wheels could only move about 2" vertically before binding the suspension on the body

(3) the two rear suspension locating wish bones were located INSIDE the frame rails and under the body, and they would bind solidly on the lower body if the cars rear wheels moved even 1" inch, the front pivot point on the rear wish bone suspension was a large bolt on each side that was run through the frame and had a big stack of washers and a large threaded nut.

(4) the car had rather small rear drum brakes

(5) the car had very small front disc brakes, so small I suspected they came off some imported 4 cylinder car

(6) the fan belts and pulleys and damper that drove the water pump and alternator were located about 2" from the rear of the radiator, and there was no engine driven fan, there was only a front mounted electric pusher fan, and the radiator looked like it also came from some 4 cylinder imported car.
the alternator was not much larger than about 2/3rds the size of a typical O.E.M. chevy alternator (AGAIN I SUSPECT OFF SOME 4 cylinder IMPORT)
(it looked way too small and thin to effectively cool the SBC V8 )
I checked the vin and casting numbers (it was a 307
3914653....307...68-73...2
) with 462624 350 heads

(7) the car had a cast iron intake and an edelbrock 600 cfm carb

(8) headers were painted and looked like the paint concealed light rust!

(9) the steering assembly looked like it was very badly engineered.

(10) the shifter looked like it was cut and re-welded and I think it was a cast iron three speed manual transmission. (but it did not look familiar)

(11) the seats all looked like they were salvaged from a small sports car , and were bolted top the cars floor with no adjustment fore-& after available

(12) the wind shield appeared to be a flat vertical piece of window glass , not even auto safety glass.

(13) the firewall looked like it was thin galvanized tin screwed to 1/2: plywood that was starting to de-laminate

(14) carpet looked like blue astro- turf plastic shag

AFTER LOOKING IT OVER,
I can say that I have very rarely seen a worse potential car to buy
AND after I pointed out those and other factors,
we decided to pass without even taking a test drive!
I got the feeling that who ever assembled this has no automotive related experience at all
 
Wow, sounds like a rush job to me, out of whatever could be found in a salvage yard.
 
Sounds like a great deal with allot of potential. Allot seems it could be fixed for a small amount of fabrication. If frame was solid and seemed in good shape to build off of perfect project car. Again $4000 starting budget will not get you far in this world. Can't even get an 80's rear wheel drive for coin like that anymore.
 
I can absolutely assure anyone reading this thread, that with very careful shopping and a solid knowledge of what your looking for and what youll see inspecting whats for sale that there ARE significantly better bargains.
never get into a rush, look over your potential projects with a pragmatic view point, expect any project to need extensive work, but theres no point in spending hard earned cash on what in this case looked like a slapped together bunch of trash mis-matched salvage yard, parts.
if the T-bucket in question had had even some basic components, to start with that added value, that increased its value like a ford 9" or dana 60 or even a mopar 9.25" differential, or a 327-400 sbc, engine , or even a buick, mopar, ford, pontiac or caddy big block, or even a decent small block like a ford 289,-351, mopar 340-383, pontiac or buick 350,or a muncie transmission,or a TH400 auto, or a 200r4 or 700r4,
IT might have been a valid starting point, but as it sat, it looked like a collection of salvage yard parts with not much but the frame tires and maybe most of the body as salvageable components.
As I looked at it I would have said the whole drive train, electrical and cooling systems were basically trash, the seats were trash, carpet was trash, steering and suspension were slapped together trash, the body needed extensive refitting, refurbishing, the suspension and brakes were totally un-safe and needed to be totally replaced..
I could easily visit a local salvage yard and spend $4K and at least start with something like a caddy 500, ford 460,or 5.3 LS engine with a matching transmission, and get the cars/or trucks radiator and differential, and still have the cash to buy a T-bucket body and metal to fabricate a frame etc.


yes starting from scratch is expensive, but thinking things thru saves a great deal of time and money but I.m sure we will eventually find some 1/2 completed project car with a better selection of components at a decent price, I see several every year listed locally, in various conditions, few are that badly mis-matched
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Delux...ndard-Body-and-Bed-Channeled-Floor,43663.html

715-1400.jpg
 
This is one of the worst times to buy a car this is when I sell cars people have return money april is good time to buy people who owe are looking for money.
 
Grumpy that's a very good point! When I was looking for a project car I looked for several months, and I just got lucky when I found my nova, my nova had 60,000 miles on it. It was not showroom new, but it has one small rust bubble about the size of a dime. The interior is shitty, but it was a solid place to start. I got shitass drunk lucky and paid 800 bux and drove it home! So keep looking you'll find a good deal, shop around awhile, eventually the project car will slap you with your in the face!
 
I would also guess allot to do with it would be your skill level and tools owned, again with out pictures it makes it tough to make an accurate assumption on it's value.
 
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