Last year Hurricane Irma put a hold on about everything, to be honest there are still areas I have not torn into that were flooded last year. Add to that a personal interruption and a 3 year old I have been Very inactive in model T's. This past week I was able to tear into the speedster build and get a little work done. The goal has been to get the chassis off blocks and sitting on her own wheels by completing the front drop. I welcome insight and opinions on the body or???

Looking good so far

Looking pretty good! Glad to see you posting here again.

Love the heavy paper markup. I may have to do that when it is time

Looks pretty narrow, but the staggered seats should help. You might consider a round fuel tank, the trapazoid doesn't really match the rest of the car. I had a friend with a hexagon tank on his speedster, by itself it looked cool but didn't really click on the car.

All in all it looks pretty good.

Andy

Your car looks EXACTLY like what I have in mind for my speedster body. Great job! Any chance we can get a closeup shot of your front lowering brackets? There are several ways to lower the perches and I like to get ideas on simplicity and strength from other owner's cars.

Sit in that passenger seat and see how it feels - if it was me I'd maybe make a foot peg over the exhaust pipe - about halfway up the angled section of the pipe. Then the same thing on the driver's side. It wouldn't change the looks of the body but would let you and your passenger spread out a little.

Two of my absolute favorite modifications I've made to my speedster were friction shocks and panhard bars. Completely changes the way the car feels and handles, much more smooth and comfortable and I can attack corners now. At this stage of your build is a good time to tackle shocks and panhard bars (or at least a set of shackle locks).

While we are on suspension - haha mannnnnnnn that gap between your front axle and crank arm looks really small! I drive my speedster FAST and often very off-road. You may have no intentions of that, but if that was my car I'd end up bending the axle, the crank arm, or both. If you want to keep it that way, maybe make some kind of stops that will catch the axle before it hits the crank arm.

I have a custom brass gas tank that is 15 gallons, and I absolutely love the extra capacity. I'm with Andy, the tank you've got now just doesn't go with the rest of the car. The guy who made my brass tank is the 2017 Alabama high school state welding champion, I can provide his contact info if you're interested. In my mind there's a way to make an oval or round tank but with a section descending down in-between your frame for hidden extra capacity.

The tank will match, its just a rough mockup now. As far as foot rests those are in plans. Regarding the crank I have thoughts to remove it all together or have one that can be insert more like a model A.

What about a drop front axle, can keep the crank. My car has a suicide front end and I had to weld an extension on the crank handle to make it long enough to reach added length to the shaft.

Tim

Is that top end of the front axle "C" welded? Not sure I like the looks of it.

That's ok, neither do I. I was out of time and my buddies at the welding shop didn't have time so I tacked it for now. The vital part was getting the chassis to roll. Later I will have it all welded properly and if everything works out good Ill cast new ones for this and the next build in bronze.

Sounds good Chad! I am sure your uncles will be glad to know you are doing right.
Are you going to make it out here for the big 50th Endurance Run next year?

Chad, thanks for that front perch photo. Never seen it done quite like that, but I like it and will probably copy it for my car.

No plans to make it out, it's a bit too far and now I'm a single dad so money is a bit tight as well. I'm not the first George, here is the one that gave me the inspiration. I don't know what your time frame is but as I mentioned I will be planning on casting some brackets in bronze.

Chad, I still have lots of time. At this point I'm just getting my engine completed and have yet to clean and straighten my frame, rebuild both axles, etc. My planned frame drop is only 2", using a replacement rear cross member and brackets up front.

Although I can use a welded up assembly, the idea of nice, bronze brackets is tempting to say the least. Please keep in touch via the website!

This drop all together is probably closer to 7". The rear is a Z with about 4-5 and then a bent spring for another 2.