Follow along today as Bob Hamilton, who created the popular StreetRod 101 DVD Library shows you how to make split wishbone bungs for your traditional radius rods. You’ll recall that Bob started with a fiberglass body that had been carved up for drag racing purposes. He filled in a previously cut out section of the rear deck, installed a floor, began building a tapered frame that follows the 1927 T’s body contours and constructed the front and rear crossmembers, rear suspension and panhard bar, positioned the engine, mounted a vintage Mustang steering box, constructed the transmission crossmember, built motor mounts for a small block Chevy engine, began to position the front axle and properly positioned the spring perch brackets, or “batwings”, on the front axle. Then Bob began this multi-part session that will show you how to mount and build split wishbone radius rods on your front axle.
Make Your Own Split Wishbone Bungs
“With the split wishbone bungs blanks cut, faced, and drilled (1 ½ x 3 inches cold roll steel) – I am now ready to tap for 5/8 – 18 threads, which are what I use for my urethane rod ends.”
“The large item that is over the split wishbone bungs blank is a tap guide bushing that I made just for this purpose. Putting threads into a round piece of stock is almost impossible without one of these bushings or a lathe. I show how these are made in my DVD on chassis and frame construction.”
“There is an order to making these split wishbone bungs and if I vary by much, then I might not be able to hold the bung in the chuck so that I can cut the taper on the end. Clamp the bung using the pipe jaws found on most vises. Slide the tap bushing over the bung, I insert the tap, lubricate and using the largest tap handle and a good pair of leather gloves, begin cutting the threads.”
“After the tap is started and the top of the treads are at the top of the bushing, I back out the tap and clean it off – remove the guide, reinstall the tap, and continue the tapping process until the threads are all the way through. Blow the threads out with compressed air (wear safety glasses) and do the same process to the other bung.”
“The picture on the right shows a split wishbone bung with the threads cut and no taper. If I didn’t have a lathe or didn’t know how to cut a taper, then I could use the split wishbone bung as is. The picture on the left shows a split wishbone bung with the taper cut and ready for installation.”
That completes this installment in our ongoing series. It’s fascinating to actually watch Bob build a frame like this and his 4-1/2 hour Hot Rod Frame & Chassis Construction DVD covers it in great detail. Hopefully, you’ve already been inspired to purchase the entire StreetRod 101 DVD Library and have already begun benefiting from Bob’s world of helpful advice. But, if you haven’t we highly recommend you click on the image below and check it out.
Thanks to your strong interest and response, we’ll continue this cool 1927 T roadster series and will be adding more informative updates regularly, so check back often.
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TBucketPlans.com originated in 2005 as a personal blog extolling the virtues of T-Buckets. In 2009 I blogged about Chester Greenhalgh, the "how to" genius who wrote the legendary, out-of-print “How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster for Under $3000”. That led to a friendship with Chester and our partnership in marketing the updated eBook version of his T-Bucket building bible. The T-Bucket fire burns stronger and stronger.
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