i give up and dont care

[Slag Kustom]

i have been building a 30 ford pick up for a year with all the cool old parts to surpass all the work that went into the grass hopper but to me it is starting to look like just another old custom. at this point im sick of all the old parts and bs that go with them. i stated out building a cool driver and now has gone way to far to be more of an old build.



where do you draw the line between old school and some thing you can really drive ?????

right now it is chopped chaneled sectioned suicide doors streched cab flush fit doors heat ac power windows wipers doors jaguar rear 5 speed 500 hp sbc 4 wheel disk brakes tilt wheel and all the other bs that is un needed but i put in any ways (power rear window) that is 5 inches tall


how do you decide when to stop ?????????


as i put more money and time it never ends. but my time is worth nothing unless im at work and parts are cheap from thinking out of the norm.

[MrManz]

I do it because i love it. And i draw a line once i hit my budget mark. Ifin your case money isnt a issue. Set a goal of where you want the car and then go there. I nfortunatly am poor and always have a budget. And if i excceed it, i sell the car and get something else.

[Phil1934]

A lot of us get sucked into the thinking that you want it to have mass appeal for the final sale when you move on to the next project. I also fell into the IFS, IRS, polished SS brake line, blower, etc. thinking and that project got pushed back for others that have a light at the end of the tunnel. But you don't need it to get to work on Mon. and it will eventually get done as long as you keep at it on a regular basis, so why compain that your hobby isn't over? Isn't that the reason for a hobby?

[choprods]

If it were fast N easy or Cheap -Walmart would have lot full of these new Old HOTRODS to sell us! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
MAYBE-you should evaluate WHY you are doing this.......

[haring]

Don't get mired in all the silly stuff (power windows? c'mon.) and keep it simple. You might be surprised at how fun the basic purposeful result is, and you might actually finish so that you can enjoy it on the road. You can always add and change things later.

As Francis Ford Coppala once said, "You can write the perfect screenplay forever, but you'll never make the movie."

[Jimv]

Do what you want its your car!!

[4t64rd]

[ QUOTE ]
where do you draw the line between old school and some thing you can really drive ?????

[/ QUOTE ]

OK whatcha got?

[ QUOTE ]
right now it is chopped chaneled sectioned suicide doors streched cab flush fit doors

[/ QUOTE ]

OK so far...

[ QUOTE ]
heat ac power windows wipers doors jaguar rear 5 speed 500 hp sbc 4 wheel disk brakes tilt wheel and all the other bs that is un needed but i put in any ways (power rear window) that is 5 inches tall

[/ QUOTE ]

Old School?

It's not like I'm the scale to measure these things by, but if you wanted a simple, traditional truck, about halfway through the ordering of the power window kit is where you should have stopped.

You asked

[CURIOUS RASH]

<font color="green">Yeah,

You mighta went to far.

I'm not passing judgement though.

I somehow sobered up somewhere after one peicing the ELECTRIC side windows, putting in remote poppers, electric operated cowl vent, monster stereo, power bucket seats, overhead console, and just before installing the AC.

Oh, I bought all the AC stuff alright.

Just sat down one day, somewhere near the divorce, and wondered why I always make things so hard for myself.

Now I have to go back and undo some of that crap.

power cowl vent is gone, tracked down the original type actuator, which I never had.

RADIO? Gone, couldn't hear it over the new motor anyway, and why would I want to block out that sweet sound?

Overhead console is next, got a crazy idea for relocating all the switches, will be a tech article in the tech week following completion.

Someday I may even track down two more doors and have vent windows, door handles and window cranks back.

Oh yeah, my power steering, that's gotta go.

I think I'll have to keep the power disk brakes though. hat good is going fast if youcan't stop it?

Don't know if this helped you at all but I feel better.

It's easy to get caught up in it, don't beat yourself up.

I could stand a heater though.

RASHY
</font>

[Paul]

apathetic capitulation?

lets see some pictures of this custom rod.

what does a cool old modern part look like?

anyway?

hydrolic power windows? AC that you put ice in? 5 speed crash box with a granny low?

Jag rear? sounds like the cat's ass!

Paul

[chopolds]

Hey, Slag. I know what you mean. There's no real answer for you, though.It's all well and good to want to do a "true fifties hot rod" and all, but in reality, if you really want to drive one, you'll be disappointed. We all get used to the handling and ride characteristics of our "modern cars", and when we climb into our old cars, they are rough, bumpy, loud, ill handling, crude, etc.
It's fun for a while, but it gets old real fast. The longer trips you go on, the worse it gets, The OLDER you get, the worse it becomes. Your bady just can't take the abuse it used to when you were younger, and you also don't have the patience for crude handling, when you know you can make it better!
Screw what everyone else thinks. Take your car, and build it to a comfort level you can live with, on the basis of going on trips you plan to do. The longer the trips, the more comfortable it needs to be. I'm not talking about power windows, or other "optional" luxuries. I'm talking ride characteristics, handling, seating, road feel, steering.
Kinda like bikes...when you're young, an off road bike is fine. A hardtail chopper is fairly comfortable on short trips. As you get older, it gets uncomfotable, and a nice Softail looks good. Looks like a cooler bike, but you can ride if for more than 100 miles. As you get to be 40 or 50, though, if you are still into it, a dresser starts to look better and better. Even a Softail has a lot of vibration, and a harder ride.
Plan it, build it, DRIVE it!

[moondisc]

Time to walk away, cruise around in mom's Caddy, and git your head back into it.

[cornfieldrodder]

Pick an era you want the ride to emulate. Make the practical choices for the drivability compromise you desire. Then stick to your plan!

[Fat Hack]

Well, first ya gotta work out your own, personal deffinition of "driveable", before you can have any hope of being able to build something to suit you!

It's different things to different people...

One of my screwy buddies thinks hanging a license plate on a Pro Stock car makes it "driveable"...he fully intends to drive an outdated 70s drag car Camaro on the street with wall to wall slicks, 5:13 spool, one seat, a radical big block, full cage and just headlights and brake lights. (He's a cop...he'll get away with it!).

To others, driveable means a car that is loaded with every creature comfort known to man...I've seen tiny Model A coupes stuffed with more electronics, gizmos, and power options than most high dollar SUVs! Some people just can't handle driving anything less!!!

Most rodders, though...will fall somewhere in between those two extremes. There are several who are happy to drive rods equipped with old engines, early juice drums, bias tires, and 6v electrics. They know that these rides take a bit more upkeep than the average car, but that's all part of the fun to them! They'll happily adjust the brakes every week, lash the valves, grease the chassis, adjust the gearbox and the clutch as needed and enjoy the whole process!

Others, sorta like myself, consider a 'driveable' car to be one that entails what it needs to go down the road in reliable fashion, yet skips all the "fancy stuff". I wired my 49 for 12v, with an internally regulated alternator, headlights, tail lights brakelights, electric fan and fuel pump, and a radio. I selected a common engine from the 80s that's still easy to get parts for anywhere, and the support components are later model items as well. On the outside, the car will look like a rusty, stock Fleetline (for awhile!), but it'll be a car that I can hop in and drive anywhere without worry.

Of course, what you package your 'driveable' deffinition into makes a difference, too. In my mind, I like closed cars with enough room for a fair sized dude like myself and anything I may need to take along. I don't own a trailer, so anything I want to drag along has to fit in the car with me. That makes "fat fendered" cars of the 40s and 50s my favorite choices for "driveable" rodding material! Some guys would be just as happy in a Model T, but I'd feel cramped after a while and wouldn't be able to haul friends and stuff around too easily, so I won't build a smaller rod until my 49 is up to snuff as a daily driver!

Like others, I would have streamlined your particular project, left off a few things, and selected a different drivetrain...but you need to build it to suit YOU. Keep making yourself happy with the car as your primary goal, and you'll build a car you'll love. If you get hung up on what OTHERS think, or in building a car that will turn a profit, you'll be grasping at straws and trying to please too many people with one shotgun effort...and you'll end up with an over-budget mess on your hands that's spun WAY outta control and past the boundaries of what you intended to do from the start! You'll lose interest, and walk away in disgust.

Sit back, think about what constitutes a "driveable" car to YOU...and only YOU, then consider whether or not you can incorporate those standards into what you're working on in a way that will make you happy and keep you enthused throughout the course of the build-up.

Remember...it's a hobby...it's supposed to be FUN...make sure you can seperate your personal project from work you do for your customers, and actually ENJOY it...or you'll never be happy with it!

[kustombuilder]

do it cause YOU love it and do it for you and you alone. thats the only way to be truely happy with what your doing.

[hotrod54chevy]

[ QUOTE ]
where do you draw the line between old school and some thing you can really drive ?????

right now it is chopped chaneled sectioned suicide doors streched cab flush fit doors heat ac power windows wipers doors jaguar rear 5 speed 500 hp sbc 4 wheel disk brakes tilt wheel and all the other bs that is un needed but i put in any ways (power rear window) that is 5 inches tall


[/ QUOTE ]

ummmmm that's not old school..that's pretty high tech,there..why did you put all that stuff in there?cuz you wanted it and felt better having it.something you can really drive?you can drive a car without a tilt column,hell,i dont even have power steering,but i do it and i like it.some stuff is necessary,like i have disc/drum brakes (no power,though) because i drive my car on the highway AND they were put there before i got it and i didnt want to mess with it.if you just want a simple old school ride,rip out all the crap you dont think you'll need and sell it.i took off my grant steering wheel and i'm rippin out my bucket seats as soon as i get a chance.when do you stop?depends on the person.either A: you run out of money B: you get too old to care or drive it any more C: you're like me and dont really quit and keep doing stuff to your car cuz it's fun..
Creepy

[Tman]

Seems to me you havent larned anyhting in your short time on the HAMB http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[FRITZ]

My 2 cents
Id rather have disc front brakes
Because they are all over cheep and the old drum stuff is beat and cost way more then disc's.....
plus if you think about it, any kid worth the hair on his ass "back in the day" would have tossed those old drums for disc ASAP
I use whats around for free or real cheep , if it works with out a rebuild can i get parts for it on the road. thats how i decide all in all i really dont give a crap what some one else has to say about my stuff.....
"yah Im rebuildding a flathead in my rod,........"
Huh hey i gunked this small block chevy and Im "driving" my rod....
I hate to sound course but thats what got me heavy into the Ed Roth stuff. build what ya want with waht ya got and everyone else can piss off.
but thats just me......dont take nothing i say to hart.
FRITZ

[DrJ]

I usta build ships in bottles.
I liked using the Pinch, dimpled scotch bottles because you can put a really tall square rigger in them without a bunch of bottle left over infront and behind the ship.
I also liked drinking the scotch!
Well, 20 years ago the doctors, judges, and my kid sister convinced me I'd had enough scotch for this lifetime and I quit the booze, haven't even had a beer since.
But I don't have a source for bottles anymore either, so I changed hobbies to the one I could never afford before because I was wasting all my excess capital on booze.
What's a ship in a bottle worth?
I saw some fairly decently made ones at Ports o' Call tourist warf in San Pedro for $29.95..
I can't buy the bottle of scotch for that any more, and don't have any use for the contents just to get the bottle! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I didnt just "become" a car nut. I did my first brake job on my dad's '52 Merc when I was 10 and started nosing Chevys, with lead, when I was 13.
Even had a slightly customized Sportster for a bar hopper for a while but I never got around to building a rod till I quit the sauce.
So I have all that usta be booze money to put into my cars.
To me, the most traditional aspect of rod, or custom building is the garage factor.
Anyone with $110,000 or more can get a very "traditional roadster" built for them at So. Cal. Speed Shop.
That's not the traditional way of building, of having a hobby of building a rod.
I put serious disc brakes on my '40 GMC and the Model A that's slowly nearing completion.
Why?
Because when one of the hundreds of assbits in BMWs in this town cuts me off and then realizes I was already too close to the car in front of me and HE slams on the ABS brakes, I want at least a fighting chance of stopping my car before my radiator becoms part of his trunk.
That's practical drivability like the gent above said.
The '60 Elky I'm working on, (put the hood back on it yesterday, motor's in) Doesn't have any sort of window regulator in the driver's door. there' are wornout crap pieces in the "spare parts" box in the bed, but I have four doors off the '82 Volvo I got from burndup and they all have power windows that work, and I hear are very adaptable.
Allready got it is even cheaper than even free but you gotta pick it up, and whare would I ever find a not-worn-out crank regulator for a 60 Chevy for less than the $60 I paid for the Volvo, (minus $15 worth of gas already that was in the tank!)?
I have a Datsun 240Z independent rear end in my Model A.
The OHC engine fits in it too if I want to swap out the Ford flathead 6.
I cut the strut tubes down on the rearend and made upper control arms and have coil overs on it.
It's neat, it's totally built in my garage so it's traditional hotrod construction techniques.

This is a HOBBY!
There are no RULES, unless you are RACING, and you know damn well, the only rule in racing you can't get around is second place ain't shit!

Suggestion, don't wire radios, power windows, or AC to the same circuit as the ignition or lights. Carry circuit breakers to put in place of fuses for limp home or short searching.
Make all your systems with different color wire, and not red and green because the next owner will be color blind http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Power 5" back window?
I have a power windshield opener on my '40 GMC and it only opens an inch! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Morrisman]

Close the garage door for a month, forget about it.

Then go back to it, look around, and set yourself a deadline to finish it ASAP.

Write a list of EVERY job that is left, and then go through them methodically, doing them mindlessly, ticking them off, making progress like a robotoid, until that bad boy is on the road.


Then sell it and buy another project http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


And remember: They're just toys for big boys!

[Rocky]

Re-evaluate what you want....swap off the uneeded stuff for stuff you want on and in your car and go again. There's no sin in changing your mind in mid-build. Just expense.
I've said it before and I'll prolly say it again... if you're not building the car of your dreams exactly the way you want to, you're not having the fun you could have. If you're not having the fun, why the hell are you doing it?
Refer to first paragaraph........

[porknbeaner]

Slag
Sounds like your trad rod is a little extreme for trad, a trad 30 with electric windows is kind of an oxymoron.

OK that's not a slam. I have always had a tendency to have more bare bones rides. 2 reasons for that, one is that I'm so tight I squeek and the other is I probably have a very short attention span. IE I get burnt out easy.

I got what is probably my dream ride on the back porch (and the back burner), haven't touched in in a year. Now this is a ride that I have designed and built in my head for somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-35 years. I had a plan when i started and have pretty much stuck with the plan.

A lot of reasons for my not working on it, everything from it isn't bare bones enough to I really want a '34. Most of the reasons are valid reasons. but the truth is I burnt out on the build. Sounds to me like your just burned out.

Go back to your original plans for the '30 and see what you got to do to get back on track. Spend a little time thinking about it and then take a break from it. Find a distraction for a little while.

Then you'll want to go back to the garage, and finish it up.
If you don't work on it for a month then post and let us know. We'll remind you that its time to get your ass back out there to the garage.

Oh and BTW thanks for the post, now that I've had this group thing I can stop trying to sell the '53 and get my ass back after it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

.

[hotrod54chevy]

[ QUOTE ]
Seems to me you havent larned anyhting in your short time on the HAMB http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

was that directed at me or slag?
Creepy

[DrJ]

[ QUOTE ]
...
I've said it before and I'll prolly say it again... if you're not building the car of your dreams exactly the way you want to, you're not having the fun you could have. If you're not having the fun, why the hell are you doing it?
Refer to first paragaraph........

[/ QUOTE ]

Realistically, I think there has to be a range of car types or a handfull of different cars that would fulfill those dreams, otherwise, you just may spend your life car-less and forever searching, or it's like waiting for the Cinderella love of your life..what happens if she turns out to be like my second Ex-wife? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[crush1776]

I know the feeling, too. I've been doing a frame-off on a '51 Vicky for close to 3 years now. I haven't touched it in 4 months, though. I got burned out and tired of waiting for it to be done, so I convinced myself that I needed to buy a "done" one. So I bought a '56 Olds 2dr 88 that's done. But I didn't build it. And now I'm thinking about selling it so I can get back to my Vicky. I tried to sell the Vicky for awhile, and now I'm glad that no one came close to what I wanted for it (which was $3500, hell, I'm not going to give it away!). So yeah, think about taking a breather, you'll probably get a second wind and be glad you didn't do anything rash. Good luck on the build, and do it however you want. It doesn't have to fit in either traditional or modern category as long as you dig it, don't build it for the HAMB or the gold chainers, or the guys at the local cruise night. Do what makes you happy! Nuff said.

[RocketDaemon]

hey DrJ we can do a deal here
u buy the bottles with booze and i can drink it and you can keep the bottles, seem fair?

[1oldtimer]

my approach is to make it as simple as possible (with the exception of a/c and heat sometimes). too much components = too much to break.

my .02

[FRITZ]

after reading the time some guys have in there project i figured id post again.
I sold off other projects and just concentrated on the "Roswell Rod" 100%
a little over 6 years and i'll be done soon, some "life" stuff and money has slowed me down but im determined to finish it befor i die
<img src=http://members.aol.com/fritzfink/roswell>
rethinking a project and getting disscuraged is not a sin....walking away and comeing back is a good idea just keep pluggin' away
FRITZ

[lotus]

here is my two cents...take it for what it is worth since I am not a car builder.

Do what you think is right!
For me my 52 chevy is going to be a daily driver...around 100 miles a day.
I am going with a sbc, front disc brakes, lights that I can see out of at night, radial tires, a NICE sounding stereo...not a BOOM BOOM thumper...but it will sound nice/loud/clean.
I am building/having built my dream car and I want it to fast/reliable/fun/fun/fun/nice to look at.
I plan on having this car the rest of my life.

[Slag Kustom]

i guess i am a little burnt out on it right now and need to take a break. i have only been builting it for a year and have made alot of progress for starting out with not much more then a rotted out cab and shot doors.

alot of the stuff is not needed like ac but it is a closed cab and it is not much fun driving 100 degree box in the summer.


i think im going to take a break from it and work on one of the harleys for a while then go back to the car.


thanks for all the thoughts and advice

[Tman]

Chill out 54chevy........it was aimed at Slag. You however had many good points in your post.

[Tuff Tin]

Slag!
When you start a project you need to have the finished car in mind and work toward that goal. So many people change as they go and lose the original idea to fads or new trick stuff and get off track from the original idea. When I had my shop customers drove me nuts changing their minds after the fact and putting a lot of good work down the tube to re-do it a different way. A fellow here in Central Oregon has gone thru 3 shoebox Fords trying to clone his magazine car of the '50's. the 3rd one is finished but still not what he started out to build.
Start, build and finish your original thought and if all the trinkets and fads inspire you........build another!
Just a thought!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif