I have been working on my '40, trying to knock out a to-do list ever since I had it running. My last tuck ('78 C-10) didn't leave the shop until every last bolt was in and the pinstripes were dry. This truck is different. While it was "pretty much" done when I started driving it, there's still things to do and to make things more complex, there's stuff that I want to re-do and stuff that I might just have to live with, hence the title of my post, Warts 'n all. If, for example, I was to have bought this truck from a manufacturer and it needed as much stuff done as I think it does, there's no doubt it would be classified as a lemon! But this is something I built, mostly from stuff I scrounged or made from scratch so I guess the warts are to be expected. My question is, do you guys have the same experience of things not working exactly as you thought they would and do you do stuff over or do you just live with it. Obviously I'm not talking safety related stuff, like trying to talk myself into inferior brakes or anything like that. It's more like the squeaks and rattles, and other annoyances. or stuff like messing with the seat height and backrest angle for optimized comfort. Chime in on your experiences and what you think is to be expected from a home build. I was shooting for a level of performance on par with a late model automobile, reasonably quiet and having features and accessories that worked dependably. It's mostly there, but it has it's frustrating aspects too. Don't get me wrong, this truck has won several trophies over the past few seasons but I'm always looking for things to be better than they are.
Hot Rods are going to have a few squeaks & rattles and they never ride like a late model. They are always a work in progress. HRP
That's part of the fun! I don't have anything in my life that challenges me more than my two "projects". They are always telling me : Sooo you think you're a car guy; well what about this!
I'm planning to change a few things on my Chevy II for this year's racing season. Wider seats, quieter mufflers, maybe redo the fuel pickup in the tank. I already got to redo the rear shock mounts, and stiffen the rear end housing. Mostly, it never ends.
Funny this topic comes up. I have stuff I want to do but then when the option comes between spending the day in the garage or going for a ride, guess what wins? During the season, I try to limit the "improvements" to quick fix kind of stuff thinking something more important will pop up sometime that will require attention. The bigger optional stuff I try to leave to off season.
It seems to be a pretty normal thing. I'm never completely satisfied either. I guess it's to be expected. Some little stuff I just live with but if it's something that's going to bug me every time I drive it, I go back and do that thing over. Hell, if you built it yourself, you did something that most people in the world wouldn't have the skills or knowledge to do. Buy yourself a beer!
Mostly I live with it. I slowly peck away at those warts but I would be stuck driving some rental car if I had to have it perfect first.
I built a roll cage in my car and after getting in the seat, I found it almost impossible to get out. Back to the drawing board.
I bought my truck as a running driving "rough" truck at the NSRA Nats. in '99. Since the day I bought it, every winter it goes down for "winter work". In Nov. 02' it went down for body restoration and paint, by May of '03 the truck was done and painted. The following winter we did the interior. Those were the toughest job I've had to do. Engine upgrades (2), improvements( power steering, power 11" brakes, cruse control, custom made tonneau cover, and bunch of other work was all done "over the winter" with a lot of maintenance and gotta do work in between. It still serves me well, even with 80,000 miles on it. But you know I've got one rattle that even bothers my deaf ears. Gotta work on that. BILL RINALDI
I find that I live with glitches until I put it up For Sale, and then make it better than it was for me.
I took a copy of a pic on the Internet, of what I'm sure is your truck. Looks absolutely fantastic, one of my favourites. Just love the colour! Unless you street rod it, ie independant front and rear, auto, fuel injection, power steer etc, etc, etc, it will never handle like a new car. Up to you where you draw the line of compromise! In my experience, I find that virtually nothing goes as planned, building cars ( and often in life too), but that is what I enjoy, the experimenting, trials and then fixing as I choose too. But yes it can be frustrating also. Here's a thought, why do most hot rods get rebuilt after only a few years or low miles? Probably because of what you are asking!
That's my truck all right. The photo was taken by my daughter at a vintage gas station in Amherst New Hampshire. And actually, it is street rodded. It was always my intent to keep the truck looking absolutely bone stock and That's the part I've been most successful with. Right now, I'm working on the electric door locks. It turns out since I used "Jambtacts" to connect the doors electrically to the body. I have a little too much voltage drop to adequately power the latch motors. They work pretty well when the truck is running or or if it had just been turned off since the battery is topped off. But if the truck sits a few days, all you get is a click when the latch tries to actuate, usually multiple actuations of the handle gets the door to finally open. I just made some wire looms and installed the drivers side already. I'm bringing hard wired 12V into the door, no voltage drops through the jambtacts, they work fine once they are receiving full power. That's an example of something I'm willing to fix, on the other hand, the power windows are also powered though the jambtacts and they might run more quickly if the power was hard wired in and the windows only operate if the doors are closed. That part bugs me but I'm willing to live with that.
A Hot Rod never seems to be done. The attraction for these old cars and p/u's for me is the fact that they have the old feeling from back in the day. I never have the urge/desire to climb into my DD just so I can have all the creature comforts (they are strictly transportation)..yet I do desire that feeling of stepping back into time, when out in one of my old cars/trucks, rattles, flaws, manual everything and all. That aside from just looking cool, is what separates them from being just transportation vehicles, and ads to their appeal. It really is a feeling hard to explain, but similar I suppose to why people, including myself, are attracted to old petroleum signage, old toys, old furniture, old houses, etc.
There was a thread on here a couple of years ago about whether or not your hot rod had a soul. I think that feeling of stepping back in time is kind of where that soul stuff comes from. My truck is more of a street rod, I know that's a bad thing on the HAMB but it does embody the basic elements of hot rodding: I built it myself and lots of the direction this project took came from what I could get my hands on cheaply or design and fabricate myself from junk I had around. The downside is that it has no soul. I can't get in it and take a deep breath of 70 year old mohair or learn the nuances of a very fussy old clutch. It can't tell me what the speed limit is based on an axle ratio that was more at home on a rutted farm road than the freeway. Maybe some of you can sense what caused me to start this thread: It ain't really all that old of a truck, it will be a long , long time before it's soul shows up, and right now, there's lots of stuff that I want to get working up to my original expectations [/QUOTE]
We are all different in what we expect or.....what we are willing to tolerate, my 38 Chevy was painted before 1985, at one time I pushed and shoved the front end pieces up through a 22 inch space between the rafters to store them out of the way in the attic of my garage. The got scratched and dented, the silver paint has turned to crap on the body (the charcoal fenders would polish up but why bother with all of the scratches and dents) and I had to fix some areas in the body where my second wife pounded on it with a sprayer. Yeah she is an ex wife. I am 70 years old, the next guy can fix the paint and other "problems" with the car, I am going to live with it as long as I can If I was 35 I'd look at it differently.
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