Art & Inspiration Low Budget Builds

Guys lets see your low budget builds if theres any out there in HAMB-land.

Dont have to be pretty but just honest drivers.

 

OK I will start here is my 37 Plymouth low budget build I am fabricating as much as possible on this build to save money and increase my enjoyment of the build mainly for the enjoyment and creativity. The link is in my signature line enjoy, although it's not a driver yet it will be driven when competed. Jim

 

About $3500 in it, 20mpg and 12K miles so far.

 

Anything I own is a low budget build, so the Pusher, the Willys, my current project, my bike. Pick one.

If you want a pic I had less then 2K into this 12 second 4000 pound brick.

 

Guys these are frickin awesome. Id love to know more about how you got them, prices of stuff, etc

 

Ok bought the truck and ended up with 450 in it running and driving. Put tires on it new from Cooper, cost me about 130 an axle, give or take. Added a set of plug wires.

I rebuilt the steering column from pieces I had ribbed out of another steering column at one time or another.

The bed wood was nearly gone but I had a piece of 3/4" marine plywood that filled it up just fine, reused the bolts and two bed strips. Cost zero.
The moon caps were 30 bucks (shipped) from the HAMB Classifieds, NOS still in the boxes. I drove it that way for about 6 months.

Pulled the 330 horse 350 that was in it and gave it to the Raven. Sold the 4 speed to someone for 150.

I already owned the motor I put in the truck had about 30K on it and the truck was its 3rd body. I spent about 500 on the swap, S/W gauges, headmon headers and exhaust, mini starter. Moved the battery to the bed put it in a 70 year old wooden tool box that was given to me at a place I worked. Welding cable battery cables I had bought a piece of welding cable at a swap meet for 5 bucks. I had the ends that I found in a box in my stuff. probably got them in a swap for something or other gawd know when I never throw anything out.

Part of the key to keeping costs on a build down is never ever throwing anything that is good out, if you have the cash and see something good at a good price buy it and put it away for a future build and playing cars and motor cycles for about 45 or so years. Oh and never pay anyone to do something that you can do for yourself.

That's just the basics of it I guess.

 

The key is not having any money to start with and the desire to do it anyway. The rest is just timing and logistics.

I would post a link to my 34 build but I suck at computer stuff.

 

Here's mine that I'm working on making a solid driver

 

Never mind my last post here is your link buddy:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cheap-ass-34-pick-up.977559/unread

 

Thanks Beaner!
Here is a pic cause we all love pictures

 

This one is just about done, just have to put the door glass in and the tail gate on.




Another F1 and a 41 caddy also now in progress. All low buck builds.

 

My Shoebox is definitely a budget build
. I buy and sell stuff and do side work to keep the build pushing forward without using any "family money" . That's why she's " the Penny Pincher " .

Link below, BTW

 

I bought this for $200

Merged it with this, which I bought for $100 a couple years before.
Removed all the stuff to the left of the picture.

Did all this + lots more.
and ended up with this. About $3500 all together. Been on the road 4 summers and driven about 10,000 miles. Gene

 

I have 2k in my 48' IHC KB1. LS swapped/th400 on a shortened s10 frame.

Body $350
Frame $50
Engine $500
Trans $200
Wheels/tires $200
Misc- wiring/brakes etc... $700 and some change

 

Budget build here to in avatar. Spent the money on the important stuff thou like new gas tank etc. The Cokers broke the bank thou.

 

Before and after.... Budget daily driver...

 

Ya know, I've often commented about S-10 frames not being a one-size-fits-all replacement unit in hot rodding, but there is a use for them under certain late '40's trucks, and yours is a pretty good example of how well they can work for the right project; good going! Kinky6

 

Thanks kinky6. Ideally I wanted a heidts or mII with a 4 link but then the s10 frame came around for $50 so I couldn't pass it up. It has worked out pretty well. These 40's IH's are a pretty simple swap

 

Good stuff- But is this a "wheeling and dealing thread"? Or deal's come across? Enginuity is most apprieciated, but, are we flipping to advance,or are we scoring,flipping left overs?
Straight up using all parts,or flipping left overs....?
I'm guilty of both,so no shame..... Buy a lil more to use some,and re-coupe........
Just asking.......

 

No clue, but the funny thing that comes to my mind with any mention of a budget build is, "Yeah, but how much did you spend on all the other parts you've got in your pile that you didn't end up using?"

I suppose the more experienced frugal builders will answer Not Much, but for me, that number is pretty big. I've got enough to build a few budget builds from the stuff I thought I was going to use on my current budget build but changed my mind on

I think the lesson I'm taking away from this is that there are really two and a half kinds of budget builds; The kind you do on a mostly complete car that you get a good deal on, and the kind you build from leftovers, cast-offs, & raw materials... and somewhere in between the two.

 

One thing's for sure , you will spend more than expected building even a "budget" build . I thought I was way ahead of the game till I (foolishly) started adding up the cost of parts one day ... And I'm doing all the work myself (i.e. not hiring work out) . And I'm not done yet .

 

You didn't make the mistake of adding up what the hardware cost, did you?

Sounds like you need to think 'monthly allowance' and not 'build budget' now, that'll help get your chin up!

 

Can a photo be loud? If so this one is!

 

Kid,
on my current budget build I am using up old stuff that didn't get used or was left over from old projects, or that we bought when the price was good because we might need it someday. The culmination of about 20 years of not throwing much away.

I am trying to sell everything on the old heap that does not pertain to the build and not having much luck with it although it would really help me out of some of you other yayhoos would buy it.

yea yea I know shameless spam.

 

Lol , no I didn't add up hardware costs, but I'm sure that's a few bucks as well. With my project, the whole budget allowance was always sort of "as I've got it"the whole way. I wanted to build it without dipping into "our" money , so I didn't have to hear about it . so far so good . I still have some larger dollar stuff to do (kingpins and front end bushings , steering box replacement , finish body work and paint , interior refurb , etc.) ... But at least it's drivable. I'll be attacking the front end / steering box stuff this winter , the rest will come as money allows. I'm sticking to my low budget thinking because I have to , ha-ha !

 

Really, the line "I'm doing all the work myself (i.e not hiring work out). " pretty much covers most budget builds.

Follow the first quote up with this one, and you have the next big piece of the picture.

Now the picture is almost complete, the only thing missing is the hours, and hours, and hours of putting the whole mess together to resemble something we think is cool..

A visit to the parts store can blow the "monthly allowance" in a heartbeat. Just replacing the original brake components (with replacement parts) on my 90 Dakota chassis set me back nearly $1,000! Everything was nice and new, but it still, nearly a grand? The cost of generic grade 5 nuts and bolts is another surprising adventure! (There are a lot of nuts & bolts that hold a car together!)

When your broke and want to build a car, you find a chassis that has all or most of the stuff you need, and buy the cheapest, best condition, complete, car you can find. Then you find the cheapest, best condition, most complete, hot rod doner you want to build. You spend hours placing the right combination of parts in the correct location to resemble what you desire to build. You spend hours digging through your chassis doner parts, your body doner parts, your parts stash, your buddies parts stash, the local Pull-A-Part and the next few swap meets chasing the missing components (because its cheaper then buying new parts). You begrudgingly buy a few parts that you just have to have new (brakes & suspension parts for me), and the few parts you just can't find in good enough condition to use. Then you spend hours replacing body structure and body panels (because it was the cheapest hot rod doner you could find), and depending on how carried away your getting, hours doing body & paint.
Really, its the last month before the car gets to the road that kills a budget! That's when you have to buy that exhaust, the radiator, the belts & hoses, the antifreeze, plugs, cap rotor & wires, you have to buy the license plates, you have to buy the car insurance, you have to buy the oil & filters, and you have to put the gas in the tank. Fortunately along the way, you have been able to sell off parts you didn't need, or swapped parts from either doner for the parts from your buddies stash, and hopefully that last trip to the scrappers to clean up the yard might have netted enough cash to fill the hot rod gas tank. You probably managed to add few things for the next project to your stash.

When you get all done, you have $2,000 in big parts you can add up quickly, $2500 in little stuff (few admit to) that adds up faster then the big stuff does, and who knows how much, plus or minus, (what we sold something for, we might remember, but what we paid for something often gets forgotten) from all the wheeling and dealing to get the parts you needed along the way. Then there is the stuff no one adds in, the welding gas, wire for the welder, and a few pieces of sheet metal here and there. And then, no one keeps track of the hours involved in building your cool ride (unless someone else is paying). Its hard to look at your budget build, and imagine you have 1,500 to 3,000 hours in building it! (I'm betting most builds are in the 2,000 -3,000 hours department. Remember all those times you were tinkering with this or that to get it to work right?) How many are saying "That time doesn't count because blah, blah blah." If it was sitting in a rod shop you can bet it would count!

We really don't want to add it up, do we?
Lets add it up, just for kicks if it was sitting at a rod shop. The parts you say you have in your car, $2000, + lets just say $500 in odds & ends (we all know better then that). So we are at $2500. Now add the normal automotive mark up (50% to 100% most places), (you really don't expect to buy a motor (doubt they would sell you a used motor) through a rod shop and pay them what they paid for it do you?) We will use the 50%, that brings the car parts to $3750 (we will include the sales tax). Lets say it took 3 years to build your ride. If you averaged 14 hours a week you have 2184 hours. Multiply that by a rod shop rate ($50-$100/hour, we will go with $75/hr) $75 x 2184 = 163,800 + the 3750 = $167,550! In fairness, if we were getting paid, there would probably be a lot less tinkering and a lot more serious wrenching, There are three ways to look at that.
1) I got screwed. There is no way my ride is worth that kind of money.
2) Look how much I saved doing it myself! I'm going to enjoy that 160 grand I saved!
3) I had to build it myself, I would have never had one if it cost me 1/4 of that $160,000.
Most budget builders look at it from view point #3. I had to build it myself. Gene

 

Well you certainly got one thing right - the last push to get the car on the road gets very spendy !

I bought a few new pieces for my car, but a good but of it was bought at flea markets , bought/bartered from/with friends or picked at u-pull its. Without that kind of thinking, if have twice the money. You simply CANNOT count your time into the equation , that's just not what is about. Looking at it from that side is just plain dumb , IMHO . I , like most people , look at it as a hobby , or even like a sort-of therapy. You don't count your time as money building a model, an Estes rocket, or throwing pottery , do ya ? Nope. I only count hard parts as part of the budget spent. Just makes sense to me. If I can get a good deal on something, That leaves more wampum for other stuff and helps the bottom line.

Sorry if I sounded preachy

 

True that.... First off= Throw your time out the window,because you might as well forget your hours......Now- someone else's has to be added. Using left-overs, and cast a ways are always a plus when you have them on hand,and they fit your current build, And another But- Somewhere those ended up in your/mine/his stash long ago,and were held on to ....... Did we trade something? did we buy them? were they given=free bee's?... There's $ there= if we got a deal and stashed,traded,or lucked out some how......part's is part's, and we all need em'!
Budget build= I think it's been covered that you set a #,and multiply by 2.5X.....
Even a cherry stocker is gonna run at least a G to bring into reality= belt's, hoses, a tune up,brakes.....etc....
Also on my soap box moment- Raiding your nut and bolt bin, misc grinding materials, hey' I need a can of primer for this/that, oh' oil and filters, some wire to fix this/that,and connectors..... Some tires? Oooooh, let us not forget the DMV shall we?
It goes on and on........
Improvising/DIY/haggle/barter/ off a kidney, but , when I hear budget, I think of making things work with our stash,wheelin'/Dealin' to get what we need....... If we have it already,we have to figure what we have $ wise invested already.....Big or small,deal,free,found at the curb......
I'm sure part's have been stashed for years, like Beeno, but, they came from somewhere.........
I do/have done ALL the above, so I'm right here with you all....... Doing it now,and can't see any other way to do it......

 

Question is what do you consider as a budget build? I consider a reliable daily driver built for $5000 or less a budget build. Some may consider $10K a budget build.
I have a spreadsheet for each build and I keep track of every penny, including consumables like cutoff wheels and welding gas, I dont lie to myself. I do not track my build hours because I do this because I love doing it and it is not work.
Here are a couple more of my budget builds. I like torque thrust Ds if you didnt notice!




Just started on the next one, 41 caddy a couple weeks ago.

 

This Sedan Delivery is my 3 rd frame off,,we are at $5000 for car, trip to haul it home, materials and of course the donor car for drivetrain. No delusions ,,price tag will get to $10K,,Mama wants AC.
My first frame off cost me $5000 (pics not appropriate,,,scary 60's muscle)
This is tab for my second frame off...a '41 K1,,its purple