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Hot Rods Building mistakes you won't repeat

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HOTRODPRIMER, Nov 11, 2018.

  1. Johnny Gee
    Joined: Dec 3, 2009
    Posts: 12,603

    Johnny Gee
    Member
    from Downey, Ca

    Buying part's and never using them or it's been so long since buying them and is wrong and now is non returnable or exchangeable.
     
  2. Yes, all the time, every project ....
     
    nochop likes this.
  3. dutchrod
    Joined: Feb 5, 2009
    Posts: 449

    dutchrod
    Member

    Trusting a shop to finisch my car and believe him to finisch it in 7 months.
    Had to wait tree years and now i’m doing it all over because it is done badly.
    A lot of monney gone and a lot off work to do.
     
  4. clem
    Joined: Dec 20, 2006
    Posts: 4,190

    clem
    Member

    Forgetting, or rather, not knowing to put castor in my front cross member, when I was 19.
    Fixed it after finished paint went on.
     
    AVater likes this.
  5. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thinking that welding in a sunroof cut out of a donor car was a good idea on my 48. Ron Moore and I cut it out and welded in a panel out of another cab a few years ago but that is one reason I am building a new cab now.
    Second had to be chopping the top without bracing the cab but there wasn't much written on that part of a chop in 1980. If you learn from your mistakes I have learned a hell of a lot.
     
    classiccarjack and Hnstray like this.
  6. Kerrynzl
    Joined: Jun 20, 2010
    Posts: 2,906

    Kerrynzl
    Member

    My biggest mistake is adding up how much $$$ I've spent ,with the wife around.
     
    lewk, fourspd2quad, chiro and 22 others like this.
  7. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,144

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    Good gawd man, what were you thinking?
     
  8. Never work on the car angry! Took 5# sledge to the nose to learn that lesson! I still forget it every now and again, but in general, I'll walk away if it's pissing me off


    Sent from my SM-G955F using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    reagen, OahuEli, slv63 and 3 others like this.
  9. Hemi Joel
    Joined: May 4, 2007
    Posts: 1,528

    Hemi Joel
    Member
    from Minnesota

    My biggest mistake has been to turn a running, driving, fun car into a basket case that I don't have the time or motivation to put back together.
     
  10. Hnstray
    Joined: Aug 23, 2009
    Posts: 12,355

    Hnstray
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Quincy, IL

    Been there......do that...too often :(
     
    Hemi Joel likes this.
  11. Chroming bumpers in the 80's......Then stripping and painting them, 'cause that was the craze......then waking up in the 90's and having them chromed again... badly...then having them re-chromed at my expense.....
     
  12. Kerrynzl
    Joined: Jun 20, 2010
    Posts: 2,906

    Kerrynzl
    Member

    Ahhh! The "Dismantle of Death" [​IMG]
     
    Wraith, slv63, belair and 5 others like this.
  13. Should have painted the under dash area white. Wiring is a bitch with these middle aged eyes.
     
    Mahty, Mtn Goat, lowroller1 and 13 others like this.
  14. Hombre
    Joined: Aug 22, 2008
    Posts: 1,075

    Hombre
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Forgetting the fix for the mistake I made years ago, and then having to reinvent the fix all over again. Now am writing them down, the fix that is...
     
  15. deathrowdave
    Joined: May 27, 2014
    Posts: 3,519

    deathrowdave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from NKy

    One the biggest mistakes I have made in my retirement years is offering free labor . I can’t help offering a hand to a young HotRodder , but the next thing you know they are expecting you build their car and then they get a red ass when you advise them you are done it’s time for their car to find away home . But I still fall for the trap , I could not forgive myself if I knew how to do something and was stubborn and didn’t offer help and the person got hurt or hurt someone else bescuse I was the red ass now .
     
  16. “This is good enough”. Repairs and parts that your not happy with or that are not in your long term goal.
    Just so you can finish up that part of the project and move onto the next.
    Some of my early and first projects I would booger the floors together, run my brake and fuel lines sloppy, stupid stuff just to push the project along.

    My thought at the time was “ who cares” it serves its purpose only person who will see it is me.
    And every damn time I had that car on the hoist it killed me looking at that garbage.

    Supertraps on my camaro!!! Why God why?!?!
    Cause they were there and it got me driving, but man where they cheese X10 hanging out behind the car !!

    And the funny thing is we are not talking weeks or months added to a project, hours, maybe days and it’s just what I want.


    Now I take my time like the tortoise and the hare “ slow and steady wins the race “
     
  17. Built my Model A with too little ground clearance. While I liked the look of it, it became a hassle to drive. I have a ramp into my garage, but I had to build loooong wooden ramps to get the car in and out of the garage.
     
    Pinstriper40 likes this.
  18. khead47
    Joined: Mar 29, 2010
    Posts: 1,789

    khead47
    Member

    2x4 trans crossmember in a 56 Ferd. WOOD 2x4. Did not pass the durability test.
     
  19. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    None. When I make a mistake I always repeat it just to make sure.
     
  20. Ebbsspeed
    Joined: Nov 11, 2005
    Posts: 6,250

    Ebbsspeed
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Was it the FATMAN specifically that was bad, or just having IFS no matter the manufacturer?/
     
  21. Assuming others would help me like I helped them. Trusted a body shop, trusted an upholstery shop and so on. On the plus side I learned how to get creative and do two person jobs by myself and learned body, paint and upholstery.
     
    Mahty, reagen, Doctorterry and 3 others like this.
  22. EBBS, actually the FATMAN crossmember cracked where the upright boxes were welded to the large crossmember tube. When I called them on it I was told that "THEIR" crossmember was not the issue, it was the way I had my engine mounted that was causing a wedge effect putting stress on the welds. Nothing was ever stated in the install instructions about how to mount the engine. Oh well, just ground out the welds and rewelded the whole thing, added some gusseted pieces in key areas and let it rip. Also had the holes for the lower control arms wallow out, welded heavy wall tube in and reamed it to size to fix that. Other than that, i would never use that "type" syspension on anything again, the drop axle with unsplit bones on my 36 Ford out rides and out handles that crappy Mustang II all day long. My BIG mistake. Mitch
     
    samurai mike and Atwater Mike like this.
  23. luckythirteenagogo
    Joined: Dec 28, 2012
    Posts: 1,269

    luckythirteenagogo
    Member
    from Selma, NC

    I worked with a guy who bought chrome plated cotter pins, then found the polished stainless ones on the next page of the catalog after his flaked apart.

    Sent from my SM-G920V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Pinstriper40 and nochop like this.
  24. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    Thinking helping and donating parts to others would be returned in kind.......uh, huh. Took me years to learn that good intentions from others are just that, good intentions, I have either sold stuff way cheap or given it away to never having the favours returned. I've given literally tons of shop time hours to help guys get past the point where they lack skill, my welders are worn, my power bills paid by me, my tools used and broken, my builds seen in magazines with no mention, I have no ill will, but if I could, I wouldn't be so kind again.
    Not whining, just saying that I spent years and many mistakes to learn what I know, and like most of us, willingly share it with others, especially in places like the hamb, cause I like to see projects on the road, but in the same breath, I don't like being taken advantage of by guys who can't turn a nut and a bolt, these two examples are completely different.
     
  25. dana barlow
    Joined: May 30, 2006
    Posts: 5,115

    dana barlow
    Member
    from Miami Fla.
    1. Y-blocks

    Last edited: Nov 12, 2018
  26. Old-Soul
    Joined: Jun 16, 2007
    Posts: 3,774

    Old-Soul
    Member

    Tearing my car down without a concrete sense of the direction I wanted to take it.
    Changing said direction not once, not twice but thrice.
    Spreading said discombobulated project across three properties.
    Dragging my feet for 8 years before "trying" to get back at it.

    Maybe buying the damn thing in the first place :rolleyes:
     
  27. My engine is a 425 from a Riviera GS with factory dual quads. There is a heavy rod that has a big square block with a hole in it that slides on the rod the block stuck on the rod and one of the two carbs stayed open even after I pulled the throttle back with my hand, I was reaching for the key to shut the engine off when a car came around the corner wide and in my lane, I turned to the curb to miss the car and hit the curb, bent my front axle and wheel back against the cowl and my car flipped over pinning me under the drivers door. I took the dual quads off and put a single 750 cfm 4 barrel on it after rebuilding the car with a new frame by my friend Richard Ruth.
    If you run the dual carbs make sure that block is free to slide on the rod and can't stick the carb open or build different linkage. I'm a Nailhead nut, not fond of the dual quad setup.
     
    BamaMav and bchctybob like this.
  28. lonejacklarry
    Joined: Sep 11, 2013
    Posts: 1,498

    lonejacklarry
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My only real mistake (ok, let me think about this for a minute) was buying another guy's project sight unseen that included in the description was that "all the hard work is done".
     
    32SEDAN, OahuEli, Smoke4570 and 5 others like this.
  29. nochop
    Joined: Nov 13, 2005
    Posts: 3,818

    nochop
    Member
    from norcal

    Head slap moment
     
    luckythirteenagogo likes this.
  30. adam401
    Joined: Dec 27, 2007
    Posts: 2,856

    adam401
    Member

    Building mistakes are my specialty. I often do half assed mechanical work to get stuff going with the promise to redue it. Problem is I don't till it brakes 5 times first. I'm an impatient hack. I'm working on this personality fault as I find it more and more unacceptable the older I get.
     

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