Technical They Don't Seem To Know Anything

Such is a fact of life!!!! All the original builders are a dying breed.

 

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THIS!!!!
As in what they both said.
I have no animosity towards the guys who buy rods or customs from others or have them built as long as they give credit where credit is due and don't claim to have built it yourself.

Anytime you spout that you have to build it yourself or else you aren't a real car guy you are disrespectful to each and everyone of our members who build rods for a living and their customers plus being disrespectful to the members who build a car a year and sell it and the folks who pony up the cash that goes back in the kitty for the next and slightly better build.

Think too that many of us have built a number of cars over the years but now are at a time or position where farming the work out to a shop actually gets it done rather than getting what we can get done with a few limited hours a week out in the garage.

One last thing, take notice that the guys who are the most vocal about "build it your self or else" have the crappiest looking cars in their avatars and no one has ever seen their car at an event or seen progress photos.

 

I hear this and I have talked to guys that you know don't even own a tool. Having said this I did buy a finished car once but I went through it because when driving it home couldn't keep it in one lane. It was a neat ride Datsun truck frame, Ford 390 FE with C6 trans. Now I'm building one from the start a 39 Plymouth,early 392, 9 inch, and 5 speed from a Dakota.

 

This is up to 3 pages now. Under the heading "Technical". So, this is a tech thread on bitching about the folks at car shows who don't meet HAMB standards. And, none of the comments were funny. I thought that Hoodlums weren't supposed to be so easily offended. Geeze....

 

I went to school to help learn mechanics and welding . I was raising a family and didn’t have the money to pay to get all my work done , so fight wrong or unliked its was all me and it still pleases the hell out of me . I guess the mechanical knowledge did help me, earn a living also . I can still remember the first day , on the job , “ pull the valves out and rebuild them on a Clark 1750 HP , 2 stage , double acting compressor . “ I passed the test and became a Stationary Engineer , I would not trade the job and hobbies I have for anything . I just look at the the guys that live in Ft . Plastic and chuckle , mine is paid for and I can fix it , if need be . This is a great web site , there are many of us willing to help someone in a jam , there is more knowledge here than any school can teach you , just ask we will pull you through it .

 

Not everyone knows what duration and lift is, not everybody knows what an anterior collateral ligament is, not everyone knows leadwork. The common denominator is the joy and affection of having a nice car. I can bend metal, shear, break, yada, yada, yada. I am not wort a crap at wiring. I have purchased ready made cars because the time and the car and the price was right. Everyone on this sight has enjoyed reading build and repair threads.
Lets just know that everyone here knows something but not everything.
But I do enjoy a new 'vette with the signboard listing all of the features and the driver who is my age (71) with all the gold stuff, its sort of entertaining.

 

But this thread started out with the OP being disappointed that the people he was asking questions did not know the answers. They were not lying or filling him with b.s.

Kaspar and Dooley make good points.

 

So much has changed in the last fourty years that I wonder how many kids in high school are gearheads at all, what percentage as compared to 1979. Hell you can't find a kid that wants to go outside let a loan work. I worked from sun up to sundown on the weekend on my junk if I wasn't working witch I started doing at 13 years old. I learned my trade because I had no money to pay someone to do it, even when I did I'd learn how to do it myself before paying to have it done. I bartered machine work and transmission builds, for thirty years I ran a tally with a good friend. I installed headliners and carpet but farmed out the rest. I come from a time where body men painted there own work now a ten year body man may never hold a paint gun. I'd be surprised if the guy with a car now knows where the gas goes and how to check the oil.

 

2X, did you make that pizza, did you make that wooden chair your sitting on, did you build your house and garage ?????? There are three types of car guys and gals. One has all the money and buys done cars. 2. Has a lot of money but builds (assembles) his cars. 3. The guy or gal that spends years finding the parts to put his dream car together. If you are reading this, you are a car nut....

 

Here’s a paradox for you,,,
I wish I could just hire me to just build my car because I’m so tired of skimping and saving because I can’t afford myself. I’d love to have a paid vacation but I don’t want to give me one. If I had that paid vacation I’d be able to do both , work on my car and pay a bill or two.

I’m very grateful I get to do what I do but I’m kind of pissed everyone who crosses my path got their car finished but me.

If I could swing it Id write a check and say call me when it’s done.

 

Alot of people don't want to get their hands dirty, that's fine. Alot of people also use computers who don't know how to program, that's fine too. I don't think that means you can't enjoy having a classic car, or using a computer.

I actually don't like going to car shows, I've been to 2 of them with my 46 Willys (which I did almost all the work on myself, learning the whole way!), and although it was kinda fun at first, after a while I'm just ready to leave the show, I'm just not into the car show scene. I'd rather go on a group cruise or something, go drive to a national park or something and have fun DRIVING the vehicles. I own my vehicles to DRIVE them, not to polish them and show them. my #1 priority when working on vehicles, is to make sure that I can drive them however far I want to. If I can't drive it 800 miles in a day, then it's not a very good vehicle as far as I'm concerned.

 

I built this car the chassis came from speedway crate motor and trans Joe Blows body shop did the body and paint and then it went to the upholstery shop. I did write the checks.

 

There's the Pilot/Driver. There's the Crew Chief/Mechanic. Sometimes they are the same, sometimes not.

 

I’m going to guess that 90% of the people don’t know shit of anymore than 10% about what they are driving.

That leaves just 10% of the people who know something more than 10%. We could very carefully call These folks car guys. A few of them know everyfuckingthing, a few got half of what they know wrong, a few forgot more than they still know, a few can put out some nice stuff and can tell you about it, a few keep secrets and won’t tell you shit

 

At least you/they are doing something

 

My favorite is the guy with the coool rod, his friend tells me he's got a 'knock', pretty sure it's a lifter or loose valve adjustment, 4 guys said so.
Will I listen? Sure. It's a '37 Plymouth, with a SBC. I wince, but say 'start it, please'.
He starts it, I pull the throttle cable and listen...Engine reaches about 1800 R.P.M., I level out, 'D-D-D-D-D-' It's a con rod bearing. I remove #3 spark plug cable, do it again. (then #5, that's what it was) #5 con rod bearing.)
I assure the guy that's what it is, he argues with me. Says the other guys said it was a lifter, or valve adjustment.
O.K.
"THEY DON'T SEEM TO KNOW" seems accurate. The owner, BTW, bought this car at Turlock. Drove a CHP car for 20 years...
He 'didn't know', neither did the Non-Mechanics he asked. I knew...but they didn't seem to know that I did!

 

I built all of mine except interior..It was fun for me...

 

......very interesting to say the least...

 

Can't everyone built a car. Some of the ones that did shouldn't have.

 

Between the '50's and the '80's I built dozens of cars, all on a shoestring budget and never farmed anything out. It would have been financially impossible even if I had wanted to (which I didn't). Sold my last build a few years ago and don't expect to do another. I am now at the age where I am in a position to buy pretty much any car that suits my fancy, but have no desire to do so. For me, the whole gig is about building it myself. Just my personal outlook.

 

If you're talking to me , as a matter of fact , I like to cook , I did build my house and garage ,wired it and plumbed it too , built the cabinets , most of the major furniture , I had/ have very little money so it was out of necessity that I learned how to do things , and yes , I built / fabricated the majority of my T , next question ?

 

What exactly is a build?

Is a engine swap and brake job on a 50 Ford a build?

Is getting new points and the wipers working on a 54 Plymouth a build?

Is swapping engines, transmission work, brake work, new tank, new/ repaired wiring, maybe a paint job a rebuilt rear axle, repaired front suspension and upholstery clean up on a 64 Fairlane a build?

For the above I think not. These are repairs.

Going through 8 states gathering Model A, T and Early V8 parts from 25 different cars and assembling this pile into a car.......
Yes! This is a build.
So is fabricating a new chassis from scratch and assembling a body.

Not everybody can do this. This goes for something as simple as the Plymouth wipers.

Some of us have the ability but not the means.
Others have means but not the ability.
Some have both but not the time.
Some have both but not the gumption.
Some just dream.

You don’t have to build it or even know much about it to enjoy it.

 

But like any other discipline , the more you know , the more you appreciate it .!

 

To be a bit serious, there is plenty of mods. I only see one or two original cars at most shows these days. But then again I can drive a 36 original to a show and listen to a guy say "hey my uncle had that exact car but it was a 62 green dodge". fuck it.

its like people that like them old car posts and then post a 351w they be building for their model a. poops ma goo

 

I believe I read somewhere that making fun of people(Mostly Street Rodders) Is traditional!! Pete

 

Sadly some people don't have the knowledge, time or skill set these days so it's easier to buy a complete running car and pay someone else to maintain it. Cudos to them for enjoying their car however don't pretend to be someone you're not and take credit for something you know nothing about.
When something goes wrong they've no idea and sometimes listen to bush (Shade tree) mechanics without the per-requiste skills, knowledge or experience either to diagnose and fix the issue(s)
Like most of us here I get the satisfaction from building my cars and then being able to drive them. Gone are the days where they were cobbled together, almost everything now comes off the shelf or out of the parts bin. In saying that I'm not getting any younger either and feel that my current project could be my last due to physical limitations.
However I recently bought a nice going car, something I've never done previously, and have already set about improving it. I can't help myself as I'm not content with leaving it alone. I'm making it mine and improving on an already good car and making it better. Some people can't do that or are content with leaving their cars as is. Not me.
If I don't know I'm not afraid to seek out someone I know and trust that does have the necessary skillset to diagnose and fix the issue(s).

 

Whoa! Was that K-18 later used in the movie "Jeepers Creepers?" Way cool!

 

A friend recently opened a hot rod & muscle car repair shop. No body or paint work (he’s damn good at both, but doesn’t yet have a clean space for paint, and it takes too long for one guy to do), just repairs. He’s not swamped, but busy. A lot of his work is coming from guys pulling unfinished and screwed up projects out of other local shops.

As an example, he just finished an OT muscle car that spent nearly a decade in another shop. The repop hood wouldn’t close, so they just painted it and left it sticking up 1/2” at the cowl. Hood latch holes hadn’t been drilled, so no hood latch installed.

He’s only been in business for a year, but he’s collecting some real horror stories. And he’ll never run out of work, with what these other shops are doing.




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