Bought a really bad project- so now what?

HAHAHAHAHAH...oh man, I thought that, too!

 

Zip-ties!?!?!?!?!?! Did you not crawl under the car before you bought it?????

 

looks like frankestein

 

I m sure your daughter as boy friends who could help

 

I can relate. My '32 Tudor was a similar deal - bought it online from Georgia (about 2500 miles away), pics looked great. Car arrived and it was scabbed together. Fortunately for me, it had some pretty decent parts so I started stripping it apart and selling off stuff I don't want/need to get back some of my investment. Trouble is, it was supposed to be a quick, easy build and will now be a long term project.

Steve

 

i think most people buy a car or two in there life without really checking it out, i know i have, i say dont go getting all in a rush now just think things through a little, like others have said join a club if you dont have lots of car guy friends, i think if i lived closer i could zip disk that whole mess out of there in a day, go to some local car shows and start asking questions, someone will help you out, i say $1000 and you can be driving a safe car.

on a side note i did notice they took the time to balance the wheels, safety first.

 

Probably told the tire guy it had a bad vibration at 90 mph

 

Like others have said, you can and should fix it. It won't take that long once you get into it. You will learn alot about your car, and have gained a sence of pride for doing it yourself. I hope you fix it.

 

Whats the problem?The original frame looks good. The guy did such a shitty job that he didn't butcher it. The body looks to be in good condition judging by the fact the floor boards did not rip apart from the torque arms. I bet the jack ass left the original steering box in. So whats the problem? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to locate a used dropped straight axle and install it with hairpins. It's also pretty easy to buy and install a rear leaf spring kit for the rear axle. The engine probably needs a real set of motor and rear mounts. Not too difficult to install. Reuse the driveshaft and run the damn V6 until your ready to upgrade it. That V6 isn't the best motor but they always seemed to run forever.Then put in the wiring harness. If the new owner thinks he has the skills to install the wiring harness then he probably has the skills to handle the rest.This is not a hard job for a guy with average skills.Just a couple of weeks of reading,learning and elbow grease. If the interior and body are in good condition he will not lose any money and it will be a good project for him and his daughter. Oh, and as for the straight axle versus mustang II suspension, I have run them both on a 32/34 ford and found absolutely no difference in ride or handling. And I've driven em cross country.The real tradegy here is that he had a professional shop inspect it and they let him drive it away without warning him he was in real danger of killing himself. That and we still don't know the name of the butcher that did the work. He needs to be stopped now.

 

shit, that aint bad, just don't throw money at it, work like a man with your hands , and LEARN, this is a project, build or mod another frame into something that
car will fit on, go frome there, don't panic, it's not that bad of a job, stop looking at the cash or what was spent, that will screw you, just take it easy and think straight.

yea you screwed up, but it aint as bad as it could be, i want to see that on the road by next year, on a frame that you built and i wan't to be safe. GET TO IT.

 

yeah if you are in over your head with the skillset needed to repair it, then i'd sell it for a bona fide roller/runner, sorry about the whole "live and learn" thing-

If you have friends that can help learn you up, then it looks like you could fix her for around 5 grand, and that includes a better engine.

Probably not possible but if the builder was a shop, you could own them for every cent they ever make again just on liability alone...

if you bought it from Shadetree Sam, then it's all down to a pre-purchase inspection/lack thereof.

I wish you luck on getting a nice ride for you and your kiddo, and very glad neither of you got hurt in this thing.

-rick

 

No one has talked specifics about the front end yet, so I'll start.

If you do a stock-style suspension, the beauty of it is, HENRY FORD ALREADY DID THE HARD WORK FOR YOU. Much of it is factory bolt-on. Of course, I'm oversimplifying, you'll have to do some fab work since the stock center of the X-member was removed, so you either have to make a way to mount the wishbones (hairpins) to the center of the X-member (stock style), OR, mount them to the outside of the frame-rails (hot-rod style). Everything else, (spring and axle), takes care of itself geometry-wise because the front crossmember is still intact, if you use a 33/34 front end.

And try to find original if you can. Many have suggested aftermarket, but OG is best in my opinion, for fit AND for re-sale value. If you try to use 35-40 Ford stuff as some suggested, your front wheels won't center up in your fenders. 33/34 is spring OVER axle, 35 and up is spring IN FRONT of axle, important distinction.

Engine-wise, mounting a flathead would be the most simple, of course, since it will bolt in the stock location. Anything else will take some thought on making motor mounts, oil pan clearance, and getting the motor worked out between the radiator and the firewall. Not sure if the guy hacked out the fire wall for the mini-van motor, but thats a consideration too. If you kept that Aerostar 6 for now, you would just have to figure out the motor mounts.

There are a TON of archived threads on any questions you'll have and a bunch of guys that will answer them if the threads don't. This site is the most amazing resource of knowledge, and community of experienced builders, so use it!! I have over the years and I can never repay what I have gained here.

 

Crap man if thats what the frame looks like I wonder whats under the paint. Boy the next time you buy a car inlist the help of a fellow HAMBer. Sorry it worked out like this.

 

After viewing the pics, and reading thru all the comments, I kept thinking to myself (and maybe it's just the junior-cop in me), is the guy you bought it from truly the "real" owner.

I don't mean to spook ya, as you said you haven't made the DMV visit yet, but if a true beginner/or longstanding rodder went to the effort to search out such a wanted vehicle I just don't see them "butchering/rat slapping" something that (even a rat rodder wouldn't of done a half n' half). If you can't get a hold of the seller, run the VIN/serial number (and make sure if there's a tag on the body, the rivets show their true age).

At the very least, I would've said the previous "true owners" wanted it for week-end crusin', where not only would other rodder types be all over the vehicle, but a minimum of 3 or 4 tire shreds would be inevitable.
And it doesn't look like that chassis/drive train combo could even withstand going over a speed bump at the local Tastee-Freeze (which might be a good way to get all that crap off there with one fail swoop-just make sure you've got AAA, and they send a roll-back).

Let us know what you've come up with on the condition of the body (what's really behind the paint and panels), if it's all magnet friendly-including the floor boards-I would sense a DMV search (again, too nice a car for some bonehead butcher to owning).

On the plus side-if it is 80-90% good metal, and the VIN/serial bears out - you've got some money sitting there. Pull the body, and either yank the junk on the chassis, be patient, and make some fabricator friends - or take a crack at putting the body up for sale and at least recouping some of your duckets.

I love digging into new projects, but then again, I've doing it for nearly thirty... scratch that, I've done alot of them in my, uh hum, years. If you weren't clear across this U.S. of A., I'd gladly have ya bring it over to the shop and let me help you out.

 

just get a little hammer and tap those parts off. your not gunna get money for it with it in that condition, might as well put it together.

i dont see this thing as realy being trad. so mustang 2 wouldnt be horrible. but i would go straight axle.

 

Hello,

I had to chime in. I did the exact samething you did. I bought something that wasn't what it was advertised as being, which was a solid car. I even found out after the fact, that it was once owned by a HAMBer, who sold it to the guy I bought it from, and I was going to fry him on here, but thought other wise. Here are pictures of what I got. Rediculously rusted rockers panels, outter panels were tin rain gutters, and body mounts rusted through and attached to nothing.

I am not a builder by any sense of the imagination but what I will say is I have experience in the mental and $$ side of what youre about to under take.

Many of the guys on here will say, and noone has is, take your budget multiply it by 2, and then add 10%. Its the reality of it. I don't have children but I have nieces and nephews that I adore, and if it came down to me putting them in an old car you better believe I'd spend the most I can afford to make sure everything possible was safe on the car.

Mistake #1, you drove it.. From what I can read from your post. You're in love with her and in love with the idea of your daughter driving it. I dont know your daughters age, but I am certain she's really really in love with it. All that equals TROUBLE with a Capital $

See this is how it is going to go. Youre going to go to buy a part that you need and it is selling for $300, but there's a newer and in better shaped part going for $500. You think for $200 more, and peace of mind you go with the more expensive part. So it starts, you start to slowly buy the better stuff. Then when it's high dollar time, say taking the frame to be welded up properly, but you know clean steel welds better, looks better, and once again peace of mind, you decide to get it blasted which wasnt in the original budget, $1000. Uh oh, some hammer and dolly work straightening, add $200, maybe you get nuts, and say powder coat it, and give it a really good rust treatment, because now you're thinking, I'm spending this money, I'm thinking I'm going to keep her forever. Lets do it right, since we are at this stage anyway. Down the road I have a bit more money, this is just going to cost double, so lets do it now. So the downward spiral of budgets being useless starts..

The HAMB guys giving you advice on price you'll have to remember are hard core. Like doctors in the Emegency Rooms of hospitals who can talk about open heart surgery like it's nothing. They know their stuff, and know if anything goes wrong they have the ability to fix it, but you are a bit more apprehensive, so if you want it done right the first time, first time costs $$$... The guys on here are amazing, and always willing to help, and offer their services, but ultimately it boils down to your peace of mind, and that's where it's going to get you in the wallet..

Good Luck, and get out now if money is really tight...

BUT Since I 've loved my expereience with my car I say build it. You have more skill than I and I think ultimately you'll enjoy the experience more because you'll do some of the work, with the help of your daughter, yourselves. That will be priceless. Its Only money, and you and your daughter will have stories to tell foreverrrr.. GO FOR IT!!!

 

Sorry for some strange reason my pictures didnt attach.. Here you go so you can see what I started out with.. Same boat...Sort of..

 

I'm with the rest of the guys who said take all the junk off the frame and start over. The basic frame looks good, it's all the trash the prev owner added to it. Buy the needed equipment and do it yourself. If you have to, take a welding class at the local adult tech school. Buy a good used Miller or Lincoln welder and go at it. or talk the night school teacher into letting you do the frame as your project. I helped build aluminum and stainless tanks for an aluminum sail boat (another teachers project) to pass advanced welding and metallurgy class. It's not majic, just a little training and then practice. Go for it! Good luck! Bob Lintner

 

Those are some sweet JB-welds there!

 

MikeCo,

Thanks, I'll give you a shout when I get back in town next week and get your advice on a path forward. Much obliged!

Doug

 

That builder ought to be arrested for that..
after everyone on this board gets a chance to beat his ass..
that is dangerous as hell.
thank god you had a look at it before you put her behind the wheel.

really nice way to install a rear end, those control arms scare me, how they are attached to the frame

well the original frame seems to look ok..its all the other crap hung on it and how he went about attaching important suspension members and a cobled up mess of things that are mostly secondary to structural integrity..

I would get the body off, pull all the bull shit off the original frame and see what you have than..

This is fixable, not pretty and maybe not cheap , and it depends alot on your skills and tools.

get to the frame, and go from there.

 

Everybody, thanks for the advice. I'm on the road this week, I'll have to pick the car back up from the local shop it's at, get it up on jacks and stands, and look at the crossmembers, etc and take pics (including trying to get more info on quality of the body build- I know he's got some bubbled paint, looks like application not rust). I'll have to look over the straight vs dropped axle and other discussions, maybe MikeCo, my favorite grenade inspector, can come down and run through some pros and cons in terms of complexity and cost with me. Off to work.

Doug

 

I have a 48 chevy fleetline 4 door and want to put a s10 frame under it has anyone does this and is there any info on the frame swap

 

kinda what I thought...your there now, get to work, if money was an issue, you'd bought a falcon like me! lol.....

new frame, start again! Just my .02 cents....

 

Well, you might have gotten the knees of your jeans dirty, but it would have been worth it, I think a blind guy would have turned this one down. Don't get me wrong, you can save it . I would take it totally apart, and check the frame and the cheepest way to make it safe is with leaf springs and s-10 rear in the rear. And go with a solid axle and buggie spring, split bones in front. Alot harder than washing those jeans!

 

Hey what about calling the previous owner/butcher and see if the original 34 axle and parts are still lying around at his place.....
Axle spring, perch bolts and wishbone are all useful, rear spring maybe radius rods and the bits he hacked out of it like the gearbox mount/crossmember.

Hell , he's probably lurking here, watching all this, might even have a guilt trip and give you the bits you need to fix it..........yeah right.

 

This was pretty common in the 60s. The frame actually looks pretty good to me once you cut all the junk off. It once was a common practice to fix stuff like this cheaply and easily. There were no aftermarket frames. The only thing tying the frame rails together in the middle was a piece of 3" channel iron bolted to the bottom rail flanges on my 34 P/U (same frame). You may not want to build a hotrod and that's fine but it can be saved by a do-it-yourselfer cheaper than buying an aftermarket frame.

It's not drivable but very savable. You need to find a real old time hotrodder and not a modern parts assembler that wants a 34 4dr to sell it to. I personally think it's worth what you paid for it as a project car but not as a driver.

Not a starter hotrod. Good luck.

 

don"t

 

You know, we poke fun at the Aussies when they post on here about the restrictive construction process they have to go through, but this is the kind of downright criminal crap they avoid. I agree with the majority that it can be saved. If you didn't have the skills to look at this and know it was crap, you will need help or the help of a REAL rod shop at the very least. get out the bondo magnet

 

Ahh, shit wipes off. Strip it down, put out the word for what parts you want, you will be surprised what shows for free or really cheap. I mentioned to one of the guys that I needed a gearbox for a 53 Chevy truck and less than 2 hours later, he shows up with 2 of them. Find local rodders in your area, offer to help them with whatever skills you have, (A/C repairman, cableguy, carpentery, whatever) and trade off for their help. Your rod gets built and you make some great friends in the process. You might learn a lot and find your new calling in building hot rods. I built my own truck, which led to building a truck for a client and am finishing on the second client's truck right now. Get the daughter out there with you and teach her a thing or 2, then she won't have to rely on a guy to help her out with mechanics in the future.

Good luck.