Tonight I hit the wall, help me please.

Everybodys right, step back and breathe. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you right now. I've been losing sleep for months over re-attaching the ass end of my coupe. This is my first build as well, and sometimes it's really hard to know what comes first, and what order everything should be done in. I mean, if there is a certain order. I definitely think that you should get your chassis slung and rolling before body positioning, floors, etc. Try to read as much as you can, ask buddies what they did, get them over for second opinions. I know without a doubt, that I wouldn't be as far as I am without help. You've got a killer lookin' project going man, just hang in there. Although I have not done it yet, I'm pretty sure that the first drive in the bad ass hot rod that YOU built is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

 

Seriously... you need to get out of the Garage and breath fresh air...!

You are showing signs of Asfixiation from the salamander heater and it makes it harder to think straight...!

Simple jobs become complicated and complicated jobs become impossible...!

Step away and get some fresh air and some rest... it's amazing how the right solutions will present themselves to you when you're all rested...!

 

Here's something I wrote last year when I was in the same situation:

I just want to drive my hotrod.

As I sit at work tapping the keys,
My mind wanders so effortlessly
To the pile of parts resting in my shop
Waiting for me to finish the chop.

Pieces of tin, of iron and steel.
Oh when oh when will my hotrod be real?
Mocking it up only postpones the pain.
My shoddy work only brings disdain.

Sitting in it, imagining the road sliding below
The wind on my cheek, maybe soon I will know
The feeling of freedom, of confidence, of speed.
Gripping the wheel with white-knuckle greed.

I lay in bed, I can’t seem to sleep.
I know its hopeless, I’m in too deep.
Assembling the parts over and over again
I know I will finish, I just don’t know when.

I hear the thunderous combustion eternal
Smell the fumes and the grease and the oil.
I feel the rumble in the pit of my brain
I know my wife just thinks I’m insane.

The sparks from welding stinging my skin,
My ears are numb, my wallet thin.
Every spare moment spent thinking about
What it will look like, it’s first time out.

I think to myself, it wont be so bad when it’s done
The hard work all over, just driving and fun.
But done it will never be, evolving forever
Making it better, a lifelong endeavor.


Copywrite JDS 9/8/06

 

Sleep, beautiful sleep. Pulling an all-nighter may seem heroic, but you can end up worse off than if you'd've slept and started fresh. You can't force it. Well, you can, but the results will show it.

And, take someone up on the offers of help.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

Sometimes it pays to just walk away for a day or two. Then it seems when you go back to it things will go better. I have been burned out before and it helps to just go do something else, enjoy a different hobby. When your hobby becomes too much like painful work it becomes hard get motivation to do it. When you go back to it and if you need a hand, let me know. I think I am about 2 hours south of you. Just PM me if need be. Good luck. By the way, too cool of a car to just "sell it off" -Dustin

 

Wow fellas, thanks for the words of encouragment. It's pretty humbling you guys would take time out of your days to cheer up somebody throwing a man fit. Besides the tudor there's actually three more cars, a motorcycle, two engines on stands, tool box, welder, couple work benches, all in a 24'X32' shop. I put most of the stuff away. Then I disassembled the roadster and put the quarters and doors in the attic. Now I have to put that frame and cowl some place but I almost have the long workbench cleared off and that's where I'm putting the Tudor's chassis. It's actually been cut in three pieces by me after somebody built it on a jig and it was dropped off at my house. I guess I need to make sure it is square/level and that's where I'm starting. I just had this self imposed deadline of Billetproof Detroit this year. I work a minimum of 48 hours but it's usually 60 hours a week when I get a day of overtime. Got parts to buy, then no time to work on them. Viscous circle I guess. Oh yeah and I usually take 8-12 credits a semester at school. I've got ten this time around. I just don't want this project to turn into one like that racecar sitting in front of it. $10,000 and a failed marriage and it's never left the garage. Not entirely my fault, (bad engine from builder and my local track got shut down,) still, I take a lot of shit for having the fastest thing on jackstands. Man, building racecars sure is a lot easier than building hot rods from scratch. Crashing on a racetrack is one thing but I sure don't want something I did incorrectly to cause a wreck on the street. So I want this thing perfect as possible. I just really wanted this thing to be a complete roller with all the suspension and the body sitting correctly on it before I started school. That's in three weeks and I don't know if it's going to happen? Thanks you guys so much again it truely means a lot to me that you would offer your advice, experience, and kind words. I'm going to get organized, call a few guys to lift the body off the chassis and start over. Frank, you know I'll be in touch and Alex thanks for the offer. I was just watching you in Hot Rod Havoc II the other day. Man this place is great, really something special. Scott.

 

Hey man you need a hand i can prob come up this weekend. its been so damn cold and im out of money to work on my stuff but im itching to get something together.

Dont worry about getting pissed. i got so pissed building the flying monkey i didnt work on it all summer pretty much. First thing i like to do when i get pissed is clean up shop. becuase there is nothing worse then trying to get shit done and spending half the time hunting for tools! send me a pm if ya need a hand

 

I bet 75% of the people who look at old cars and hotrods have no idea what the owner went through to allow them to enjoy the finished product.
If it were easy, every tom, dick and Jane would have one.
Consider yourself blessed and obsessed. Need I say the amount of hours and money it takes? We are all nuts for putting ourselves through it.
You are no different than any one of us. Everyone has gone through your frustrations.
Experience limits the amount of frustration.
This is supposed to be fun!!! Remember?

The biggest mistake we get ourselves into is pressure.
Pressure from the wife because all the money is being thrown into a black hole in the garage with no results. We are our own worst critics….
We put time schedules and limits on ourselves as an incentive to get done.
As the above poem goes….we yearn for the day we fire up that hotrod and pull it out into the road, showing the world our achievement.
Need I say…more fulfillment is gained though the journey then at during the arrival.
I could live in the garage. I wish I were retired so I could lock the doors and get filthy and grimy every second. Learning along the way. I love doing this. Frustration and all.

I invited my son in law over to my heated garage to work on changing a u joint on his late model a few weeks ago. I offered to help. Never again!
When our group of hot-rodder’s from the he man garage work together it one big party. We have a blast, picking on one another, harassing, and setting by just waiting until someone screws up so we can tease him for the rest of his life.
My son in law cops an attitude as soon as he picks up a wrench. He just isn’t a mechanic at heart. He doesn’t enjoy it. He bitched and hollered because we make a mistake and ruined a 30 dollar u joint until I told him to shut up and I went and bought him one myself.
If I had to go through that building cars, I would have had a heart attack long ago.
Remember……Have fun learning and achieving your goals and don’t be in a hurry getting through it.

 

I've been there...a bunch of times and the advise about walking away for a couple of days is right on. Remember...this is a hobby...not your job. It doesn't matter if it gets done today or tomorrow, nobody but you will care anyway. This may sound to simple but try it...get a broom and start sweeping the garage. Do it again if needed. For some reason sweeping the floor is good therapy for me and allows me to 1) clean the garage and 2) it gets your mind off the build and you focus on something simple and let your brain take a break. Sometimes I don't go to the shop for days..then when I get do go, I manage to work for hours at a time and get more done than I expected. This stuff is kinda like art in progress. You have to be in the right frame of mind to do good. Relax, everything is OK your just high-centered right now and need a little push to get going. I get to the point that I what to tear shit apart to, and have done it, just don't cause yourself more work...it's your masterpiece so treat it as such. Good luck and go ice fishing or something.

 

My two year old just got this out of his fortune cookie..lol

 

I would agree with what has been said take a break sit down in the garage with a soda and crank some tunes and just chill till you feel like working on it again.
I know how it feels to work on something all alone it sucks all my freinds dont know crap about cars.

 

Lots of great advice here. We all get frustrated sometimes myself especially. Just sit back, relax, and think about something else. It will get done when it gets done. Anyways good luck with your project, it looks real good so far.

 

Hey I'm not just across town so I can't cruise by and try and bail you out but I can give you a starting place.

You've got the body off the chassis right?

Start by putting with what you have of a chassis on some blocks or stands of some sort. Now the next step is to leve it up. This is an imporant step.

Snag all the bits and pieces of lumber shim ansd whatever else you can find and a 3-6ft level ( or plum depending on where you're from). Make it level cross ways and from front to back. Ride height isn't important at this point. Make it as level as possible. When it gets close I usually snag some cedar shingles from the lumber yard because they are tapered and tap them in where ever it needs to make it on the nats ass.

Once everything is level start squareing things up. measure criss cross from marked parallel points etc. Then start tacking things up when you have everything tacked into place good and solid you can start welding.

That should get you started.

PM me if you don't understand and we'll discuss it until you do understand.

Benno

 

lucky, thanks for posting this, and thanks to all you guys for the inspiration. none of my friends here work on cars and my wife is constantly pissed that i spend cash on that pile of parts. i cant talk to her about it because she doesnt understand things like being proud you built your first brake system and only had 2 leaks. one from a loose fitting, and one bad flare.
NOSURF, that poem kicks ass, along with your idea of a checklist. i have been running thru all of it in my head, but i can see how it will help to have it on paper as a visual reference. thanks to all you guys, lucky, good luck too, there will be a day when we all drive our heaps out of the garage, and all you'll be seeing is tire smoke and smiles!!

 

like everyone said.my no good pointless advice:clean the shop.make as much space as possible.sit down and stare at it for hours,get a vision of it,get your blood pumping again. good luck and hang in there!

 

Well, I see Frank is being his usual, constructive self and really showing us what he's made of...again!

Anyhow, I can relate to your frustration, as I'm sure almost ALL of us can. It's the same with nearly ANY hobby that consumes our passions (and our spare change!)...the messes are just slightly BIGGER and the parts a wee bit heavier when dealing with 1:1 cars vs...I dunno...model trains or something! Sooner or later, we hit snags and wonder if it's really worth all the fuss and hassle...but if you step back, take a breather, and then come back to it fresh, it'll all work out in the end!

I'm no world class chassis fabricator, and would never claim to be...but I promise you this...with a little help from some of the GOOD folks here, there is NO obstacle that you can't overcome when building your own little slice of automotive self-expression! I had several great people come to my aid when I needed help and I eventually got through the assorted problems I encountered...as I know YOU will, too!

Try organizing a little "HAMB Thrash" at your place sometime. (Might be better to let the weather get just a WEE bit warmer, first...but if you got heat in the shop, then that won't matter much!). Do a post here giving at least a week or two's worth of notice, name the date, time and place, and you'll find that people will show up to help you out of a jam and get you on track again!

Michigan boasts lots of talented car folks living within our frozen borders, and many of the ones I've met are Top Shelf...they'll go to great lengths to lend a hand when another rodder is down & out or just plain stuck on something!

Might only be that one or two folks show up (ask DIRTYT about that! )...but that can be all the help it takes to get you feeling ready to take on the world (or at least your car project!) with confidence and gusto again!

Try it! I bet you get a bigger response than you might think if you schedule it on weekend with nothing else going on!

In the meantime, take a little break, do something fun that doesn't involve the car and when you come back to it, you won't be exhausted and frustrated...you'll be rested and enthusiastic once more!

 

Hey man...dont get down on yourself. Building a hot rod from scratch is a real lesson in patience and self control. I've been building mine for years, and have taken a ton of shit for not having it done in a flash like some guys do, but then again, i see a lot of really shitty built hot rods out there too. Your doing it right, take your time and make it as perfect as you can. Dont over extend yourself on it, i've done that many times with mine. Have fun with it, thats whats this hobby is all about, its not another job, its a hobby, so dont let it get to the point when you hate going out to the shop, god knows i've been there....and if there was a cliff anywhere near my garage, my hot rod would surely have been at the bottom of it by now.

I've been a welder/fabricator for a few years now, with a welding engineering degree coming in may (stick with the school thing too..) so i feel where your coming from with being a little short on time, and money. My rod is a Model A sedan with a full race chassis I built from sratch for it, so i might be of some help to ya anyways... ... If you need any help, just let me and LoBrow know, we'd both be willing to make a drive and help ya out. He's been there many of times for me when i get really frusterated with mine, and i'm sure he'll be the same now that he's taking a stab at building one from scratch. Just say the word, and you'll have help....stick with it...

 

Hang in there man, my 3 month get it on the road project i started 1 and a half years ago is almost done. The best thing that i can suggest after building and repairing chassis for many years is to make space, and build yourself a level platform to work on. Many good suggestions above, once you know the chassis is level and true then find your centerline and you are ready to go.

I know its easier said then done, maybe spending some time rearranging your workspace and creating a nice level platform will be the mental peace you need to re appreciate your project and move ahead. Its all about learining.

 

Well I just went out to the shop to fire up the heater and survey the damage from last night. I didn't realize how bad things were. So I'm going to take everyone's advice and clean the place up tonight and put everything in it's place. My shipment of parts from Speedway should be here tomorrow so I need some room to lay the stuff out. I've got two buddies coming over tonight to help me lift the body off the chassis and put the chassis up on the bench so I can square it up. Thanks again for the support and ideas, it helped me through a rough spot. A HAMB thrash would be great. I've got lots of beer, and a nice deck off the garage with a barbeque grill and a hot tub. Oh yeah, and a hot girlfriend who loves to cook

 

Is that a street stock back in the corner?

 

Hang in there buddy.
You're just paying the same dues everyone does to join the very
exclusive club of real hot rodders!
Those who build their on rods.

 

Sometimes it helps to talk it thru with someone else, even if they don't know a thing about it. Then take a break and forget about it. Things have a way of coming back into perspective. Don't let the word 'project' fool you. Building a car is many, many projects. Just do one at a time. But, when you do one project try to make sure the work you are doing will not get in the way of future projects. That's the hard part. Chin up and good luck.

 

I'm gonna step on some toes here. It looks like to me you are in over your head. I'm not slammin you, just looks like you lack the experiance. Get some help on what you are lost on, pay for it if need be and do the things you can. This hobby is a learn as you go thing, Iv'e been at it 30 years and still learning. An older friend helped me build my first frame 25 years ago, it seemed overwelming to do myself. I watched and learned and built the next one myself. I,ve seen so many projects fall apart from good guys that took on more then they could really handle. got frustrated and quit. Ya can't be a brain surgen without some learnin', building car ain't no different.

 

Hang in there man, "If you haven't made a fuck up, you haven't made a thing" It's called paying your dues. Seperates the real hot rodders from the wannabes.

 

I can't disagree with you. I have no experience building hot rods and I am in a little over my head. That's why I wrote this post. I've built three racecars including the one in the picture. I'm learning that the hot rod is a very different animal and I have to aproach it as such. Like I said, this build is much harder than the racers and actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'm not too proud to ask for help and I received it in the forms of advice, offers, and encouragment. I'm not going to quit, I just reached my breaking point and needed to step away and evaluate the situation. I got an offer from a HAMBer who used to build racecar chassis's to help me out so I'm in good hands. As I type the bare chassis is sitting on a flat, level bench waiting to be straightened out. Everybody is telling me this is "paying my dues" and all the true hot rodders have done it. I guess I'll take my lumps and learn from the experience.

 

Yeah, Factory Stock/Sportsman that's what we call them up here. Wanna buy it, trade it, steal it, get it the Hell out of my garage so I have some room

 

If Frank is coming over to help you your in good hands.....Just keep your girlfriend away from that old lech...Pat

 

Don't know much but I've got 2 hands and 2 young boys. Both worth their salt when given a job. Sign us up for The GMB Thrash 07.

I can bring pie! Everything is better with pie...