hey guys i was wondering what u think the ''best" tech school around is? im looking for mainly looking for body and chasis fab engine performence and stuff . i dunno about the whole wyotech and uti tech if its worth it and iwas wondering if there was anything better out there, i came upon the hot rod institute and i am really interested in it has anyone been there or hav any information on tuition fees and such sorry for waisting ur time lol
hey Voodoo Zombie. My name is Kyle and I am a student at HRI, Hot Rod Institute. I have not been to Wyotech or UTI, but I have been to one tech school before HRI. This school, VC Tech, in Alabama closed last year due corporate problems, and it was set up very similar to the other "two." The owner of HRI, Doug LaRue, had set up the Hot Rod program at Wyotech and VC Tech. Unfortunately neither school was able to fully handle a hot rod only curriculum. So after the news of the closure of VC Tech, he decided to start a school that specializes only in the custom car industry. It is very new but there has been a lot of interest, the website has a lot of information but if you are at all interested I suggest calling Doug and chatting with him. He is the instructor of the custom metal work and always around. It is a very close nit staff, and small classes. I seem to be rambling but Im so pumped to be a student here. I am in the process of getting some pics of my project (yes, students are encouraged to bring their own projects) on the hamb but you can see another student's top chop on another hamb post, search Hot Rod Institute and Chopped F1. There are a lot of pics of the steps taken. Feel free to email me with any more questions. [email protected] Later.
+1 for HRI i to am a student and it surpasses all my expectations i had for it heres a link to the pictures http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260376&highlight=hot+rod+institute http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249679&highlight=hot+rod+institute
I just started there and its spot on so far. Wasn't to sure about it before I came since its new and all, but really way better then I could have dreamed. Cool thing is Doug can work to fix problems right away, no strict administration. Jamie and Joe are pretty sweet teachers too.
6450 a class, def worth it though. 63 tuition and 150 a quarter for tool deposits I think. You can also get 300 off if you take four classes. And if your working on someone elses project, thats it.
6450 PER class? so ONLY $6150 per class IF you take 4???? $24,600???? DAMN I would rather spend my money on a ton of tech books/videos (lots of quailty ones out there). Then spend $10k or so on tools (if you spend wisely, this goes far),, still leaves you $10k+++++ to buy junk cars to practice on if needed. $10k on $100-$200 cars/trucks makes for a LOT of practice. Chop them, try anything you want. If it doesn't work, scrap it and get your money back. If its a success,, more money for tools. "Most" of the guys we had come into our shop that were from tech schools really weren't very hireable, but they sure thought that paper certificate was worth whatever they were asking for in salaries. The issue that we always had was if they learned on lets say a 48 Chevy pickup that they completely did up. Chopped/channeled,upholstery,body/paint,chassis,motor. They really didn't grasp CHANGE. If we threw them a challenge on a model A, they were lost. Either you have mechanical "tendencies" or you don't. If you don't, the school teaches you slot a + slot b = car. If you do have it,,,,,, you FIGURE OUT how to make slot C fit them both. Just my $.02 from experience.
Unfortunately, that's on par with other "name brand" tech schools. IIRC, Wyotech would have cost me ~$27,000 for 4 classes if I hadn't gotten a grant. School ain't cheap.
tell me how much hands on learning all the other tech schools have during their whole program then look at our program its one yr long and we spend almost everyday out in the shop you dont learn by reading how to work on a car you learn by doing and thats how our school is based dont get me wrong we are in the class room alot. but you will never learn unless your out there doing it
My post is ALL ABOUT "doing it". As for the "you dont learn by reading how to work on a car",,,,, you are kidding, right? I never touched a mill, metal lathe, cnc mill/plasma/lathe, tig welder, mig welder, tubing bender, English wheel, the list goes on,,,,, till I actually bought them and READ on how to use them. I totally understand that each school is going to say "you have to use us", it's called promotion. I didn't even take a industrial arts class in HS (I'm in my early 40s btw), I AM preaching what you said EXACTLY,,,,,,"you will never learn unless your out there doing".
I wanted to go to Wyotech here in Long Beach, but they dont offer the the hot rod fabrication course. The nearest campus that does is 6 hours north of me in Sacramento. I was wondering if there are other schools that offer courses like that in the So. Cal area? (Sorry, not to hi-jack the thread)
How is this thread related to pre 64 hot rodding? Since the Wyotech project post was considered not relevant? If this is, which I am cool with; then why was the other not????
I went through the Wyotech program 9 years ago when it was still called Wyoming Tecnical Institute. I found the fabrication classes to be top notch.
I also went to WyoTech from July 2007 and graduated in March 2008 from the Automotive Course. I was going to stay for Street Rod, Chassis, and Trim classes, but unfortunately ever since Corithian Colleges Inc. bought them out the classes are not as great as they used to. I guess ever since Doug LaRoe (whom started the street rods classes) left the school hasn't been the greatest. Now there is hardly any hands-on, but theres more book work. Im now attending Hot Rod Institute (Doug LaRoe owned) in Rapid City, SD and have been enjoying it ever since.
Sad such a great possibilty to get a hot rod educated and they have dropped the ball. My nephew was thinking about enrolling in WY. Sounds like a bad idea.
I graduated from Wyotech, Laramie, in 2005. It is what you make it. 8 out of 10 people were total dip-shits that thought they were going to change the industry, but could not tie their own shoes. We did have some dumb teachers, but the really good teachers went over and beyond the job. I was struggling with my tig welding and a teacher had me over to his shop on a weekend to practice. This is just one of many examples. I work in the perfomance industry and without my training at Wyotech I would have never made it. I understand many people are self-taught and have old-timers to teach them, but it is getting harder & harder to find them in this internet age.
WyoTech seems to more serious about service techs for dealerships such as VW, Ford, Chevy, B&W, etc. WyoTech in WY is not as serious into the hot rods as they used to be. If your nephew is serious into hot rods, i would look into Hot Rod Institute. Here the link: http://www.hotrodinstitute.com What i can tell you about HRI is that it is 98% hands-on. The second day i was there they had us already begin TIG welding. They would give a demonstration and explain the things we needed to know and they let us begin.
I was considering taking the street rod course in Sacramento. Whats the deal with the program, can I just take the street rod course or do I have to do that in conjunction with an automotive technology path? This is one of my only options to gain experience since many places do not want to hire a person with little experience and many people do not have the time or patience to teach in a job environment.
im not sure how it is in sacramento, but in wy you had to take either Automotive Technology or Collision & Refinishing and one elective then you could add all your fun classes.
Gee I wonder who told you this stuff. I was there when before and after Corinthian and the Street Rod program has the same amount of classroom/shop time as it always has. The time in each is dictated by an accrediting body, always has been. I was a student of Dougs and an employee of Dougs. I currently don't have as good of a relationship with Doug as I once did. It started when he forgot the amount of effort his WyoTech students put into his '48 Ford. Then continued when he asked a WyoTech instructor to send him an updated copy of the WyoTech chassis fab curriculum while develpoing the curruculum for VC tech, the school he was at before HRI. The instructor should have looked at those notes, if he had his coupe suspension may not have been constructed with trailer parts. By the way, that instructor has since left to go to HRI. As a former student and instructor I have seen the program evolve. I can tell you that from the time I was a student (1997) under Doug LaRue to the time I left as an employee (2006) the program has only grown for the better. The facilities, tools, time in the shop, topics covered and projects have all been refined. HRI is a fine school but it wouldn't have been possible without WyoTech. Brick Casper
i didn't mean to affend anyone. I was just explaining the experience i had there. Im not saying i don't appreciate what i learned, because i do, but it is not what i expected. I have an instructor at HRI from WyoTech who says that the corporate politics are getting bad.
It kinda just comes down to choice. If you want to have some have a school or do it on your own. If you can learn it on your own and have a shop or family shop, do it. Thats the purest sense of hotrodding. I don't have a shop or room for tools, and having a somewhat disiplined ridged coarse helps. As far as Wyo or HRI, I choose HRI. It seems Wyotech focus's more on service tech than custom fab. When I checked into it most people said you have to learn custom behind the schools back at Wyotech, asking the instructors to teach you quickly before anyone sees. As far as the trailer parts. I know what you mean. Some of his ideas are out there. Thats what I like about HRI though. I don't like how people fall into the mindset that everything has to be done one way. What works, works (although that T is a lil rough yet). I've got some trailer parts on my car too, leaf springs. I bought one pair from speedway for the front and some at a indst sup place for the rear. Guess what, same friggin leafs, speedways did come with better bushings though so I bought another set from them. Prices on everything are based on application or said another way, supply and demand. I know working on old Buicks, the consesus seems to be buy chevy parts because they are so much cheaper for the same thing. I do understand what you mean by using correct auto parts though, simplifies the whole thing. Oh, brick the instructor is who you are thinking of. I don't like talking about people specifically unless they want to though. I'm try to be totally honest and not hide anything, but some people like privacy also. I think if I did something, why not take accountability for it both right and wrong.
North Dakota College of Science in Wahpeton ND has a good auto body program with upholstery as a part of it and yes its custom upholstery, welding is part of the ciriculmn I took both auto mech and auto body that was awhile ago[ where were you in 1963??] that was 4 years with some junior college thrown in as I passed a few of the related classes they also have 2 year weld courses and machine shop clases and if you want to spell better they have a junior college and THEY ARE ACCREDITED which means you can get college credit for trades classes
Unfortunatly you don't know what your talking about. There are six months of classes focused only on the custom/performance industry. If you include the available class at the PA campus there is 9 months. For those that don't know, it is full time, like a job 5 days a week, 8 hours a day
i know that when i signed up i had to take either Automotive or Collision which were 6 month classes and one 3 month class before i could take any more fun classes
Do you teach at Wyo Brickster or grad from there? I'm not trying to be hostel at you, just get some info. I actually kinda like how you didn't agree with me and straight out told me you thought I was wrong. I hate people who bitch to everyone but the person they are mad at (not you brick, your in the clear) Thats just what I heard when talking to people in the industry and who went to Wyotech. Of course no matter how many people I talked to its hearsay unless I went there and actually took the class. But thats what I got when I looked into it. I talked to anyone who I could and took what they said into perspective.
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