To call myself new at auto restoration is an understatement. I have a very basic understanding of cars and how they run but I also like to set myself challenging and lofty goals and a lack of knowledge or experience has never kept me from doing something. Recently, I've become enamored with the idea of building myself a hot rod. It's not something that I see a lot and certainly none of my friends have any interest in the subject, but I have a neighbor who needed some help tiling his kitchen. During one of our breaks, he showed me the half finished DeTomaso Pantera in his garage and since then, I've set myself a new lifetime goal. To rebuild an engine and put it in a hot rod that I constructed. So my question for you all is where do I start? How much do I need to learn before I'm ready to decide what I want and where is the best place to find this information? I appreciate any help that you can give me.
Just a friendly reminder, you may wanna go do an intro before you post. So hurry up before the other guys get on this...
Good for you. I would say that you have made the most important discovery you could by finding the Hamb. To say you're in the right place would be an understatement. There's more knowledge and resources available to you here than anywhere. I say start in the tech archive: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=8 There are a few car builds in there as well as a lot of useful smaller tech articles. It gives you a good idea about what to expect. I would give yourself a few months and read as many (hopefully traditional) magazines and look at as many Hamb threads as you can. Your taste and style WILL CHANGE by the time you're ready to tackle a full car build. Don't worry that's a good thing. You grow and find your own Hot Rod soul as you feed the need to know, sleep, eat, breathe, and love hot rods. I'm excited for you man, you're way ahead coming here first. Oh, and find out when the local hot rodders have a cruise night. Go check it out, these cars have a WAY different effect on you in person. In a good way. Good luck. And post an intro you damn newbie
Don't start with a hot rod is my advice. They look really simple but are in fact one of the more advanced builds. Dive in with something else you like, spend a few thousand and get a driver. Fiddle with it for a year or so. Stuff a cam and some headers on it, visit the local dragstrip, run it hard on backroads at 3am and scare yourself a few times. If you still really want a hot rod, get a hot rod. Hopefully you chose the driver-car well and sell without losing a penny. Since either project will require you to maintain shop space, open the door to friends new and old. Well over half of what I know was learned on somebody's else's car without spending a dime of my own. All I had to do was provide a concrete pad, an open toolbox, and a helpful attitude. good luck
I agree with Shifty. Also, the older the car, the more expensive it's going to be to, speaking in general terms. Ask yourself, how much money do you realistically have to put into a car? If you only have a basic understanding of cars, the very first thing you should do is get an older "general automotive repair" text book (llike they use in vo-tech schools) from ebay. They're usually under $20, and explain everything you need to know in the most broad, basic terms possible. The pre-1975 versions will cover the older cars better. Pick a car you love. Not just what's on the cover of Street Rodder magazine, but something that has a personal, emotional meaning to you. For me, 1965 Impalas will always have a spot in my heart, because dad had one when I was a little kid. There's going to be times when you'll be so agrovated you'll be ready to burn the car to the ground... so it better be something you love to keep you interested in it. Me, personally, i'd step into a 60's or early 70's car. The technology is about the same as all the way back to the mid 50's, but parts are still avaliable in the stores and they're fairly cheap (depending on the car). Whatever car you get, buy the nicest you can afford! A $500 rust bucket with no motor and no trim might look tempting, but it might cost you a good $5000-10,000 to find those missing parts. My strongest recommendation, is to get a general knowledge repair book, and memorize it first and foremost. That will give you the ability to understand whatever car is in front of you.
My advice to you would be to find a car that's already running, and buy it. I'm not saying spend 20k on a finished rod, but if you can find something for around 2 grand that you can be driving while you're working on it, then go that route. The first thing that I started working on was a 46 chevy truck that i'm building into a hot rod. I've spend a ton of money on it so far, and it's still not running. I also found a 54 chevy that I bought for $350 and it's too far gone for me to be able to fix, so it's now a parts car. Recently I bought a 53 chevy four-door off of here and I got it for $1600. It has the orignal 216 in it and it runs really strong. After doing a few minor things too it, i've been driving it everyday and enjoying it more than i'm enjoying my hot rod truck that's sitting in my garage. So, what i'm tring to say is check out the class. section on here and just look around till you find something. I had to make a 900 mile round trip to get the 53, but it was worth it.
Hi Welcome to the HAMB , You need to start slow and DO a INTRO........ OR you're starting off on the wrong foot here.......... Fallow the rules and you will learn that this place is better then any magazine you can buy for any price..... Some great people here and all the knowledge in the world in one place. Good luck and remember to have fun with it ,because life's to short not ta have at least one hot rod .........
Read as many good books as you can find....when I started..Tex Smith's "how to build a real hot rod" was invaluable. Study like you mean it and take classes if you need to...community college is great and cheap. In my area there is even a nice ROP welding class that is free except for a small fee for materials.
Above all else, understand WHY before you try to understand HOW. Do so, and everything you learn about hot rods will translate to not only other cars, but things you encounter in daily life. They all obey the same rules of physics. I'm met a lot of amazing old timers with my hot rod journey. Most are experts in their own right, but only half of em can explain the WHY of what they know. The others are still experts, but if you ask em to push the boundaries by doing things a little different, you begin to wonder if you're working with a teenage noob. It's a strange feeling.
Yup best start, try not to go too far overbored and contrary to popular belief there is nothing wrong with factory suspention or engine stuff with MINOR changes, it aint a new car, but then again it aint a new car, no need for disk brakes and Fuel injection i have no problem on my 64 camino daily driver, with drums, points, and carb
Yea, like me Dad used to tell me, learn how to do it right, then you can do it how you want. That stuck with me through life, and at 70 I'm still building.
Welcome to the HAMB! There are a ton of great HAMBers local to you- post an intro and you'll get a lot of hits. You can also search "NE Georgia swap meet" and "HAMB n' Grits". Get to know these guys and I bet you'll get the exposure and help you'll need!
Mid-70s-early 80s shortbed Chevy truck would be a good one, too. Simple, reliable, cheap, all parts are still available, lots of mods you can do, and will come in handy for hauling early hot rod parts later! http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=204533
An intro would be a good idea, also, do tell us what your automotive experience IS, so far. If it consists of making payments on a Saturn, you may be in over your head. What is the oldest car you have ever driven daily?? I've had many from the 60's, with the oldest couple being a '49 Chrysler Windsor and a '51 Olds 88A. Both stock, both daily driver's for the while I owned them. Here's the thing: old cars drive a LOT different than new cars. They do NOT brake well (especially the cheaper cars, and all Fords). They do NOT handle at all well (in comparison to anything made today). They break a lot more often, but are simpler to understand what has broken. Folks will argue this point, but it was true then, and true even more now. Lastly, most of us consider a hot rod to be an American-bodied modified automobile made prior to 1949. A Pantera might be a mechanic's nightmare, but it's not a hot rod. I, too, recommend, if you wish to persist, buying a 60's car that appeals and runs well, and proceed to repair/modify as you need/see fit. Be aware that almost all 60's cars nowadays have sat for a period (not running); have been bodged in at least some repairs (rag soaked in Bondo as a rust repair to bananas in the final drive), and, while running now, may still harbour some nightmares in the future. Just for example, I bought a Falcon wagon that had both leading shoes installed on the left front, and the trailing shoes installed on the right. And this was a mild bodge, as they go. Oh, yeah, the entire roof had been replaced, too, but that was actually done well (not all are). Good luck, Cosmo
With Minor work on a 60's car, i said, my NON power drum brakes on my 64 camino are fine, could use power though and with a large front sway bar it outhandles any car ive ever driven, and i drive HARD, and with previos cars a have raced modern, mildly built, Good handling imports and americans on backroads But i dont do that dumb stuff as much now
Start with a 350 chevy. Parts are cheap and motors are plentyfull and easy to rebuild. Just watch out for the belly button nazi's!
Even though so many people hate the small block Chevy, if your goal is to rebuild a motor, I would suggest rounding up one of those. Just simply for the reason that they're cheap and easy to find, the rebuild kits are pretty cheap, there are tons of books about them, and if you do screw something up along the way... it's just a dime a dozen Chevy... and chances are you can replace whatever got damaged pretty easily. But rebuilding a motor requires a lot of tools, cleaning, and machining to do right, some of which is beyond all but the most advanced home builder. I'd get the books first and read up on what's involved before I tore a motor apart across my garage or basement floor. Looks like I'm not the only one with that thought, I probably should have refreshed the thread before I answered it -
Maybe you could find some guys in your area who are building hot rods,or restoring older cars and hang with them. See what they do,see what tools and eqipment they are using.I always learn the best when watching/helping someone who knows what they are doing and asking questions.
Recommend you join the Alliance soon, you'll get the $$$ back many times over! I'm fairly new here, not to car stuff but only recently I've had time for more involvement. 2nd - don't let yourself get sidetracked, find a car like the others here have suggested - low buck cars are out there, often under a grand, and nothing exotic but something you can still get engine & chassis parts for at the local NAPA store but also one you won't worry if you make a few mistakes. 3d - get to know folks in the hobby/job/whatever you want to call it, whenever, wherever possible. And dig in. Hoping you're young and will make it part of your life. My experience wasn't like that. I always wanted to be a hobby mechanic and do this stuff but always seemed I higher priorities took up my time. Kids, jobs, excuses - all important but I never learned to twist wrenches other than oil changes, brake jobs, & piddly stuff. Life just kept getting in the way. Now near retirement I haven't given up on the idea of building my own car. I hope to some day, along with my son, who is now raising his family but like me, is wishing he had time to be a mechanic. Cat's in the cradle. . .
I'm gonna maybe start a storm, but, I will stand by what I said. Just as to the brakes: lets take a Kia Rio (probably the cheapest crap you could buy today), and your El Camino, and run instrumented tests on braking performance. I maintain the Kia will outstop the old Chevy by a wide margin. And let's never mention fade, because one stop is pretty much all those drums are ever good for before they're gone. I speak from wide-eyed experience. Cosmo
Looks like you're tapping into your God-given drive to create something. It's in our DNA! I would advise finding out what turns you on about cars / hot rods. If you dive in head over heals, you could get burned out and jump to another hobby. Find out what is appealing to you about it, research it, and start slow. Would also help to get a subscription to the Rodder's Journal and read some real history!
I agree 100%. I used to have a 79 Malibu with power front disk and rear drums. Those brakes were SHIT compared to mom's 2001 Malibu. That 2001 outhandled my 79 too. I had to put stiffer front springs, box the rear control arms, and put poly bushings everywhere to get it to handle almost as well as that 2001.
I don't know your background or experience level but you will get the point.... Get an older car. Not your driver. Stick it somewhere that you can work on it and take things apart. Put it back together and take it apart again. For the most part, this is a free process and an incredibly valuable learning experience. You will learn fundamental mechanics along with becoming familiar with tools and the proper techniques of using them. This will be an evolving automatic process as I'm positive that you will quickly learn that a screwdriver does not always make the best chisel. You will have a lot of fun along the way. You will wonder why something doesn't work when you put something back together. This will make you try to solve the problem. Like a doctor, you will try forty three different ideas until you realize that you stuck the distributor back in 180 degrees off. You will never forget this for the rest of your life. Your going to be high for the weekend when you figure out that you can find top dead center without using the timing marks on the harmonic balancer. Your going to be really excited to know what a balancer is if you don't already know, but you will become pissed when you try to take it off and you f*&^ stuff up while doing so. You see, that is what building a rod is about. It's a journey of highs and lows. An incredible amount of excitement that most won't understand and times you will feel like taking a hammer to everything in site. You will finally, after an hour of f*&k'n with a stripped nut, get it loose and off only to realize that every knuckle is bleeding all over the place. This won't bother you because you quickly move to the next nut. This one comes off easy......and your hooked. You've just experienced another manly "right of passage". Enjoy the moment. It is yours. Lean up against the car, down a beer, stare out into space, look over at the car, look at your knuckles, toss the beer can toward the trash can (if you make it in the trash can, you will feel like "your the man") and dive back under the car. Keep an open mind. Always try to learn something from everything and everyone. Remember, you can learn something good from watching someone do something wrong. Even if the lesson is: "I'll never do that!" Most important lesson that I could share: Learn. Do your best. Be proud. Respect others and their work. The world doesn't need another critic. But a mentor.....
I guess with the brake arguement, i do have the braking advantage of being 6' 1" 215lbs and having heavy feet and known for bending petals and breaking brake lines too, Ive never had a problem locking up drums over and over, i guess ya gotta just put enough pressure down, brakes arent as touchy as a new car, but i still have no problem. Then again every 60's ford ive driven the brakes have been 2 pumpers at best then work good enough
If your heart is set on a hot rod, consider a fiberglass bucket T. They are about as simple a car that can be built. Kits are available that will make your car a virtual bolt together project. There are a lot of half built T's out there that can be bought really cheap. I'd recommend sticking wit a small block Chevy or Ford for power. Welcome to The Fraternity. One other point, I'd recommend staying away from Street Beast kits. Not that there is anything wrong with them, I have never built one, but REAL rodders have no use for them. They are welcomed by most rodders about as much as news that your STD test is positive.
Make sure you get a car that you enjoy, one that drives. When your Project car is sitting there for months or even years at a time not running and not driving, its is fairly easy to loose interest. Being able to go on out there and fire it up even helps alot.
The Jalopy Journal
