New Contest!!!!

[enjenjo]

I happened to get another copy of the McMaster Carr catalog. It's a couple years old, but very useful, they don't change much. It will go to the poster of the best Tech post between now, and April 1st. So post your best ideas guys and girls!

[GPster]

I happened to get another copy of the McMaster Carr catalog. It's a couple years old, but very useful, they don't change much. It will go to the poster of the best Tech post between now, !

Maybe if you keep the new one and offer your old one people will think it's more valuable. It's bound to have notes and ideas that you have written on the bourders of the pages. Time to go back to bed. GPster

[enjenjo]

Only one day left, and no tech posts??? Come on guys!!!!

[enjenjo]

So am I going to have to extend this?

[unklian]

One vote Yes.

[bowtietillidie]

Hope this will help some one when setting drive line angles up.
I get the car level check the floor of the garage and the frame of the car.
Make the frame level in all directions.    Next set the engine you are going to use in the chassis.    Determine where you want the engine to sit front to back and side to side.  Next I make sure the carburator mounting surface of the intake manifold is clean (no gasket) place a level on the carb mount so a reading can be taken front to back now take a reading on the carb mount
side to side .     When you get both readings showing level in both directions
start making your mounts .    I make some temp motor mounts in several places
this way I don't have to worry about it moving while I am measureing for the permenit motor . I leave the temp mounts in place till get the pinnion angle set.    Now that I have the front mounts made I move to the back of the engine .   I always use a standard shift flywheel as this is where I take my next reading.   I  write that reading down.    That reading represents the pinnion angle and thats another story for another time.

[donsrods]

Ok, in the interest of stimulating this contest, here is my contribution:

We get a lot of first time car builders, especially younger ones, with questions about what to build and how to build it, that I thought it might be appropriate to give some of my personal views on the subject.  Please understand, these are exactly that, my personal views, and could be 180 out of phase with everyone elses views, or even reality for that matter.

What to build:

No one can answer this question for you, except you, and possibly fate. Most of us are building, or have built cars that "fate" brought our way. We may have been looking for something else, or nothing at all, but all of a sudden, there was this opportunity to buy this or that car, and we bought it.

You have to determine what cars turn you on. Are you a roadster person or a coupe person. Brand preference?  Ford, Chevy, ?. We all have our brand preferences based on upbringing (what did Dad drive and like) or cars that we have had great luck with.

One thing for sure. This car WILL NOT be your ULTIMATE car. We all have a list of cars we hope to own and build some day, and the one we are doing right now probably isn't even on that list. So don't be hung up on getting the exact car you want right now. Build something, drive it until something better comes along, and move on.

WHAT ARE YOUR CAPABILITIES?

This is the toughest one to overcome and answer truthfully. A while back, there was a young guy (like under 16) who asked, on one of these forums, "how can I find a Ford Cammer engine to build."  We all tried to tell him he can't. He's young, probably has limited financial resources, and these motors go super expensive (One on Ebay was at about $30K recently) But he still wouldn't listen. He is not being honest with himself, and youth enters into that, I know.

You have got to analyze your personal ability to build this car. Do you have the money, do you have the experience, do you have the tools, do you have the place to do the work, etc.  It is one thing to say you want to build a car from the ground up, but if you have 1/2 of a tool box with mismatched Japanese wrenches, it isn't going to happen. I'm not trying to be cruel, just honest.

Building a car from the ground up takes as much, or more, of an investment in tools as it takes in the car itself. When I look at my current shop, I can't believe the investment we have in tools. Migs, plasma cutters, bandsaws, bead rollers, drill presses, air compressors, hoists, cutting/ welding equipment, not to mention thousands of dollars worth of grinders, cutters, and hand tools. This isn't bragging, because we are on the light end of the scale compared to some of the others on these forums. And even with all of these tools, and a 2000 sq. ft shop, we could use more tools and more space.

Then you have to ask yourself how much money you can devote to this project. The days of building the dollar a pound car are over. We all have 2, 3., or more times the amount of money in our cars than we thought we would have. Simple things like a trip to the autoparts store for the brake components will cost a lot. Sandpaper !!! Forget how much money you will put in grinding discs and sandpaper.

SO, IS ALL THIS TO SAY YOU SHOULDN'T THINK ABOUT BUILDING A CAR??

NO WAY. You should absolutely do it, but, like every other thing you do, you should have a plan.  Know what you can do, and what you need to farm out to others. On my '27, I spot welded everything, and then took the parts to a pro weld shop to have it done right. My welds hold ok, but are ugly. Luckily now, I have a Son who is a great welder, so he does the final welding for me. (After he grinds mine away     )

What I suggest is buying someone elses cast off project, or even a car that is already on the road. You may have to redo some of his mistakes, or make changes to suit you, but you can be driving or at least closer to driving sooner than if you started from scratch. AND, NOBODY EVER GETS OUT OF A CAR THE MONEY THEY HAVE IN IT, so in most cases, you couldn't buy the parts for the price you will pay for the car.  I bought a beautiful little '47 Ford fordor years ago for $ 1000.00 because the guy was going through a divource. It had 50,000 miles on it, and he had tears in his eyes when I took it away. I felt bad for him, but he would rather see it sold than for the ex to get it. So deals are out there.

HOW TO FIND THAT FIRST CAR:

Have the money sitting there, and be the first guy to go see it. Period.
I've missed a zillion deals, because I didn't have the money at the time. Start a secret savings account, just for the car purchase, and when you get what you think is enough, start looking. Ask friends, look behind buildings, shops, in the trader papers, etc.


BUILD THE CAR SAFE AND SOUND:

This is the most important part. Regardless of what you see on some other cars (like some rat rods) If you don't build your car well, it will be a nightmare to drive, and potentially a killer. You have a responsibility to you, your family, and every other driver on the road to build it safe. Yeah, it can be loud, a little rusty, and in primer, but it has to be built WELL.

Well, those are my opinions. Maybe not exactly right or what you want to hear, but I feel they need to be said.

Oh, and it is also going to take you 4 times longer than you thought. But there must be something great about it, because we just keep doing it over and over.

Have fun.

Don

[enjenjo]

BOWTIETILLIDIE has won the contest, since he has the only timely entry. I'll do this again in a few weeks with another prize. So get you minds, and cameras to work.