Hot Rods Crude modification picture thread

I thought you were supposed to use a lag bolt because it would carry more current.

 

cut these off some split wishbones that were on my 34 pickup

 

What's my story for the firemen, police, tow truck driver, insurance company and wife, despite the evidence.

 

Buddy who did this must have felt like a genius!!!
That on an industrial battery, just a few amps flowing through that wiring !! Lol

 

The ad stated it may need balanced

 

I bought this pic a couple years ago, check out the frame step. And wishbone end.

 

Gnarly

 

Okay, Robert. I don't know about the true pioneer statement because several of us used to do the same thing when I was dirt tracking. In all probability, the reason for the shortage of 15 inch Buick wheels is because we split the wide sides from a pair of them and welded them back together to make one really wide wheel. In your original post you were "in a quandary" as to whether or not you fixed the ones in your pics to race with or used them to roll off and on the trailer. If you feel the need to leave them as they are, please just hang them on the wall as a bad example of how things used to be done and put a good set of wheels on your car. If you feel the need to use them on your car, put a picture of them on the wall, grind out the bad stuff, re-weld them with 7018 and run the piss out of them. If you do either of those options, you will probably feel the air moving from the big sigh of relief coming from all the HAMBsters who have read your post.

 

I wonder if we were able to go back to say 1964 and crawl all over the average hot rod in an car mag how many would be hiding stuff like this?

Circa 1984, my boss and a bunch of us hit street machine nationals, we get the opportunity to crawl under and around a certain multi award winning Chevy z24 that had been on about every mag cover. As we crawl out from underneath the car in front of a crowd of 35 or 40 my boss blurts out "my God if the welds in our shop looked that bad I'd be ashamed to put my name on it!" Sadly I had to agree, looked great from the outside but start looking under her dress and she ain't so pretty

 

This thread has derailed a bit here. It was not intended to showcase garbage and hack work. There are dozens of other threads for that*****. It was begun to show how things were done in earlier times that may be considered crude or rudementary by todays standards but was common practice or even cutting edge for the time 50, 60, 70 or even 80 years ago or more. It has been quite enjoyable until now as it's original intent has gone unnoticed by some. Is it possible to get it back on track?

 

When I started working in fabrication shops we had access to a torch, a grinder, and a stick welder, crane and a forklift. Then there were hand tools and raw materials laying around in the shop and yard to use in anyway one could imagine.

In any time period, You take a guy with skills, a need some ambition and give him next to nothing to work with and he will produce something worth much more.
Give a***** head everything he could want and you’re gonna get***** products, in any time period.

 

Debate,,,,
Some say they love a hard channel on 33/34
Some of those Same people then squawk about the grill. Can’t have both

 

Take it a bit deeper in thought...take a person who always has had little to work with, but has vision, and ambition, and that person will eventually become not only a builder,.....but also a creator of things...

Not to start a S-storm, but seems like people today want a "kit" for every step they take.

For example, I just cannot believe how many buy aftermarket stuff.....for something like a simple steering column..and some ''trendy'' brands cost close to a Grand.......You then should know the whole entire build will look like a 1-800 kit car, rather than the old time build they had in their head. (Why not use a 30s-40s Ford column with the cool ignition switch and column lock?)They apparently don't understand the difference, and perhaps never will.

 

I think the build quality evolves over time based on available skill and the perceived value of the finished product.

I’m a young guy and my car in college was an ot ‘80s mustang I bought in 2002. Back then it was just a used car and I was a poor student. The build quality definitely reflected my ability and budget and also the value of a 20 year old car.
I patched up the holes in the floor with scrap prices of sheet metal. I was lucky to have use of my dad’s 110v flux core mig, but it didn’t have a fan so while working in the driveway the welder would get hot and overheat and I’d have to find something else to work on while it cooled down.

When I first added dual exhaust I had two different mufflers for a summer, the stock single exhaust on one side and a junkyard cobbled together exhaust on the other side.

Doing a “better job” wasn’t possible given my talents or budget at the time and the car didn’t really deserve any better.

The car was never unsafe, just rough.

I still own the car and I’m redoing some of my earlier work now that I have better tools and a budget.
I can buy the whole floor pan for $250, and these days I have the money, tools and talent to do it better.
Also as these cars age and become collectable their increased value makes it worthwhile to do good work on them.

I’m sure there are older guys who could tell the same stories about 50’s cars.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

THAT IS AWESOME !!!!

 

Hey Vicky that*****head may be a great individual that has just not found their calling or craft...but there are those who talk the talk but can't do the walk.

Both end up seeking employment elsewhere...hopefully......one is however a***** and the other just in search of a career geared to skillset in the wrong place. Yes its frustrating and dangerous but this usually gets figured out in the early phases of employment/probation.

 

...this Hotrod exhibits some bracketry which while not sculpted with gussets and strategically placed hole lightening it did the job it was intended to do and simplified construction was and should be accepted as period craftsmanship.

There is levels of finish in street and race many times decided by skill and purpose.​

 

Talk to me after you read my truck into a coupe thread.***** head
Or the today in the land of geometry idiots.***** head
Or maybe you’d like to hear the story of having the medical reports being read but belong to a different patient.***** head
Or how the bank teller deleted the wrong address and locked up the funds.***** head
ALL long time career professionals.

Ever hear of that plumber that can’t fix a leak?
The kid that puts the spaghetti sauce on top of your bread might become a plumber or a brain surgeon but he will do the same thing.

 

The Kookie Kar and part of it's soul
bared to the masses...

I have to credit the Owner of this
Icon of Hotrod that was driven Hard
Even as a TV prop...for preserving past building techniques. This was cleverly covered but I do suspect sound even if not pretty and repaired only if deemed necessary.

I truly enjoy witnessing the whole packages strong and safe without perfection and strong and safe with well executed workmanship.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...kar-back-to-1958.1110832/page-4#post-12829074​

 

I guess there is a divide between garage built and shop built...mind you shops can be lands of hack as it flows down from the top and if the top ain't pretty the rest will follow suit.

I am also saying a company must weed out incompetence early as it can cost lives and the very survival of that enterprise and you are right it doesn't always happen and your spindle falls off.

Homebuilt can be scary or not.

As for young or new starts their capabilities should be monitored to determine viability to be a capable builder.

 

I am a little hesitant to call some of what was done on this car I picked up a couple years back CRUDE (I think of it as more simple and elegant) but it certainly fits in the spirit of this thread (and hopefully helps get it back on track).

4 link (it had been cut off when I got it) Dana 23 with parallel leaf made out of a split T front spring, some bolts, flat bar stock, & some pipe:



Pretty much every little thing that i found on this little dragster would fit here but i don't want to carpet bomb this thread reposting it all. You can see it all on the OP.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/drug-home-east-coast-t-modified-nh.1017986/

I still have this frame and intend to keep it for reference. I may someday use some of the intact parts on another car, who knows!

 

Man I never would have thought of tapping into a batt cable in stream with a sheetmetal screw..Prob a good thing!

 

I have no pictures but I do have memories of the O/T Mustang my Dad salvaged in '68. I was only 6, the car was a '67 2+2 fastback that had been rolled with less than 100 miles on it. Top was pushed down onto the dash; left front fender was in the driver's door opening. Dad pulled and pushed that top up square and replaced the skin; replaced the door and pushed the door opening square. Only thing he didn't have the reference correct for was the flange the windshield sat in. He broke two windshields before he saw the problem. Oh, yeah; he did this all by himself. And I don't recall him ever having a porta-power; just bumper jacks and bottle jacks and a set of JC Whitney body hammers. I doubt that he ever welded any of it; just brazed as much as he could. He and my Mom drove that car for three years after he got it done; sometime in 1970: they traded it in in 1973. I wonder what the guys in the dealership thought about all the un-smoothed dents in the engine compartment and the screwed-in patches he made..... it sure did look good (and drove like a rocket) in my childhood memories.

 

I am well aware of good quality work and my family has a deep history with oval track racing dating back to per war.
I was not going to use those wheel for racing if I left them alone. I was going to use them to load the car on the trailer, but being a welder fabricator I don't know if I want people seeing them on my car.
With this being said my auto machineist is very good at it and building engines however if he welds it looks like these wheels.
Now these wheels could have been on a car that ran Daytona beach, or a track champ car who knows...
To me the guys in the 50's wheather it was a top notch build down to a guy who did what he could with limited skills who did the best he could even if it was work like this are pioneers. The man who weld these wheels may have worked harder and learned more then some who had the best of eveything. His skills may have improved to a point he may have become a top notch welder and builder.

I have tried several time to throw out my early welding work and my dad will not let me.
He points out at out point you were very proud of that don't forget that and where you came from.

This car owned and driven by Lou Lazzaro was a multi time N.A.S.C.A.R. Modified winner.
It looked so bad that it was not going to be allowed to run the N.A.S.C.A.R. Modified race at Martinville until it was pointed out
how successful a car it was.




My great uncle Don Wyle


My father Willard building one of his Late Models



Some of my work-



And I have some Widen Buick wheels that were never finished. I can't find anyone who can or will put centers in anymore.


Now back to the thread.

 

Here is some quality engineering on my 41 pickup.
Somebody thought that parallel leafs would be great on the rear. So they cut a really nice stock frame off and clipped what looks like a late model pickup frame and springs! But, the springs are TOO LONG for the rear shackle frame brackets. Plus the shackles are missing completely
Then they whacked the 41 radius rods off at the backing plates and***** welded them to the axle housings, leaving them attached to the torque tube at the front. They also cut off the stock spring hangers, rendering the housings useless.
The late model frame doesn't have the rear kickup as high as the stocker, so the axle travel is reduced. See the snubber almost on the axle housing.
So now we have three front pivot points, the torque tube, the radius rods and the front of the rear springs. It's going to take a 40 -41 rear frame clip or a complete frame replacement, plus another rear end and spring.
But the rest of the frame and x-member are stock and pristine. What were they thinking?!?!

 

Few more pics of my 34 chassis built in the late 50’s as a drag car, shame is some things suggest this was a nice car before someone did this to it

16AC5E70-30A1-4AA3-A7AF-26FA844611A9 by KFC posted Apr 18, 2019 at 2:22 AM

B1785609-A062-40DC-92DD-3EF011C4962F by KFC posted Apr 18, 2019 at 2:22 AM

DE720236-82FC-443F-8712-42029F819E6B by KFC posted Apr 18, 2019 at 2:22 AM

Got some after pics to if there’s interest

 

Using a “location” as a descriptor really isn’t fair. Shop built, home built, garage built,,,,
It’s the craftsmanship and work ethic held by the individuals that make something what it is (good or bad) not a location where the craftsman may stand.

 

I guess what I'm saying is residential garage built Hotrods are built in a non licensed environment with many times unlicensed individuals with an I can do it all attitude.

Look you know your stuff but I would not attempt most of the things you do...many would/do and I have no idea what the stats are on accidents caused by incompetence some involving death or injury.

Look at the Cowl steering thread...probably a very high percentage of the disagreement comes from home schooled knowledge Not an educated Licensed Chassis/Mechanic.

These Bullets we ride in are not Airplanes...there is minimal QC even from a certification standpoint but that varies by state or province. They can however have parts fall off or break due to incorrect welds or geometry or just a host of issues.

I trust those shops or sole individuals that truly do know what they are doing and there is failures in delivery of competent workmanship from both avenues and that is in fact a catch 22...who do you trust. I still have issues of trusting who wrenches or modifies my vehicles especially the old one.

This is not in anyway saying homebase garage Builders are ALL incapable. Education and Competence are valuable and being a certified individual is a potential bonus.

 

I built a set of fenderwell headers on a 55 chevy (C/gas) all out of left over exhaust and tailpipes about 55 years ago. I know some of my welds looked like pigeon*****. I'm a little better at it now.

 

some oldtime fab