not everyone can build a safe hot rod ,,,

Naw, this place is like a drug, he got one hit and WILL be back

 

I used to work in a garage and would do NY state vehicle inspections.
What I have seen would scare you.
Hardware store ungraded bolts.
copper tubing for brake lines.
People pinching off brake lines rather than replace them.
A coil of brake line instead of a rear flexible hose.
Filling in rotted out frame rails with bondo and shooting undercoating on them.
Upper control arm welded in place because the retaining bolt was broken.

 

The worst for me is seeing your friends half-ass the fab work on their vehicles, and even after they agree with you that it should either have been done differently in the first place, or be fixed immediately, they are just too lazy to make it right...there are just some things you do NOT do...like welding your seat mounts to a rusty floor instead of bolting it in with proper bracing...or slapping sheetmetal over rusty floor holes because it'll just get covered with carpet "someday"...it takes a few extra minutes or hours to do something right, and a split second to regret it for the rest of your life...

 

A lot of these 80's hangover cars have some questionable, if not just completely fuckered up, work done on them. Not sure why but they just do, so buyer beware boys if you are looking at anything with magenta, teal, or lavender parts on it.

 

People are rarely injured or killed by less than perfect grammar.

 

Hey hey...

 

ZMan you do some pretty good work with your cordless tools!!!
I'll be down there at the end of Nov., maybe I'll stop by again!

 

forgive me,i spend 99% of my time wrenching on cars,not checking myself on the proper way to form a sentance in the correct way,i did not know i was being graded,,should of paid more attention in school instead of reading hotrod mags and skipping to work on cars,,sorry

 

Go figure the car is painted a candy pink magenta with grey tweed and 9 (i had to count)ford emblems all over the car,inside and out,,oh its powered by a 350 chevy,,,

 

See, they did SOMETHING right!.

 

I've seen some late model cars butchered up for resale too.I recall a white Honda Accord with sheet metal screws holding the roof on, under the bondo, and rebar welded into the floor. From the rear doors back it used to be blue.
It had been purchased at one of those retail-style auto auctions.
Darrin

 

Now that's funny.

 

This has to be the classic botch of all time.

 

why not build it safer? it takes very little effort to build it right. Its just taking a little pride in your work.

 

No Shit ! It's an internet forum - not a fucking essay contest Vice Principal Poindexter......

 

In the book of LAZY and DUMB, that's on the cover. Classic.

 

I worked at this one shop a few years back that specialized in pro-street type cars. A customer brought in a car for a fuel cell install and I couldn't help notice the shitty welds on the roll cage. I told my boss to check it out. I got a ball peen hammer and knocked the crossbar that runs across the main hoop out with a mild swing. No penetration on the welds at all. The whole cage was like that. What a death trap.

 

Really, then fill yours out correctly, like where the hell you are.

Being able to read someones reply helps a bunch. If you can't write a decent reply then I really have no use for what you have to say...

 

Oh yes, The classic plumbing parts from Home Depot steering system.

 

As much as a pain in the butt they can be, I guess there is something to be said for required annual or semi annual safty inspections. A basic check of brakes, lights, suspension, ad tires, with minimum standards that need to be met would keep a lot of this stuff off the road, or alt least direct a fix. It always scares me a bit to see what is on the road in states without inspection programs.

And part of the SEMA package of legislation would make all these historic/antique/streetrod/hot rod registration expempt from any inspection process.

I really don't care how you build your car but if you don't have the sense or ability to do a safe critical weld, and if you don't kow any better that to build steering out of threaded pipe but if I gotta share the road with you, your right to do so ends where my bumper and or person begins. If you are sharig the road, there should be minimums that need to be met.

 

hey PROST 34... i know exactly what your saying. my son has just about comepleted his DEATHTRAP. but won't listen to 1 damned thing i say. it has more slack in the stearing then a 70 year old farmall tracter! the brakes drag so bad, we couldn't hardly get it back in the garage. not to mention the master cylinders are reversed. the gas tank set's right behind the seats, with no firewall between them. no roll cage or roll bar. WHY? am i concerned, it's a 27 T chopped coupe full race 383 sb chevy, 4 speed, tunnel ram and 2 4s with 1 big ass roller cam. but what do i know? i'am just an engine builder, who ran C/GAS in the 60s. man this ME generation burns my ass...POP.

 

hey PROST 34... i know exactly what your saying. my son has just about comepleted his DEATHTRAP. but won't listen to 1 damned thing i say. it has more slack in the stearing then a 70 year old farmall tracter! the brakes drag so bad, we couldn't hardly get it back in the garage. not to mention the master cylinders are reversed. the gas tank set's right behind the seats, with no firewall between them. no roll cage or roll bar. WHY? am i concerned, it's a 27 T chopped coupe full race 383 sb chevy, 4 speed, tunnel ram and 2 4s with 1 big ass roller cam. but what do i know? i'am just an engine builder, who ran C/GAS in the 60s. man this ME generation burns my ass...POP.

 

Without turning it into a shouting match about philosophy-of-build methods, the idea of qualified builders, (in the Aussie's example) giving at least a first inspection makes some sense.

 

If he's building it in YOUR garage kick his ass out! You also might direct him to this website and some of the threads that cover nasty crap like that, show him that you can build a cool AND safe car at the same time. Lamenting his actions won't do jack to educate him.

Also, don't blame the generation, those influences came from somewhere...I remember a lot of older rodders bragging about how they built unsafe cars "back in the day". These were the same guys who had perfectly built street rods in the '80's and couldn't be bothered by young up and comers who just wanted to learn the craft. "I did this" and "I did that" doesn't mean jack, what do you do NOW? I'm not trying to jump in your shit personally, I've just seen and heard too many people saying and doing the same things.

Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. If you're not getting through to your kid you might stop and reflect if you're just repeating yourself over and over again.

 

i forgot to mention the best part,the seats had a hole punched in the sheetmetal with no washers,straps etc.,the nuts where pulling thru the top,,,but theres a pink neon light kit that was under the car hanging down at least 4 inches lower than the car and has angle iron heavy brackets holding it on, and the wiring ran everywhere under the car wire tied every inch!!,they must have used 100 ties,,,,but i guess you have to get your priorities in order,,,cool pink lights at night? or steering,fuel line or brakes?

 

You can see states moving already to require certified welders to do chassis work. Hell the liability alone keeps me from doing crap like that. Sometimes I even fix stuff just because I see it and it's unsafe, despite it not being in for that at all.

 

I wish I knew people locally like you to have my cars worked on by. Integrity is in short supply these days.

 

Hell I found poprivits on a isca show champ some years ago on a roof chop on a 55 chev, and as long as I,m at it I think the breakin point on a snapon swivel is higher than our beloved steering joints hell they hold top fuel motors in with av hose clamps and the can use copper on airplanes but its to good to use on are cars .....relax this shit has gone on for ever everybody loves dos ratrods

 

The twist on this is many "high tech" rod shops now are owned and run by older guys who retired from another field, cashed in their 401k, bought a plasma cutter and a tig, and market us. THEY have ZERO experience....hire 20 yr. old know it alls at 8 bucks an hour, and their wife does the books. He (the owner) stays in the air conditioned office barking ridiculous orders, while typing on here, and making Barrett Jackson reservations. By the way, plasma cutters will burn your shop down with sparks blowing everywhere, and who the F@*K can see Tig welds any way?

 

Here in Ontario Canada, You must be W.S.B (Welders Safety Board) certified to make a trailer hitch. But any Bozo can build a chassis and get it certified by Auto Tech's for the street. ( was my Grammer Ok??)