not everyone can build a safe hot rod ,,,

When I first read "safe hotrod", I thought the worst to come, like collapsible steering colums and high-back seats with headrests from a '07 malibu. Yikes! Germans have a nasty tendency to do that shit. Perfection and such, ya know.

I am SOOO glad it was just about generally bad maintained and therefor unsafe cars.

Some "security updates" wouldn't even be neccessary if the original equipment was up to par.

Honestly, who really ever experienced a severe leakage and pressure drop in the brake system on a well-maintained car?
Second, how are the chances that on the fabled and glorified dual-master cylinder conversions, that only the rear brake system malfunctions? If there is the problem with the front brakes, the car will spin on an emergency braking when only the rears are working. Not much difference than the whole system crapping out on you.

Same for the ever-going bashing on drums. I have never experienced a hairy situation with drums on all four corners, provided you drive like the car was intended to back in its days: always maintaining a certain safety distance to the car in front of you. It's the same they tell you on self defense courses: distance, distance, distance. Whether or not you may carry a .45; distance is essential.

Now, if you're bound to drive a lot of mountain roads, or compete in autocross (bleh) racing, or in LA traffic, things might be different, again.

Still, while slotted discs may protect you on the track, nothing will protect you from the drunkards and soccer moms speeding their minivans, aimed at your precious historic ride...

 

I have to agree with those who have stated that the car should meet basic safety concerns, as we all have to drive on the same roads. I have seen enough bad repairs on late-model stuff to scare me for a couple lifetimes; I don't need poorly built hot-rods to add horrors.

As to grammer and spelling: It's not PC, but we all do it - judge on first impressions. Therefore, if your pants are mid-thigh, god-awful print boxers in my face, and your ballcap on back-ards, I'm not going to give your opinion as much weight as the guy who manages to dress somewhat more presentably.

Sure, many rocket scientists may wear their pants at half-mast and never tie their shoelaces, but I doubt it.

Same goes here, save I cannot see you, I have only your semi-literate pixelations typed in a hurry with one hand tied behind your back and the other with but a solitary finger poised six inches above the keyboard, ready to strike at any letter that seems even slightly appropriate.

You probably don't like it, but we (nearly) all do it.

I won't give work to a semi-literate; if he couldn't bother to spell correctly, what says he'll bother to do the work correctly?? And I'm hip-deep into a house that was obviously built by a crew more interested in a pint and a paycheque, than a decently built home. Just replaced the facade, because some worker thought that the nails on a rafter for a roof extension wouldn't go through felt paper. He therefore CUT the felt paper just above the rafter, allowing water to drain behind the siding since 1968. He also cut the support pillar 2 inches too tall, reversing the pitch of said roof extension. And, no felt, no flashing, no thought at all beyond getting off the ladder and into the bar.

Sorry, ranting again.

Just my opinion, worth no more than what you have paid.

Cosmo

P.S. Does the built-in spell check from this site work on all computers??

 

I spent a fair portion of my time with my nose in rod magazines when I should have been paying attention to school work since the middle of the fifth grade but I can still write a fair sentence and several net browsers have spell check as a standard feature.
No one is asking for language arts perfection but it is a lot easier for the majority of us to understand what you are attempting to say if you make a bit of an effort to write in an articulate manner. As one of the group of folks here who often spend quite a bit of time coming up with correct and concise answers to questions that others pose on different hot rod subjects getting a well thought out and well written question is often an aid to giving that correct answer.


Back to the safety issues. I think in a lot of cases these things were done by guys who just flat don't know what is required to make a car safe. The Michigan boys who run the repair shop at the Street Rod Nationals can write volumes on things they have seen over the years on cars that were actually driven down the road.

I still remember them telling some of us about seeing a car at the 73 Nationals in Tulsa with 1/2 inch conduit with the ends hammered flat used as radius rods on one car. Those were held on with 3/8 bolts at best. From what they said the car had been driven several hundred miles to Tulsa and the owner didn't see anything wrong with running the conduit as radius rods.

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I once saw a Craftsman swivel socket connector for a steering knuckle. I asked if he knew that could break and he said he did. End of conversation.

 

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?


WOW you just described the last 2 years of my life. I worked under this putz who made a fourtune in the housing markert thru the 80's and 90's and thought it would be COOL to own a rod shop, this meat head had built NOTHING but was telling me how to design everything from frames to brackets. EVERY damn car we built was dripping of the latest crap from watson,flaming river,ididit, well you get the idea. He even went as far as to buy a So-Cal store I guess he thought that just because he could wright a check he was a master builder, I can say that I NEVER let an unsafe car that shop while I worked there, but a lot of work was done in direct defiance of his instructions. While I was a line tech (approx 15 years) I alway wanted to build hot rods as a pro. When I got the chance to run that shop I was exstatic, I swollowed my pride way to many times there just so I could keep that "DREAM" job. I've since left him, and took the rest of the employees with me. Am I building rods now, no. Have I finally got that desire back to finish working on MY rod, I'm getting there. Keith
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I think some guys bow to peer pressure. They read a mag or two and come here and read how guys are doing their own work. They get the crazy idea that in order to fit in, they have to do all or most of the work themselves. They don't ask advise or really pay attention to what skills are actually involved. They want to do it like it was "back in the day" (Damn I hate that phrase). I've heard a saying that it can't be too hard because kids were doing this in the 50's. Well, a lot of them died.

You can have a bunch of money and get a lot of tools and a torch, but that does not mean you know what you're doing. There is no shame in asking someone to weld for you or do your brakes or anything else. Have someone do it, watch, pay attention and ask questions. It's a learning process that, when not used, leads to half done cars, ruined cars and unfortunately, bad accidents.

 

If you can't build it safe don't build it. It takes the same amount of time do it rite.
I to have had a lot of crap like that come through my shop and others I have worked at.

 

amen!

 

Should have had teflon paste on it. It WILL start leaking steering fluid later on.

 

3 pages of rants and here is the first pic,you sir made my day HA HA

 

You know there are forums where you can show off your mad grammar skills.

 

I bet "Manyoldcars" could be king in that grammar forum, He could show off his mad skills tallking about how he " jacks off horses". His words , not mine. ( not sure of my punk-shoe-ation) but it's all I gots.

 

AMEN to that!I know what I can do--and what I can't. I work as a fleet mechanic, and can do 95% of all mechanical work.But I'm no welder--I can fit up and tack--but I leave the "real' welding to someone like Kiwi Kev--KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS! It's ok to ask for help.

 

Are you sure you want to take on an OG HAMBer???

 

This badly-built, ignorantly-built, stupidly-built, etc., stuff isn't new.
Sadly today so many people who aren't car guys are buying cars built to sell on eBay or at the major National events by NSRA or GoodGuys by unscrupulous shops and individuals. As long as the paint is purty, or black flat enough, the seats are comfy or bare sunheated aluminum with rivets, the engine chromed enough or grunchy and greasy with too many everythings, the exhaust system chromed or stainless or twisted and rusty but always loud, these dreamers with open wallets stand by the gate waiting to be had.
Ignorance has always been a hard barrier to pass through but the loss of big money has a real shock effect on some of these guys. Others, well, just hope they are traveling on someone else's highways and neighborhood streets and not yours because they are not likely to learn.

 

Oh dear.
It seems you are also unable to construct a meaningful reply.

Perhaps you were trying to comment thus;

I'm amazed at what I find on the Internet, and some Forums.
Some posters on this forum are unable to construct sentences or paragraphs.

I am unsure what thought you are trying to convey with your third pronouncement;
Why are 'some guys' not allowed to use 'proper' punctuation or capitalization?
Who are these 'some guys' and why do you seek to upbraid them when your own command of sentence structure and grammar is pitifully weak?
Might I suggest to you...... take a flying fuc.
Now that's gotta be better than a "poke in the eye with a burn't stick".
See me after school jackass.

 

I don't usually go off, but thats about the stupidest thing i've ever heard. There is no reason that a car can't be perfectly safe, a shit job is a shit job, the guy who takes his time and carefully builds his car in his garage can make it just as safe as the guy who owns the expensive shop. There's no place for a car thats a danger to every other person on the road, if someone wants that they can build a rat rod. I've seen some really good craftsmanship on this board, and from ordinary people who simply take their time and do things correctly. Would you say the same thing if the idiot who built a crap car had an accident and killed someone in your family? Of course they aren't going to be as safe as a volvo or a car like that, but no reason a hot rod can't drive straight and be able to stop and handle reasonably, without there being a danger of crap falling off. It's the idiots on the road with the dangerous ones that bring the man down on everyone else.

 

if your car spins with a dual master cyl, you have it hooked up wrong, they have this small unobtrusive valve on the firewall called a proportioning valve, they've been around a long time, you hook up the dual master with the brakes split diagonally, that way you don't lose both front or both rears, as far as the collapsible steering columns, a lot of people put them in, who's ever going to be able to tell? you can use any wheel you want, they are on nearly any car at the yard, ever see a guy impaled on a steering shaft? if you did you would like the column a lot more. the point is these little safety things add up, they really don't affect the way the car looks and they may keep you alive to enjoy the hobby another day. With all the nut cases driving out there today, they will help keep you just a little bit safer.

 

Im calling total bullshit on this one. I have lost brake pressure on a dual master cylinder(rear hose broke) under hard braking and I most certenly did not go into a spin or loose controle of my car. If I had a single master cylinder instead of a dual, I would have totaled my car for sure. What i think you dont get is with a single cylinder a hydrolic failoure means NO BRAKES! Dont even say its not a big deal, or you wouldnt be trying to stop in the first place. I can assure you these things were not invented just to sell more parts.

 

too much of that crap floating around

 

What most people fail to realise is that if too much of this sort of shit goes on, eventually some in power wakes up and decides we can't have hot rods any more. It nearly happened in this country about 20 years ago until a few people had the balls to stand up and be counted. We now have a system of certification for all scratch built vehicles and modified ones. Sure, it's more expensive and an onerous system at times, but at least we can still build what we want, and if its built right, there are no problems. Think about it......

 

I see the same sort of stuff here in the UK, It amazes me that with the magazines and the WWW this stuff is still being built, Recently a guy bought his rod to me for rear axle movement but as i slid under the rear and couldn't help noticing the brake pipe wasn't clipped up good job really as there wasn't any flexibles in the rear at all, it had just been relying on the unclipped brake line for movement
The rear axle movement turned out to be the low quality studding that it had been assembled with every joint had a piece of banana shaped studding in it

Once i replaced with decent quality bolts he remarked that the ride was so much better

 

The gentleman came in for a paint job estimate and some pretty chrome dress up items,i told him that was last on the list,first make it safe and reliable,the bling can come later,,but after showing him all the bad i did tell him,its a 80's built car,peaple did not have the parts to build a rod like today,you can open a book, flip a credit card down and order a rod (not me),,,when i built my 34 ford in the late 1980,s it was all junkyard parts,mustang ii front end(i cut out),76 caddy tilt wheel,dodge omni rack,escort master cylinder and pedal assembly,70 caprice 400 sbc,9 inch from a granada etc.,,,,but !,when i installed these parts i made sure they where right,and if i was not sure i found someone who had experiance with it,,afterall,its my life and the life of others that trust me with it,,,i will never do something to anyones car that i would not do to my own,,,

 

Excellent! Excellent! Very well said. Words to live by.

 

In NY State, we have the annual safety inspection as a minimum, but there are obviously ways around that too from what I've seen.

Bob

 

I'll agree 100% that not everyone can build a safe hot rod. But it's really no excuse for a "Rod Shop" that does this everyday for a living to build un-safe rods. I have two in the shop at the moment. 1st is a '39 Pontiac that was built less than 5 years ago and they put a real MII front end in it....yes I mean they cut one out of a factory car and put it in, not to mention they didn't change the shocks or anything, and they added a Pontiac 400 motor that is so heavy that it's within 1/2 inch of bottoming out while sitting.

The 2nd, is a '55 Chevy that the same place put a newer sbc in and pulled the 3 on the tree and put in a TH350 with no tranny crossmember. They also made the drive shaft themselves, cut and pieced it together, and didn't balance it.

This is a local rod shop, and have seen this kind of work from them before. But I'm glad that it's in my shop. It gives me some work in this slow economy, and it allows me to fix someone else's terrible and completely unsafe work.

 

if you're a quality builder, who takes pride in his/her work, you won't mind someone coming by from time to time to inspect your work.
in aviation, ALL of our work gets inspected EVERYTIME before the plane is given the green light for airworthiness. i don't like working with mechanics that get offended when their work gets inspected. it helps keep us in check and humble.

 

How I would love for state inspections to return to Florida.

 

You pegged it Joecool; Actually, I think my 'peers' look at my car for other reasons than to see if they can find something wrong with it. I don't associate with that kind anyhow. We all see that kind, but they ain't our friends. They ain't our peers.

What we DON'T need; Holier than thou nit-picking,

If I thought for a moment the premise of this thread was actually for our safety, I would support it. But I don't. It's just my take on the slant of it, but I think it was posted for the purpose of advancing an agenda, other than for other people's safety, from somebody that has a shop to advertise and chimes in on the forum with shit about other people's cars to advance his business,

It's boring to hear people make fun of somebody else's car because it has crappy looking welds and it ain't purty. I hear neat-freaks dissin' crappy looking welds all the time, spouting "safety", even on welds where the car has been driven for many years and the weld ain't broke yet. They just don't get it. A weld that's ground down smooth(for bling) is more likely to fail than a bird shit glob.

Another thing that bugs me is hearing guys attacked just because they improvise and use "crap" instead of buying all new parts from a vendor that disdains anything that isn't purchased from a his catalogue,

or an old-school-hamb'r that imagines he is smarter than a fng.

or a self appointed 'expert' that decides a bit of rust makes any car a ratrod,

or a lame-brain that imagines spell-checking is actually very important on a hot rod forum; Enough to chime about anyhow. How does that contribute to a civilized exchange of ideas? I can handle it, and if I don't understand somebody's question due to the poor presentation of the words/punctuation/grammer, I'll ask for clarification, not brow-beat the guy.

 

hunh?

sounds like a 57 I had in here not to long ago. I told the owner, "lets make it safe first"