Soo I was thinking about the work I did last night and over the last couple days and I am wondering how many others have accomplished similar feats of design enginuity. I am restoring a 54 chevy pickup. While trying to remove the driver's side vent window, the bolt on the vent frame snapped. and this is a part that can't be easily replaced! So I shopped around for a replacement frame. I was unable to find just the frame! Every place I found wanted over $200! for the entire frame not just the small frame on the glass in the larger vent window frame. So I decided to fix it myself. (Shadetree mechanic style!) I went down to the local ace hardware and bought a bolt and screws that were the same size. used my dremel tool to get the old rivets off and remove the old bolt and mount. I then spent the next few days creating a new part to replace the broken one. Even welded it in place and cleaned up the frame! Now I am painting and putting the window back in the frame. I should have taken pictures of the process so I could recall what I had to do. would be nice to think about it before I start next time! Anyway, I felt pretty proud that I was able to fix my issue without spending a bunch on replacement parts. Only cost me $3.00 and my time. I'm interested to hear how others are using their noodle to fix an issue too.
Very cool... pics definitely help as ya go and are good to share on here for folks who may be facing a similar situation.
alot of stuff can be fixed like you did, problem tho is trying to justify to the customer the hours spent to fix a part when it could have been bought for less. good job i would rather fix something than replace it.
Good job! Nice to see someone actually 'fixing' something. Us Flatcad Racing guys prefer to buy new, off the shelf, parts.
Hey, I like the fact that you sallied forth, first time takes some intestinal fortitude. My wife and I just put windows in my '55 F100. Experienced as I am, I had forgotten what it felt like to have to examine mechanisms usually taked for granted... With her help, it came out perfect. (the glass guy that cut the Ford tinted windows installed the bottom rail on the sides of the windows...She caught it right away. This was no cakewalk...(lots of colateral repair on the wing mechanisms)
I had a glass guy come out to the house to replace a broken vent window on a 1963 VW (I know, not exactly a hot rod although the engine had been bore and stroked, but I digress). About half way through the installation the glass guy stopped and told me that I would need a new frame because the rivets holding everything together were loose. Not a problem I said as I retrieved my pneumatic rivet squeezer from the garage. It took me longer to hook up the air hose to the nearest air outlet than it did to re-set the rivets. Cost $0.00. It helped that I was building an all metal airplane (RV6) at the time and had a garage full of various riveting tools.
Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Good job putting your nose to the grindstone, and sticking with it. It seem too easy sometimes to just open up a catalogue and order up what ya need....if it's available. But then again time is money, sadly I'm short on both .
I guess I seem to be the only one so far that 's taken by the fact you just saved yourself $200.00 for a part you couldn't find. Everybody tells me I cheap( I call it poor) Great job!!!
careful, dont get to cocky. karma can bite at any time, and usually its right after you get down bragging about something.
I hate to agree... but you make a very good point. Karma is not kind. ask "Earl" But I am still please with the fact that I saved money and can accomplish a task I wouldn't normally be able to do!
My OT habit (Jeeps) has me thinking outside the box more than hot rods. Full steel doors go for about $900, I scored a pair of doors from a rollover for $100. A little persuasion to the window frames with the calibrated BFH, pull a massive dent from the passengers door and we're back in business. $100 and a days work netted me a great set of doors.
NOW THAT"S WHAT I"M TALKIN ABOUT!!! I am not rich. so anything I have will have to be helped along by a little of the creative enginuity! and that calibrated BFH someone mentioned! LOL
Love stories like this... Great job, and you will always appreciate that particular part YOU made... Yep pics please...Cheers.....
What;we're gonna start a cooking section here? Might have to clear that with The Boss first. Seriously;thanks for the tips. I'm sure there are those who will benefit-I know I might!
I'm working on a '37 Buick, I didn't realize before I jumped into this project how expensive vintage Buick parts are. I have played with '48-52 Ford trucks for the last 30+ years and found Buick parts can be 3-4 times the cost of the old Ford truck parts. So far I have recasted my side motor mounts and built new front mounts , top and bottom, using urathane and home made forms for around $100. If I sent the motor mounts out to have them repaired it would have cost $200 plus shipping and another $100 for the front mounts. I have also replaced the original single reservoir master cylinder, which cost $200 for a rebuilt unit, with a dual cylinder unit for $30. Not only saving $$ but also better safety. I also researched and found brake hoses from newer vehicles that were identical to the ones listed for my Buick. I saved at $40, plus shipping charges by going to my local NAPA with the part numbers over buying the parts from the vintage parts dealers. NAPA and the other parts stores don't have parts numbers for most of the part for my car. I also made a new rear parking brake cable using parts I bought at the local hardware store for $20. The things I've done drive the vintage Buick guys nuts. I post on a couple of vintage Buick sites and some post snotty replies and send me emails when I post my alternative repairs. Most of them will only use parts specific to vintage Buicks bought from the one or two on line high priced vintage Buick parts dealers and will spend the big bucks or else they'll wait years to find the one NOS part they need, leaving their cars sit until they find it.
It sounds like you did a LOT of research into finding parts that would work. This is the kind of ingenuity I am talking about. I know the Purists will say we are bastardizing our cars, but creative thinking to replace original parts... or building your own parts to save cash when restoring your classic/vintage car/truck is what I respect. GOOD work on your repairs
when all your work was sucessful and you knew you had triumphed did you do the ROCKY BALBOA dance (at the top of the stairs with both hands in the air)?
Actually.... No.... but that ain't a bad idea! Actually I am just impressed with myself for being able to do it. I have tried things like this in the past and they never seemed to come out the way I planned Cue the rocky music!!!
It's the simple fact that you approached the problem with confidence. A simple "I can do this" goes a long way towards finding the solution to a simple problem.
Keep drivin' them nuts---I installed the door lock on my '40 Ford using an o-ring for a gasket. That gets purist' panties in a wad too. Not to mention they don't like hot rodded forties. That NOS or nothin' outlook is a form of dementia--jmo.
BTDT with 1937 Packard 115c sedans, I still have parts and won't sell to restorers, hot rodders only!!
Years ago when my father finally went out on a limb and purchased an existing heavy equipment repair shop (he started his bussiness with the top portion of his toolbox in the back of my moms suburban after leaving a large oil field company), overnight going from a one man mobile show to an owner with an actuall shop with empoyees, my mom walked into the break room one day to find my father and two of his mechanics standing there with the coffee pot in pieces. It had stopped working and just like always, he decided to "fix" it. My mother being the rational one quickly did the math in her head and figured at about $50 an hour billable time each, it would be much more cost effective for them to "get there ass's back to work and she would go buy a damn coffe pot." The moral of the story though is that my father taught me growing up there is not a price that can be put on self satisfaction, and it ain't bragging if it's true. Nothing makes me happier than doing something that somebody else said can't be done.
The Jalopy Journal
