A shop only building chassis?

Well this is a question for the %100 honest, I don't care if I hurt your feelings crowd.... Do you think Having a small shop just focusing on chassis builds and MII swaps, rear end and brake jobs.... You get the idea, I just want some heads up info and your experiences. I love doing full builds but in my honest opinion, I would rather do what I am comfortable with and like to do. So fire away and as I said please be honest and yes I'm talking about on topic vehicles.

 

What's the question?

 

I believe the OP is asking if just working chassis work in his shop is a worth while venture or is he stepping out to fall flat on his face?? Or not ...

 

What you are asking is pretty much exactly what I do. I build all new chassis for most of the popular 30's and 40's cars, and also manufacture frame rails for bigger shops like Cornhusker and Pete & Jakes....But in between I do exhaust systems, MII installations,roll cages, general hot rod repair stuff too.Whatever fabrication work comes along. I won't touch any wiring or body/paint work.

It works pretty well for me. There is plenty of work where I live and I'm always covered up with mostly HAMB friendly type work. I really like working alone in my own shop,at my own pace.

 

If you are good, you can make money doing it. If you arent, you wont stay busy very long.

 

Hmmm ok not getting on here while I'm this tired anymore... A small shop just focusing on chassis builds and not focusing on full builds or trying to be a one stop shop. A lot of guys I have done work for aren't confident in welding or know how to set up a suspension, they are more focused on the body and engine stuff, would budget frame builds be a good idea instead of spending a couple months salary on a mail order frame that you will have to modify anyways?

 

Metal Man and I just gave you the answer. If you are "just a guy with a mig" that does "ok", you wont be in business long. If you are a great welder and TRULY understand chassis, you will do ok.

 

Specializing isn't a new idea. And it's a pretty good one too. Less overhead, and you can focus on what you like to do and what you're best at. Some guys are good with body work. Others with chassis. Others on engines. Some do only transmissions or interiors, trim restoration, etc. Very few are good at everything. Focusing on one thing instills confidence in the customer too. They see that this is your thing, and you're not just a jack-off all trades. Most customers understand and appreciate this. If you're GOOD at it, do it. Good luck.

 

Quick story about the ability issue. I got involved with a local guy who said he could build race-type tubular chassis. He said he worked for so and so and decided to start his own shop, and wanted a partner. He had a nice big building at his rented home, but nearly no equipment there. He said it was "in storage". Ok...we started getting the building ready. After a short while, I started asking him why he didn't start moving his equipment in. No real good answer. I started to wonder. Then after listening to him talk more...he like to talk...I realized he was planning on building the chassis on jackstands...just sitting on jackstands. What? No jig or anything? This guy was a dreamer! I bailed...lol.

 

I think Pete Chapouris is attributed the term "You stop making money the second you string the first brake line..." Lots of shops do what you are considering, to some extent I do as well. I prefer to build stuff to "roller" status and let the customer take it home and do all the stuff I don't like doing. 'Course, I do make part of my living making house calls to these guys when they run out of time or tallent to finish stuff too.

 

HaHa....I think I have fixed some of that guy's work before!

 

Yea I'm not calling myself the best welder by no means but I grew up burning rods on a ranch building fences and learning the hard way at a early age... I built OT pro mod chassis for a while and some FED stuff. I'm not a master welder but I'm confident in my welds and math enough to get the job done.

 

I like that. Pete is a smart guy. On the same note, my mentor, Dave Gale (r.i.p) said something that has stuck with me for twenty years..." I make more money saying no than I ever make saying yes". It took me a few years of being self employed to completely understand that one, but he was right.

 

I think too many of us learn this the hard way.

 

I learned the hard way many times, a guy here put a ad up saying he was opening a custom shop and he also did a lot of talking. Met him at a building about 10,000 square feet too big for his dreams and said this is where this is going and that and this.... And I asked where was the equipment or customers? He continued to say that he would have to bring in computers to work on cars and get a dyno for 1000 plus hp cars... I shook his hand, said good luck and call me when you get a welder and have never heard of or from him sense.

 

Metal man, I'm going to remeber what your friend Mr. Gale has told you.

 

metal man...Are you referring to knowing what type of work to take on or not? Or more to do with the type of customer? I bet some of you guys gain a sixth sense about who's gonna be a problem customer.

 

If he drives up in a 90's 4 banger, asks about building a r-rod.... You know when to draw the line or ask for a hefty deposit.

 

Mostly the type of work, but the two really go hand in hand. Dave stuck pretty tightly to a particular type of work ( traditional hot rod chassis), but he had a knack for spotting the type of person he didn't want to deal with.

 

I like that one too! I never got to meet Dave, but I sure wish I had! I'm a big fan of his stuff. His little modifieds that he did over the years are amongst the best ever, and I spent some time riding around in the "last" Canned Frog Legs truck when my buddy Joe had it a few years ago.

 

My opinion, since you asked. If you do one thing really well, meet customers expectations, don't not expect to get wealthy or employ a "staff", then maybe you can make it. Case in point: Gary Maxwell of Blackboard Hot rods in Bakersfield CA. He does '32 frames. He is a one man operation, if you call his shop do not expect to talk to an assistant or secretary, you will likely go to voice-mail 'cause Gary is in the shop doing 40 plus feet of gorgeous TIG weld on someone's '32 frame. He will answer your voice mail sometime in the evening. He will tell you that it will be 7 or 8 weeks to get your frame done because he is booked out that far. Gary makes (in my opinion the best hot rod frames in existence) and has a very good reputation nation-wide. Do that and maybe you can make a reasonable income and hopefully enjoy your job. Gary seems very happy at what he does. I hope you can be also (not many of us are, or have been).
Best of fortune in your endeavor.

 

I just need a good friend and a case of beer when the lifting gets in the way... And let me be a little more clear I suppose, I don't want to focus on just frame rails but more into the chassis suspension and engine mounts and so on... I like that t buckets are getting popular but at the local car show I saw one and I would be scared to ratchet it down to a trailer at any location on the car, I'm sure it was fun to drive but I wasn't sure about the penetration of the welds. Hell you build it and tack weld it how you want but let someone with a hotter welder lay beads and give you security that the next pothole is going to drop your motor out from under you.

 

Is there enough chassis work available in your area to keep you busy?
I did pretty much what your thinking 20 years ago, we did other things and did build a couple turn keys but for the most part we kept the shop busy with just chassis work and we soon had the reputation of being the go to shop for chassis setups. After 5 years I got board and expanded into custom paint & body and more turn key stuff. Looking back I should of stayed small and more specialized, too many headaches with the big shop.

 

there is only one way to find out if it will work out.jump in and give it a while .I did this a couple years ago. I now have 6 months to a year waiting list. I dont do body work or fab work .I mostly do final assembly after fab and body and paint is done. do what you like to do you will know soon if it was a good idea to begin with .it sounds like you have other tings to fall back on if needed . good luck!

 

I knew a guy doing a similar path only concentrating on doing minitruck chassis stuff. He made his living on other fab and welding work though. County contract for fire truck repairs and built indystrial spiral stairs. I always thought the spiral stairs were neat. Each step was built in shop, slipped over a tube on site and got welded to the rails.

 

There it is in a nutshell. If you are hell for good at doing chassis work you will do well but as he said, "just a guy with a mig" it may be pretty lean pickings after the first couple of months.

I've got a good friend who ran a full service rod/custom shop for a number of years and finally figured out that he could come out better just doing MII swaps and setting up chassis for guys one at a time.
The best part was that he didn't have a shop full of half finished cars waiting for the owners to either pay for the last phase of work or get the funds for the next phase of work.

 

Dave Gale was a very talented man.............worked for him when he was in Ohio

 

Yea sitting on checks can be the worst idea, I've passed on some pretty cool projects only because the funds just weren't there. And good point with the work stacking up, rails and MII's stack pretty easy

 

Specialty shops are not uncommon, and some are quite successful. As long as you've got fill work that you're willing to do inbetween the chassis and frontend work, and you develope a good rep. you should be fine.
Starting out as a specialty shop will be slow as you develope a clientel and reputation, so be prepared to take on whatever it takes to keep the money flowing until you do take off.

 

One other related thing I've learned from being in business, is that you need to know when to Fire a customer also.
Mr. Gale was a smart man.