I bought my short block, bought seats from a junk yard, Front door panels came from rod doors. I covered them ,made the back panels. Installed the air bags , wheel tubs and 4 link.Did the body work, but when it came paint and graphics, my nephew is a painter by trade,so he did that. Carlg
...I do everything myself except bleeding the brakes, hard to do that yerself. As far as interior work goes all you need is a place to park yer butt; don't need no stinkin upholstery...I usually pull all the stinkin upholstery out !
only thing we can't do is cut glass and mount/balance tires. Well, if we're using bias tubed tires we do that of course, but not radials. Also had our driveshafts cut and balanced cause that is some touchy equipment..... Would like to cut our own glass next time too though.
I do more on each car built than I did on the previous one. Kinda what the hoby's all about to my eyes....
I did all the work on my 30 chevy, all but the drive shaft I gave the dimensions to a alignment/driveline shop and the built me a new shaft.
Due to a lack of knowledge and a toolbox that only has 3 drawers, I'm stuck in the "keep her running" group. I did my own upholstery. I've painted cars with a borrowed air compressor. Tuning, timing, etc. But for the most part, if it can't be done with a screwdriver and a box wrench set, I have to farm it out.
bout everthin. Sometime have driveshaft built. No interior stuff,dont like doin it and hog rings suck cat piss.
I built mine,but had help from my father,who owns a hotrod shop,but i did lots of work myself,does that count.We did all the fab work,wiring,paint,bodywork,made the seat,door panels,cut the rug,did everything but do the interior,chrome plating,and glass,but we did all the rest.
Basically, if i cant nab it out of the local auto yards and make it work it dont go on or in my cars, because...........cold hard truth i just can't afford my hobby anyother way.
I have to send out machine work and upholstery. But if I can ever find an upholstery sewing machine I can afford I'll do that too. I always figure if somebody else can do it I can learn to do it.
I do it all but plating (if i can afford it) and upholstery. I do have a machine and will learn to do it someday. My aunt helps me with the fabric. All the fabricating, welding, paint, body, sand blasting I do... I have all of the tools... The only thing I wont touch is engine building...I try to get friends to help on that one.
I don't do the upholstery, machine work, cut the glass, or make my on license plates. :-D ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Since I gave up hope I feel much better.
I do pretty much everything on everyone elses cars! I drove my 38 chevy for nine years with junkyard Grand Am seats only. Why is it a cobbler never has shoes, a mechanics car never runs, and an upholster never finishes his interior until he wants to sell it? Some of you aren't seeing the forest because of the trees. There is so much you can do on your interior to save money. So you don't have a sewing machine. I don't have a block boring machine, but I can still assemble it after the machine work is done. I spend half as much time behind the sewing machine than I did ten years ago. The rod interiors now, with all the sculpturing of foam, have changed considerably. Some of my highest priced interiors have very little sewing on the door panels, somtimes none. Example; These doors have no sewing at all. They are either done with foam or wood. Not really that hard, just labor intensive. There are other things like tackstrip that can be replaced, insulation installed, speakers mounted, and seat belt mounts installed. These are just a few of the things I deal with in every job, it's labor that could be saved by the owner. Give a lazy man a hard job and he will find an easy way to do it!!
what kind of radiator is this....just curious..lokks like its newer plastic...and also looks like it fits good
I was sitting here, thinking what a stud I am, doing all my own work when I remembered I traded labor to get my new 1/4 panel and tail panel installed. Then, I remembered I also traded labor to have my mustang II style crossemember fab'd up and installed. And Speedway motors built my tubular control arms. My Buddy, Tom got in a pinch and needed some cash to buy his 56 Vicky so I paid him and his girlfriend [they have an upholstrshop together] to put the leather I got from "Skipstitch" on an old pair of moostang buckets and do the headliner and doorpanels... I guess I've done the rest but I'm gonna talk Porknbeaner into narrowing my 9" axle housing for me. I don't mind the welding but I'm not tooled up with the jig needed to get the tubes straight, in my 1 car garage. I also didn't do any of the machine work on my 331 sbc but I bolted that sucker together with care, checking every clearance there is...my machinist is great! Never anything out of tolerance. I got a buddy who is pretty good at cutting glass and likes doing it. He helped me with some of that the other night....ok, he did it and I watched. Guess I'm not as studly as I thought.
i do everything except the chrome, the interior comes easy because my Pops has been doin custom interiors for some 20 years now.
I have never forged a piston, ground a set of bearings, cast an intake manifold or set of wheels, or molded a tire from scratch. I haven't yet figured out how to make a headlight bulb or filament that lasts worth a damn. Not quite up to handforming a radiator, either. Can't remember the last time I tried to make a set of guages. Smelting the steel to stamp a frame and the body is right out. Skinning and tanning the leather for the upholstery wasn't too bad. Don't know why leather is so expensive..cows aren't that hard to hunt. Getting the pigments and solvents to make the paints proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Can't believe there's such a stink about having some of those chemicals in the hands of private citizens, considering you can buy them already mixed up! Man, you guys that do everything on your cars are my heros! Hehehehe. Seriously, I tend to be a pretty good assembler of parts other people have made, and can fabricate minor bits when needed.
I haven't farmed out anything, but I might get the seats redone after I get the car on the road. They are the stock pukey Chevy van vinyle houdstooth. I did cheat and get an engine that doesn't need rebuilt or I would have to farm out the machine shop part.
Does attempting to do all the work myself count? So far, I've done everything myself except the TIG welding on my chassis, no TIG in my garage. Here's how I work. I decide what I want to do, tear it apart, get confused, call my brother in Iowa and either figure it out by the time he answers the phone or he has to explain it when he does answer. Then I do what he tells me to do and how to do it and then call him back to bragg about what I did and how easy it was! He and I just realized how close this thing is to hitting the road and he was just as excited as I was. Now that I think about it, it might be that he was relieved that he wouldn't be getting those annoying phone calls when it does hit the road. So I guess I fall into that class of those who build their own car, everything but the machine shop type work. My wife can do the upholstry, but she's kinda nervous about it and it'll prolly get done somewhere else then home. Vance
I do all the regular fabrication, cut, grind, weld, recut... and all the wiring, plumbing, etc. Built a backyard forge, cast some aluminum parts so's I could say I did. ' haven't done much machine work, unless you count a drillpress. Wife says I should stay away from the finish bodywork and she's right, but I won't listen. ' had a very bad experience with an alleged upholstery shop - too much money, too long a wait, & too bad a job - could've done better myself, so now I do. Chrome? What's that?
I am proud to be a "Jack of all trades" and a Master of none. I've built five cars and trucks from basket cases. fab, weld, engine, body, and paint. I have also done some of my own upholstery, which I'm quite proud-of.
The Jalopy Journal
