Hot Rods How many hours of grinding to make a hot rod.?

Same question applies to customs...I feel like I've been grinding metal all my life??¿

 

Well, I'd say that might depend on how bad you are at welding...

 

Well you are a great welder or a good grinder.
Otherwise it probably depends on what you started with and what condition it was in when you started. The frame that I have for my redo of my 48 just needs sandblasting and not much more but the old frame that is under it now would need a lot of hours with a flap disk to get up to what I want as would some other pieces for it. Then don't even start up adding up the grinding and smoothing on what body mods I have going on.

 

A lot.

hard to put a number on it, aside from the number of worn out flap discs, cutoff wheels, grinding wheels, chop saw wheels, etc.

 

Yeah, my wife's friend, the massage therapist, was constantly complaining about the endless grinding noise produced by her neighbor, my friend the hot rodder.

 

Yeah, my neighbors, that I've aggitated over the years, could probably answer that question better than I can

 

It takes at least 200 hours to port and polish stress risers out on a flathead block.
I would not make a guess on the rest of the car.

 

The grinding time depends on the original condition of the vehicle when you started on it, and how perfect it needs to be when you are "done" with it.

The piles of junk I usually start with require a lot more grinding time to make them look like a car then most do, but then I'm not usually too concerned with perfection, so the grinding time on that end is usually a lot less the most.

I was a welder in the automotive field for the last 28 years of my working life. I don't believe I have ever counted the hours of grinding required to get a job done, its always been part of the welding process. I can say that if your doing it right, there is usually a lot more grinding time then there is welding time, and most of that takes place before the welding machine is ever turned on.

 

Interesting question, I've spent a lot of today grinding, and not that much welding. Working on a unibody F100, I have to rebuild the torque box but first had to remove the bed floor, the rusted out torque box and the flanges spot welded to the body. Drilled a lot of spot welds, then instead of drilling the spot welds on the inner fender I just cut the bottom two inches off and welded in new material.....and then I ground and ground....lot of black crap was filtered by my nose hairs

 

When I build and fabricate, I often channel my inner Maya Angelou, "and still I grind"

 

My step grand kid tried to pull this shit on me. Laying this crap on me about grinding welds, makes it weaker. So I ask him, so you just bondo over the welds!

 

He is true about grinding of welds , never grind critical welds most any thing on a car , grind and finish it smooth . I have completed plenty I never touched on my cars and bikes and as many as I have worn out wheels on . Smoothing the surface and grinding into the surface are 2 things to define .

 

Grinding & Grinding & Grinding I need to start with less rust

 

This was what I was doing at the time, boxing frame rails. I was at the grinding stage of the game . Remember when Boyd Coddington threw that kid and his car out of his shop for refusing to box his frame rails. Kid Fffukked himself out of a good deal, he and grandkid one and the same. Know it alls.

 

The old “ bull pipe line welder “ that taught me how , always said you are just melting 3 pieces of metal together at the same time , and if you have to grind your welds for good looks , that makes you a grinder not a welder !!!

 

My Old Boss told me, after looking at my deductions on my paycheck, “wouldn’t have been cheaper to just have run it off by hand?”.

 

some how the child support part disappeared, oops.

 

I spend a lot more time grinding than welding, but sadly at least as much after as before.

 

Depends on too many things that differ build to build to put a number on it. My last build took 6-7 months to cut out and replace rotted metal before I even got to chassis and other mods, so a lot of grinding. Then more welding and grinding once I began the engine swap, suspension mods, etc.

 

There is a theory that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated effort to master a skill (piano virtuoso, boxer, whatever). It might apply to hot rodding as well....

 

The angle grinder is the most used tool in my garage, lost count on how many have worn out, not having a guillotine, band saw or oxy (I do have a 275mm cold saw), means nearly everything gets cut, shaped or sanded with the grinder. My local steel shop is miles away and steel is so expensive now, so I usually turn any oversize material or scrap items into what I need. I also purchase cut of discs and grinding / flap discs in bulk and always have at least 100 of each in stock. Glen

 

The time it takes or how many pounds of shavings? LOL

I've got a lot ahead of me.
It can wear out a compressor running a die grinder.
And my ears.
I bought this for lighter stuff.
I'm gonna try it out today.

 

In my case twice as long as I plan but that's everything on building a car. I heard the statement " decide how low it will take and how much it will cost then double it", that seems to hold true for me. I've got pretty good at grinding but I'm a sloppy welder and farm out anything critical.

 

You know what’s sad.....I can identify most all of those parts you have cut out to replace.
AD CHEVROLET TRUCK

 

Grinding? As in metal, or the whole shebang? Metal is a job, until done to a certain point. The rest=Grinding?
My buddies call and say what ya doing? Grinding in the garage?
The garage/shop continues to be the daily grind....... As far as timeframe.........I guess until i'm done, or dead......

 

Lots of grinding on my chopped , channelled , stretched , 413 Wedged 36 Buick..guessing hours of grinding is not realistic....Id start at 100 hours on a build

 

if you are talking about grinding you can't leave out cutting.
cutting is like real skinny grinding.

 

My welder is in the countryside outside
of Iowa City, Iowa - he is a renaissance
welder - he primarily keeps the farmers
running their equipment in the fields …

In his bit of spare time he builds
hot rods for himself.



Jim

 

Black boogers because of cutting and grinding is a common occurrence here

 

X2 for MIG vs TIG