...the continuing saga of a 16 year old gear head who's building his first hot rod SUPER CHEAP!!! well, there is a bit to tell, since young Jacob is'nt so good about posting updates. it seems he'd rather be in the garage than on the internet . some people's kids ... for those of you just tuning in, my 16 year old neighbor is building a LOW BUCK hot rod utilizing everything he possibly can from a running 88 Ford Ranger pickup that was GIVEN to him. the original plan called for a roadster body of some sort, but after a visit to my good friend Dan Turner's place Jake was the proud owner of a fairly solid 47(ish) Ford truck cab, rusty passenger side door, a VERY rusty 40 pickup bed and an old set of aluminum wheels. a trip to the junk yard, a couple days later, netted him an equaly rusty driver side door (for $25). oh yeah, Dan did'nt charge him a dime for the parts . what a guy. it's guys like Dan that will help insure that young guys like Jake carry on the hobby. in anticipation of this project Jake and i made a trip to the scrap yard a few weeks ago. he scored some steel there which he planned to scratch build a frame from. yeah, those are 4x4 I-BEAM frame rails we built today. they will soon be put on a diet and drilled full of holes. hey, if they can hold up sky scrapers they can surely hold up a chopped up old Ford truck body and a 4 banger. the frame was kicked up in the front and will sport a suicide mounted I-beam axle and transverse leaf spring. the rear of the frame was kicked up even higher using some steel we scavanged from around my shop. it will sport 1/4 elliptic springs made from the old Ranger leaves. it was all welded together on my less than level garage floor. it'll do the job . the original plan was to use the Ranger rear axle, but after taking some measurements we realized that it was so narrow that the tires would be completely behind the cab, and that just would NOT look right. hey, just cause it's being built cheap does'nt mean it has to be ugly (at least not TOO ugly). luckily Jake's dad had bought a Camaro, to use as a parts car, from my brother a year or two ago. well we took the tape measure out to the car and it just so happens the rearend is just what we were after. problem solved. Jake's dad seems more excited about this project than Jake sometimes. he's worked on cars and had a few "muscle cars" back in the day but he has never built a hot rod or done this sort of body and chassis fabrication. so their equipment list is a short one. Jake decided that if he was going to build this thing he was going to need a welder. he drug his dad along to Harbor freight to buy the little MIG that was on sale there for $249 only to get it home and have his dad get electricuted 3 TIMES. they boxed it up, took it back and went to TSC where his dad chipped in half and they got a MUCH better welder. he's been welding up holes in the firewall with the flux core wire, just till he can save the clams for a bottle. that grill shell is a $10 purchase from Plowboy (what is it man???). and we'll likely build a shorty pickup bed from some heavy gauge sheetmetal i've had layin around a long time. other cool stuff: the cab will be channeled 4", chopped 5 1/2" and will have a "cheater" section of 4 1/2" taken out of the bottom of the body. the little OHC Ford banger wil have a home fabbed 2x1 intake (with whatever carbs can be had and rebuilt cheap) and a home fabbed exhaust header of the extremely LOUD variety. well Jake is'nt much of a talker when it comes to the internet (unlike me) so i hope i covered it all for him. if not he'll just have to one finger type it himself . if he can get them resized he has some other pretty cool pics that he took with his camera. till then here are a few i took today. enjoy...
Cool! Why can't I have any cool neighbors? I'm going to eventually start the build up of my first real hot rod. I've been gathering parts for a while now. Can't wait to see the finished look of this.
Man, that's really a great story, and neat to have you guiding him along! That things starting to take shape now, which of you two havin the most fun?? Hey, no matter what Boyd tells ya........don't box those rails!! Please keep the pics comin......
Well with an i-beam frame you'll have to run an i-beam axle, right. The grille looks like a cut up 39-46 Plymouth truck(and maybe car..)grill.The same I got on my dodge p/u, built similar to his. Looks fun, keep it up!
that truck rules Dodgerodder. the grill Jake has is not exactly the same as yours. we did find one just like yours in the bone yard the other day but it woulda been a Mother to get off the truck. we may go back for it if Jake wants it. the guys want's $40. the grill he has looks kinda like the upper half of yours but Jake's unbolts from whatever was under it. it's gotta be the same make but the year is different or something. Jake was always hanging around the garage, and i always wished someone woulda helped me build a rod when i was in high school, so i figured since he was so into this stuff that i would help get him steered in the right direction. besides, then he'll OWE me and i'll have a garage helper for life. or at least till he goes off to college or something ...
OH YEAH. he has $90 in it as it sits!! he is hoping to take advantage of the Radir wheel Bullet Spoke Clearance and get a set of rear rollers and maybe some 8.20 cheater slicks aswell. not sure what he'll run in the front. prolly some skinny steelies or whatever comes along for free or cheap. some solid aluminum wheels would look alright if they were skinny. maybe those 10 spokes ET wheels sells. HMMM. i'll have to run that idea past him. he'll be helping me work on the 47 pretty soon here .
Thanks man! You know I have the top of the original dodge shell at my shop, I'll look at it tomorrow and see if its the same as his. Its great that you are doing that with him though. The only "building" most kids do nowadays is to bolt a giant wing and coffee can exhaust on their honda. I will always love my dad for letting me help him build rods with him since I was little. The dodge I have now is a truck I'm building with my dad. Its cool now that I am older and my welding/fab skills have grown that now my dad asks my advice on things for a change hehe. Good job kustombuilder.
he realy wants to find another one like he has and flip it upside down and mount it to the one he has now. this one just might be a little too short as it sits. hey Grumpy. sorry about the lighting but that was in his garage and half of the lights recently quite working. he'll have to get his dad on that one. i mounted their portable hallogen light in the rafters with zip ties so we could see to work . the damn things throw off ALOT of heat though, and it has been PLENTY hot here the last few days. Jake has better pics if he'll get on here and post em. i had to "modify" my little band saw to cut that 4x4 I-beam on an angle, and would'nt ya know it. near the end we broke the blade. we got a new one (obviously) and finished up. it took an hour per cut .
I think that grill is the top half of a 41(?)-48 Dodge truck. 39-40 swoops in the middle like dodgerodders. Thats a cool idea of welding 2 together, I'd like to see that. Shouldnt be too hard to find, there is a complete truck in a yard here, but shipping would kill you. Good luck, and keep us posted
Lookin' good so far...add a couple more gussets to that frame, four shocks per wheel, a set of HD truck springs and it just might handle being driven on Michigan roads!!!
It is a Dodge truck grille. Somewhere I still have the stainless "dodge" trim but it was kind of boogered up. If I can remember I will bring it to the pileup. It looks much better on that than it did on the Tommi Gunn!
So THATS what the door was for, I regret i didnt have much chance to visit with you guys saturday. Had to go grab a bite to eat (the mrs get sick if she doesnt eat on time...) and when we got back, everyone was leaving... If you guys EVER come back this way to the yard, let me know. I would love to try to hang out...
That rocks. Its cool your taking this kid under your wing. Hopefully this experience will entice others to do the same. the kids of today sure need it. I got my Bro-in-law (16 yrs old) helping me w/ my coupe project. He's pretty much neglected and a trouble maker, but its wild...get him in the garage and give him a few "atta-boys"...and he gets a big smile on his face. The experience is priceless. (sometimes though, I still want to put my boot up his a$$) Congrats on the ride...ill have to put this in consideration of a ride for him...he;s been wanting to do the same thing.
man, you guys are MAKING elips..???? can we get some pics on that?? i wanna do it,.. but how to do it safely?????? lemme know!
ever sense the billet proof show in june i have been really wanting to start building it but couldnt till i got a body. know that i got that free ford truck cab and some other goodies thanks to dan. know i just cant wait till we start to chop it and section it. i have picture that i took the other day i just have to resize and i will get them posted
now that school is out Jake is plannin on getting back to work on the hot rod. it's tough for him with no job, plus being 17 there are alot of other "distractions"... he does have a V8 for it now and a 3 speed manual trans. it's all stuff we've been able to collect for cheap or free. i've got a 47 Ford front axle and wishbones in the back yard i'm donating to the cause. the suspension will probably be the next thing we work on. gotta make it a roller. we've been talkin the last few weeks alot about it and he just spent 4 days cleaning out his dad's garage (it was bad). just as soon as he is done with a motor swap, he is getting paid to do, he'll have a little cash for materials and he wants to get back going on it. i can't wait to see it done either. we've come up with some neat ideas for it (nothing Earth shaking, just some fun ideas) and it should be a realy fun little hot rod. to drive and admire... thats the thing, we're having fun with it. i want it to be as fun for him as possible, both to build and to own. now hopefully my little brother will get working on his model A modified again. he's been talking about it alot and we are going to pick up a banjo rear and 16" wires for it tommarow. i realy enjoy helping these kids. it's such a thrill for me.
that's very cool! the hamb can be good like that, i had some help from ActionGirl and Mootz and Tatts and Bleh on my '51, and at the time, i hadn't even met three of them yet! i'm trying to continue to pass it on by helping others and help out where i can (pay attention Nappy ). like i said, the hamb can be good like that... great story! i like to hear stuff like this. keep us updated.
i met MikeO like that. he saw on the HAMB that i was getting ready to paint one of my cars so he offered to drive the 3 hours to my house and help out (since he is a pro painter). i'd never met him before or even heard of him till he made that offer. what a super guy. even now that i've gotten to know him better i still think he's a super guy ... i just wish i had more friends like that that lived in my neighborhood. i think i'd get alot more done with someone to keep me company out in the garage and not let me get sidetracked by things like... oh i don't know... THE INTERNET!!!! there were a few older guys that helped me out when i was a snot nosed teenager trying to build something to destroy tires with so i think it's only fair i do the same.
The Jalopy Journal
