Projects What tools does it take to build a Hot Rod

Will

 

Thinking back to 1972 when I built my first deuce roadster I had basic hand tools and a Forney stick welder. Painted the car in a 1 stall garage, did everything myself except widening the 36 wires, chrome and upholstery. Turned out good enough to rate a full page photo in Popular Hot Rodding back in the day.

 

I will say this,if its GM based, get every 9/16, 5/8, 3/4, 11/16 , ehh might as well throw in 1/2, 7/16 wrench, socket you can find. also 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive ratchet, extension you can find. Also a right handed cresent wrench. and vice grips. hammers of all sizes. new set of screw drivers..............................

 

Vision, imagination and patience!

 

That was posted in the first batch of posts 4 years ago but I'd have to say it should be the top answer and probably the best answer out of the bunch. Very simply, buy tools when you actually decide that you need them.

Better tools and sometimes more tools make things easier and let you do more but a basic set of tools for what ever you are happening to be doing on a project will get it done just as well but usually a bit slower.
A manual long board will do anything you can do with an airboard but the airboard lets you do a lot more sanding in the same amount of time.
A big part of my collection of hot rod and custom car tools did come used off the Thrifty Nickle, off Craigslist, FB market place or from estate, yard or retirement sales.

 

Don't know much about that beer (been known to drink almost anything), but them ain't wrenchs. Those Sidchrome ones are Aussie spanners. They only work upside down, and you have to swear at them in an Awe-stray-yun accent. You need lots of them (and a spare 1/2" one) if you are building an Aussie hotrod.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Just wondering... since toilet bowls swirl the opposite way "down under", are fasteners "righty-loosey, lefty-tighty"? Just yankin' your crank, but couldn't resist!

 

Nah, still righty-tighty lefty-loosey. Except bicycle pedals.

The way I was taught though was to either make sure you cross-thread the fastener from the get-go (hillbilly locknut), or tighten it up until it snaps then back it off half a turn (Armstrong torque setting). Maybe this is why I need so many tools

Cheers,
Harv

 

Hello,

For most hot rod jobs, I learned from my brother that it is ingenuity and common sense in the brain power that actually makes things easier to plan and execute. What makes a guy/girl tackle a repair or replace a part into an all night work situation? Planning and execution. The knowledge inside and hot to go about doing what needs to be done is always right there. No need to make it more complicated or worry about what the “other guy” is doing or how he did it… it is your job and planning makes things easier.

One cannot just sit at your desk and start writing a 20 page term paper on the functions of a weather pattern on the western coast of the USA without plenty of planning and resources. Then it is the planning in stages that gets things done. not all at once, although it has been done, most of the time, several trips to the source of information and methods is the right way to finish the assignment.

Jnaki

One cannot just “do as it shows… fit/finish” on anything without some errors. Careful, meticulous planning gets the finished research and completion of the job at hand done right.

A week ago, we were coming out of a garden shop that had only two people wandering around. But, outside, a guy with a 4x4 truck was waiting to load his new rolling tool cabinet into the back for transport home. What made me smile was the fact that those rolling cabinets hold a lot of stuff, but do come apart for easy transport when empty and with help, fully loaded.

This poor young guy had two large rolling cabinets. As he tried to put one large unit in the bed, it fell over and came apart, damaging the nice painted surface, and dinged the drawers that came out to stop the fall. So, it is not the physical young bulk, but the planning in how to accomplish the job at hand.

The ways to look at life always rings true in any situation:

"Age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind."

“It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life…”

 

Often, this tool.....

 

If you can build a hot rod with out a torch and a welder you put together a kit.

 

I always hated (envied) the guys who seem to be able to fix anything and everything with just a pair of pliers and a couple screwdrivers. When I'm working ,my shop looks like a bomb went off in my toolbox and tools are strewn everywhere............and I still need another tool that I don't already have. I'm not kiddin!