Thread: Response to "How do I find a motor"

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Hellraiser---some advice from and old hot rodder. You have far more money to put towards an engine than I ever did, with any of the rods I have built, (and thats quite a few). Look in your local paper for used cars that people want to sell "as is". Many of these cars still have excellent drive trains in them, but 1---the guy has went to trade it in on a newer car and realized it has no or very little trade in value on a commercial lot, or 2--the body is rotted bad, and the guy figures that the car is too old to invest the money in for a body and paint job, or 3---the car looks great, runs well, but the frame is rotted thru (that happens a lot here in Ontario Canada). You can buy these cars for mext to nothing, or at least under $1000. Do a compression test on the engine, check the colour of the oil and tranny fluid, smell the tranny fluid---if it has a burned smell or is black, don't buy it. Listen to the engine run, look for smoke, listen for knocks. Hold a sheet of paper over the tail pipe while the car is running at idle---if the paper sucks back against the pipe, that indicates a bad valve in the engine. Check under the car for oil leaks. Have the owner start the car for you while the engine is cold. Then let it warm up for 10 minutes and have him start it hot. Put the car in gear, hold your foot on the brake, and give it some gas gradualy---does the transmission slip? try to have the seller take you for a test drive (not always possible) If you decide the engine is good, buy the car and tow it home. Pull the engine, pull the driveshaft, pull the horns, pull the interior rear view mirror,pull the battery,pull the master cylinder and brake booster, pull the speedometer cable and housing, pull the fuse panel, in short, pull off everything you could conceivably use on your rod. Then call your local wrecker and they will generally come and tow away the hulk for nothing.
Use the rest of your $4500 to buy chrome, paint, and services that you are unable to perform yourself. That is the way the 90 percent of us rodders who can not afford new crate motors do it and still have enough money left to pay the mortgage, put the kids thru college, etcetera.

Hey Brian, That sounds like some good direction for anybody buying a used vehicle...thanks!

they use to tow them for free since the steel prices went down they now charge any were from $50 to $100 here in the USA. but you are right about buying them old cars another place is tow yard action the only one you have to bid against are scrap haulers I bought 7 cars one time for $125 ranging from a 1985 caddy to a Toyota sold all except the caddy for $200 ea caddy needed a carb and trans had both I wont say what I sold that for but It did pay for my paint job on my truck

I don't know what part of the world you live in, but everywhere in North America the price of steel has gone up anywhere from150 to 300 percent from what it was 3 years ago. Local yards will still tow free as long as the car has good glass, wheel rims, radiator, and rearend under it, and is up on 4 tires. They whine a bit when they find out there is no engine, but they'll still take it.

Here in AZ, I only got $23 from the scrapped body. Some places here will pay if you give them the frame and a title(here the title goes with the frame). It was almost impossible to find a wrecker who would take that body off my hands(daggummit). Of course if I had left the frame on it they would have taken it for free(cars don't rust much here in AZ). Of course here you can get an engine(Chevy 350) at the local Pick-A-Parts™ for $150.

My donor I got from a friend's job. It was an old Cop car, that became a taxi, and they parked it because the torque converter was making noise(BRAND FRICKIN NEW TRANSMISSION!!!!). Picked it up for $500, and got quite a few extras. Personally I think that's great advice about getting a running used car for the drive train, and chucking the body. Hell the engine advice is good for anything you intend on keeping the drivetrain out of.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by brianrupnow
I don't know what part of the world you live in, but everywhere in North America the price of steel has gone up anywhere from150 to 300 percent from what it was 3 years ago. Local yards will still tow free as long as the car has good glass, wheel rims, radiator, and rearend under it, and is up on 4 tires. They whine a bit when they find out there is no engine, but they'll still take it. [/QUOTE today I live in az .I came from washington state city of everett and port orchard and before I left there the only place that was paying for steel was tacoma and that was only $23 a ton on a good day.Of course now I don,t live in the land of milk and honey. And most if not all were chargeing to make up the cost diffrents and even today .I just paid to have three cars hauled off a couple months ago and paid $150

John--Could be there's something I'm missing with these steel prices. I know that if you or I go to buy steel at a steelyard, it's gone up by the amount that I mentioned earlier. Now selling scrap steel could well be a different thing. I don't believe that I have ever sold any steel to a wrecker. I just call them up and give them anything I want to get rid of, and up untill now anyways, they have always come and got it and dragged it away. As far as living in the land of milk and honey, this February when its 30 below farenheit with 4 foot of snow here in Barrie Onterio, Canada, I'd gladly trade you about 100 square miles of Ontario real estate for a half acre in Arizona.

Naw you can keep your snow. as far as the steel prices are up cause a lot of it is being ship from overseas a lot of steel mills have close up dew to the hight cost of manufacturing and enviormentlest ya got save them spotted owls I scratch my head on that one were making steel here not wood. Ow I could probely fill this hole page of a bunch of garbage about why or how but there only one word that says it all ( our government ) oops that two I realy dont know why Im just guessing enough of that my brain hurts back to your 1st post I was agreeing I have built a lot of cars on used parts and back in the good old days I would have a bunch of wreacks laying around just for parts and when I got the parts I sold the hulk

Brian. I really appreciate the help. That would be a really good idea. Now is there anything I should worry about with the fitting on the brakes with my Camaro front brakes and (not sure what back brakes I have because I don't have my rear end yet but am sure it will be a Ford 9"? I am thinking about buying a truck soon since I have been looking on collector car trader and found a 2 Door 66 Nova and a 66 Chevy Truck for sale and says that they run, the truck has a rebuilt inline 6 and runs and very little rust and it's close by. All they wan't is 1800 for it and what I am thinking is instead of rushing the 48, I should buy the 66 truck or A truck in general and go get me a job and then put some money away and then the rest into the 48. I really would like to just hurry and get the 48 in road worthy condition but also like my dad was telling me, I shouldn't make the 48 nice and put a lot of money into it and drive it all over and especially school where people can't drive and have it get screwed up. He was telling me that my best bet would be to get me a good running truck and just fix up the 48 and use it to take to the strip when I wan't, hot rod meets, cruises, etc. I think I am going to do that too, I really don't wan't to rush it and just get it on the road and not be as happy with it because it's not the way I wan't it to look or anything. Hard to explain but anyways, I am going to keep searching and anymore info on the brake question would be nice because I plan to get my whole entire front end all done with in the next 3 weeks. Oh and about the chroming, paint, etc. I plan to do all that myself. I have an extra thousand bucks put away just for my powder coating kit from columbia and curing lamp and the powder I wan't, the rest of the stuff I am making myself like the spray booth, and an oven later on. I plan on doing EVERYTHING myself besides narrowing down the Ford 9".
What kind of car should I look for to take all the parts from do you guy's think for a 48? I got me some new seats but no brakets so the wheels are there on the seat and no brackets and no clue on what the seats came out of so a whole car to get parts from would be nice so I can take the seats and everything and save me tons of money there...
Thanks a lot Brian and sorry I didn't see this thread earlier.

Hmmmm axle width, go to a car site look up 48 chev and get the axle width and then may be look for a donor car for a strong diff very close to the orriginal axle width.

Southerner, if I am going to narrow my rear end then it probably won't matter am I wrong? I am going to talk to a few people around here and see what they think and if they have or know of anyone with a 9" rear or anything.

Hellraiser---It sounds to me like you are trying to go 47 different directions at once. Slow down. You are young--the cars will still be around when you are 5 years older, with hopefully a good education, some wage earning capability, and a bit of wisdom that comes with age. I recomend that you listen to your dad, put the 48 on the back burner for now, concentrate your resources on one thing at a time. Fix up the truck to be dependable transportation, and when that is looked after properly and completely, move on to the next thing. As far as brakes are concerned, you should have no problems running Camaro front brakes with Ford rear brakes, either discs or drums. Do some proper research on this---there are literally thousands of rod magazine articles available to tell you what you need in terms of proportioning valves, residual pressure valves etcetera. Any reputable supplier who sells aftermarket hotrod brake parts will have tons of information on this. The subject is simply too broad to be covered in a discussion forum. My thoughts on rearends is this---if you cut one down, it costs a pile of money, your parts become special parts, so that if you ever break down a long way from home, your screwed, and with the hundreds of good rearends available in wrecking yards that will come close to matching the width of your stocker, why bother. You know Hellraiser, with enough time and money, anyone can do anything, but to do something difficult, expensive, and unneccesery is just plain dumb. All of us old time rodders who have built a number of cars, and actually finished them and drove them, know that "if it aint broke don't fix it", and don't go out of your way to make work and trouble for yourself.There, thats all the advice I can manage for one day.

dang I sure wish my dad would told me that I've got four projects in the wind and that what they are right now is dust in the wind he "he" he" hey has It got cold yet it did here had to put my coat on today got down to 60 burrrrrrr can sure tell winter is coming

I do belive that for a rear axle, late 1970's Impala's came with 350's ( virtually all 1970's years ) or 305's ( '77 up ) and '79 up for the smog wheezing 267 ( which, I find out can be built up to a little somthing, now that I put 1 through the shreadder when I had the Impala parts car junked( Back when I realized hotrodding my '83 Benz would be an expensive project( Not that my '51 isn't expensive ), I'm pretty shure that like all Impala's up until like '80 or '81 had a posi rear end as an option, I'd also be willing to bet that it is near the same width as a '48 Chevy. late 70's impala's go fairly cheap, to check for posi, jack both sides of the car up and spin the wheels when in neutral or if the owner will let you, a simple burnout will surfice, 2 wheel tracks= posi, 1 wheel track= you don't want it

You could also consider using the entire impy frame, My '51 has a 115" wheelbase and if I remember right, the late 70's early 80's impala's have a 116" Wheelbase, ither that or 118", ither way it could be modded if it was 118" because 3" ain't to much, I'm not shure on frame width though.