Thread: FNG Prospective Project

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Hello,
I am a new member trying to decide whether or not I should delve into building a hot rod. How much did you all spend on your setups? Tools? I am in college but would love to put together a hot rod, prefrebly a 30-40 olds 3 window w/ a 455 manual in it, whered you guys start project wise and book/research wise? Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

It would be far cheaper to find someone who has given up on their project car and buy it. Conservatively, I would say a minimun of $10K in shop equipment and tools to get started, not counting a garage or shop to put it in. Starting from scratch and building the car yourself it is quite easy to spend $25K on the basic car. I'm sure some will tell you that it would cost far less, but for a quality ride with quality parts you will spend at least that much.

Welcome aboard Trans..
I don't know if I can give you much help to point you in the right direction, but the answers to your questions depend largely on your situation.
First you mentioned tools, yep, you'll need all the basic hand tools and a place to keep them. Special tools tend to be aquired as you find a need for them. A nice beginer set can be bought at Sears for several hundred dollars & Sears also has a selection of nice boxes. Quality used stuff can be found at swap meets etc. As far as the cost of a project car goes... there is no minimum or maximum. I would advise starting out with a Chevy or Ford, just because there are tons of inexpensive (comparatively) parts available for almost any year you choose. Plenty of books & manuals for both are also available..check the web. Plan your project on paper first, calculate the cost & time...then double or triple it. Good Luck

Dave touched on a place to build the car and to that I'll also add the question of time. A major Hot Rod build project does not happen overnight. Done correctly the car is pretty much completely taken apart at some point or another and you have to have a place to store all the stuff while your cleaning and building components. Unless you have a pretty hefty checking account, your project will go on hold from time to time as you get the money together to work through different stages of the project. Properly motivated and financed you might be able to complete your project in a year to 18 Months spending almost all you free time working on it.

As far a tools both Dave and Don are correct. Your basic hand tools that you will need (and box to store them in) will likely set you back about a grand. The bad news is you'll need more than just hand tools to complete a project like this. You will either have to have your own things like a welder, torch, sandblaster, compressor (min 5 HP), sanders, press, vice, body tools, engine hoist, jack stands, drills, grinder etc. or rent them or send the parts out to have done. Of course the place your building the car will also have to be properly wired to handle the electrical stuff. At a minimum you'll want a place that's at least 2 cars wide, believe me you'll use it all and wish you had more.

One other point I'd like to make to you and other first time hot rodders out there is that a big part of building a decent car/truck is NOT shown on the TV shows you've likely watched off and on. A BIG part of the project is going to be dirty grungy hard work cleaning 30-70 years worth of muck, grunge, dirt and rust off parts so they can be refurbished to use on the car.

To help you visualize a little of what I'm talking about, I'm currently building a 57 Plymouth Plaza. The picture below shows the majority of the parts that will be going on/in the car then the body work and paint is done. Everything shown needs to be inspected, cleaned, refurbished, painted or plated and STORED until it can go back on the car.

Like Dave and Don above, my intention is NOT to talk you out of your project, but to give you an idea of what you are going to face in doing your dream project.