Thread: New to Hotrodding

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Hello Everyone!
My son and I have just purchased a 1935 Chevy Master Deluxe Coach. Our plan is to turn it into a hotrod that he can drive when he is old enough. Currently it is all original and was recently in drivable condition, although it is not now. The car is in remarkably good condition for being 70 years old and is only missing a few parts. All of the wood in the car is going to need to be replaced, and the drivetrain updated. I think my alligator mouth has overloaded my canary butt this time
Any advice is welcome as we embark on this journey.
Thanks,
jam33

Originally posted by jam33
Hello Everyone!
My son and I have just purchased a 1935 Chevy Master Deluxe Coach. Our plan is to turn it into a hotrod that he can drive when he is old enough. Currently it is all original and was recently in drivable condition, although it is not now. The car is in remarkably good condition for being 70 years old and is only missing a few parts. All of the wood in the car is going to need to be replaced, and the drivetrain updated. I think my alligator mouth has overloaded my canary butt this time
Any advice is welcome as we embark on this journey.
Thanks,
Steve

welcome and most of us does that some times, some more than others, but you came to the right place. its a lot of good help here.

Originally posted by lt1s10
welcome and most of us does that some times, some more than others, but you came to the right place. its a lot of good help here.

Welcome to CHR jam33. Nothin' like a Father/Son project. Keep us posted with your progress. Got any pics.?

Thanks guys! I'm sure we'll have a lot of questions as we proceed. I haven't got any pics yet that I can post, but should have soon.
My first question is can I sell some of the original stuff off the car to help pay for the mods? I have a complete drivetrain, original wheels (5), hubcaps, hand crank, knuckle front end...
If so, where do you sell this kind of stuff?

TIA,
jam33

welcome! nice choice of projects. lots of helpful folks around here keep us updated

Hello and welcome to CHR don't worry be happy you have found the best hot rod site on the net .Well I think it is we were all new to hotrodding at one time or another.We may clown around with each other but when it come to hot rodding we get pretty serious so sit back and kick up your shoes and have some fun learning from us as we will learn from you

Welcome aboard.

If you want to build a sound car from that old Stovebolt plan on replacing the wood with steel tubing and channel. There are precut wood kits available, but the steel would be better even though more challenging to install.

Good luck on getting rid of the take off parts, especially the knee action. Know anyone who needs an anchor for their boat? Some of that stuff might go to an avid restorer, but the odds are low. Check ebay, including the closed auction portion, that will give you an idea if anyone is bidding on that stuff. If you don't want to sell on ebay, your next best bet is Hemmings.

Welcome to CHR man. You will like it here and get heaps of info to help you out. To sell your origninal parts you can post them on the parts for sale section here on the forums and then try www.ebay.com There are lots of people out there that I am sure will want them. Or if you have any shows that go on around you then bring them there and put them for sale. Someone can put them to good use and you can make some money to put back into the car. Good luck.

Old car $2500
Stuff to fix it the way you want it $25,000
Watching your 14 year old eagerly clean out old insulation from the interior while wearing a WW1 era gas mask...PRICELESS
ROFLMAO!

Does anyone know if there are plans available to assist in converting the wood used in this car to steel?

Thanks,
jam33

Hehe With mine my wife got to have fun with gas masks. Its also interesting to see how much she has learned about engines. Good luck. Sounds like fun. Remeber no matter how much you plan on spending, double it, and multiply the amount of time it will take by the number of other projects you will have to do in between.

For the wood thing there is no plans I don't think, you will just have to copy the wood and put metal in it's place.

Originally posted by jam33
Old car $2500
Stuff to fix it the way you want it $25,000
Watching your 14 year old eagerly clean out old insulation from the interior while wearing a WW1 era gas mask...PRICELESS
ROFLMAO!

Hey Jam...love your attitude!!!!! Hope ya have lots of "bonding" time he he he!!!!

Congrats for having the courage to do this project. And Kudos for including this with your son. Some of my best memories of my Dad are working on our old car. Both of you will be the better while you are building this car as well as after you complete it. The easiest way I can put it is "It will change your life".

Theres not many plans when it comes to this hobby. But the good news is "if you have the vision, you will find the way". And there are many ol'timers on this site who have traveled your journey before. And they will be more than glad to show you the way.

As for the metal replacing the wood, I absoutely agree with going steel. I would offer that you only want to replace one piece at a time so as not to weaken the body. Don't under-estimate the power of gravity, cause you will look away for just a minute and the weight of the body will take your pride and joy and turn it into a "drunken" version of craftmenship.

Its really pretty easy, so just start with a small piece and you will learn quick. As you get more confortable, move onto the larger, more complex/more load-bearing parts.

And dont forget to measure 3 times, and cut once. It is amazing how you can measure 3 times, and get 3 different measurements.

Take lots of pictures too. They will save you untold amounts of grief later when you can't remember how it looked before you took it apart. Believe me, it will happen. The more time you take now to prepare, will pay huge dividends later.

Thanks for all the replies and good advice. The only work we have actually done is to remove the seats, carpeting and old insulation. There are so many things to consider so as it stands right now, we are just developing a plan. A lot of time is spent just looking at the car and visualizing the things that need to occur. We don't want to start just for the sake of starting only to discover that we have messed up the car. Thanks to you guys here we have already dodged a couple of bullets.I will try to identify the major tasks and then from there we will break it down into smaller tasks. That way we should be able to keep better track of the processes that need to occur. Before we actually start I would like to have your opinions about our agenda and your input about whether we are doing things in the right order. The advice regarding replacement of the wood with steel is the way we are going to go. The body is in very good shape and is very stable on the frame right now. Considering this, should we replace the wood with steel before removing the body from the frame so that it will retain its shape? I know we need to start at the beginning, just trying to figure out where that is.

Thanks,
Jam33