On July 14, 2005 Frank Swygert wrote: > There are some guys who can do most of the planning in their heads. Heck, I do that, but think on something a month or two, look at a couple similar things, then maybe make a quick sketch. If it's not that complicated I don't do anything more than think it out. But I put the time into it unless it's extremely simple. > > Give me a big enough checkbook and I CAN build a hotrod in a month, maybe even a month of weekends and have it running. 8-10 days of real work (10-12 hour days), the rest of the time waiting on parts and the painter (I wouldn't paint it myself, let the body shop do all the prep work, me just do the major stuff!). Order an Art Morrison (or whoever) complete rolling chassis kit, crate motor, 'glass T body, or better yet order something like a Speedway "Track T" kit. For that I'd go with a Chevy Ecotec four crate motor -- the June issue of Rod & Custom mentions several shops building Ecotec, Quad Four, and Ford Zetec (Focus) engined rods. An auto trans would make things so much easier also. Get into more complicated bodies like a 32 roadster or anything enclosed with doors and four weekends would be really pushing it -- body work would take much longer! Of course that's if the body shop can get the car in and out in 7-10 days. You could do it that way too I bet! > > On July 13, 2005 Tom Jennings wrote: > > > I agree on Monster Garage, Frank, they ruin most things they > > touch, and they also perpetuate the instant-gratification thing, > > it only takes a month to make a hot rod, etc. Whoever's to blame, > > a lot of students here at Univ. Calif Irvine think they are gonna > > make some electronic or robotic thing over a weekend, and think > > I'm just being a jerk when I say it iwll take a month or whatever > > and requires paper planning, thinking, etc. > > > > Maybe Hemmings should do a TV show... it *is* TV, you can't show 4 > > hours of sanding, or days of staring at brackets, and all that > > crap it really takes, but you could illustrate a "real" process > > with the right projects. Sure, they'd sit with a box of shiny > > parts from the store, but a simple explanation of (say) a motor > > rebuild kit costing $X would do. > > > > tomj > > > ============================================================= > Posted by wixList Archiver -- http://www.amxfiles.com/wixlist Having been a body man, mechanic and fabricator my whole life and also having worked in construction many years on and off I want to see the finished project on these cars and home make over shows. Anything can look good on TV but it's the up close inspection that will seperate a below average job that looks good on the tube from a quality job. One other thing I noticed about Coddington's show. If you look in the background of his garage you can spot a lot of his TV show projects that were supposed to be delivered to their owners, same thing wit Orange County Choppers. "Doc" ============================================================= Posted by wixList Archiver -- http://www.amxfiles.com/wixlist