The Official Hot Rod Thread

[RustyHornet]

Yep. Those pesky dinosaurs leaving road apples all over the place when CM was growing up.

Too bad we still haven't been able to rid ourselves of road gators... Damn truck drivers.....

 

[Bigtanker]

Too bad we still haven't been able to rid ourselves of road gators... Damn truck drivers.....

I know. I can't stand them.





But without me, NO GAS FOR YOU!

 

[RustyHornet]

But without me, NO GAS FOR YOU!

 

[rhino]

I might be assuming control of my dad's '97 Cadillac. I think it's a Sedan Deville. It has a puny V8 (not sure if it's Northstar or not), but it's pretty anemic off of the line.

I think it will need some . . . modifications.

 

[RevoWood123]

Around here, that would be considered high miles! She's gonna blow!!!! My dad has been trying to sell a Pontiac vibe (Toyota matrix) for a neighbor lady. Has 150k on it and that's been the major turn off for people, they freak out! People are still stuck in the old days when it comes to mileage... I've had numerous vehicles over 200k in my young life, all of them GM. My aunt has a 05 Tahoe with 250k, no issues. Technology has come a long way since CM was in diapers...

First car I had was an 88 Prelude, it had 230+K when I got it from my uncle. I drove that til 285K and sold it to my cousin, who then put it over 300K and sold it. One of my co-workers has a 90s Tahoe with nearly 400K on it, still running (although I think if he braked real hard that the frame and body would split from one another). My 05 Accord has 172K on it now, runs like a champ.

Moral here: 150K and under is still likely to run a few more years with proper maintenance.

P.S. I have been looking for an older truck (mainly to use as a range truck/ general purpose) that I could also work to refurb it a little, but people are wanting some silly $$$ for some of them.

 

[long coat]

Does this count as a hotrod?

It came into work today. It was fun to drive (only to the back and onto a lift), drum brakes all the way around.
1971 F250 V8, 4sp with the divorced trans case. One of the other guys told me I couldn't take it home.

 

[churchmouse]

Does this count as a hotrod?

It came into work today. It was fun to drive (only to the back and onto a lift), drum brakes all the way around.
1971 F250 V8, 4sp with the divorced trans case. One of the other guys told me I couldn't take it home.

That looks like my old 71. 360 V8 same drive line.
Every panel on it had been changed at least 2 times.

 

[RustyHornet]

I will forgive the blue oval, but yes it's a hot rod.

 

[MuttX7]

If you guys/gals have nothing to do tonight and/or Saturday night, the AMA Vintage Dirt Track National Series is at Mid-America Speedway (Marion County Fairgrounds). Tonight is Vintage and tomorrow night is Vintage and the USA vs. Canada Speedway Invitational. I know my boss and his rider B. J. are taking the Bultaco up and I think B.J. is taking his speedway bike tomorrow night. I want to go both nights but if it is as hot today as it was yesterday, tonight is a hide in the a/c night for me.

http://www.midamspeedway.com/schedule.php#326

 

[tatic05]

Does this count as a hotrod?

It came into work today. It was fun to drive (only to the back and onto a lift), drum brakes all the way around.
1971 F250 V8, 4sp with the divorced trans case. One of the other guys told me I couldn't take it home.

That would be a killer truck. I would love to have something like that to play around with. Plus no bow-tie

The older C10s are still kinda cool though.

 

[churchmouse]

That would be a killer truck. I would love to have something like that to play around with. Plus no bow-tie

The older C10s are still kinda cool though.

These were tough as hell. We tortured mine to the brink and brought it back several times.
Having a good crew and friends that own a salvage yard is a real plus...

I traded that truck off and ran across it years later. Still running strong. The 360's were really hard to hurt.

 

[Bigtanker]

Spotted this "hot rod" in Grand Haven, MI yesterday.

 

[RustyHornet]

Interesting.... A Prius and a Subaru. I wonder if it's AWD?

 

[ChristianPatriot]

Can't wait to get it all fixed up and cruise this baby....

 

[RustyHornet]

Looks pretty nice CP. How the rockers look?

 

[Gluemanz28]

That looks like my old 71. 360 V8 same drive line.
Every panel on it had been changed at least 2 times.

The exhaust manifolds on those are notorious for having problems. I have turned them away if I had plenty of work when I was doing exhaust work for a living.

 

[churchmouse]

The exhaust manifolds on those are notorious for having problems. I have turned them away if I had plenty of work when I was doing exhaust work for a living.

Yes they do crack. Especially if you like driving through high water......a lot.

 

[RustyHornet]

The exhaust manifolds on those are notorious for having problems. I have turned them away if I had plenty of work when I was doing exhaust work for a living.

Ford still has that problem....

 

[RustyHornet]

Thought I'd share this. A little backstory, these are some portholes off a 1956 Buick Super Riviera 4 door hardtop. It's a long and ongoing project in our shop, long story.... Anywho, about 1.5 years ago we sent all the chrome out, did not send some pieces because they were in a couple different Buick parts catalogs available as repops. The portholes were among the pieces we didn't send because new ones were advertised around $40 a piece, bargain. Called a couple days ago to order them and they are not available, "ok, when will you have them?".... Turns out, they never had them, they've never been reproduced, in fact they just got approval for them to be made....

Well I thought about it for a couple days, if we send them to the chromer that did the rest of the parts, it could be months and they will never look that great because they are pot metal and its "dead metal". Could use one of our local chromers, but I know what they'd look like and I figured, I can do better.

Made an executive decision to experiment, took the worst one and threw it in the blaster. Ok, now what? Decided to try to sand the chrome off the face, too much work... Then decided a grinder is the hot setup, works great! Stripped the chrome off the face and outer edge, hit it with some 180 on a DA, then 400, 800, 1000, 2000 and finally hit the polisher. BAM! Good enough for me. Looks great. Would have never guess pot metal could be polished. I painted the inside black to give it some depth, turned out looking pretty good. Can't do anything about the pits, but unless you get right up on them you can't see them.

Of course I forgot the after pic, but here's before, after steel wool polish wasn't good enough, and final polish.

 

[churchmouse]

Thought I'd share this. A little backstory, these are some portholes off a 1956 Buick Super Riviera 4 door hardtop. It's a long and ongoing project in our shop, long story.... Anywho, about 1.5 years ago we sent all the chrome out, did not send some pieces because they were in a couple different Buick parts catalogs available as repops. The portholes were among the pieces we didn't send because new ones were advertised around $40 a piece, bargain. Called a couple days ago to order them and they are not available, "ok, when will you have them?".... Turns out, they never had them, they've never been reproduced, in fact they just got approval for them to be made....

Well I thought about it for a couple days, if we send them to the chromer that did the rest of the parts, it could be months and they will never look that great because they are pot metal and its "dead metal". Could use one of our local chromers, but I know what they'd look like and I figured, I can do better.

Made an executive decision to experiment, took the worst one and threw it in the blaster. Ok, now what? Decided to try to sand the chrome off the face, too much work... Then decided a grinder is the hot setup, works great! Stripped the chrome off the face and outer edge, hit it with some 180 on a DA, then 400, 800, 1000, 2000 and finally hit the polisher. BAM! Good enough for me. Looks great. Would have never guess pot metal could be polished. I painted the inside black to give it some depth, turned out looking pretty good. Can't do anything about the pits, but unless you get right up on them you can't see them.

Of course I forgot the after pic, but here's before, after steel wool polish wasn't good enough, and final polish.

What....it's only a "3" holer.........