Whether you’re upgrading the original engine in your Model-A Ford, dropping a big block Chevy in your Deuce Coupe or swapping in a radical modern engine into your 60’s muscle car, if you’re working in the engine compartment, the devil is always in the details. Sure the engine placement and transmission angle are key considerations, […]
Building a Custom “Z’d” Frame for a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain with Camaro Suspension
May 10, 2014 by
Blending an original 50’s frame with modern suspension for a low ride height, while maintaining safety and performance – all on a budget! When building any car from the 50’s the first thing you notice is the ride height, these things had the road clearance of a modern day 4×4 and if you could only […]
Fabricating the World’s Coolest Fantasy Football Trophy
December 22, 2013 by
So, like every other dude on earth I play in a Fantasy Football league, our’s happens to be called the “Outcast League.” We’re just days away from crowning our inaugural champion, and we’ve got no trophy. I couldn’t bring myself to buy a cheap plastic thing on a wooden base, so I headed out to […]
Dayton Hot Rod Fabricator – Custom Aluminum Fender Fabrication
December 8, 2013 by
I was recently asked to build a set of free-floating fenders for an extremely unique vehicle. The request was for “lightweight, aluminum fenders for a Subaru powered rear engine race car to be considered street legal.” Challenge accepted. Since there were budget and timing considerations I decided to simplify the design from past fenders which […]
Pencil, Paper and a Plan – Laying out a chop top on a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain
August 30, 2011 by
Laying out a Custom or Hot Rod project before you start cutting and welding This is the stage of the design / idea conception process where you could go one of two ways. First, you could get all carried away and have CAD designs and 3D renderings done in Solid-Works or Inventor. A process that […]
The Beginnings of a Plan…Part II
August 21, 2011 by
So, looking at the photo-chopped ’53 from my last post, we can see I have a lot of decisions need to be made. All decisions at this point are only guidelines, but are extremely important because once we cut the car we cant “Undo” anything very easily (like we can with Photoshop). Cut #1: Front […]
The Beginnings of a Plan.
August 20, 2011 by
Coming up with a game plan, it’s a big deal. What to cut? How much, and where? This is the step where a lot of reference photos really pays off. In the old days they would take photos and print them on this stuff called “paper” and then cut them out with “scissors”. They would […]
A Little Reference
August 19, 2011 by
Everyone needs a point of reference, starting down a path as long as a full restoration and customization is tough enough without a plan, but if your only reference of the vehicle you are working with is “a heap of rust particles holding hands” such as this one; you need to know what a decent […]
