Topic: super n00b in Houston, Texas

[schufflerbot]

Howdy, y'all!

I've been a huge fan of rat rods since I can remember. I was born with a huge appreciation for automobiles and it has led me to where I am today, a small business owner surrounded by gorgeous rides 24/7.

As I have always admired these unique rides from afar, I've always been under the impression that rat rods were very complex and expensive builds and never gave building one a second thought.

Well, through the years of performing my daily routine for the small business I've met and become friends with quite a few custom car builders and this weekend - at Lone Star Roundup in Austin, Texas - I was set straight by a couple of the aforementioned friends. So, now, the fire has been lit and I'm hooked.

I've already procured a chevy SBC 350, my buddy will be building me a custom stretched frame and I'm about to head out to discuss a donor transmission with a client who owns a tranny shop.

I want a 31 model a sedan body dropped to the ground and chopped so low that I can barely fit. I signed up here to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that this forum must contain and I could not be more excited about getting this project under way.

Lookin forward to getting to know you guys!!

-Rick-

[dcacjc]

Welcome to the NATION!!

It is easy to get hook when you to the LSRU.

Check with a member here ,Cornfield Customs, he has a couple of sedan bodies

[obama]

Welcome to the show, might add that mircalpieco's 29 sedan build might give ya some idea's.

[schufflerbot]

outstanding! thanks, y'all!


Obama, do you ever tell rat rod owners, 'you didn't build that!'?

[hotwheels]

Welcome to the nation rick, it's great to meet ya. Sounds like you have a good group of friends, and they are gonna lead you to a very addictive hobby. One suggestion, i know everybody seems to slam and body drop, but please remember: make your ride comfortable. I have a friend of mine that built a rat rod, chop the top to where there was only like 3" of window around the cab. First time he hit a bump in the road, he bounced up (No room for seats, just cushions) and cracked his head open on the roof. Almost knocked him out cold. I'm currently building a 31 model a and i took 4" out of the top and dropped the body a little bit. The owner should be able to enjoy the ride and not have to worry about knocking himself out. Some rats that are seriously dropped and chopped, can't be driven all the time (no arguement, some are hard core), but most people only drive em on weekends. If you want something to cruise, don't do such a radical chop, again, make it comfortable so you can drive it all the time.........Lot more fun in my humble opinion.

[schufflerbot]

good thinking, hotwheels. my buddies/clients are great people and will undoubtedly get me in trouble.

i do want to cruise this whenever i can, the weather here is nice most of the year and there are car shows almost all year round, so it will be cruised quite a bit.

i will be adding seats and safety gear as i want my wife and daughter to be able to join me for local shows.

i'm planning to add a 3rd seat in the back, if room permits, so i can fit a car seat.

again, i'm still in the part gathering-planning stages and i'm sure a lot of my plans won't work out once i get to build time.


it's all part of the fun!

[lowboy]

welcome to the nation Have fun building your dream rat

[miraclepieco]

Welcome to the nation rick, it's great to meet ya. Sounds like you have a good group of friends, and they are gonna lead you to a very addictive hobby. One suggestion, i know everybody seems to slam and body drop, but please remember: make your ride comfortable. I have a friend of mine that built a rat rod, chop the top to where there was only like 3" of window around the cab. First time he hit a bump in the road, he bounced up (No room for seats, just cushions) and cracked his head open on the roof. Almost knocked him out cold. I'm currently building a 31 model a and i took 4" out of the top and dropped the body a little bit. The owner should be able to enjoy the ride and not have to worry about knocking himself out. Some rats that are seriously dropped and chopped, can't be driven all the time (no arguement, some are hard core), but most people only drive em on weekends. If you want something to cruise, don't do such a radical chop, again, make it comfortable so you can drive it all the time.........Lot more fun in my humble opinion.

Depends on if you want to have fun driving it, or look good posing at car shows    

Lots of what we call rat rods nowadays are built for photo ops only, to get attention in shows and magazines. Although rusty, they are in reality show cars that couldn't drive around the block if they had to. 

LOL, I think I just described my own car    

[schufflerbot]

^^^^

LOL

I definitely want something i can cruise in, so that will be the primary deciding factor when design phase gets ramped up. looks are important and i think i have enough expertise amongst my friends to find a good middle ground.

i'm collecting photos of rods that are similar to what i'm looking to accomplish, i'll post them up in a build thread so you guys can laugh at me or provide some input.

[hotwheels]

lmao.........miraclepieco

[schufflerbot]

wow - huge news today!

I called one of our clients here in Houston who builds race engines and asked him about sponsoring the motor refresh. He declined and pointed out the obvious: his shop is called, 'Late Model Engines' and sponsoring a build for an engine he doesn't work on wouldn't make any sense.

However, he said he would build me a later model chevy 5.3 instead!!!

That means i'm gonna have a later model, higher HP engine to put in this thing and i'm stoked.

Not sure how 'Rat' it's gonna be with a 5.3 sitting out but hey, it'll work!!

I have to call my transmission sponsor and let them know that the 700R4 is gonna need new guts, or we need to choose a different tranny.

[buttoncl]

Welcome to the Nation. I'm a noob here too and can already tell ill be around for a bit, lots of good stuff on the forums. I have a 700r4 in my model a truck. Overdrive is one of those things that you cant go with out after youve had it! no more 350 turbos for this guy!  good luck with the build

[hotwheels]

Damn, that is awesome........