muscle car workshop
April 5, 2009 10:52 PM Subscribe
Building a new muscle car.
where do i start? and is there any chance i can reproduce with the guidelines of an older model, lets say i have the basic car body.
where do i start? and is there any chance i can reproduce with the guidelines of an older model, lets say i have the basic car body.
Are you wanting to make an original car? Kit car? The most popular kit car is the Shelby Cobra, and those kits are readily available.
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 11:02 PM on April 5, 2009
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 11:02 PM on April 5, 2009
Way more information needed... are you looking for something close to stock? Mildly modified? Which manufacturer(s), era, specifications? Garage queen or daily driver? We need to hear a lot more from you before we can give you any worthwhile advice.
posted by saladin at 5:31 AM on April 6, 2009
posted by saladin at 5:31 AM on April 6, 2009
Not precisely a musclecar, but I can highly recommend a Lotus 7 kitcar. It was designed by Colin Chapman to be built by the average late 60s enthusiast in their shed, can be fitted with all manner of powerplants (Iron Duke 4-pot, 351 Windsor, Mazda rotary, Hayabusa bike engine), has a curb weight of roughly nothing, and is about as close to a proper racecar as it's possible to own and run on the street in this day and age on a normal human being's budget. Plus: you'd be driving Patrick McGoohan's car from the The Prisoner!
However, if your heart is set on a good old tyre-fryin', clutch-eating quarter-mile hero running on melted-down Springsteen records (and you'd hardly be alone in that), I'm given to understand that Americans can effectively now build a brand-new '69 Camaro from the chassis-up from parts ordered through the GM catalogue ('til the General files for Chapter 11, presumably).
Suggest you have a look first, though, through the Project Car Hell posts at jalopnik and some of the restoration stories at autofiends, amongst other places. Go into this with your eyes open. Building a car can be remarkably rewarding, but it's also damned hard work and can be a hellacious source of anguish and relationship stress.
posted by MarchHare at 5:41 AM on April 6, 2009
However, if your heart is set on a good old tyre-fryin', clutch-eating quarter-mile hero running on melted-down Springsteen records (and you'd hardly be alone in that), I'm given to understand that Americans can effectively now build a brand-new '69 Camaro from the chassis-up from parts ordered through the GM catalogue ('til the General files for Chapter 11, presumably).
Suggest you have a look first, though, through the Project Car Hell posts at jalopnik and some of the restoration stories at autofiends, amongst other places. Go into this with your eyes open. Building a car can be remarkably rewarding, but it's also damned hard work and can be a hellacious source of anguish and relationship stress.
posted by MarchHare at 5:41 AM on April 6, 2009
I know for a fact that you can build a gen 2 and 3 (gen 1 is a bit tougher) from the ground up using reproduction parts. All the way from the frame to the correct color door lock knobs. There's enough aftermarket for most popular cars that you can basically reproduce the car such that it'll appear original until someone really starts inspecting the engine stamps.
Long term, my goal is to put a LS2 w/6 speed auto in the car, along with a nice ECU.
My recommendation is that if you aren't worried about era correctness, go with a modern drive train and suspension. It'll make the car significantly more enjoyable, in addition to being faster and more nimble.
I would also recommend going to local car shows and talk to a few people who've built cars. Find out how much time and energy it takes. If you've been watching shows like Pimp My Ride, American Hotrod, and Overhaulin' you probably have some seriously wrong ideas about how much time, energy, and money you're going to spend. You're looking at a long long project.
posted by krisak at 8:20 AM on April 6, 2009
Long term, my goal is to put a LS2 w/6 speed auto in the car, along with a nice ECU.
My recommendation is that if you aren't worried about era correctness, go with a modern drive train and suspension. It'll make the car significantly more enjoyable, in addition to being faster and more nimble.
I would also recommend going to local car shows and talk to a few people who've built cars. Find out how much time and energy it takes. If you've been watching shows like Pimp My Ride, American Hotrod, and Overhaulin' you probably have some seriously wrong ideas about how much time, energy, and money you're going to spend. You're looking at a long long project.
posted by krisak at 8:20 AM on April 6, 2009
Need more input!
Are you talking about taking an older muscle car (i.e. 1970 Chevelle, '69 GTO, etc) and making it modern? Or taking a new stock "muscle" car (rubbish Mustang* or a Camaro or Charger) and giving it some real muscle? Or as No New Diamonds said, building a original or kit car? Have to know where you're starting from.
*Full Disclosure: Owner of both a 1973 Camaro RS Type LT that I've had 100's of hours of wrench time on, and a 1998 Camaro Z28 that still scares me with all its whizz-bang computery-electronics stuff [but I still work on it sometimes anyway]).
And to krisak: If I ever wreak my '98, the LS1 is going in the '73. :-)
posted by XcentricOrbit at 12:17 PM on April 6, 2009
Are you talking about taking an older muscle car (i.e. 1970 Chevelle, '69 GTO, etc) and making it modern? Or taking a new stock "muscle" car (rubbish Mustang* or a Camaro or Charger) and giving it some real muscle? Or as No New Diamonds said, building a original or kit car? Have to know where you're starting from.
*Full Disclosure: Owner of both a 1973 Camaro RS Type LT that I've had 100's of hours of wrench time on, and a 1998 Camaro Z28 that still scares me with all its whizz-bang computery-electronics stuff [but I still work on it sometimes anyway]).
And to krisak: If I ever wreak my '98, the LS1 is going in the '73. :-)
posted by XcentricOrbit at 12:17 PM on April 6, 2009
Uh... wreck. WRECK, my '98. But I guess ripping out the LS1 would qualify as wreaking havoc on it as well.
posted by XcentricOrbit at 12:19 PM on April 6, 2009
posted by XcentricOrbit at 12:19 PM on April 6, 2009
Response by poster: thanks for all those posts, erm i would be wanting something like a 1969 camaro ss, or a 1965 fastback, ya know, something like those, but its really not easy to find one whatmore own one, would be urm, for semi daily use
posted by Kennerd at 12:15 AM on April 12, 2009
posted by Kennerd at 12:15 AM on April 12, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by randomstriker at 10:58 PM on April 5, 2009