To build or not to build?

The recent pics of the Hot Rods and Rat Rods have generated some comments , so I'm starting a new thread on them. Would it be OK for one of our Moderators to move the relevant comments here please.

I'm doing my C1 Inter stock as it is too good to Hot Rod, and it came with a complete spare ute in Ikea kit form, which is pretty much the only place I can get spares from or they have to be made. If I only had a cab and chassis I would happily have put later car suspension, diff, 186 engine and 5 speed.
At the end of the day I will have an old car that will be slow, noisy and won't stop very well. If I modified it, it would be better on freeways and long trips.

A vehicle which I like is a re Cab, which uses a later chassis and running gear with an old cabin, this gives you less problems with mix and match mechanicals and readily available spare parts. The donor chassis can be cheap and reliable (Late Jap 4x4) like the Ford below and certainly will be a quicker build.

What says you???

im not up with the current rules,but I think you will find any chassis post ADRs will be a massive problem ...........far as I know ,if you use a pre 48 chassis ,then you only need club inspector approval.,and you can still use more modern suspension & brakes etc.

SthBound
Your vehicle ..... Your call

For me
think n ...... like to cruise @ fwy speeds ...... n in a pak dun wanna B the slowest+ have sum creature comforts
But az Cliff explains life of a buffalo or stuft brain cells
LOL



WotSezU?

cya

I looked into this not all that long ago here in Victoria. I had the scatterbrained scheme of using a 1970’s light truck, (F350- Chev C30- Dodge) something with disc brake front end and dual 16 or 17” rear end. Idea was originally to use ALL the original running gear in its original chassis, graft another cabin onto it (I was going to go cab over) meant removing the steering. Started looking into just what you could and couldn’t do, veritable minefield with engineers certificates and complying with state requirements to even get it on the road! Next thing looked at was repowering something like examples above, (I had a 4 cyl T/D earmarked) and even that drew barriers that I had to consider if it was going to be a project. Don’t know what it’s like in other States, although went down this same track over 30 years ago in NSW, put me through enough hoops then. I love to see a vehicle that has been well thought out, well presented, especially in truck form. I can understand the “Man” coming down heavily these days, after all, safety has to be paramount. We have probably all seen and done some weird and wonderful projects over the years, MGTC engine/trans into Morris Minors, V8 Chevvy or Ford shoehorned into some lightweight chassis intended for only half the output power, with nary a thought on how you were ever going to stop the old bitch! Let alone steer it! The sheer cost alone of modifying a vehicle, even putting aside the engineers bills, would deter most blokes I know. Even if you think you are handy with the spanners, the gas axe and the Mig, you still have to get the OK from at least the engineers and or the bloke who is putting his signature on the rego papers. Unless of course you are going to float it around to the local shows, and that takes away half the fun of having built it in the first place! Which brings up another point, if you have a previously registered heavy vehicle, rigid or p/m, you seem to get a lot more leeway with repowering, or modifying it at least. Know a bloke who had a single drive S2 with a 230 in it (raised floor type), first off put a bogie drive under it, jacked the cab up a couple of inches and then put either a 335 or a 350 in it. Got away with it somehow and only had to produce a weighbridge ticket. Can’t work out why that didn’t have to be engineered, unless, maybe going from say something like an R170 single drive to a Rockwell bogie. Engine? Still a Crummins, transmission still a Fuller. Maybe something to do with those options being available ex factory? But not in an S2, thought biggest thing put in those was the 903. IDSTC, but you are still heavily modifying a vehicle that came out of the factory. Dave

Absolutely nothing is too good to hotrod.

Ex Senator Ricky Muir s business model was in approving the outrageous modified you used to see with Victorian plates.......you ve seen em ,tyres 3 ft wide,blowers bigger than the engine,sills barely clearing the bitumen.........and all for his $50 a year membership fee.......I think thats been knocked ,tho.

I build hot cars as a hobby.

This is an Independently Constructed Vehicle. Engineering took about 9 months and $9,000.00. it went through 2 Engineers Inspections, One structural Engineers inspection and 3 (NSW) RMS inspections then a Blue Slip inspection. That's 317kw LS3 in the tray.

This is a Range Rover we used in the 1994 Australian Safari. It now has a Lexus V8 and Nissan Patrol transmission and diffs. At one stage it was supercharged and has 650WHP and was almost undrivable due to the power. One Engineers Inspection got it done.

lastly a 1984 Suzuki MightyBoy (originally had 19kw) getting a Nissan SR20DE upgrade to 105kw. The car has been fitted with the donor Nissan's front suspension and F & R brakes. This will be a one inspection upgrade as well.

I find I have a good relationship with my Engineer and I will write a long note on what and how I intend to do things and keep him in the loop the whole way through and it seems to work.

Suffer n
gudday m8

nice jobs
U Bloody Ol Hoon LOL :lol: :lol: :lol:



Cya