Most classic car owners want to hear the noise of their exhaust and the “feel” of the road that an old car gives you. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for wearing ear plugs on long trips. There are a few key areas and ways you can reduce the “road noise” in your vehicle. We listed our favorite products and where they can be used to keep your ride quiet on the inside.
Archive
5 Tips to Keep your Parts Clean when Powder Coating
Coating anything requires good prep to assure a flawless finish. This is true for painting with an HVLP Gun, spray paint, or powder coating. Powder Coating adds an extra layer of finish contamination that other coatings do not. That’s the need to heat the part and the powder up to allow it to flow out and cure. Funky stuff can start to happen causing issues with the final product. We decided to put together or top five ways to prepare your parts for powder coating. These tips could be the difference between a show-worthy finish and a hack job!
Making a Custom Spoon Gas Pedal for a Channeled Hot Rod
I’ve heavily modified a set of Ford F1 pedals to work in my channeled car that involved shortening, heating and bending, and reshaping the curves to fit into the car. Now I needed to fit the “GO” pedal in between the transmission tunnel, the pedals, and the steering column tube. I’ve seen some guys put a step in their tunnel and rest their heel on the tunnel but it just doesn’t “flow” like I’d like. Don’t get me wrong that method is very function-able, but I wanted a pedal that was correct looking and flowed into the provided space without having to cut up my nice tunnel I made a few months ago.
How to Fabricate a Cowl Panel From Scratch
I somehow ended up with this ’29 Model A Roadster carcass I want to build a little replica-racer out of. It was cheap, the bones were there and I figured I could build it up when I found some non-existent free time. I’m a little stubborn and although I could buy an entire new steel replica body, or all of the panels new to make this car all solid again, I’d rather build the panels I need from scratch and bring a close to 90-year old car back from the dead for very little money out of my pocket. I decided I wanted to start in the front of the body and work my way back. The side cowl panels are almost ALWAYS rotted out on the bottom of these cars and after I looked at the remains of the originals I decided I could easily tackle making new panels for only a few bucks in sheet metal.
Top 5 Reasons You Need a Heat Gun
A heat gun is one of those items that many garages are missing. Once you have one around the shop you’d be surprised how often they come in handy! We decided to put together a short list of our favorite uses
Fitting a bench Seat into a Channeled Hot Rod
Channeling an early 30’s car looks the cat’s meow but it creates ALL sorts of problems with actually making the car drivable inside. Every step of this project I’ve had to take a step back and figure out how to fit everything into the car with the decreased room inside. Because the transmission and driveshaft tunnel protrude up above the floor now I couldn’t just put the seat up on top of the tunnel or I’d have my head up out of the roof. I needed to get the driver and passengers butts as close to the floor as possible.
Which Seam Sealer and When to use
Just like when priming and painting your car there are a lot of choices when it comes to picking a seam sealer when refinishing or repairing your project. Seam sealer is made to cover and seal areas where panels may have been welded or overlapped. It will keep the seam from getting moisture in between panels and rusting out. As long as you use the correct seam sealer and prepared the panel correctly it will last the lifetime of the vehicle. We decided to cover the seam sealers that we offer and their best applications.
Cutting Tools You Need- Our Top 5
Like with anything there are countless ways to achieve the same result. It all depends how much work you want to spend and the final result. We decided to put together our top five metal cutting tools and when they’re best to use.
Cloning isn’t an option? The Best Ways to Gain an Extra Set of Hands When Working Alone.
I don’t know about you, but I work alone A LOT and I always seem to need an extra set of hands to hold things together, down, out of the way, etc when working on my projects. It seems like whenever I need an extra set of hands my friends aren’t around and the significant other is no where to be found and I’m stuck trying to hold a piece together with my knee and elbow to tack weld. Over the years I’ve gathered a bunch of items that make working alone a little easier and I decided to put them together in a list for you. Feel free to share your favorites in the comments!