Since guys have been customizing cars, shaving the door handles has been one of the most common modifications to make the car look as smooth as possible. This process can be a pretty simple process, but there are a few things that can make it go smoothly. I decided to show the process on Project Pile House.
Welding & Welders
Oxy-Acetylene Welding FAQ
What temperature do Oxy-Acetylene welding torches burn at? – Oxy-acetylene torches can burn at up to 6,330 °F, depending on the tip and mixture of gasses used. Compared to the 3,630 °F that a common propane torch burns at, you can see how much better the welding torch is at applying heat. Steel typically melts at about 2500 °F,
How to Fit Seat Sliders to Your Hot Rod Seat
The older the car you’re working on, the harder it can be to find usable parts you need. This becomes increasingly difficult when you get into cars that were short production or year runs. The iconic 1932 Ford is the most covenanted cars to build a hot rod out of. Being that they are a one year only body style, parts get expensive quick (especially original parts!). The seat slider mechanisms for an original ’32 Ford seat are as rare as hens teeth and command a pretty penny when you do come across one complete! Recently my friend Ace asked me to help with the task of getting his reupholstered original seat to bolt into the car AND slide easily. I decided to take some photos along the way and show our low-budget (and fairly low tech) fix.
Ditch Those Leaky Header Joints
After you’ve been building and modifying cars for a while there’s some things that you become pretty particular about. It could be just how you like something to look or function, or just an extra step you take to save yourself headaches in the future. One of mine is an exhaust system that’s leak-free and sounds good. I’ve had bad luck over the years of header unions leaking over time. It seems either they crack at the welds or they just fit poorly and leave much to be desired when fitting the rest of the exhaust.
5 Easy Ways to Strengthen Sheet Metal
When you get a piece of flat sheet metal it tends to be very weak and it can be bent quite easily. So if it is so weak, why do we use this stuff for the bodies of our cars? Why not a heavier metal like metal plate? If we did that our cars would all be styled like and as heavy as a tank! This means none of those beautiful curves you see on classic cars (I don’t want to live in that world!).
How to Control Warpage on Sheet Metal on a Weld Joint with Gene Winfield
There’s a misconception among enthusiasts and even some professional body guys about welding sheet metal. The fact is that no matter how good or careful you are, metal WILL warp when you’re welding on sheet metal.
Starbird Rod & Custom Live Choptop Workshop- How to Chop a ’56 Lincoln Mark II
At the 51st Annual Darryl Starbird National Rod and Custom Car Show over the February 20th-22nd weekend Darryl Starbird and Star Kustom Shop chopped a 1956 Lincoln Mark II. The chop began Friday when the show gates opened and ended when the gates closed Sunday afternoon. The event was held to showcase and educate the public on how master customizers lower the lid to enhance the profile and look of automobiles.
How to repair a damaged Aluminum Alloy Wheel
In this part of the country (Mid-Atlantic) cars, wheels especially take a beating during the winter. Slippery roads, corrosive salt on the roads, and potholes that could swallow a small child wreak havoc on your automobile. The cost to replace a damaged aluminum wheel can be VERY costly. In the classic car world wheels may be obsolete and impossible to replace if you have a damaged wheel. I decided to tackle repairing a badly damaged aluminum aftermarket wheel I have had stashed away for years.
Smoothing the Back End- Frenched Taillights on Pile House.
I will admit that I tend to over think things when I am building a custom car and sometimes I mock something up and I don’t like it or decide I need to tweak the original idea. A while back I decided on a set of ’62 Oldsmobile 88 taillights for the back of the truck. I liked the lens shape and chrome trim on them, but the bezel had peaked ends that made it tough to sink them into a relatively flat panel. For the sake of getting “something” in the rollpan I temporarily made brackets to slide them into the panel. At first I was “ok” with how they looked, but the further I got with building the tailgate on the backend I knew in the back of my head I needed to revisit how they were sitting.