Need resource recommendations
- Thread starter teamacacia
- Start date
Carrol Smiths books about a great thing to have on hand.....especially the nut, bolt and fastener one....good basic rules to abide by.
As crazy as this sounds, I learned a ton from buying whatever manuals the component/kit car manufacturers sell for their specific models, almost all of which have gaps that are supplemented by model specific on-line forums. The cost is usually nominal. PM me if you want more specific info.
Having built 2 cars w/ no mechanical knowledge, I found all those books and service manuals to be an absolute waste of my time.
With the cobra the build manual was fairly unhelpful, the mustang service manual I bought sucked ass and other books people recommended were equally unhelpful. The biggest thing that helped me be able to build my cars was just to do it, break stuff, replace it and learn on the job. That, plus reading the forums - lots of times seeing what people did gave me ideas.
And asking questions. Lots of questions. Questions are gooood. At the end of it people will find you annoying for asking so many questions, but f-'em, lol
With the cobra the build manual was fairly unhelpful, the mustang service manual I bought sucked ass and other books people recommended were equally unhelpful. The biggest thing that helped me be able to build my cars was just to do it, break stuff, replace it and learn on the job. That, plus reading the forums - lots of times seeing what people did gave me ideas.
And asking questions. Lots of questions. Questions are gooood. At the end of it people will find you annoying for asking so many questions, but f-'em, lol
Thanks for the info. It is always interesting to hear the wide range of opinions given everyone's level of expertise.
I will plan on picking up the fastners book as I read elsewhere that it is considered nearly essential by many. I will also probably ask too many questions and hope not to get on everyone's last nerve (you can smack me around if need be). Med school, anesthesia, and my general nerdism make the OCD drive for perfection tough to deal with sometimes.
I will plan on picking up the fastners book as I read elsewhere that it is considered nearly essential by many. I will also probably ask too many questions and hope not to get on everyone's last nerve (you can smack me around if need be). Med school, anesthesia, and my general nerdism make the OCD drive for perfection tough to deal with sometimes.
Join a local car club, go to car shows, talk to the gear heads most of them love talking about there cars, take a good look at how hot rodders have put things together. Watch the car builder shows on TV you can see the new stuff that coming out to make life easier. Hot Rod, Trucks, Gearz, etc...
Howard Jones
Supporter
One very helpful source of ideas for me has been attending historic races and really looking at the cars in the pits, taking a lot of pictures of details like suspension parts, roll cages, assorted brackets, and all manner of pieces. I save all my pictures to a file I named "good ideas" If you see a cool car somewhere take pictures of the details. I get a lot of body work ideas from show car guys who did their own work. They really know body and paint.
Most valuable free catalog, Aircraft Spruce, they have a race car smaller catalog but get the big full one. These guys are building airplanes. A LOT of their stuff will work for us.
Most of my welding information comes from the welder vendors such as Lincoln and Miller. Very good information on their websites.
Send for and save catalogs. Just the pictures are helpful sometimes when you are trying to figure out how to do something. In nearly every case someone has already solved your problem. The trick is to find it one the web.
Good help on engines, Comp Cams tec line, others are Fuel Safe tec line, Eagle cranks, Calif motor sports for gearbox info.
But most of all its right here on GT40s.com. This is the best single source of advice anywhere on building "kit cars". Lastly ask one of the other builders on this forum directly. I have never been turned away when I asked to talk to some one on this site about something technical. Use the PM system and ask for a phone number and just call em. Most of these guys LOVE to talk about this stuff.
You can call me anytime. PM for Ph #.
Most valuable free catalog, Aircraft Spruce, they have a race car smaller catalog but get the big full one. These guys are building airplanes. A LOT of their stuff will work for us.
Most of my welding information comes from the welder vendors such as Lincoln and Miller. Very good information on their websites.
Send for and save catalogs. Just the pictures are helpful sometimes when you are trying to figure out how to do something. In nearly every case someone has already solved your problem. The trick is to find it one the web.
Good help on engines, Comp Cams tec line, others are Fuel Safe tec line, Eagle cranks, Calif motor sports for gearbox info.
But most of all its right here on GT40s.com. This is the best single source of advice anywhere on building "kit cars". Lastly ask one of the other builders on this forum directly. I have never been turned away when I asked to talk to some one on this site about something technical. Use the PM system and ask for a phone number and just call em. Most of these guys LOVE to talk about this stuff.
You can call me anytime. PM for Ph #.
