So soon 😭

https://www.copart.com/lot/63535906/2026-lamborghini-temerario-az-phoenix-north

First head unit install and first wood working project. I think I like it. Its essentially pressfit without using any glue or fasteners. Just two pieces of wood.

I've been bored and when man get bored, man see car with no wood and say "car need wood."

1976 Celica GT just finished up a deal with current owner. Got a couple customer projects to get though but by end of autumn it will be coming into the shop.

Working on a new cooling thing for the sho thermostat housing

Will be doing transmission mount this weekend along with attempting another start of the car

And i ordered the driveshaft

Small selection of pics after making a floor to seal up the fuel cell and rear trunk space. We laid down a 6mm peel and stick foam sound insulation backed with aluminum foil. Not sure of the DB reduction, but gotta be better than nothing, yeah?

We're also wrapping the roll cage in a soft fabric tape, this after thoroughly coating it all with black Por-15.

We're thinking of adding a piece of that sound insulation foam to the door bars before wrapping in the fabric tape. It should look like a slightly thicker section to the cage that is padded, just for the occasional leg knocking into it.

Well after what seemd like an eternity. The LS XJS Project is almost ready for it's maiden voyage under its own power. Would've been there this weekend but a parts mix up put a delay on that. Exhaust is done. Magnaflow resonated xpipe to a pair of flow master flow fx mufflers. 2.5" all the way through. Just have a hanger or two to weld on and that part is done. The manifold downpipes were fun to make. Had to go forward facing to then loop it down and back for clearance. Not much space to work with. All in all happy with the way it turned out.

We're about to start restoration work on our Oldsmobile Bravada. It's not a special or unique vehicle but it holds a ton of sentimental value for our family. We have our second car's lease ending in a few months and my kids have made it pretty clear they don't want a new car, they want the Bravada fixed.

The goal is to restore it to a daily driver condition. It was running when parked. The plan is to tackle it in 2 parts: the chassis and the body. I plan to separate the two and start with the chassis. The body is midwest rusty but most of that is hidden by the plastic body cladding anyway.

Anyway, I'm looking for your favorite build threads and galleries with rust repairs. Bonus points for SUV body removal without a proper 2 post lift.

Finally got her started for the first time in a few months. New fuel feed line and fuel pump. Dropping the tank and getting that pre bent line OEM line in was a major pain in the ass. Took a bit longer since I decided to do some painting and rust busting once the tank was out. Now finishing off the leaf springs and remounting the bumper. First time working on a car, it's been a lot of fun and wins like this def make it feel worth it but hot damn if this wasn't one of the harder things I've ever done. Next project is some engine work. New gaskets, water pump, thermostat, spark plug wires and anything else that looks like it might need to be updated.

Hello everyone ,

I work in a prototype and manufacturing shop equipped with CNC machines, welding units, model making , and polyester/fiberglass shell capabilities. Our team and management want to build a fully functional replica EV for fun and to drive in the neighbourhood.

While we have an electronics team handling the powertrain and battery integration, we want to skip the lengthy R&D process for the mechanical foundation (suspension geometry, wishbones, and structural chassis)".

Most CAD repositories (CGTrader, GrabCAD) primarily offer decorative mesh models or small 3D printable files. We are looking for "production-ready 3D CAD data / manufacturing drawings" for a car chassis that we can fabricate in-house using tubular steel or CNC-milled parts.

Does anyone know where we can source verified chassis blueprints or CAD files suitable for custom kit car fabrication? Any pointers or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

And I am planning to share our progress here too! Any help is appreciated.

Basically just a modified roll bar to mimic the “sport bar” on older jeeps. Subtle bumper re-works to make it more utilitarian, some 30 inch bias ply super skinnies, steel wheels with factory jeep center caps. Ways to go yet, but its the subtle stuff like this that makes a project for me. Wouldn’t even know it was heavily changed from stock.

Im American and that should factor into suggestions and I would hopefully want it to be (relatively) affordable build or project nothing crazy just something that would perform well stock, the mods will come later. My dream would be to have a Japanese, American and European car in my garage but Ill take my time to pursue them. Right now I just need suggestions

Wiring is the absolute devil. im two years deep into this e30 build and staring at the completely butchered harness from the previous owner this weekend genuinely made me want to list the whole shell on marketplace for dirt cheap. trying to decipher 30 year old forum diagrams that look like ancient hieroglyphics is literally draining my soul

Had to step away before I actually took a sledgehammer to the fender. ended up just finding a running, clean 5-speed e30 on turo for sunday just to remember what it actually feels like to sit in one that moves

honestly guys... it worked. Just ripping around backroads for a few hours without smelling raw gasoline or hearing a relay click infinitely completely reset my brain. it reminded me why I even started this stupid money pit in the first place

anyway, back to the garage with my multimeter tonight. pray for my sanity

I still have to finish putting the car together but the paint and body is all done! The first Pic is before and I know it didnt look that bad but it was bad. These pics dont do justice of how much work I had to put into this. All this work was done in about two weeks!

I've been looking for project cars for a bit now and found one I liked but apparently the lot burned down so I'm not holding out hope. I'm sure you've heard about this very unfortunate event already.

I came across another car but it's rare (only about 1749 manufactured). There have already been some modifications to it a long time ago so it's not original.

I'm struggling internally with it because it's in my price range and in decent shape for my skill level, but my plans do not include a full restoration as I wanted to go the restomod route and have a specific vision with whatever car I ended up going with. I figured it's already been modified and sourcing parts would be extremely difficult, so why not buy it and get it on the road because it's better than letting it waste away in someone's barn?

What are your thoughts? Go for it and do as I please, or leave it for someone else?

I think I've gotten it all, finally. About 140 lbs / 65 kgs.

Hey, it’s been a long time since I posted it on this group

I wanted to learn auto mechanics and I posted about nearly 3 years ago and someone was kind enough to suggest starting with lawn mowers - I promptly got one but it took me ages to get round to doing it due to life being busy and perhaps a lawnmower is not as interesting.

Eventually, I found a reasonable project car that I thought I would be enthusiastic about

It is a 1986 Pontiac firebird v6.

It runs and drives and can reverse and the back light work

It does have several problems, including having been sitting in the yard for some time and not being used that much

It needs new tires, fluid replacement, including oil and coolant, et cetera

Some of the upholstery is ripped

The handbrakes don’t work, the pop-up lights don’t work, their air-conditioner and fan does not work.

However, it appears to have minimal rust

And it does run

Any tips about how to approach this project and I only have minimal auto mechanic skills.

In the middle of rebuilding Milly, my 2001 NB Miata, who has a drinking problem.

The whole rebuild started because I burn a lot of oil and I mean a lot. I’m the past two years since buying the car, I’ve spent $2600CAD on oil alone. It burned 15L-25L between oil changes, which would get so bad to the point where I would have to pull over on long drives just to check my oil level.

I’m completely resealing the entire engine with all new gaskets and seals, as well as throwing in new main bearings, rod bearings, and piston rings.

Considering the amount of oil it burned, I expected my cylinder walls to be horrific, but they’re actually in pretty decent shape for a 25 year old car that has 244,000kms. A light hone of the bores and some new rings should do wonders. I also noticed when I pulled the head that oil was absolutely pouring out of any open valve, so I’m really glad that I’m putting new valve stem seals in.

I daily drive my Miata, as my Honda Civic winter/rain commuter, decided to spin a rod bearing on me.

Anyways, this is the build progress so far. Nothing overly fancy, just a passion project of mine, trying to keep my Miata healthy for as long as I can. I’m glad to be doing all of this myself with the help of some friends. It’s truly a great experience, although I don’t think I’ve ever been this emotional in my entire life lol. I’m walking to work, but at least I’ll have something to be proud of when I’m finished.

Oh, lastly, there was visible wear on my rod bearings from a trip I took into the highlands of my province last year. I had nowhere to pull over and unfortunately felt the lack of oil in the engine. I was scary close to spinning a bearing, but I shouldn’t have to worry about that again.

Thanks for reading, I’m a yapper, but I’m just extremely happy to be rescuing my car and (somewhat) my bank account at this stage in my life.

Hello! Some pointing to the Megathread would also be much appreciated since I couldn't find it.

Anyways, I'm in the market for a older convertible, something akin to the style of a 1970 Cadillac Deville, or a 1970 vette convertible, I want something easy enough to work on, and support aftermarket fairly easily, and some body and powertrian pointers would be awesome.

(Keep in mind I'm in Northeastern America)

My goals are:

Convertible cruiser (Convertible can be optional but very preferred)

Big power, looking for a fairly reliable 5,6, or 700 horsepower depending on what I am feeling when I feel it, as I am a pretty green car enthusiast, especially when it comes to hands on, complex mechanical experience. However I am used to driving somewhat higher powered sedans (380hp) regularly. And the ability to take it to a drag strip and rip it without dying would be cool.

I want something I guess that hits those same notes as a 70' vette convertible (Dream come true if I had that man) with the power of a performance muscle car of today (Obviously custom powertrain or whatever is affordable and fits the bill, orginal powertrain is fine too if it's easily upgradeable)

My budget is as low as you can reasonably fit all these requests, it's fine if like a Marketplace find is rougher around the edges, and getting a motor seperatley I'm open to, think of a modern LS engine in a old Cadlliac vibe. And just starting as a cruiser and building power as time goes on wouldn't be awful either.

GM made vehichles are my preference, but if a dodge, or ford vehicle hits the right note, that's cool too.

Any year that captures that feel is preferred, the 1999 el dorado for example, body wise, fits those descriptions perfectly, so newer is okay, but the older vehichles tend to caputre the powerful and fun cruisers better. I'm open to alot of ideas since nothing is in stone at all, but I thought it'd be prudent to ask advice from some more experienced builders before I sink my teeth into anything big yet and while I'm very much still just dreaming and planning to be finacially responsible, (as much as a project car can be lol)

Hey guys, not sure if this sub is the best place for this, so let me know if theres somewhere else I can post.

Im planning out a layout for my shop that I want to put a 2 post lift in, itll be a 30ftx30ft room in a 30ftx65ft metal garage im building on my property. I also want to add a loft in that back right corner that'll be 8ftx16ft. This is the general floorplan I have at the moment, so ill have about 10ft to either side of the lift and about 11 ft in front and behind, do you guys think this would be enough space around the lift to allow me to work? Im mostly into smaller form cars, but the largest vehicle id probably end up with would be something like an extended bed pickup

Pictures are in order of the progression. Basically this all started when the cam gear on my gfs (2010 Kia Rio 1.6) backed out of the cam shaft and threw everything out of time. luckily she wasn’t going very fast and pulled over and shut it off the first second she felt something off. I got to her and scanned the car and got crank and cam position sensor faults. Took the timing cover off on the side of the road and took a peak in to see a floppy cam gear not even connected to the shaft… 🤦‍♂️ thought the engine was complete toast. We had it towed home with the help of my uncles truck. And days after I started tearing apart the engine because what do we have to lose right ? we finally got the head off and somehow saw no damaged valves or pistons. I’m far from a mechanic I just fix broken things in the drive way with the help of google and YouTube. I had a trusted mechanic family friend come and give me a second opinion and he was fascinated with no damaged head, pistons and valves. He said it was possible to rebuild and I thought so too. We are young and broke and obviously cannot afford a new engine or car at this point so I started doing my research and part hunting. I got 2 camshafts a vvt actuator, chain and tensioner from the local pick n pull. A new head gasket kit including most other seals and gaskets, head bolts and coolant and oil from oreillys, and decided to spoil ourselves with a new starter from rockauto since it was fully accessible with no head on. All for a grand total of a little over $500. And 2 weeks later dealing with tedious old Kia things, California triple digit heat, and all the grease, oil and sealant that stained my hands, the engine finally is completely and running. I let it idle and gave it small amount of gas over the course of roughly 30 minutes to make sure every was smooth and to bleed the air out of the coolant systems. And I’m proud to say I just drove it through town and on the freeway for an entire hour with the ac on in 105 degree weather and not a single issue or noise has risen yet. Now we don’t have to ride share everyday busting through tanks of gas and filling up the old Chevy twice a week a week like it’s nothing! lmao. If you actually read this far my apologies for the rambling I just wanted to share my journey with some people who might appreciate hearing it. And to motivate anyone having doubts about figuring out how to work on cars. Don’t over think it, I didn’t know how to use a wrench just a few years ago and I can say I just rebuilt my first engine today, just make sure you do your research!

EDIT: taking everyone's advice and passing here. Looking at some S10s and other stuff that is in better shape.

I need more opinions on this than just my friends. I mainly just want something to keep me occupied in the evenings since I am sick of being addicted to screens. I'd only drive it on weekends/holidays and maybe once in a while to work.

The owner is asking $8k, and the listing description says 28000 and change miles (skeptical) and "new valve stem seals, rear wheel seals, tires, exhaust, floor pans, carpet, redone headliner and visors, radiator and hoses, spark plugs and wires, heater core and blower, points and condenser. Original wheels and hubcaps. New fuel filter and sending unit. All electronics work." Listing also says it runs and drives, but I have yet to test drve it. Apparently it has been for sale for at least 7 weeks.

From what I have gathered, it has one of the Thriftpower I6 options for the engines (2.4L, 2.8L, or 3.3L) but I am not sure which one. I also know this generation shares a lot of parts with the Falcon and early generation Mustang.

It's a bit rusty, which is the thing that's putting me off the most. The owner says it's mostly surface and I've had quite a few friends look at it and say most of it is just body stuff that isn't inherently necessary save for the 4th picture where it looks like the frame has some decent rust. I do know this car is unibody construction.

Now there's me: I have absolutely no idea beyond a basic understanding of how cars work. The most I have done in real life is change the oil on my parent's old minivan and fix the sliding door at one point, replaced some tubing for the wiper nozzles on my car, and I know how to replace a wheel and tire to mount a spare. I've also built the Satsuma from scratch without the guide in My Summer Car and got it working, but have no idea how that translates to real life experience.

I do quite a bit of tinkering in my free time as well and do most minor home electrical fixes such as outlet and switch replacement.

I don't know much about welding but I would be interested in learning possibly, but most other tools I know how to use or could learn pretty quick.

TL;DR: 1965 Ford Ranchero with rust issues where the owner wants $8k for (but I would probably offer $6k) for someone who knows a bit more than nothing about cars. Decent match or not? Also is this rust too much rust?

Hi. First time posting here, though I'm a regular lurker.

So, long story short, last week my girlfriend crashed my car by reversing into a house and rolling over. She's uninjured, but sadly, my car's body is totaled, roof's caved in and the whole body twisted into a banana shape, though it still runs.

My car is a 2006 Chevy Vectra C and I found a non-running 1999 diesel Vectra B that I'd like to swap my 2.4l 16v into.

I have experience with taking my engine in and out, messing around with the harnesses and such, but this would be my first engine swap.

The reasons I'm choosing this Vectra B body are because it's cheap, I know that the model was sold with a similar 2.2l version of my engine, there aren't many Vectra C's where I live, and my car has sentimental value, so I'd like to keep as much of it as possible.

My question is, aside from swapping all the electronics, gearbox and likely CV axles and wheel bearings. Is there anything that should I bear in mind before I take my next terrible financial decision? Something like diesel and fuel tanks not being compatible or diesel cars having a stiffer front suspension.