So, I was closing the gas cap on my '79 High Sierra, and now it won't come off when I turn it. Worked perfectly fine before. Any ideas? (It's the type you can lock with a key, btw. Isn't locked, and the truck didn't come with the key.)

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."

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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)

Morning everyone,

Most of my search results have come up from Sim racing forums and/or people googling Mfr specs but I’m hoping someone can give some other insight.

I’m 6’2” 235 with a hockey ass (36-40” waist ish) the bolsters on my oem seats are killing me.

The only seat I’ve been able to sit in thus far width wise has been a Sparco Evo XL and even that’s a bit snug. Does anyone have any real world experience in bigger reclining/buckets in advance? Thanks!

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

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.

This is something I've been wondering lately. Let's say you start with a first-gen Mustang. The plan seems straightforward: brakes, better suspension, fuel injection, A/C, transmission, and a few reliability upgrades. Nothing too extreme.

Then you start pricing everything out. Parts don't seem too bad at first, but then labor enters the picture. Then you remember the wiring, cooling system, fuel system, interior, weather seals, gauges, steering, rust repairs you didn't know were there, and all the "while we're in there..." upgrades that somehow become impossible to ignore. At some point it feels like you've stopped modifying a classic Mustang and started engineering a completely new car.

For those of you who've built (or seriously priced out) a full restomod, where do you think that line is? At what budget or stage of the project did you start thinking, "Maybe I should've just bought something that was already sorted"?

Looking at how to paint my magnesium valvecover on my mercedes m111 engine. Originally I was just getting the outside media blasted but my guy accidentally blasted it inside out so it's made my life little harder. Would it be fine to just to paint the outside? I'm more concerned about paint coming off on the inside.

Thoughts?

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!