A lesson to be learned from my failure...

[m_melen]

To everybody considering doing a rebuild/build of any sort on a car that's even remotely driveable.
For the love of God, buy all your parts before you start tearing down. Failing to do so has changed my rebuild from a 1-2 month job into a 1 year job. I so seriously regret starting so early.
Just a tip. I'll never start another build before I collect most of the parts as long as i live.
Peace

-Manny

[RABBIT]

doood exact same boat! sooo fail

[RHDskyline]

Isn't that common sense before you fix/rebuild anything

Get all parts and then start doing the dirty work

Just saying

don't hate

[Tap56]

Same here. Get all your parts first. My engine has not run for well over a year now, had to find another engine so I could still use the car. But at least now I can take my time and build the RB20 the right way.

[RABBIT]

Isn't that common sense before you fix/rebuild anything

Get all parts and then start doing the dirty work

Just saying

don't hate

well yes, my failure was more of the mind set of "well thats already off i might as well..." or "is i wasn't on planing on getting one of those but it is really cheap.." etc etc.

[falcon]

lol, I'm in the same boat. Owned the rex for 16 months and only have driven it for 2. And I am building and buying at the same time right now... it sucks.

[QuietChaos]

Sound advice. My friend can attest to that; he tore apart his Camaro, body panels, interior, everything. That was one year ago, and now it's sitting in the mud, literally rotting away.

[RHDskyline]

i guess people get excited and they want to rebuild. then they realize they don't have money to do it.


Unless your like my dad, who wants a life long project car

[CanadianGTR]

I'm rebuilding my formula car from the ground up, and it's amazing how many things you don't know you need until you actually tear into the project.

"Oh **** I need a new Apex U-Joint at $100 a pop"
"Oh **** I need all new hardware for the entire car, and about 15' of braided lines/associated AN hardware"
"Oh **** my fuel cell isn't actually legal... 1200USD call to ATL later...."

So yeah, it's great to have everything you need before you start... but sometimes starting is how you find out what you need.

[frankiman]

I'll never start another build before I collect most of the parts as long as i live.

yeah thats what i did to avoid such a problem

hehe

http://forums.gtrcanada.com/showthre...034#post472034

[falcon]

What class formula car do you have?

[CanadianGTR]

Formula Ford (1600)

Here's how she sits now:


Just finished pulling it all apart. Discovered a few collapsed/bent tubes that need to be replaced, need to rebuild masters, get my shocks on a dyno, replace a bearing or two in my gearbox, etc etc etc.
Wanted to convert it from rocker arm to pushrod over the winter but I doubt that will happen now.

Can of worms...

[falcon]

Cool. A friend of mine had a Formula 1000 car for a while (GSXR 1000 engine) He was planning to get into some serious racing after doing a few years of local Solo 1 and hillclimb stuff. Lets just say he quickly realized how expensive "real" racing is ...

Things add up bigtime. One bearing here and a bolt there, some custom fab somewhere else and all of a sudden your in the thousands without being able to see where your money went.

[M13]

Even better IMO is to just drive your car, then have a spare engine on the side and build that up.

The problem with having all the parts during disassembly is being rushed into cutting corners (You see the pile of parts ready to go in, you hurry subconsciously)

At least doing it slower due to the build being limited by funds/parts makes you over-do the build, which is better than under.

[JD74]

Even better IMO is to just drive your car, then have a spare engine on the side and build that up.

That's kinda the route I have taken.

First thing I bought for my build was a complete spare motor.....then started buying parts. EVERYTHING including nuts, bolts etc.

I don't want to have to canibalize my existing motor for anything, if I can help it. I want everything brand new, or atleast, new to me.

Collecting parts though, is a heart breaking venture, because sitting on a closet full of goodies....and having that pile of parts stare back at you is just a sad reminder of all the work that you will have to do in order to use them all.....lol