how to save money building your car

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ir3333

ir3333

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Guys buy,build,and do a lot of things to their cars, but it doesn't have to be expensive.
How can you, or have you saved a few bucks on your build?
 
RA for most of the door/trunk/window seals from the universal section, you have to know the cross shape measurements, prob saved a few hundred.
 
Trying to do repairs/mods I wasn't familiar with has saved me some cash. The trade off is time, but while I have screwed up some of the first attempts and had to re-do stuff, I still come out ahead. Plus by pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone, I gain some much needed experience.
 
buy one that is done or done enough to save you most of the work.

I've built one from scratch and bought one that was nice and made it mine.

huge difference in cost and I do most of the work myself. My car would cost 40k or more to build from scratch. I paid 16k for it and put maybe 10 in it.

You can cut corners, make sacrifices, do more work yourself.
 
you can save a lot using stock performance pieces as opposed to the newest,latest and greatest pieces.
 
Learn how to do your own paint and body work. Most of the money you spend is for their time. You can save a bunch.
 
Make a plan and stick to it! Changing your mind on the project will cause you to buy unneeded parts. I initially was building a 440 for a dakota that I had for years. I bought all the specific parts for the truck. Pan, windage tray, headers, pass side water pump, 727 pieces. I found my bcuda and had to buy all the stuff to put the 440 in that. Not to mention all of the resto parts for her! I was stuck with the truck parts, but found a CL 400 for 300$ to put them on. Needed bearings and what not, and I upgraded cam, springs and timing kit. I saved money on that by using a 4bbl holley carb I had from a 318, buying a used street dominator intake on ebay. I traded my machinist friend a 30 pack to mill .030 off the 452 heads. Sanded, cleaned and painted the stock pulleys, fuel pump, dist clamp and water neck. I had to buy all that new for the 440, as well as trick flow top end. I need some fancy billet pulleys and stuff to match my arengineering accessories. So I have like 2k into my 400 and 10k into my 440. And of course doing all the work(outside of machining)yourself
 
a sm blk. air gap can cost upwards of $500 shipped to Canada.The stock cast iron piece will perform
just as well on a street engine (better in cool climates) and usually are around $100.
Spending hundreds on MSD stuff can be saved by using stock electronic pieces.
Rock Auto prices are hard to beat.
Epoxy primer is pricey....regular primer is fine for most applications.
 
BigStrok3 said:
Learn how to do your own paint and body work. Most of the money you spend is for their time. You can save a bunch.
Click to expand...

Learning how to do it yourself is the only way I can think of without seriously degrading quality!

I am kinda old but trying to do everything possible myself.

I will pay to get a transmission built and do a certain degree of engine assembly due to tools required and cost of errors.
 
Judgment is difficult to teach and even harder to learn.

You must temper your temper either way.
 
ir3333 said:
Guys buy,build,and do a lot of things to their cars, but it doesn't have to be expensive.
How can you, or have you saved a few bucks on your build?
Click to expand...

Patience and not living in Canada.:D

I rarely pay more than about 1/2 price for a lot of my parts by waiting and watching.
 
roccodart440 said:
buy one that is done or done enough to save you most of the work.

I've built one from scratch and bought one that was nice and made it mine.

huge difference in cost and I do most of the work myself. My car would cost 40k or more to build from scratch. I paid 16k for it and put maybe 10 in it.

You can cut corners, make sacrifices, do more work yourself.
Click to expand...

The voice of reason.....

JW
 
Used parts when you can find them.
Or just buy a done car, way quicker time wise, but cheaper in the long run.
 
Rock auto price shopping being frugal and doing what you can yourself! Im gonna do everything myself including paint and body I dont expect it to be perfect but its not a show car either its a driver my car is a 75 swinger its pretty much worthless in the collector market so im building it for fun the way I like it!
 
Don't build one...

Seriously. No matter what you do you're more than likely gonna be upside down just as soon as you put a wrench to it.
 
ir3333 said:
Guys buy,build,and do a lot of things to their cars, but it doesn't have to be expensive.
How can you, or have you saved a few bucks on your build?
Click to expand...
I have saved a good bunch of money shopping right here @ FABO & it’s sisters as well as other online sources. But they can be hard to trust with less than nice results. So I generally stay here.

I keep my eyes out for sales. Hunting the Internet allowed me to get my entire 6 pack set up from a going out of biz dealer. Total cost for EVERYTHING was about $1200. Vs the 2K plus prices.
Hunt hunt hunt and then hunt some more.

Swap meets of course but there even hard for Mopar’s.
Best local method is just a simple bet working among friends and with clubs.

Junk yards are not an e-z thing in this part of the world. There is no such thing as a “Pick a Part” junk yard. The turn over is to great at these places that they do not bother keeping much for long.

Specialty places are far and few here on the island.
On that note, most here know of Rays Muscle car headquarters. Call and ask for the part. He’ll call you back with an appointment time to get it.

And of course, do as much as I can by myself.
 
dont have a schedule. Get the parts as they offer themselves. I found an NOS stroker set of pistons for $100 as they were std bore. Heck, lets build a stroker! I found a set of Mopar T&D rockers on a chevy site, guy didnt know what they were from a storage locker he bought as the didnt fit his Camaro so He let them go for $120. I found more value flipping them to a serious Mopar engine builder and made $280. If you see a bargain at a show or swap and it has value to someone else, buy it and resell it. My entire budget for my car has been parts churn minus a few hundred. If you got the time and an eye for a bargain, its a big game. I bought a set of VW Super Tricks locally . Polished them and replaced the rusty bolts with black allen bolts and they went on ebay for 4X what I bought them for. I didnt set the price on those, they just went up and up. And do all your own engine work. Thats a given.
 
i agree with keeping an eye for parts all the time.When a hard to find item becomes avail. at a good price i sometimes buy it even if i don't need it.Bought an old Weind 7505 off the internet a few years ago for $56 plus $30 shipping.
Couple of years ago i bought a rebuilt 340 ...and it had an air gap on it.Sold the airgap for $275 and bolted on the old aluminum Weind.Put a few bucks in the shop account!
If you sell items at reasonable prices the favour is usually returned down the road.
And yes the Weind 7505 works great!
 
my recipe: Buy a complete project car , one as solid as possible, One that YOU can do the body work on and have the quality car YOU demand. But it for what it is really worth!!!! If you ever sell, you made your money when you bought, nit when you ell.

Don't get caught up in the "have to have the best, the fastest, the coolest". Unless you can afford to toss those $$$. Network and find a good running engine ./trans worth the $. Rebuild carbs, use OEM intakes, exhaust manifolds. Make a safe dependable driver, first, then as you drive it, repair the rust, drive and work on it as you go.

Do the body one section at a time if you must, spray epoxy primer as a sealer over the finished filler. Sanding primer over that, work on it as you go. Nothing can be more of a drag than to take a car apart , it sits for months, years, decades!!!!!!! Unless you want a model to car to make PERFECT and work on it for years, with nothing fun to drive to keep up your interests.???

Finish the interior last. Have a decent set too sit on, carpet, headliner, door panels, upholstery can come last.

Save $$ he asked? Do not catch a case of "perfectitis"!!!!!! Catch the hotrodder's bug instead.
 
Good tips, also if the car runs keep it running the entire time, or you may loose interest.
 
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