First Rat Rod

So a few months ago i picked up a 1937 chevy cab and frame from a pickup. I plan to turn it into a rat rod, but i have a few questions as this is my first completely modified build(rebuilt vehicles before, but not from scratch). My biggest question is what to do about the frame, its quite rusty, but seems stable. Is there any way to tell if it should be safe for years to come if only driven during the summer and garage stored?

There are no cracks or bends in the frame, just rusty. So as much as id hate to do it, i could sand blast it and powdercoat the frame, but that takes away from the look.

If the frame is fine, and i don't powder coat it, is there any type of coating(clear) i could put on the rust to keep it from spreading, but still be able to see it. I work at a paint store so please do not recommend rustoleum. I understand its not a permanent fix, but anyone try and clear sealers with good results?

Summer driven and garage stored rat rods. What is the world coming to?

What kind of frame? C-channel? If you're concerned about structural integrity, how about cleaning and boxing it, then encouraging outside surface rust?

I live in wisconsin, salty winter roads+low truck buried in snow=city plow truck accident waiting to happen, so its one car in the drive way, one in the garage, not sheltering it from the weather as much as needing the parking space during winter

it is a c channel yes, and im chopping up the frame anyways to shorten and strengthen for the next step heh...

but good idea, i think thats what ill do, best of both words, thanks

Keep the '37 in your garage for a few months, don't touch it, don't screw with it, don't put the number 13 on the door with spiderwebs everywhere.

Then go here: www.jalopyjournal.com and learn all about -real- hotrods.

Then start building your car.

If you still want to make it look like a cartoon, go ahead.

Shawn

If it's not cancerous, don't worry about it. Should it have cancer, though, your best bet would be to go with a new frame. You don't want to be out for a drive and have the frame give way.

I would say weld up a new frame from either 2x2 or 2x4 steel tubing and run with that. But I agree with the previous post and go to the website and get ideas before you do anything.

You can always blast it, epoxy seal it, then airbrush paint it to look rusty. Kidding of course.

I can give you the HAMB short course, I lurk there a lot.

A) "Rat rod" is poor form- folks seem to prefer "traditional hot rod" or just "hot rod." B) Form follows function. if you have to patch/channel/z the frame or something, make it work, THEN worry about whether you retained the patina. C) Around this forum, folks will put an LS1 in anything. On the HAMB, you might get your house burned down (well, maybe not that bad...) for that. Some are touchier than others. D) Read/ lurk for a while on the HAMB before you do anything- you'll learn a lot, and there's a bunch of really smart guys over there, you just have to tread lightly until you get the lay of the land. Not sure why there are so many curmudgeons, but that seems to be part of it.

In terms of the chassis, a truck frame from the mid-30s can't be that complicated to replicate the parts of that you'd want on a stripped down hot rod. Particularly if you're going to be doing a bunch of in-depth mods to an original, I might think about selling that frame to a collector/restorer and just building one from scratch. That's real hot rodding- anybody who digs cars even a little can appreciate that: "Dang, man, what kind of chassis is that?" "I made it." "Cool..."

Trans_Maro wrote: Keep the '37 in your garage for a few months, don't touch it, don't screw with it, don't put the number 13 on the door with spiderwebs everywhere. Then go here: www.jalopyjournal.com and learn all about -real- hotrods. Then start building your car. If you still want to make it look like a cartoon, go ahead. Shawn

+1, excellent advice!

Trans_Maro wrote: Keep the '37 in your garage for a few months, don't touch it, don't screw with it, don't put the number 13 on the door with spiderwebs everywhere. Then go here: www.jalopyjournal.com and learn all about -real- hotrods. Then start building your car. If you still want to make it look like a cartoon, go ahead. Shawn

Build a "real" hot rod.

There is only one "right" way.

You will be assimilated.

i really hate that place

bunch of high and mighty holier than thou people.

they bitch about things that look unsafe but then criticize IFS and disc brakes because "its not period correct"

plus they think their E36 M3 is worth gold in the for sale area.

see:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/the-stock-cartruck-hybrid-she-rolls/7677/page1/

Trans_Maro wrote: Then go here: www.jalopyjournal.com and learn all about -real- hotrods.

So I clicked here. Then I clicked on the Garage Journal. Thanks for allowing me to waste 2 hours of my life in garage dream land.

Traditional hot rods are the way to go. Sure they aren't the fastest or best handling cars but why would you be bothering with '30s or '40s cars if that is what you are aiming for.

96DXCivic wrote: Traditional hot rods are the way to go. Sure they aren't the fastest or best handling cars but why would you be bothering with '30s or '40s cars if that is what you are aiming for.

What the "traditionalists" loose sight of is "traditional" rods were built by guys using whatever parts they could get their hands on that were the most performance oriented of their day.

So the GRM spirit of using what you can and the best of what you can get is much more traditional than paying through the nose and searching for months for a period correct set of finned drums or edumunds intake.

True hotrodding has always been grassroots. The "traditional" rod movement is just as silly as rat rodding. Just build a rod, take what you have and make it faster with whatever else you have, that's hot rodding at its core.

I am just saying that why bother spending the extra money for an old American car when you could get something newer for cheaper and it would be faster.

96DXCivic wrote: I am just saying that why bother spending the extra money for an old American car when you could get something newer for cheaper and it would be faster.

Aesthetics

Look up the Rudy Truck on the HAMB. Anything post 34 without fenders is a little weird. But Rudy was the first to do a bobber truck. Its not bad. Patina is one thing, safety is more.

The reason so many of us on the HAMB are short and angry is 100 people join every day and post "Hey, look at my rat rawdz I building," and show pics of complete disregard for safety or aesthetics. 100s. Every day. Old cars ruined, just cause someone wants to be part of the flavor of the month scene.

I say, pull the cab, drop it onto an S-10 frame. Screw the purists, drive and enjoy decent handling and brakes.

The guys on the HAMB just try to keep everything on topic. If you talk about chopping an S-10 or something like that, you'll get shot down. Pretty simple stuff, read the rules and follow them, just like this place.

I'm just saying don't screw up a (potentially) very nice car by doing something simply to follow the trend.

A classic style is classic because it looks good, has nice lines and is pleasing to the eye. That's why so many people chose to go this route.

Other chose to do the "flavour of the month" thing, that's ok too, if you can live with it.

Ratrods are kinda like that tattoo you get when you're really drunk. You think it's cool for a while but then you realise it was a stupid thing to do.

Many, many cars on the HAMB have disc brakes, power steering and IFS. Most of those people have the common decency to keep that stuff hidden under fenders. Nothing looks worse than a deuce with an ugly IFS swap sticking out for the world to see.

OTOH, you can't get a Merc REALLY low without a bit of modern suspension trickery (if you consider Mustang II parts modern)

Shawn

This may not be your cup o' tea, but it's another avenue to research.

http://www.gasmonkeygarage.com/

This guy is on one of the Saturday morning car shows once in a while, pretty creative guy.

http://www.oddballkustoms.com/index.php

http://olskoolrodz.com/

Eye candy.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=ybr_sbc&va=rat+rod&sz=

Claustophobic?

JThw8 wrote:

96DXCivic wrote: Traditional hot rods are the way to go. Sure they aren't the fastest or best handling cars but why would you be bothering with '30s or '40s cars if that is what you are aiming for.

What the "traditionalists" loose sight of is "traditional" rods were built by guys using whatever parts they could get their hands on that were the most performance oriented of their day. So the GRM spirit of using what you can and the best of what you can get is much more traditional than paying through the nose and searching for months for a period correct set of finned drums or edumunds intake. True hotrodding has always been grassroots. The "traditional" rod movement is just as silly as rat rodding. Just build a rod, take what you have and make it faster with whatever else you have, that's hot rodding at its core.

The best part of doing like that, truely grassroots- is that you can really make a unique combination of parts to make a super cool car. And it's not all that hard to make a 30's era car handle well.

Wanna be unique? Weld in a Miata front and rear subframe, and go from there. That would be unique. Not sure if the frame rails are narrow enough at the front, but the rear? Who cares.

But you are taking junk, and making something special out of it.

(oh, and you have no idea how Green you are being. First order recycling.)

Eric

<blockquote Wanna be unique? Weld in a Miata front and rear subframe, and go from there. That would be unique. Not sure if the frame rails are narrow enough at the front, but the rear? Who cares.

One of the guys in the local VW club was building a t bucket with miata drivetrain and suspension. I'll have to see how he's doing with that and get some picures.

I think Hots Rods should be about personal expression and making due with what you have available. With that in mind, do whatever you want and enjoy.

pinchvalve wrote: I think Hots Rods should be about personal expression and making due with what you have available. With that in mind, do whatever you want and enjoy.

100% agree

The thing is, there are guys out there who will buy three old cars and consolidate them into one nice one, thereby reducing the number of examples of that particular classic by two. That's just as bad as taking an old car and chopping it up.

I think that the rat route is legitimate when the original car is pretty well trash, or so common that you aren't doing the marque harm. Ultimately it's your car, so if you want to let half of it rust while painting the other half pink and dropping in a fiat 850 engine, that's your business. Just don't expect any love from most of us if you're dismembering something special.