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70 budget rat build

144K views 428 replies 60 participants last post by  mikalshone 
#1 ·
So after almost 10 years of this thing sitting in the garage, I am tired of not having my toy on the road or not working on it. My ultimate plan was, and still is, to put a Mustang II front suspention on it and lots of other goodies that for the moment I am going to keep secret. Lets just say, some of it hasn't been done, and I am still trying to figure out if it can be done. Either way, with the economy is in the state that it is , I can't afford to build it the way I want at this time. So since it may be a few more years before I am making what I was making 3 years ago, I am going to build it on a budget, but keeping in mind of what I have planned for later. Meaning, as I do things, I will make sure that it will either coincide with future plans, or with be easy to change. I already have just about eveything to put it together, just need to buy some small stuff here and there. I will be going through and fixing stuff that some dumbass 20 year old without the proper tools did *raises hand*. I now have much more experience under my belt and most of the tools I need. I plan on fabbing a lot of custom pieces, and will be looking for input and ideas as well. For now the plans are to weld up all the holes under the hood and getting the engine bay looking nice. Need to wire the car from scratch. Build the engine. Do some minor body work. And get the car in black primer to give it that rat look. So here are some pictures of how she sits now. the only thing I have done this weekend was take some boxes off it and get my work space a little more organized. Please feel free to give feedback, or even call me a complete idiot at times if you feel necessary.










 
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#2 ·
Mike looks like you have a nice solid start. I hear ya on the cash flow situation. I was hoping to have my engine built and finished over a year ago. And it's still not done yet either. Then I have the rest of the car to do as well. Anyway good luck with the project.
 
#10 ·
X2, Clean an recondition the parts you going to put back on the car, chrome, plastic, lights, knobs,switches, and bodywork.

Don't let one high $ piece stall the whole project.

Getting started is half the battle. Clean it up, get it back on the road, and enjoy it sooner. Do the expensive things later.

Love the flames on the post :flamer:
 
#4 ·
Is that a 4 speed console I see? One way to make a little bit of money would be to practically give me the 4 speed console.......
 
#7 ·
It is a solid car, I guess I got lucky being on the east coast and ended up with a rust free car. The only rust was in the back door corners, but the doors are off a different car. It was garaged for the last 30 years that I know of, so I guess the 2400 I paid for it in 97 wasn't too bad. That was my plan Andy, chip away at it a little at a time, though I doubt I will be putting any trim that isn't necessary on it for now. Woodsnake, not a 4 speed console, just a shadow I think, the only difference on them is the insert anyway. When I bought the car it was running. Had a built up cleveland and sounded great, which is why I bought it. I used it as my daily driver for the next 3 years (and went through 3 engines at the time), until I bought my truck and then parked it. I tore it apart to build it bigger and better and paint it, but life gets in the way. Hence the reason I am craving a drive in my old hot rod.

Well today she got a bath. I may work on some welding tonight once dinner with the family is done and put the little one to bed. I just can't wait to get this thing goin'.

 
#8 ·
I hear you about getting started on a project and then just hoping to finish it any way you can. I am SOOOO close to getting my 383 Jimmy on the road but funds are getting mighty sparse. It is forcing me to cut corners I don't necessarily want to cut. Nothing that will be a safety or do irreparable harm but stuff I will have to go back and fix later. Things like a better starter, 6 gun accessories and the like. I'll still have 425 rwhp and a tach with the replacement stock gauge panel. I'll just call it the end of Stage I and the beginning of Stage II. :icon16:
 
#9 ·
make it pretty 1st! get it cleaned up and primed/edged so you can assemble it , the rest is relavitly easy after that!
 
#12 ·
I totally agree with the other guys-- just try to do one thing, even if it's small, every day... Getting something done and being able to cross it off the list can be a powerful motivator to keep going too.

I'm new to Cougars, but I've done a few 60's Thunderbirds, Lincolns & Mercedes. It's probably natural to go through waves of higher & lower ambitiousness for all of us. But it all comes down to a law of physics: An object at rest tends to stay at rest; An object in motion tends to stay in motion. I think that goes for people as well. If you want to see results you have to stay in motion....

I'm doing the same thing myself right now with my '67,,, I bought it in October (Ebay - I was told it was done except for 2 minor things; I did not want a project), had it delivered, drove it 1 mile, made a list of 22 items that need to be done, redone, or fixed, and put it in the garage & started taking it apart.... found more things to fix... like the cowl... If not for the small pleasure I get from crossing items off the list I would be so disgusted I would not look at the car. My goal right now is to take it for a drive on January 1st.

By the way, I'm right here in East Cobb, it's good to know there's another one of us nearby!
 
#13 ·
I bought mine out of the blue

I have been struggling with these very issues. I was supposed to build a muscle car when I retired, or so I figured it would go. Then the opportunity arose and I bought my cat (20 years early and I am glad I did). I didn't have a plan for how to pay for the restoration and we all know what happened to the economy. Bye bye overtime. I did the first necessary project on my car and dropped nearly $900 of "family" funds rebuilding the cooling system. Bye Bye good will from my wife. I could see I was going to have to figure something out, or by the time (long time away) it was finished, I would be retired, my wife would hate the car and me a little bit too.

It came with a few boxes of parts I didn't need. I started selling the extra parts on ebay. Those parts alone got me half of the $3000 purchase price. I was shopping ebay everyday for my car, looking for a stock shifter cheap etc. and I would see a good deal. Maybe someone described an item poorly, misidentified it by the wrong year, overestimated shipping driving away bidders, took bad pictures of items that hold up well, etc. I would buy it clean it up, take a decent picture and sell it for more. I bought some lots of Cougar parts off of craigslist because I needed one particular part and sold the rest on ebay. I did this for a while and eventually bought some large lots.

Now my car project is trudging along and picking up steam. I do spend about an hour a day on the computer and shipping etc. Point is, you can make a little coin for your project selling your extra parts, knowing what things are worth and looking for deals on craigslist or at swapmeets when the vendors are packing up. There are a lot of guys here that do it. I know it can seem like a lot of work but I still feel like I am working on my ride albeit indirect work.

I have gone back and forth dreaming about 4 speeds, 9 inch rears, aod transmissions, the new crate boss 302, you name it. But now I guess I feel like you do, I am making a push to get this baby on the road because that is the goal. Craigslist is full of cars that broke their owner slowly, I don't want to be in that sad but real situation. We have all read this one "I have over $25,000 worth of new parts with receipts ready to go on the car but unfortunately, the economy, the divorce, the kids got into college (didn't see that one coming), the mother in law has glaucoma and a $100 a day weed habit" Meanwhile the picture is of a car that couldn't be worth $5k.

And lets face it, these cars were super cool in the base model and they still are today!

I sat down and wrote out a plan. I looked at my original notes and ideas. It was clear they had mushroomed out of control. I made a list with 3 columns. Must, should, want.

What MUST you do to get this car on the road in a way you will be proud to drive it? Fix the cooling problems, mechanical, get decent wheels, paint etc

What SHOULD you do when you can so you don't end up with problems? This is things like wiring while the car is apart, etc. Might not be necessary but nice to do before I button everything up. Who wants to track a power draw or some other electrical gremlins in the lot of the local Dairy Queen.

WANT = can wait! Power windows, transmissions swaps, crate motors, Nasa developed sound deadeners, etc.

Here is the rule, MUST has to be completed/paid for before SHOULD and SHOULD before WANT. I realized the WANT column was friggin paralyzing my project from the neck down. I kept dipping into the WANT list buying those parts first. WANTS don't get you any closer to rolling out.

Who am I, friggin Chip Foose? Barry White? Nope, but this car will still be cool.

This was a tough process but I trimmed or postponed about $12-15k of fat from the project. What is that in time, a year? probably more!

I am not out of the woods yet, but I keep looking at the fine cars here for inspiration and plugging away. It will be a one of a kind muscle car. Maybe not a feat of modern engineering laden with the best money has to offer but it will ride again.
 
#16 ·
Amen brother, these thoughts are in my head as I read alot of posts and stand in my own garage daydreaming about my own ride. This post should be re-posted every few months just to keep us on track. Thanks
 
#18 ·
I love it! Rat-Rods are the best fun. I love my Rat creation. You can really enjoy them. You can sit on the fenders, sweat in them, eat junk food in them and let the dog bark at non-believers that scoff at the red-necking-guy in the Rat......all while you bang the gears with glee. A perfect car is like a good-looking-girlfriend/wife: you're always worried about someone dinging it or stealing it---the car owns you. I'd leave it in the old red with the primer spots for that 1970s hot-rodder patina. Work in process Rat! Put on that Eliminator scoop with ram air working and a hot 351 Windsor or Cleveland with at least 3.50 gears. Make it more mechanics than looks like I think you want. Driver quality chrome. Nice carpet. No radio, just exhaust. Good tires. Yep: make it stop good, make it go fast and maybe, maybe make it prettier.
 
#23 ·
I'd leave it in the old red with the primer spots for that 1970s hot-rodder patina. Work in process Rat! Put on that Eliminator scoop with ram air working and a hot 351 Windsor or Cleveland with at least 3.50 gears. Make it more mechanics than looks like I think you want. Driver quality chrome. Nice carpet. No radio, just exhaust. Good tires. Yep: make it stop good, make it go fast and maybe, maybe make it prettier.
Man, we're in the south....Absolutely necessary is the radio....You can't jam gears without Jammin' Skynyrd...
 
#19 ·
Thanks for all the inspiration guys, and that was a great post Catmando.

I am still debating on all the exterior details. I know the scoop and spoiler are going back on, but I am not sure if I want to put any trim on that isn't necessary. Either way I do know the drivetrain details. It will be a Cleveland, even though I know there are a lot of haters out there. It will be built out of parts that I have left over from the cougars drag racing days. Desktop Dyno says that it will put out 535 hp at the flywheel, but I know Desktop Dyno is not dead accurate. I will be happy with 450 to the tires, will find out after it is on the road. I have a neighbor at my shop that builds turbo cars and has a dyno, so he said he would hook me up. The trans is a C-4 that has been built to hell and back, kevlar clutches, packed with a couple extra, Ford motorsport reverse manual valve body, 3,000 stall, and a bunch of other goodies. It has 0 miles on it, but has been sitting around for 9 years, so I am taking it to my trans guy to go through it and check it out. The rear is freshly built and has only about 5 miles on it. I built it just before I parked it. 3.89 gears with a 4 pinion traction lock unit, chatters like hell. Once I get the engine bay done I will work on getting the interior together while the block and heads are at the machine shop. One of my metal suppliers gave me a 4'x4' sheet of brushed stainless today (yes, gave) that I am going to make the cluster and passenger dash panel and console insert out of. Yesterday turned out to be not so short of a day, the rain killed me, so I only got to work on it a little last night. I will be doing more welding tonight for as long as I can, at least until I run out of cutting wheels. Maybe I will be able to get a big chunk of it done this weekend.
 
#21 ·
One of my metal suppliers gave me a 4'x4' sheet of brushed stainless today (yes, gave) that I am going to make the cluster and passenger dash panel and console insert out of. Yesterday turned out to be not so short of a day, the rain killed me, so I only got to work on it a little last night. I will be doing more welding tonight for as long as I can, at least until I run out of cutting wheels. Maybe I will be able to get a big chunk of it done this weekend.

Have a look at adapting a 68 crash pad. I've often contemplated building a full width insrtument panel under a 68 pad in my 69
 
#20 ·
i agree to on the need and not want part, my 2 cars were in such bad shape every corner needs touched. one day at a time , one thing at a time !
 
#24 ·
That is a good idea Leon, I would love to see that done, but am hell bent on the idea that I have for mine.

I have been slowly chipping away at it over the last 2 weeks. I don't get much time to work on it. If I am not working then I am at home with the little one all day, so can't do it with her. If I am working then I have to pick her up by 4 because my babysitter set a stupid timeline on me. So the only time I get to do anything is after mama gets home and we eat dinner, by then it's 7, and the little one goes to bed at 8. So I get at most 1 hour a day, and thats if the wife isn't nagging at me about being in the garage all the time. I hope to at least have the last bit of welding done in the next week and get it in primer, then body filler. All the welding in the engine bay is done but I need to weld some tabs in on the inside of the fire wall for mounting my fuse panel and starter solenoid and maybe the coil and ignition box. Got a couple of bags of sand at home depot today so once I get my tabs welded in I am going to start blasting all the old paint away and getting ready for primer. Here is a picture of how she sits now.

 
#25 ·
umm, did you weld up the fresh air intake area below the windsheild? Are you not running wipers? Good to see progress, kinda ettin itchy to do some myself.
But the minvan needs rockers before the MVI next month, always something more important to do.
 
#26 ·
Yes sir I did. No wipers, no air, no heat. I will also be getting rid of the wiper arm holes in the cowl. This car wont see rain, it is a toy, I have my truck and bike for rainy, cold weather. I will add air and heat later, but no wipers. Also welded up all the holes for the wiring and fuel lines. There will be no holes under the hood, or wires, that are visable anyway.
 
#27 ·
Well it's been 2 more weeks and what seems like not enough getting done. I have been working on getting all the parts together and cleaned up for the engine build. Working on getting the last few pieces I need before taking the engine to the machine shop. Turns out that the parts and wear items that I need are more than I was thinking. I have my new stainless valves and all head hardware now. Got an awesome deal on an intake and rockers with hardware, thanks Brandon (Cougarlover29). I guess I can save all the stuff I have been buying and cleaning for when it is engine building time, thats my favorite part. So for now, other than the engine stuff, all I have done is buy parts and work on the engine bay. I got all my welding done. Filled in all my holes. Welded in some hangers for my wiring to tie to inside the fender aprons. Welded in brackets for a panel to mount to for all my electrical stuff like the solenoid, ignition box, coil, stuff like that. Finished the export and monte carlo bar brackets. Also got everything sandblasted and ready for primer. Was planning on priming today but we had a bit of an ice over last night and I would let the wife drive in it so her and the little one stayed home today. No painting while the little one is home. Anywho, here is how she sits as of now, progress should pick up now that the pain in the ass part is over.

 
#29 ·
Thanks Bob, I am sure I will come across something soon, like a cat for the headlight door, but Don seems to have them pretty cheap for new ones. We are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum, but yours is pretty custom too, though I think the way you are building yours is something like the way they should have been from the factory.

Still collecting parts for the engine. Work has picked up a little so I have been busier than expected this week. Now if I can get this one jerk-off customer to pay me, I will be in good shape. I got it in epoxy primer last monday, and have been working on plastic and sanding ever since. I just got my second coat on today, already used a good chunk of the gallon I got. Man, I hate sanding. Oh well. I may have to do a third coat in a couple of places just to get pinholes and small low spots built up a tad, but not too much. Then I will get the filler primer on, then more sanding, ugh.

Well here it is, plastic city. If I can ever get past all this damn sanding, maybe I can get some wiring and dynomat done.
 
#31 ·
No inspections around here, just emissions on anything newer than 25 years. I have a cowl panel from a parts car that I am going to hang onto just in case it ever needs to be changed.
 
#32 ·
Every state requires wipers and a defroster. No inspection means you can get it tagged, but it doesn't make it legal.

My buddy has a Cutlass that is missing wipers and defrost. After he got the faulty or missing equipment ticket he had to get creative to get the ticket wiped.

He put a couple of those long squirrel cage fans under the defrost outlets and that worked as a simulated defroster. He had to get a bit more clever with the wipers. He waited until we had a little sprinkle here. About a block from the insepction he took a wiper arm and swept the windshield in an arc on each side so it looked like the wipers were working. The base of the wiper arms that were on the car were concealed under the back edge of the cowl. Those wiper arms were not attched to anything but two wooden dowel rod pieces that were glued to the cowl.

When he pulled into the inspection station, he jumped out of the car, and handed the ticket to the inspector. The inspector asked about the wipers and he pointed to the car, and the very obvious arcs on the windshield and said: "Didn't you see them? I just shut 'em off." The inspector stuck hi hand in the window and felt air moving from the defrost vent and passed the car.
 
#33 ·
In my province I need to show proof of Inspection sticker and insurance before they will issue liscence tags. I can have a vehicle tranferred but not tagged until inspected and insured. Wipers are part of the inspection. When applying for antique plates I need to have a liscenced mechanic sign a mechanical fitness report once and no more inspections-ever (until the law pulls me over and asked to have it done again, seldom happens). The antique plates are ok for me and alot of guys who keep the repairs on there vehicle but there are some who let there vehicles slide and there travelling the roads very unsafely. Whats happenning now is alot of custom or pro street type cars are being pulled of the hiway beacause of chassis modifications. Any bach halved cars or vehicles with mis matched power trains need to be inspected by a government certified mechanic that will give the OK to your vehicle. Apparently theres only one in our province.
 
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