building a rod from scratch must be alot of work. I've never done it. bot i am building one that i bought stock and took apart. If i had it to do over again i would do as has been suggested: take over a project that that another has started. Or ,better yet one that is mostly done. Running, moving chassis and body that needs finishing. That way I could enjoy driving it to rod runs , making new friends and generally having a good hot rod experience. It's not all about the building of it.