Hot (Rat) rod on a budget

Hey, I'm 17 and have very little money, and i want to start a project building a nice late 20's early 30's hot (rat) rod, I dont really want to build an award winner, just an eye catcher. Right now i have a 68 lemans with a pontiac 350 in it and i was thinking about using the engine and tranny out of it and hopefully finding the rest of the stuff in a junkyard or on ebay. my main question is what kind of frame would look cool out of what car. ive had friends tell me that maybe a vega frame (maybe i could use the frame off of my 68 pontiac would that work?) with a 27 ford body would look cool but im not sure how much modifying to the frame i would have to do to fit the body on (i dont want to have to do to many modifications to the frame). Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

Many cars, such as the Vega, have no frame. They are called "unibody" cars.

The frame of the cars from the 20s & 30s were very narrow. your Tempest frame is probably too wide for an early car body to fit on. You will need to roll under some cars with a tape measure to see if they are even close to the size you need.

If you have a limited budget, cars from the thirties are tough to find, and harder to build. For your first project I would recommend buying a running car that you can lower, paint, upholster, put wheels on, and make it look the way you like. Even that will soak up more dollars than you think.

Once you have had some experience with modifying a car, you can try something a little more difficult next time.

If your State has no fender laws, how about a T bucket. They are probably the least expensive way to get into Hot Rodding. I see ones on Ebay all the time that have no engine or trans, but pretty complete every other way, selling for very little money.

You could adapt that Pontiac engine/drivetrain, toss some inexpensive steel wheels with whitewalls, and flat paint, and have a cool '50 style rod for very little money. Then as you get more cash you can add stuff to make it nicer. They are perfect for the entry level rodder.

But, if you go this route, make sure the frame and suspension are either a store bought set-up, or fabricated well. I see some T buckets on ebay that are someones misguided attempt to build a car. Badly put together frames, unworkable suspension geometry, etc. There are some really bad rods out there for sale.

The one thing in your favor if you go this route is that t buckets have been around for so many years that there are tons of unfinished or non running ones sitting in garages all over the place. Plus, some rodders figure out that they are not the most comfortable car going, so they move on to a bigger rod, and are willing to dispose of the bucket cheap. We bought one a few years ago for $ 1500.00, and it came with lots of brand new Total Performance parts still in the boxes. Fuel tank, windshield, hydraulic brake setup, corvair steering, etc. We sold the body, frame and front and rear suspension for almost what we paid, and had a good $ 2000.00 in parts for the one I am starting to save parts for.

Buck for buck, no other rod can be built so inexpensively, or quickly. Plus, they are a real kick to drive.

Just my 2 cents.

thanx maybe a t buckets the way ill go

nothing from the lemans except the engine/ trans will work, if you no longer want it, sell it for cash for parts, you will get more out of it.

Yep, a bucket would be the way to start. Use your Poncho engine, tranny, rear end and some small stuff on a commercial frame and front end,even a second hand one that someone gave up on, and have a ball!

Yup, what the other guys said. But before you starting laying out $$$$ for all brand new pieces, check out all the local and not so local swap meets, classifieds, and rumors for unfinished projects and somebody else's left overs. Friend of mine got a T-bucket minus the wheels, tires, engine, trans, rear end, and steering columm for $1500.00 !!!! The owner had robbed the missing pieces for his new project and gave the rest away. Body and (gorgeous) interior were worth well over the selling price. After all, half the fun is in the search !!!!!!

I didn't read the last 4 posts but here is what I would recommend and comment on.... First off, you want something cheap? Well to find a 20's or 30's rod will be hard to get in the first place. Second they aren't going to be cheap IF you find one. Now for the frame, you can't use much of anything because the narrowness of them. What you CAN do is go to somewhere like "Speedway Motors" and order their frame rail kit with the rear end and front end too if wanted or JUST the rails themselves. (That is if you have a body). You can also look at Speedway Motor's full T bucket kits as well. They are not the BEST glass bodies around but with some work they can be made nice. Either way, if you find a old 20's or 30's it may be rusted and take a LOT of metal work to fix so why not just do the same with a glass body? Who care's if it's not real, it still looks sweet IMO. It may take about 8 grand to build one from the frame up including all the little things like wirings, brakes, brake lines, etc but if you are smart and you get a junkyard car then you can use things off of that car and put it into the kit.
Now say you don't want to go this route... Then look for something like a 40's or 50's car. May not be a "hot rod" but it will make a sweet custom or led sled and roomier as well. (means you can fit a lot of those high school hunnies in em) heh. You can find something like this for a pretty decent price with or without a motor. Of course the cheaper ones will require things like interior, wiring probably, small things like headlights, a little rust repair and new paint but still worth it if you find the right deal.
Good luck on this and I hope you find something that you like. At least you are into hot rods though, we need more guys our age into the hobby.

One advantage to using the Poncho engine/trans in a Bucket is that it's an unusual combination. Also, there are lots of hop up parts available for the Poncho motors.

hey hp 77 a t bucket on a budget can be done but you have to do a lot of it yourself,build your own frame, bodywork paint etc.
i did a lot of my own work on mine and adapted the bucket body to the drivetrain. i used a nova front susp and made my own rear frame plus used the rear springs and rearend from the same car. i could have used a rear susp from a car like a lemans(i have a rear end
frame clip from a chevelle) to make the wheelbase shorter . you just have to think about what you are doing and try to plan things out as much as you can,scavenge parts etc to make shure things fit and work properly together.
good luck and if you do start keep plugging away at it.