To Build, Or Not To Build,.....that Is The Question.

Just because you do it yourself doesnt mean its right, half the folks on here make a living building cars for others. Under the do it yourself scenario there'd be allot of broke hungry members here.

Personally this thread is silly and trying to 'categorize' car enthusiasts is lame and counter to the 'sport'

Thanks Obama.

I get that you won't ever get everyone here to agree, or all of our cars would look the same. If this is going to be enough of an argument, I say open a poll and let the majority favor decide if we need to have such distinction made.

Either/or. 6 of one, half dozen of another. I let my machinist assemble the race engine, not because I cant, hell I wanted to assemble it, but if I let him do it, and then if something goes sideways, he is on the hook, not me. I spent just over $23k on the longblock, with that kind of investment I wanted my machinist to put it together. I personally have built (read assembled) dozens and dozens of engines, mostly when I ran my own shop, but I defered to the expert on this one. I assembled my own rear diff, but paid to have it welded and braced and set up for 9" axle ends. I tore the car down to a bare shell on the inside, stripped out the entire vehicle wire harness and put in a FAST XFI engine management system and programed it and got the car started and running for the first time last Sun. I did not solder a circuit bord or add transistors or whatnot, but I did install the system and make it work. I wired from scratch with switches and relays ect ect the electric fuel pump, electric water pump, electric evac pump, electric fan, lights, electric inter-cooler pump, electric pump for the liqid cooled S/C. wired the MSD ignition and the tachometer. So in my mind, yes, your damn right I built this car, even with all of the outside help and money spent on major components. If I start a thread, I am not going to get my shorts in a twist because it is arbitrarily called a progress thread, not a build thread. I know what I did, that is all that matters. Some here have mad skills and the facilities to exploit that. Some of us have mad skills and dont have the space or equipment to showcase it. Some of my build I did at home, some at work where all my tools are along with a lift, compressed air, welder ect, and some work at my buddys house where he has a simular build and is a good pair of extra hands.
Wow, did I just rant or what? Anyway props to the people who do their own stuff, I have a ton of respect for the abilities shown. I personally like stuff that is outside the box, another HCI "build" is meh....to me. What MadMike does, along with Raceoholic and others is what makes this the place to be. My build/progress thingy is one of those outside the box exercises, even if I "didn't build that"

Just my two cents: the distinction is unnecessary. It's not like people with build/progress threads are the only ones giving out advice on this forum, be it good or bad. Hell, even I've given advice a time or two when there happened to be a question that was within the realm of my limited expertise.

How is the distinction even made? Is it solely by the judgment of forum moderators? I see that the build thread prefix is not an option when creating a new thread.

madmike1157 said:

To me, a build thread involves more than just bolting something on. If there is part swapping, rewiring, cutting, welding and grinding involved, then that makes it technically a build thread with one exception. That exception being who is doing the work. If you are the one doing all the swapping, rewiring, cutting, welding and grinding, then to me, that definitely makes it a build thread.

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Emphasis mine. I take this to mean that a thread on here is a build thread if at least one of the italicized items is fulfilled? If I have a machine shop build my engine, a body shop smooth my engine bay and paint my car, a transmission shop build a transmission for me, another shop build a rear end for me, and install everything myself, then it's a build thread. Most if not all progress threads currently on this forum are build threads by that definition. Shouldn't @hoopty5.0 and @A5literMan's threads be build threads rather than progress threads.

madmike1157 said:

To answer your question: That depends on how much of the stuff you take from there and do yourself after the fact.

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Again, emphasis mine. Then there's this. Who exactly decides how much DIY is enough to qualify for build thread status? It's a rhetorical question, but worth voicing nonetheless.

I've never seen anyone posting up a progress thread of a car on which they are doing none of the work (unless I missed one or two). I have seen it on other forums, though. It seems a bit much to put a lesser value on someone's work because they neither have time and/or expertise to do all the specialty work, but are still competent and able enough to install it themselves. Full disclosure: I'll more than likely fall into this category when (if) I start tearing into my car. I may be unable to machine an engine, run a welder or do paint and body, but I can swap an engine and tranny. I probably won't even post a build thread anyway since I probably won't be doing anything y'all haven't seen a million times already.

89oem said:

Personally this thread is silly and trying to 'categorize' car enthusiasts is lame and counter to the 'sport'

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Agreed. That being said, you'll hear no argument from me regarding those who do none of their own work.

Personally I don't care what anyone wants to "label" my threads. I do understand what Mike is doing. It used to fall under either "tech" or "talk" (this entire distinction between the two). While I have some abilitys I guarantee there are a ton of people on here that can do it better than me. I am not a professional. I am just a hobbyist that loves these cars. I have played with them since the late 80's. I know some will be insulted by some moderated distinction but I am not one of them. I will post what pics/advise/opinions I have and let the reader decide.

My car is an 03 with a 4.6 so I'll never post about it in here anyway. Couldn't care less. :[emoji12]

Noobz347 said:

Found this while poking around old threads:

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Noobz347 said:

I was afraid that might happen but wasn't sure. When I log back into the admin panel, it appears just fine though. LOL




*cough cough... badass* *cough* *not implying cough* *anything here* *cough cough*

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Saw a Cobra II for sale recently. The guy wanted $8000 for it. Didn't they have like 140hp?

2000xp8 said:

I've been a member and reading here for somewhere around12 years.
I can't remember the last time someone took credit for doing something that they didn't do.
And just because someone doesn't physically do it themselves, doesn't mean they don't know how to do it.
I know plenty of people that can do things, but they don't always because of time constraints.
Consider this, you make $600 a day, you know how to swap a trans, but it will take you all day. You got a guy you trust that will do it for $250 and will be done in 4 hours.
Why not goto work and net $350 and have your weekend free to spend with your family?

Some of the most accomplished guys here don't build their own shortblocks, why? Because their time is better spent on other tasks and they have qualified people with machine shops that will do it 75% faster.

I know plenty of people that pay others to cut their lawn, but it doesn't mean they don't know how to cut it.

My point is, someone's skill or knowledge can't be soley judged based on whether or not they did their own work.

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You make $600 a day?! I need to know what you do! Lol.

Joe

This exactly.
I built the hot 390 in my '69 F250. I built my first HCI 5.0. I built my first short block. I built my first T5.
While I don't make $600 a day I'm in the neighbourhood. Additionally I work 14-15 hour days. Sure as heck not spending time in the garage during the week and, I have other hobbies, to name a few; mountain biking and Jeeping to do those right a full day is eaten up.
I have room in my garage for my car, my wifes SUV... but not enough for an engine hoist. I'm not making her park outside for who knows how long, and i'm sure not sitting the car out there either.
I did all the research, and parts selection for my "progress", and worked with several "builders" to get a final product.

Progress vs Build, I see the distinction, understand it and think it makes sense. I think the guys that turn their own wrenches deserve the distinction. Good job forum guys.
But please, don't think just because a guy is using a builder he/she cannot turn a wrench or think for himself/herself.

guess I don't know how to "quote".

cleanLX said:

But please, don't think just because a guy is using a builder he/she cannot turn a wrench or think for himself/herself.

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There was a person here who pays/paid people to work on his stuff that once made the infamous quote that "You shouldn't waste your time with a home built motor because it will not last as long as a professionally built one"

Of course, anyone with half a brain knows that that is a completely false statement. It also lends itself to the thought that whoever would make such a statement has no idea what he's doing and needs to pay someone to do his work..

Nobody said people who pay others don't know how to do the work, But some people who do pay others to have certainly told off on themselves with dimwitted comments.

I grind my own cam shafts with a hack saw and dremel and I have my own Banbury mixer to make my own steel belted tires for my vehicles out of my garage. Do I qualify to get a build thread title?


All kidding aside,
I take great pride in doing as much of my own work as I can myself and it's always worth it to learn something new even if you fail at it once or twice before getting it right. However, like many other people, my abilities have their limits. There is no shame in outsourcing parts of your build.