Читать книгу Detroit Speed's How to Build a Pro Touring Car - Tommy Lee Byrd - Страница 8
ОглавлениеSo you’ve made the decision to go the Pro Touring route with your vehicle. Let’s get down to business regarding the necessary tools and skills to get the job done. Tackling a restoration or custom build is an in-depth process that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Some special tools are necessary, and if you’ve never torn into a muscle car, you’ll learn a lot during the build. This book, with its great collection of photos, tips, and special tricks, should help you build an awesome Pro Touring vehicle.
If you’re a car guy, an empty engine bay isn’t all that scary. But if you’re new to the hobby, this could offer enough intimidation to turn you away. Luckily, the right tools make a huge difference and make big projects easy to tackle.
First of all, a good mechanical mind-set is necessary to perform many of these installations. Even if you’ve never restored or modified a car, the process is fairly straightforward if you use some common sense and a basic set of tools. The techniques are sometimes tricky but tips are provided that allow you to complete a Pro Touring build in your garage. You may not be interested in taking on such a daunting task but even if you send your car to a professional shop, it’s a good idea to know the ins and outs of your build before you hand it over.
Who Can Build a Pro Touring Car?
The ability to build a Pro Touring car depends on the extent of the build and your experience level. If your only automotive experience is changing the oil in your daily driver, you may not want to start from scratch with a complete build. Don’t be afraid to take on a challenging task but know your limitations, especially if welding or other modifications are involved in your plan.
A full assortment of regular hand tools is a must for any car build, including a Pro Touring project. Don’t overlook the obvious stuff, such as wrenches, sockets, and hammers. This stuff gets used a lot during the build process.
Specialized tools, such as this bushing remover/installer (used for GM A-Body upper rear axle bushings), really come in handy when you’re in the heat of the battle. When a hammer and chisel don’t get the job done, a specialized tool will help.
Luckily, the key components in a Pro Touring build consist of suspension parts, and most of them are bolt-on pieces. An average car guy with a full set of hand tools can easily rebuild the suspension and add a few aftermarket parts along the way. If you’re going all out with items such as a mini-tub kit or a Detroit Speed QUADRALink rear suspension, you’ll do a fair amount of cutting, welding, and grinding to install the components.
Rotisseries are an excellent way to reach every square inch of your project car but please note that they are not completely necessary. If you have a vehicle torn down far enough to put on a rotisserie, you’re already pretty deep into the project.
If this is your first build, there will certainly be moments that make you think, “Can I really do this?” and that’s perfectly fine. If this stuff were easy, you wouldn’t need to read a book about it. The main thing to remember is the wealth of information in this book, as well as the helpful nature of most car guys. If you have a couple of gearhead buddies, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’d be surprised how much more quickly and easily things may fall together with another pair of hands and eyeballs. Missed steps are often avoided when a helping hand is involved, and to be perfectly honest, it’s much more fun to hang out in the shop with a couple of friends than to handle the build alone. Go ahead and plan on ordering a few pizzas and stocking up on cold beverages. Your friends will likely accept this as an even trade for their time and experience. If not, you need to find some new friends or take on an easier project!
All joking aside, you will most definitely need help from time to time. Some of the suspension pieces are a handful, and you always want an extra pair of hands when it’s time to lift heavy stuff, such as the rear end or subframe, or attempt to install an engine and transmission. Just as there are times you need a helping hand, you may also need to have certain items pressed into place, which may require some running around town to find a shop that can help. Control-arm bushings, some types of ball joints, and most leaf-spring bushings are usually the only items that require a press to disassemble and install the new parts, so it usually isn’t a big expense or time consumer. With this in mind, the extent of your build determines how much time you spend at the local fab shop or machine shop. Engine builds can be costly and sometimes risky for a novice but it’s part of the process, unless you have the available cash for a ready-to-run crate engine.
Simple things can sometimes bog you down, but remember that a floor jack and hand tools can accomplish a lot of tasks in the garage. Jack stands are an absolute must, and an extra floor jack may provide assistance in some situations.
Do-it-yourselfers go to great lengths to build cars that are out of the ordinary and they’re also a staple of the Pro Touring industry. If you’re willing to cut, weld, grind, and hammer on a car to make it all come together, you’re ready to dive headfirst into a Pro Touring build.
If you’ve ever built your own engine, you certainly qualify to build a Pro Touring car. Even if it was a lawn mower engine, you’ve exhibited the necessary mechanical common sense. Some aspects are simply bolting parts together, though others require additional skills.
Cash is another subject that should be covered because not everyone is ready to spend thousands of dollars on an old car. The beauty of building a Pro Touring car is that you can get the right look without spending an inordinate amount of money right off the bat. A lowered stance, large-diameter wheels, performance tires, and a couple of engine modifications would provide a great start. Then you can upgrade items one at a time, as funds become available. In the meantime, you can still enjoy your car and keep it on the road.
Not everyone can afford to install a lift in his or her garage (sometimes space is the real issue) and it’s not a mandatory piece of equipment for the average car guy. It definitely makes suspension work a lot easier to handle but it’s a matter of convenience, not necessity.
This approach is okay for a budget builder, as long as the necessary steps are taken to make sure the car is safe to drive during the upgrading process. You wouldn’t want to take off down the road in a Camaro that hasn’t received any suspension or brake work in 20 years, so be cautious, and spend your money wisely. In other words, make sure the car is safe before you start spending money on modifications.
Many car guys would rather take on the entire project at once, instead of the piecemeal approach. Full-on gearheads take a car completely down to the bare bones and bring it back up from scratch. Be prepared for lots of down time if you take this approach. Jobs, family, and regular everyday life certainly get in the way of progress, so don’t expect to completely rebuild a classic muscle car in a few months. Sometimes it takes years to accomplish the goal but it’s worth every penny and every hour spent when you slide behind the wheel with confidence that your car will handle whatever you throw at it.
Regardless of your budget or skill level, sparks are going to fly if you take on a Pro Touring build, so safety is a top priority to protect your eyes, skin, and hearing. Unless you buy a completed car and bolt on some mild components, you need to brush up on your welding, cutting, and grinding skills. In most cases, a MIG welder is sufficient for the average build.
TIG welding is highly preferred in many aspects but it’s not the only form of welding that gets the job done. TIG welding is a little trickier than MIG, but as long as you know what you’re doing, it’s super strong and it lays down nice and flat.
Where Can a Pro Touring Car Be Built?
A Pro Touring car can be built in your driveway but it’s easier if you have a well-equipped shop, where the car can sit in the dry and remain disassembled for a while. Although Kyle and Stacy Tucker built their first Camaro in a small two-car home garage, you’d be better off in a larger setting because a car takes up much more room when it’s scattered into a thousand pieces. The last thing you want to do is move your wife’s car and your lawn mower outdoors while your project car is temporarily disabled, but that’s not to say it hasn’t been done against the will of wives around the world.
Some of the most awesome Pro Touring machines have been built in the attached garage of someone’s house. Although it isn’t the ideal location for a full-on build, it’s how Kyle and Stacy Tucker started. Full builds are tough in the tight confines of a home garage but minor repairs and modifications are easily achieved.
A chassis table is something most car guys never use, unless they work in a professional chassis or fab shop. These tables are very useful for squaring up a chassis but it’s rare that the average shop has enough room for a bulky rig that takes up as much space as the entire car.
It’s amazing how much space is needed when you tear a car completely down to the bare body and frame. Even a moderately sized garage (this is a 30 × 50–foot example) quickly fills to capacity when a car is scattered into a million pieces.
Suspension upgrades can sometimes be as simple as unbolting the original component and bolting the new one into place. Regardless of the severity of the build, you need plenty of room to get around and underneath the car.
Some folks say that an automotive lift, such as a two- or four-post unit, is necessary for a complete build. Although a lift certainly makes it easy to get beneath your car, it’s not a deal breaker if your shop isn’t large enough for it. Lots of incredible Pro Touring cars have been built in small garages with nothing more than a floor jack and an assortment of jack stands. In fact, Detroit Speed often uses wooden lift blocks and jack stands under their builds, as this brings the car off the ground while also allowing plenty of room to get in it, under it, and around it.
Regardless of the size of your shop, be prepared for an influx of junk filling every corner. Disassembling a car, especially when you have plans to replace many of the parts, creates quite a swap-meet pile. Some guys like to keep the original parts, in the event they decide to go back to stock, but here is a little secret: When you realize how well your muscle car handles with the Pro Touring treatment, you’ll never want to go back!
Swap meets are a great way to recoup some of your spending, and it clears out space in the shop, so maybe then you can get your lawn mower out of the rain. Swap meets are also a great place to find parts on the cheap. Here’s a thought: Just buy a cover for the mower and reserve the room in the shop for more car parts.
A must-have in the shop is a level. It doesn’t have to be fancy or high-dollar; just a basic level from the hardware store. A level and a tape measure have been instrumental tools in the automotive world. If you have a smart phone, you can get an application that offers a level, which really comes in handy!
It’s always important to remember safety when working beneath a car, so if you plan to do the suspension and undercarriage work without a lift, be sure to use a high-quality floor jack and jack stands. Never slide under a car without giving it a good nudge on the jack stands to make sure it’s steady. You can never be too safe in this situation. Never use concrete cinder blocks as jack stands. They work great for the foundation of your house but they are not meant to hold the weight of a car.
Hammers, dollies, chisels, and punches rank highly on the list of must-have tools. Any tool that is used for hammering or driving something into place needs to be a high-quality piece. Don’t get caught up in the luster of cheap tools; get the good stuff, and it’ll last forever.
You’ll always wish you had a couple more Vise-Grips in your toolbox. Regular Vise-Grip pliers come in handy for just about anything, but special ones, such as these C-clamp pliers, can do the work of three of your friends trying to hold that panel in place.
If you’re going to do anything more than simply bolting on aftermarket components, you need to invest in a good welder. MIG welders are affordable and easy to use, whereas TIG machines require a little more expertise and a bit more money.
A good collection of hammers is necessary for any car build. Dead-blow hammers are great for whacking on parts that need a delicate touch, but you should have a mini-sledge at your disposal for when things get serious.
Shown here are two great tools for anyone who plans to work with metal. A bench grinder is one of the cheapest and handiest tools ever, although the drill press saves lots of time and effort, compared to using a hand drill.
Sometimes a hand drill is the only option, so put a cordless drill on your wish list. Another tool that is super convenient is a cordless impact wrench. The battery life is great in most cases, and it takes a lot of the effort out of loosening and tightening bolts.
There isn’t a designated list of necessary tools to perform a Pro Touring build because each build requires a different approach. Some builds are quite simple, with only bolt-on additions, whereas others are very extensive with lots of cutting, welding, and custom fabrication. Both ends of the spectrum are covered, with the build-up featured in this book; it includes a great mix of bolt-on components and hand-fabbed goodies. Obviously, the fabrication aspect of a custom build requires a number of specialty tools, but it’s a simple matter of how far you want to take it.
Air tools are a must for any complete build but you can get by with a good assortment of regular hand tools if you’re making simple upgrades to the suspension, brakes, or steering system. If you’re digging into the engine and drivetrain, specialty tools are must-have items. Some of the most-used tools in the shop are clamping pliers of all shapes and sizes, a big hammer, and a few cordless power tools, such as an impact drill and reciprocating saw.
If you’re planning to plumb the braking system or fuel system using hard line, you need a good hand bender. Bending lines over your knee sometimes works but hand benders are cheap and a little more precise than just eyeballing it and hoping for the best.
A tubing flare tool is also a must-have for fabricating hard lines for the braking or fuel system. You may not use this tool every day but it will prove its worth many times over. Flaring tools are generally cheap enough to add to your tool collection even if you plan to use them only once.
Electric tools, such as grinders, drills, and saws, are also important items to have; many of them can take the place of air tools if you do not have an adequate air compressor. In many instances, one of these tools will get you out of a bind that a regular hand tool just can’t handle. Be sure to have plenty of drop cord with the correct gauge of wire (12-gauge is suggested for all power tools) for this sort of project, and always keep a shop light handy. If you’re willing to throw in some extra cash, you could always opt for cordless tools. Even if you have air tools and an assortment of electric tools, a cordless impact belongs on the must-have list.
A good welder should be on every wish list; a MIG welder is sufficient for almost any project. Although most professional shops use a TIG welder for items such as roll-cage tubing, it isn’t the most practical machine for the novice welder. You can pick up a MIG welder without breaking the bank, and it really comes in handy if you like the idea of making your own brackets or repairing sheet metal. Most cheap MIG welders are not suitable for welding thick steel, such as the material used on chassis and suspension components, but it’s certainly a must-have tool if you’re planning to rebuild a car.
One of the most versatile and simplistic tools is a vise. You’ll use it every day, whether it’s clamping something in place to make a cut, tighten a bolt, or weld two pieces together. It also serves as a great anvil.
You may not see the need to invest in a hydraulic press if you plan to build only one car every five years but it sure saves a lot of time when it comes to suspension components. Ball joints and control-arm bushings are generally pressed-in items, so having a press in the shop saves time.
Mild or Wild?
A mild build may consist of minor upgrades to the suspension and drivetrain but no big tasks that require fabrication or major welding. These types of builds are generally short-term projects that keep your vehicle up and rolling, instead of torn apart in the corner of your garage.
You probably have tons of ideas floating around in your head regarding your dream Pro Touring build. Regardless of whether the dream build is realistic, you should determine the extent of your build before you jump in. It’s important to know your limits; choosing between mild and wild can sometimes be a tough decision, especially if you are confident of your abilities. Sometimes it’s a matter of budget and sometimes it’s a matter of practicality when the car is completed. The choice is yours and the door is wide open for all sorts of great combinations of aftermarket components.
New springs, shocks, sway bars, and maybe an upgraded set of brakes can totally change the way a muscle car handles, so that may be the extent of your build. If so, you’ll likely enjoy the difference in performance, but hardcore guys want to continually get faster, and that’s when wild combinations are created. A truly wild build will likely have a big price tag because of the high-end parts as well as the labor costs involved in a professional build. But that’s not to say that a high-end car can’t be built in a home garage without the use of high-tech equipment.
Anytime a car is stripped to the bare metal, and multiple panels are replaced, you’re looking at a long-term project. Custom fabrication takes time if you’re doing it yourself, and money if you’re hiring it out, so high-end builds add up quickly.
Even though this Camaro’s subframe is nicely detailed, it isn’t overly complicated, and it gives the car a great stance. The owner is leaving a lot of handling performance on the table by retaining the stock control arms (because of the unwanted flex from the stamped-steel arms and the poor geometry) but the aftermarket coil springs, larger sway bar, and new bushings help tremendously.
The following is a comparison between a mild build and a wild build.
A full roll cage with racing seats is a good sign of an all-out Pro Touring build. Roll cages offer great rigidity to the chassis, but actually create a hazard if you plan to drive on the street. Even a tiny fender bender could slam your unprotected noggin against the tubing.
Mild
Chassis and Suspension
Subframe connectors
Front suspension rebuild (new ball joints, tie-rods, control-arm bushings)
New coil springs with appropriate spring rate and ride height
High-quality shock absorbers (front and rear)
Larger anti-roll bar
New Pitman arm and idler arm
Disc brake upgrade
New leaf springs with appropriate ride height
17 × 8–inch wheels with generic street tires
Engine and Drivetrain
Aluminum intake manifold
Performance carburetor
Mild camshaft and lifter upgrade
Headers and exhaust
Aluminum radiator and electric fan(s)
Overdrive transmission
Wild
Chassis and Suspension
Subframe connectors
Detroit Speed hydroformed subframe assembly
Tubular control arms
Adjustable coil-over conversion (front and rear)
Splined anti-roll bar
Rack-and-pinion steering
Large-diameter brakes with six-piston calipers
Four-link rear suspension
Roll cage
18 × 10 and 18 × 12 wheels and high-performance tires
Engine and Drivetrain
LS engine swap
High-performance oiling system
Aftermarket cylinder heads and valvetrain
High-performance camshaft and lifters
Custom engine control module (ECM) and wiring harness
Complete fuel system
LS swap headers and custom exhaust
Aluminum radiator and electric fan(s)
Overdrive transmission (with high-performance clutch set)
Rear-end gears with appropriate ratio
For some of the detail-oriented portions of a Pro Touring build, such as wiring, plumbing, and the like, you need a few specialty tools. For brake lines and fuel lines you need a small tubing bender and a flare tool. You can always buy a brake line or fuel line kit but it’s much cleaner if you bend the lines and route them to your liking. As for wiring, you need cutters, strippers, and crimping tools, along with a soldering iron, a good continuity tester, and a lot of patience.
If money and space aren’t an issue, a big lathe can be a lot of fun. Obviously, this isn’t the average tool for a Pro Touring build, but if you have machining experience you can certainly crank out some cool stuff.
