Building a new muscle car from scratch

[chromebumpers]

Dynacore states that you can build your own 1969 Z/28 for $172,420 figuring for parts unavailable other than through salvage. The DZ designated 302 is available in crate form.

A 1970 Chevelle SS LS/5 Convertible 454, 4 speed for $187,067

Other cars can be studied for final costs upon request.

 

[Grumpy]

while its probably true that building a muscle car clone from all new components could easily get absurdly expensive ,A GREAT DEAL OF YOUR COST WILL BE RELATED TO THE DEGREE OF RESEARCH YOU DO.

Id start by asking yourself a few questions and
ANSWERING THEM HONESTLY

WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO DO WITH THE CAR ONCE ITS UP AND RUNNING?

WILL IT BE A DAILY DRIVER AND WILL IT NEED TO PASS EMISSION TESTING ?

WHAT ARE YOUR REALISTIC BUDGET AND TIME FRAME LIMITATIONS?

HOW MUCH OF THE WORK ARE YOU COMFORTABLE DOING YOURSELF
(AND KNOW YOU CAN DO AS WELL OR BETTER THAN SENDING T OUT)?

WILL YOU BE HAPPY WITH THE RESULT OR WILL YOU ALWAYS WISH YOU HAD DONE SOMETHING DIFFERENT?


just a bit of info, if you want a new transmission,core for spare parts,
I called the local "U-PULL-AUTO-PARTS"
and the salvage yard quoted me $220
for ANY AUTO TRANSMISSION I CARE TO PULL
and I asked again, any auto trans regardless of make/model/year?
and was told yes..
but that trans does not come with a warantee its looked at as a core
so Id be looking for a car/truck, source ,that had been in an accident as it had to be running to be driving,
if the car/truck you pull it out of,
is undamaged it MIGHT be in the salvage yard,
because the trans failed.
Id also look to see if theres indications,
the car/truck had been under water or in a fire,
that might have damaged the transmission


the last questions damn important, I know several guys that got rather deeply involved in restoring cars and after spending tens of thousands of dollars and years of effort they had really fantastic cars , but NOT what they really the cars they dreamed of owning

if you have experience, working on and restoring cars and your willing to most of the body ,
interior and restoration of the drive train and paint, and can locate a reasonably restore-able car to start with,or at least one of the available clone bodies, like the links below.
,your generally not going to run the costs up over the $50K-$70 k level, even on a really nice driving clone restoration. and yes obviously selecting one of the more popular cars that were built in significant numbers like the mustangs , road runners and camaros vs the AMC AMX ,will tend to make the process, of locating a salvageable car or aftermarket parts for that car, a bit easier and less expensive

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=8457&p=29663&hilit=+camaro#p29663

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...building-your-dream-car-combo.1162/#post-2367

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-jack-stands-34924.html

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...444669421&SubscriptionId=AKIAJO7E5OLQ67NVPFZA

http://www.opticarmorwindows.com/

BTW if your building a car from scratch, a set of car skates that allow you to push it anyplace in the shop and a set of sturdy 12 ton jack stands and a decent floor jack will be very useful.

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/

with good results, and have had fast service
the hydraulic car skates

THE ORIGINAL HYDRAULIC STYLES GREAT BUT CAN LEAK AND REQUIRE SEAL REPLACEMENT
https://www.mfrexpress.com/hydrauli...s-p-809.html?gclid=COHF3a6EvcgCFQ-EaQodmusMmw

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Move-It-Wheel-Dolly

http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Move-It-Dolly-Ratchet-Style
these are a bit harder to use and smaller but less likely to require maintenance and they are cheaper

make it easy to pull a corvette into the shop, and just slide a car skate on each wheel, ,you then pump up the cylinder that closes the two parallel roller bars , lifting the tire off the ground, letting the 4 swivel casters on each car skate allow the car to be pushed in any direction.
once you get to working on a car theres lots of times that the ability to push it to a different location while the engine or transmission are not 100% functional, becomes an asset.
keep in m ind the other (cheaper ) type floor skates, require use of a separate floor jack, and the ones Ive seen that a buddy purchased at HF, are not built nearly as strong from what I,ve seen, and remember corvettes are generally so close to the floor that many floor jacks won,t clear the frame unless you first drive the corvette up on a small floor ramp, and you can,t remove the floor jack unless you place spacers or ramps under the tires (Ive got 4 double thick 3/4" 12"x12" square sections of plywood I put under the corvette tires at times just too get the required floor jack clearance.)
in fact I bought the ones I did only after seeing, how useful they were in use at, a friends, he had used a set in use in his shop, for over a year, and they were working so well, it made moving his second project car simple.

these car skates or wheel dollies make moving a car you can,t drive easily around the shop far easier,
I think a good deal of the build process will be guided by the goal you have in mind for the completed car.
having a defined plan and precise goal will save you a great deal of time and wasted effort during the build

related info,
yeah theres a ton of related info,
but time spent reading the links,
(a day or so in most cases)
and related,sub-links, can and usually will save you weeks of work ,
and thousands of dollars in cash wasted on the wrong parts,
and badly done machine work,
keep in mind one of the main reasons I started this web site was..
to help prevent the time and wasted effort that not knowing exactly whats needed and how to correctly assemble parts you need to build exactly what you want, TOO ACCOMPLISH, as money spent & wasted on the wrong parts or machine work being that needs too be re-done , are all too common, in most guys first few engine builds , experience from mistakes made,is an expensive teacher
IF YOU NEED CORVETTE PARTS,
SOME ARE SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER ,
AND EASIER TO LOCATE USED

https://www.corvetterecycling.com/

https://corvettesalvage.com/

http://www.contemporarycorvette.com/

https://www.vette2vette.com/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...r-basic-performance-concepts.9731/#post-52498

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ing-parts-and-a-logical-plan.7722/#post-26314

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/block-prep.125/page-2#post-48605

http://www.competitionproducts.com/Short-Blocks-Chev-SB/departments/1224/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/tbucket-engine-project-dart-shp.3814/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...nk-durring-short-blk-assembly.852/#post-21611

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ilding-a-dream-or-wasting-cash.775/#post-1125

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...k-about-in-your-engine-combo.3156/#post-59958

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...the-links-you-posted-grumpy.12020/#post-57517

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ting-started-in-the-car-hobby.339/#post-52906

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/bare-minimum-tools.11026/#post-51843

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...istakes-but-learn-from-them.11333/#post-51640

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-calculators-and-basic-math.10705/#post-50173

 

[chromebumpers]

I was just being fascetious with a Dynacore salesman I met last week when he said they have $10 million in inventory and I asked "that's just about a dozen cars isn't it?"His reply was what they worked out for building new cars.
About 20 years ago there was a fire that took out a remote coal town Chevy dealer, they mainly sold farm trucks and truck chassis ready for rear body refitting but this dealer did order the usual Chevy line up when requested. The owner bought back good cars from his customers, like Camaros, Chevells, Novas and so on. What didn't rust away was burned in the fires. 15 years ago they had an auction and l was competing against the metal scrappers. Nobody understood what I was doing buying crap. I have 5 clear titles with low mileage and the good parts of some very nice cars (all the parts with the Factory VINs as well). I have a title to a 67 RS SS convertible but nothing but the front rails, short block and fire wall, the body sans front and rear clips I've been looking for the rest. I'm going to put it in Hemmings for $5 and let a bidding war start.

 

[NOT A TA]

I'd like to build one of the Dynacorn bodies for someone. It'd be a nice change from rusty stuff.

 

[chromebumpers]

I don't know where you can get the details needed to build the car. Which panel adhesive and where to put it. All the different nuts, washers, shims, bolts and fasteners, how many, what sizes where do they go? Finishes, paints. There was always some assembly tricks or short-cuts - always something that doesn't match the diagrams or can't physically go or work in the position the instructions show. I know from some articles back in the day there were special tools or tooling required to make parts fit.

The biggest from scratch project I worked on took me six days to fit, align and get gaps to factory specs for fenders, hood, doors and trunk lid. If a Camaro, Chevelle or a 'Cuda's assembly manual is the same level of detail as the C3 Corvette Assembly Manual Corvette America puts out, then I would run the other way.

 

[NOT A TA]

Most of the cars I build for people I get a pile of parts and a beat up ole shell to start with. If I'm really lucky they have a big box or bucket of hardware. Some scratch builds have a lot of hidden work, like building certain kit cars.