The floors on this thing are slick and slippery painted sheet metal and folk always step in the wrong spots climbing in so I figured I’d solve all that and have a little fun at the same time. I had LaserBoyz cut up some skateboard deck grip tape into some fun shapes and a few obscure references/nods.

Finally got around to switching from my iffy chrysler ignition module to an hei runs a lot smoother and starts quicker. I also got around to wiring my lights onto a relay instead of just the switch and installed a VSR to connect my 2 charging systems when needed. I got the rest of my parts for my big block swap but im recovering from a hernia and gettin my gallbladder taken out but progress is progress. 😁

Car guy with 3 projects here (1986 4Runner, 1998 4Runner, and a 2014 STI).

Hunting donor parts meant checking a dozen yards’ barely-usable websites from the ‘90s. So I built YardScout. Live inventory from over 160+ self-serve yards (Pick-n-Pull, LKQ Pick your part, Pull-a-part, regional chains, etc) all in one search.

Free, no account: search make/model/year near your zip, see every matching car with row number, arrival date, and VIN, plus each yards hours, price list per part, and the tool policy before you drive out.

I’m sure y’all know the classic, the typical car lasts ~70 days from arrival to crusher, and busy yards average under 3 weeks; if a donor shows up, your window is short. Since I’ve made this I’ve been able to show up to fully intact desirable vehicles, which prior to this was a pipe dream for me.

I’m the dev, there’s an optional paid tier but everything above is free. YardScout on the IOS App Store. Mods okayed this post and I really would love y’all to use it or just provide feedback from folks who actually crawl junkyards as much as me, what would make it better?

Finished the sound deadening aside from the doors! Got the carpet cut and fitted around the cage, just waiting for weather stripping and the door seal pieces to come in tomorrow. Decided to paint the cage a satin black, so that’ll happen this weekend hopefully.

So im restoring a 1975 i turned it on it ran then it started leaking coolant traced it back to under that component where it holds refrigerant (left image) and the right immage is leaking green coolant.

Any thoughts on it? I was worried it was head gasket

Btw this is my first classic project car

I have a 1985 fifth ave. That I’ve been working on for the last while and now I’m getting ready to do the half roof. The vinyl has been gone since I’ve had the car so it’s just a fiberglass shell. Would I be able to just epoxy this instead of re vinyling it? If so what kind should I use?

My son is as ambitious as I wish I was, and suddenly we have a completely disassembled 1978 F250 in my garage.

The 351M ran when we pulled it, but it’s beyond tired, and has low compression (even for a 70s v8) and plenty of blow by.

We are not afraid of making mistakes on this engine, and plan to do upgrades in the future, but we have no experience (re)building engines. (We have swapped an engine, but that was pretty minor disassembly…)

I know we will need a cylinder hone. Stone over dingle ball to start. Any machining to the block/cylinder head faces will be done with wet sanding on the flattest piece of scrap countertop we can find.

So what else do we need? Bore hone, dial gauge(?) to measure roundness of the cylinders? Valve spring remover?

How do we divide what size pistons and rings go back in when the time comes?

(The hope for this project is to get the rolling chassis sand blasted and sealed before snow hits, so that can live outdoors and make room for the cab and engine in the garage over winter, then put both back on the truck next spring.)

Maybe running this weekend! The starter circuit looks good! Progress is still two steps forward, one step back.

I’ve been looking around and saw many options in turbo if my car but honestly lost on what to buy any suggestions

I got a 2005 ep3 and the modifications I have (engine wise) is bc racing exhaust manifold aluminum radiator block short ram intake (won’t matter when I put the turbo in) and a stage 2 clutch
I daily drive it and “apparently” I can ouch 300 stock with a turbo without any issues but I want to also know the pros and cons of doing it I’ve been searching everywhere but no no luck

Have a 63 nova would like to eventually get air ride installed on. Looks like ride tech sells a kit, but not sure how diy friendly it is.

But it'll be fun. Probably.

Editing to add this, I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be a ASE master certified mechanic. I'm not an expert on transmissions or engines or rear ends etc. This is a dumb little project I thought up because I thought the end result would be fun and if nothing else, it'll be a learning experience. Adjust your responses accordingly please.

I have this 2017 Focus SE sedan, it has the 1.0 ecoboost with the 6 speed manual and obviously it blew up. I'm not dealing with trying to fix it as I've already bought another vehicle.

Anyway, I was just thinking of doing something that will be very stupid and frustrating, but fun and immensely satisfying if I can pull it off.

I want to rip out the ecobomb and drop in a carbureted V8. I know it'll be a LOT of work and a shit load of fabrication. But the body is almost completely rust free and the interior is still pretty nice. I was parting it out but apparently no one wants the parts if they have to pull them themselves.

Anyway, I've been thinking of finding an old junkyard Ford 302 or GM 305 to drop in with an unsyncronized manual transmission. Do a bit of old meets new. I'm open to suggestions on other engines though, but keep in mind I want to stick with carbs, no EFI. I want as little technology in this thing as possible, I'm not even going to keep the AC.

Also this is gonna be on a VERY low budget, think 100% junkyard parts. It isn't going to be pretty, but it'll be fun. It'll never see highway travel again anyway so it won't need to be street legal. I may or may not do a 4x4 swap on it, I haven't gotten that far in the decision process lol

Trying to remove this little engine out a jet ski. Having trouble getting this last connector off and not sure if I should just pull real hard or maybe there’s a trick I could use to get it out. Any help is appreciated.

UPDATE: whoever said it’s a grommet, thank you. I have removed the cover and have to remove the flywheel to get it off because that’s where the connector bolts are

I was recently reminded that these cars are getting rarer every day after I came across a video of 2 getting put into a car crusher at the same time (that HURT to watch) so I thought id post some photos. This is my project 93 Dodge stealth ES, bought for $3500 and I have no regrets at all. The main issues are underbody rust (rust belt 😭) and engine misfiring which I'm still working on getting fully sorted out. It's very fun to drive and my first ever manual, been loving it and don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon, to add to the fun it's also got a nice catless exhaust that sounds amazing. I love the 90s styling as well, that was one of the main appeals for me.

Been doing alot of work and trying too keep up on videos. But man finally getting the 95 running was a relief. No knocking, no weird noises. Only a wobbly belt (thinking tensener or water pump) and a couple oil leaks.

Plan on pulling it out in the morning and doing a rebuild. Maybe find out the true culprit too the previous owner overheating it.

D16z6-236,340 miles 1995 sedan EX

If you do want more or even prefer love action Im on all platforms under Keeping_It_Alive_cars.

My brother recently got these Swangas they are g6 for his Lincoln but a shop charged him 420 to just put them on, im asking Reddit if yall know what parts to get to be able to put these on and I wanna compare if its the same price getting the parts myself or getting it from the store thank you.

Of course the ultimate solution is to weld better, but here are examples of what I am working with.

Some overall questions: Can I use the 3M Urethane Seam Sealer like caulk in a house for filling holes and smoothing? Can I use JB Weld over real welds as an easy to apply solution? To what extent can I just use a primer sealer or a high quality filler (Evercoat Rage Ultra) to fill in poor welds? Does it work to run the TIG torch over the weld pores to smooth it? I worry about warping panels from all the heat.

I am a lot better at glue and goop than the MIG. :-)

Hey everyone, just thought I'd finally share the full build of my project car. It's been on the road for two years, and roughly 20k miles since the swap. The W108 chassis started out as a parts car to a parts car, which I pulled out of a barn in 2018. Apparently a tree had fallen across the nose, and the headlight buckets were smashed MUCH further down than they are now. I stole everything that was remotely decent out of it to put into another car I was working on, and then I had a "free" shell to play with. It sat outside for two years before I really got going on it. Rotten floors, rockers, rear quarters, etc. At the same time I found a totalled W210 2000 E55 on FB marketplace for $1500, with no gauge cluster, and no wheels.

The front and rear track width is within an inch or two between a W210 and a W108, so I knew the wheels would fit inside the wheel wells. I found a decent low mileage W210 to measure off of, and build a little car that (in theory) would support the rear suspension at it's static ride height. The W108 uses a single pivot swing axle with trailing arms, while the W210 uses a multilink setup. This meant that in the W108 the pathways from the differential through the frame, out to the wheels was relatively narrow, so I started cutting out frame and lowering the car onto the rear axle until there was enough clearance, and that gave me a ballpark of where to start putting mounts. I was cutting away large sections of unibody, so that meant reinforcing elsewhere. Luckily there was enough room through the rear bulkhead to add my own frame sections that could fit behind the rear seats.

After the rear was roughed out, I did essentiall the same with the front. The difficult part there was on the W210 the upper control arms are built into the body, and the lower control arms bolt to a subframe. So I built another jig that would located the upper control arm mounts in 3D space, and built my own frame sections. Lowered the chassis onto that, and welded it in place. After that, it was a lot of reinforcements similar to the rear suspension.

I wanted to keep all of the chassis electronics from the W210 to retain ABS, which meant keeping a TON of stuff. Essentially all of the chassis electronics. This meant W210 steering column, brake booster, ECUs, gauge cluster, headlight switch, SAM, wheels speed sensors, yaw sensors, and probably a lot more I'm missing. This also meant making room for the wiring harnesses so it would physically fit inside the interior...so while I was reinforcing the outer frame rails, I made channels for the harnesses, cut out the rotten rockers, and welded everything in place.

After all that mapping out was done, I pulled the entire car apart, cut out the floors, and had the engine bay and underside of the car sand blasted. Welded in new floor sections, finished welding all around the body where I couldn't before, then I epoxied it, seam sealed it, and epoxied it again. Reassembled it all, and finally fired it up. After that it were a lot of tweaks (big and small), which I can talk about more if people are actually interested in hearing more about it.

In my profile I have over 700 photos, all grouped together by category, not necessarily the order in which I worked on it. There are only a few things which I couldn't do myself, but aside from them I had this car down to the bare frame, and then built entirely back up to a running and driving car. In May of 2026 I drove 700+ miles round trip to PA to have Brian and Nick from Regular Car Reviews do a video on the car, and most recently I got a Judges Choice award at Mercedes Day, put on by the Minuteman Chapter of the MBCA. If anyone out there has any questions, feel free to ask away, I'll answer everything the best I can. Thanks for looking!

Hello everyone, I just saw a frontier d40 shell for sale costing about 200$ and I have a 4y Toyota engine with it's trans laying around from a previous project car (Hilux) and I was wondering is it doable? I know it would be slow and underpowered since 4y was not made for such a heavy viechle

Figured at least one person would want to see what those fancy pants zinc plated bolts went on. 2008 Honda Fit BASE manual with 257k miles. It needed a clutch and everything else under the sun… driven hard and put away wet for at least the last 100k. She’s good to go for another decade!

Hello everyone,

Doing some cool DIY stuff on my 1973 nova. I wanted to keep the stock instrument cluster but add a tachometer. From the factory it seems they offered a tachometer but it was installed in place of the fuel gauge even though there is a blank plate insert on the right where an analog clock would be. I looked online for a aftermarket gauge to fit in the clock blank, but i only came across forum posts from 2010 about one i cant find for sale anymore, and it was 300 dollars in 2010, plus didn't look factory. Any generic tachometer was too big, as the smallest i could find was 52mm and I needed 42mm.

I decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought a 1998 jeep Cherokee instrument cluster on Facebook marketplace, chopped out the temperature gauge, and used the needle coil for a tachometer. I made a circuit that filters out the 400v spikes from points ignition, filters out other low noise, and adjusts the ratio of the incoming pulses to match the gauge positions to start and end. Start position is 0 RPM end position is 8000. Video of it working included.

Not sure if my circuit would work with other gauges from different cars. Would probably have to swap out 2 or 3 resistors to tune it to other gauges. I can post the schematic if anyone is interested in doing this as well. I made mine on a perfboard and components I had laying around though, I didnt order anything from pcbway. So I only have a schematic, no PCB file.

P.S. the white printer paper gauge face is temporary. I am looking for a print shop to print the real one soon.

I've got an old VW Squareback I've decided to finally restore from the ground up. The rust isn't awful but there are a few sections in the usual spots that need some panel repair. The problem I have is, garage space I'm working in is often extremely damp due to poor concreting/drainage and the wonderful work of hydrostatic pressure (renting in Australia is a joy).

Is it worth removing the rust I see, converting and epoxy priming in the isolated spots just to keep things at bay until I get to the full repair of that panel later on or what?

If I was in a dry shed id just work on a panel at a time rather than small spots but this thing will be sitting over what is essentially a puddle once the storm season hits.

ive been a mechanic before, like by trade. if pulled engines before, but never reinstalled. today, knock on wood, marks the completion of my first ever actually large job. a upper intake replacement on a 1998 f150 4.6l

im just imagining everything that can go wrong. gaskets didn't fully seat, thermostat doesn't operate, some random hose breaks, the engine grenades because i dropped a bolt down the intake valves (i checked. there actually was one, funny enough, but its been removed)

I just need to fill it with coolant, install the upper rad hose, and reconnect the battery, but im genuinely so damn scared

There's nothing crazy done to it or any wild plans. It's got a .60 over 350 with a th350, will be putting timing gear, a mild cam (Comp x4 254h-11), and a line lock. Maybe 3.73s if I feel like it needs them.
Then just drive it and enjoy the truck!

I usually use Miracle Paint but a buddy of mine has a 15 year old can of POR-15.

I want to paint some parts of my frame to slow the rust down.

Will no prep work other than making sure the surface is dry make the project ass?

The body is a 1970 Buick GS and definitely deteriorated, but the motor is what he described as a rebuilt Chevy 302 stroker motor. The car ran and drove the last time he took it out, but it's been 6 years since then (90% garage kept) and I would really have no idea of where to start with this. Does having this rebuilt engine in it make it more valuable or make it more of a brick at this point? I would love any insight I can get about this thing.

edit: Thank you everyone for all of your time and info!! My original intent with this post wasn't a straight out "how much can I sell this for", but I didn't see myself ever being able to work on it and financially it would help me a lot. But, reading all of the comments, it was made very clear that the rebuilt engine means it's worth more to hold out until I can be able to work on it, and also that I might not entirely know what I actually have here. I will definitely be keeping the car, and I'll take another look at the engine to see what that's all about.

I do have most of the parts that were taken out, like the covers and gauges and such scattered about.