Car Guy In Training

Hey All,

I'm living in the Columbus, OH area and sorta new to this subject. As a kid I always enjoyed playing with my uncle's project cars and have caught the fever myself. I come from a family with uncles that have had (and some still have) a 'Cuda, Challenger, and a Demon. Though I've never actually worked on one myself, I'm at a point in my life where I want to get my hands dirty and get my own piece of American muscle. As an unexperienced person, I thought that I would get the most real world advice and suggestions on what way to approach this project. I won't be able to start this for a few years but I figure that if I study up now then I'll have the know-how necessary to approach it the right way.

To the point...I'm hoping to rebuild a 1974 Plymouth Road Runner. Does anyone have any suggestions on car restoration books or manuals (whether they be specific to 1974 Road Runners or not) that would be a good place to start? Any suggestions or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

- William

Hey All,

I'm living in the Columbus, OH area and sorta new to this subject. As a kid I always enjoyed playing with my uncle's project cars and have caught the fever myself. I come from a family with uncles that have had (and some still have) a 'Cuda, Challenger, and a Demon. Though I've never actually worked on one myself, I'm at a point in my life where I want to get my hands dirty and get my own piece of American muscle. As an unexperienced person, I thought that I would get the most real world advice and suggestions on what way to approach this project. I won't be able to start this for a few years but I figure that if I study up now then I'll have the know-how necessary to approach it the right way.

To the point...I'm hoping to rebuild a 1974 Plymouth Road Runner. Does anyone have any suggestions on car restoration books or manuals (whether they be specific to 1974 Road Runners or not) that would be a good place to start? Any suggestions or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

- William

You are actually starting the way people SHOULD approch this. Study the market, watch Ebay and other make specific sites for cars like you would like to own. You will then be able to recognize a DEAL when it comes along.

As far as restoring a Mopar there are no judging manuals available which are generally the best guide for restoration if you are wanting to restore a car to OEM condition.

The best advise I can give you is to buy the most complete best condition car that you can afford. ESPECIALLY for the type of car that you mentioned you want, as they have not gotten real expensive at this point. You could have more money in the paint and the interior of one of these cars than it would cost to buy a nice respectable driving car.

Watch these web sites and ask specific questions and you should get some good info. There are many knowledgable people here that do their own work that will be willing to help a young guy out. We need more young blood in the hobby to keep it alive. Old farts like me are dying off.

I hate to agree with Darryl, but he's right. Get the most complete car you can as a starting point. Scrounging lots of missing pieces is a daunting task even for the very experienced builder.

And Welcome

One of my uncles suggested something similar: buy a car that's not TOO expensive but needs SOME work done to learn a little here and there as I work on it.

We need more young blood in the hobby to keep it alive.
I couldn't agree more. Most modern cars lack any personality and we definitely need to keep the hobby alive or else live in a world with boring cars. I went to the Mopar Nationals last weekend in Ohio and it seems like it's still pretty alive and kicking.

Welcome to FBBO William!

As far as guides and books go, factory service manuals are great for info on what was stock, where it goes and what options were able to be had with the car.

Then, go to car shows, big ones are best like in example out here in the East, Carlie has excellent shows where they'll have judges look at the cars. Many of these cars have been taken to the next level of restoration. Make sure there the restored cars, not the mild modified restored cars that allow headers and such.

Your going to have to get to know the car on a intimate level. Books can help, but they do not allways show/point out the non-stock parts. Also find other owners of the same year car and search the net for pictures.

It'll take some time to get to know on site what is stock and what is not, but you'll get there.

I'll have to look around for factory service manuals for a '74 Road Runner. As far as the car show idea, I'm way ahead of you. I've been hitting up the Mopar Nationals this year and last year as well as the Good Guys show and a local one. If you want to check out any of the pictures you can go to the address below for my gallery.

My Car Show Picture Gallery (http://picasaweb.google.com/woverko)

My recommendation, also is to buy the nicenesses car you can find / afford. Regardless of the car, sit down with your significant other and come up with how much you are willing to spend, (don't lie to yourself you literately can price out every nut and bolt these days) whether it be a restoration or a drivable car. If you want a restoration project, like I said before price out every little nut and bolt then quadrupedal it and you will have an idea of the amount you are going to spend. Also think about the level of car you are looking for, Stock? Street/Strip? What kind of paint job do you want Show stopper $20-$30K Occasional trophy $10-$20k Decent $5-$10k or One Color $1-$5k. It is cheaper to let someone else take the loss on paint and body then it is to have it done yourself.

Don't forget to factor in the fact that if you do the work yourself it will take 3-4 times longer then planed, because life gets in the way. There will be times you don't want to work on it and there will be times you thrash.

I am in school for body work and am at the top of my class, I still underestimate how long it takes to make the body perfect and ready for paint.

I think you have a good approach of learning the market and learning the car before you by.

Good luck and Welcome to FBBO
-Ross-

At this point, I don't think I'm gonna get too crazy with it and just go for a drivable car with a two color paint job and the standard decals that were part of the 74 Road Runners. Definitely don't want to get it to the point of racing on a drag strip yet but I definitely want it to have some power behind of it. Would you consider street to be a mix between stock and strip or is it pretty much the same thing as strip?

It can be an endless blur. Some people build "9 second street cars" which in my opinion isn't really a "street car" at all. Just a (barely) street legal and manageable race car. My idea of a street car is like my (ex) Six Pack Challenger. It would run in the 12's with repop PolyGlas tires on it, and pulled 18" of vacuum @ idle. No juice. No monster solid or roller cam to mes with. Just a good combination that was powerful and easy to live with.

I hate to agree with Darryl, but he's right.



....right click......save to favorites......rename......Hell hath frozen over......done

....right click......save to favorites......rename......Hell hath frozen over......done

:rolling:

Oh, and welcome .

Welcome,
Look at www.roadrunnernest.com for a site dedicated to 71 to 74 Plymouth B bodies.
You'll have another good source for info and help.