Rehabilitating Old Cars
Never done any modding before but I've been reading and watching extensively about. While I've got a good collection of newer cars from the last few years I've also got a fairly good collection of cars from my childhood that I used to compete with friends with. Some of these cars have great "genes". They are built super solid yet not too heavy. I like these more than current cars.
My old cars fall into two categories. I've got some that back in the day were monsters but have since degraded over time. However nothing has changed with their build. Ive got others that can basically run with or beat all but a handful of new cars. We're talking brilliant performance.
What approach should I take for each type of car to get them performing their best? Looking at performance and not really appearance.
Discussion
I do it often and love bringing beaters back to life, speed wise at least. Drill em apart, pull the axles from the chassis, straighten them, remove corrosion and polish then fix them back to the chassis. Sand the wheels smooth and let it rip...same as most Mods but with a little more care to put beat up stock wheels and axles back.
These ugly junkers roll out now! Not one of them would make a full pass on my track before I worked them.
Matt
- Sending the wheels is something I'll look to do. I'm nervous about it though. — Corran105
- I'd love to see a Mattman video on working wheels. You don't have to give away all your secrets....just one or two good ones lol/ — Peter_Bee
- Corran105 wheel sanding is very very good to do especially on these old beaters and if dont properly, is pretty fool proof. You can go super light and easy on em or if you have some bigger gouges and dents in the plastic, you can really work em and get them down to smooth again. I use a method Ive seen quite a few others post that they prefer. I put a sheet of sand paper on the table and then with the wheels fixed in the chassis I make circles on the paper up and down. Then repeat on finer papers till they are good and smooth again. — Mattman213
- Peter_Bee, I have no secrets, Im always happy to lend a hand or show what Ive learned works over time!!! I SUCK at videos tho but might be able to put something together to help out, even if its just a picture tutorial like some of mine in the past. — Mattman213
- When you say fix the wheels in the chassis, what do you mean by that? — Corran105
- Secure, jb weld/glue them in place! — Mattman213
- Mattman, you use the same sanding method as D64 shows in his tutorial? Good to know. I tried it, but didn't notice any difference. Maybe the wheels were ok to start with lol. — Peter_Bee
- YES! Ive noticed differences on cars from stock with a little "womp womp womp" in its roll to every mod I work on. SOME cars, once in a blue moon, dont need as much sanding but I have never seen a car not pick up from it and I refuse to call a project done before I sand the wheels. Ive had mods pick up from meh to AMAZING simply by finishing them off with some wheel sanding!!! — Mattman213
I found this video a great way to start with old/second hand cars. You might be amazed at the speed you can find even before modding.
youtu.be/YEUP3DArW7s