i'm takin tool and die now and i was wonderin what kind of stuff i could make for my car like for the motor and body and such
Taking an apprenticeship? College course? Here's some small, easy stuff: any spacer for the motor (alternator, powersteering pump, etc); make them out of stainless steel poly bushings for the suspension custom knobs for the interior (door lock pulls, radio knobs, headlight pull, gear shift knob...) More complicated stuff: Monte Carlo bars with adjustable heim joints adjustable master cylider for front/rear bias (I made one for a Corvette Trans Am racer...turned out nice & worked awesome) alternator bracket and adjustable stay with heim joints (Summit sells a kit) Now, if you have the training and access to an NC milling center or live tool CNC lathe, the sky is the limit!!! You could make your own rotating assembly! Hey, good luck with the trade training. It's a great skill and trade to learn.
Did it for several years to help pay for college...made $1000 a week in the 90s while still attending a full 18 hours!!! Cool thing about working in a shop is the access to tools. I would bring my car in on a weekend and paint it, rebuild the rearend (which included building a stainless spacer as katrider mentioned) pretty much anything you can think of is easier in a shop. I guess it depends on what kind of shop. Our rebuilt and large centrifugal vacuum pumps and compressors, so I had access to various types of welders and materials, a few boring mills and lathes, several presses (including a 100 ton press!!!) drill presses, even a crane...
Machinist for 26 years What you can do is endless and is only limited by your imagination. Recently I took the Maverick emblem from a '71 grill and mounted it on a rally steering wheel to act as the working horn. I like it and thats cool to me. So whatever you can conceive you can fabricate. TonyJ
amen to that tony. with a lathe you can build a mill, with that you can build anything you need. with a desire you can create the impossible. and dreams do come true
