Need Help!!!

[Taylor Parrish]

Just looking for some opinions from anyone who'd like to offer. Long story short I love cars (more than I love my girlfriend) and I would love to work on them, problem is I don't know much about them. I'm not looking to work as a mechanic or anything of the short, this would be more of a personal hobby. To give you an idea a dream of mine would be to buy an old mustang and turn it into Eleanor. I just graduated from college and have plenty of free time and money to make it happen but I'm at square one as far as knowledge goes. I've considered going to UTI and have been looking into it. I'm open to all ideas, please help me out with some feed back.

[silvermonte]

My advice would be to buy a running mustang that is decent shape and then change one part out at a time. You will learn alot from first hand experience and anything you need to know you can look up on the internet. Just start on small projects and work your way up.

[ma73z]

I totally agree, buy a decent running car and don't take on more than you can do in like a weekend. If the car is disabled to long LIFE happens and you'll be in the long term jackstand class.

[raustinss]

I started reading car mags basically before the internet become so popular...1990 maybe lol...body I'm old...i learnt more since buying my chevelle which I might add I was really looking for a 69 Camaro. Then I did in any magazine. My first hand experience is way beyond anything taught in school. School teaches you facts not lessons,
Thinking and problem solving on the spot aren't. Things you can be taught ,ask questions and lots of them. This community (cars) always seems like a great group to learn from and help teach the next generation. Hell even try to volunteer at a shop or something even if it's sweeping the floor. You can learn processes,time management and how things go together by just watching others work
Good luck and keep us updated
Ryan Austin

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Where do you live?

[clill]

Buy a used car you like and have fun learning on it but don't tear it apart yet. Also you could look into adult ed classes.

[Taylor Parrish]

I live in Dallas. Definitely a lot of great ideas I appreciate the input. Any suggestions on a beginners garage setup? Such as tools I might need. All I have right now is a small tool box and a few power tools I use for handy work around the house.

[silvermonte]

A good starting point for tools would be the craftsman 300 piece set or something in that range. You can get in on sale for around $200 I think. That will get you a good range of hand tools for not alot of coin and then just add to the collection as you find tools you need that you dont have.

Here is a 250 piece set for $179.
http://www.sears.com/cm-250-pc-mts/p...a=00938250000P

[Taylor Parrish]

What about a good starter car? Something that would have parts readily available and is easy to work on. I've been pondering on a '55 ford pickup. I feel like that'd be a good car to learn on but I'm not sure how available parts are and if a '55 would be a little out of date for a beginner to learn on.

[LS7 Z/28]

Originally Posted by Taylor Parrish

What about a good starter car? Something that would have parts readily available and is easy to work on. I've been pondering on a '55 ford pickup. I feel like that'd be a good car to learn on but I'm not sure how available parts are and if a '55 would be a little out of date for a beginner to learn on.

If you're a Ford guy and you're into Mustangs I would suggest you find something like this. The notchback's are less desirable than the Fastback "Eleanor" style and you can find one for a fair price and work on it while you drive it. Swaping parts out here and there to make it your own is not that difficult. There are multiple companies that advertise on here that have parts available. I have no idea what your budget would be, so maybe you are looking for a fastback but it will certainly cost you more.

http://www.oldride.com/classic_cars/525166.html

Get yourself a subscription to Car Craft and read all of the articles, it's dirt cheap for a 2 year subsciption and you will learn a lot.

https://www.circsource.com/store/Sub...rceCode=I8ABNN

Go to as many car shows as you can and ask questions. Car guys are typically more than willing to talk about their car non stop and answer questions. Definitely make it to the Fort Worth Goodguys show in October.

https://www.good-guys.com/pdf/schedule/Schedule14.pdf

Just read through build threads and other forum sections on here, you will absorb more than you think.