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How Do You Build Reliability into a Hot Rod?

rbsWELDER

Active Member
With hot rod season rapidly approaching, I have thinking about reliability. I had several issues last few summers, including failed: alternator/battery, fuel pump, axle bearings, ignition problems and leaky gas tank.

In 2018, I would like to avoid any and all problems! So I thought that I would pose the question to this group: "How do you build reliability into a T-Bucket?"
 
First, cars like ours that are 'kitchen table engineered' for most of us are going to have failures. If we build our own, we know where we took shortcuts in order to 'git 'er done' and those areas should be addressed pronto. Pro-active maintenance is also important; change filters/fluids/components BEFORE it's required. Last, check and retighten all bolts and fittings religiously. Now . . . how do I make myself take my own advice???:rolleyes::D
 
Most of the things Mark mentioned are mostly unforeseeable and beyond our control. Regular maintenance is about all I ever do. Oil, water, belts, bolts and nuts need to be checked on a regular basis. I have been fortunate not to have any problems in 11k miles. Your car should be just as or more reliable than a factory car since you are the one building it all, rather than a few
hundred at some factory. Just my thoughts, others may vary. Other than my first trip around the block, my real first outting was 240 miles to Spirits shop which was then in Mountain Home, Arkansas, with no tools.
Lee
 
Some things are going to fail. Period. How you recover and move on is what separates a Hot Rodder from the other folks. A bonus in our favor is most Hot Rods are fairly easy to work on and maintain. I remember my first T Bucket had a fuel pump go out. My boss at the time laughed when I told him it'll take me longer to get the new one, than it will to swap it out. 45 minutes to get a new one, 30 minutes to swap it in. He just stood there amazed.
 
In the past few years, most of my car related problems have been from crappy parts as opposed to crappy work. I have started buying the BEST part I can find instead of the CHEAPEST. That has greatly reduced unexpected breakdowns.
 
The one thing I learned from racing (if it's a visible problem) is that just walking around the
car looking for a problem will not work. Get busy cleaning the car, wiping makes you focus
on what you are doing, then you will find that crack, that bare wire, that misalignment .....

My TBucket has been one of my more dependable cars, I use it all the time to get parts. But
one time I had to use it to pickup a trans for my Toyota Celica. I was single then and it was the
only way for me to get my every day car up and running.
 
The one thing I learned from racing (if it's a visible problem) is that just walking around the
car looking for a problem will not work. Get busy cleaning the car, wiping makes you focus
on what you are doing, then you will find that crack, that bare wire, that misalignment ......

Very sound advice. I used to do that after each drive in my old T Bucket. It's time consuming, but so is sitting on the side of the road.;)
 
Treat it like a airplane. Regular maintenance, inspections and treat it like your life depended. If it fails you could have a very serious situation.
 
Many of the problems could be related to storage, poor fuel, etc.. Insure proper storage habits, maintenance, and inspection, pay attention to gauges, know what’s normal for the machine, listen to it, feel for vibrations or changes, check and change fluids regular and inspect what comes out, lube all friction points, etc... the new rubber is designed to deteriorate so it won’t sit in a landfill indefinitely, the new fuel has ethanol which corodes and attracts moisture. Electronics simply fail from time to time... a weak battery could have caused undue stress on the alternator, voltage fluxuations, and possibly affected the ignition components... the fuel pump, if electric could have been a cause or effect of the other electrical issues, or if mechanical could have failed due to the impact of bad fuel or deteriorating rubber parts... bearing failure could be from inadequate lubrication or damage from moisture or maybe lost pre load or the like... storage is hard on machines. I deal with similar issues with my equipment. I use much of it seasonally, so it sits and I end up having seemingly unnecessary repairs... maybe carry a basic tool kit and some spare parts? Like in high school, lol... one thing for sure, if I run off and forget my cell phone, fate seems to punish me every time.
 
Become a BETTER mechanic!! LOL :D:D:D:whistling::whistling::whistling: Learn all you can and how to diagnose the problems. Fixing the problems will be easy peezy tthen. Not trying to be a S-----A==
 

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