Sunday, February 3, 2008

HELP WANTED!

With the amazing growth of this industry throughout the last few years what we are finding through talking to our friends at many other shops and parts manufacturers as well as our own dealings with the subject of help is that its hard to find. Its not like we can just hang a help wanted sign out front and be flooded with talented craftsmen that are able to just come in a start doing what we all do. At any given time we could keep twice as many guys as we have busy, if we could just find them. We are definately fortunate to have talent like we have right now but they are few and far between. We get a a ton of guys that want to work at a hot rod shop and would probably be great workers, they just dont have the skills to do it without training them for a year or so but who has time to do that? We barley have time to do what we have to do to start with. The tech schools are usually pretty good but seem to be lagging behind a little when it comes to being up to date. I have had several guys come in lately from different tech schools that took welding classes and they say they can weld good, then you ask them what kind of welding they can do and every single one of them said stick welding. Can you TIG? Never have Can you MIG? Tried it a couple times. Man, teach these guys to weld like we weld today. Sure we have a couple of old stick welders in the building my grandfather used years ago but if they werent my grandfathers we would chunk them out in the scrap metal bin. Yes with a little work with someone that knows how to stick weld you can teach them to MIG but why not teach them in welding classes. Give them something they can actually use. Many of the tech schools around here don"t even have a TIG machine. Then we get to the body work side of it and it gets even worse trying to find guys that can do body work like we do and not like the wreck builders do. Alot of difference building a high end show car and a rebuilt used car lot special. Even guy that can do the work that come over to this business from a dealership or regular body shop go into shock after the first week because they are use to replacing a fender , blending in a quarter or painting and replacing a bumper cover, spending a few days on it and moving to the next job. Then whe they have to spend 6 months doing metal replacement and body work on a 57 chevy they flip out. Its seem to me that Hot Rod Guys are just a different breed.
It takes talent, It takes patients, it takes motivation to take a car from a heap of rust molicules holding hands to a completed work of art. I hope the industry doesnt grow faster than we can get talented guys trained to do the work, but it aint looking good. Did I mention we are taking applications?

Friday, February 1, 2008

Camaro Pro Touring Full Frame Chassis

The All New Street Rod Garage SRG-Force Pro Touring First Generation
Camaro and Firebird Full Frame Chassis. When we started designing this chassis we wanted to have a ton of different options as well as a bolt in version and a full all out extreme, build your car around the frame instead of building the frame around the car deal. We have several front IFS options as well as many different rear suspension options including C-4 and C-5 Corvette Independent and Heidts Independent along with the usual 9" Ford, 12 bolt or quickchange solid axle setups. As with all SRG frames they are sculpted and not bent tubing. This allows us to add our exclusive inner structure supports inside the frame ad reduce the performance robbing torsional flex that these cars are know for. We also wanted to utilize rack and pinion steering in power or manual per customers preference. We can set the chassis up with coilovers or air ride in many different configurations. The bolt in versions allow you to simply un-bolt your front subframe and remove your stock rear suspension then with very little modification if any bolt the new full frame in. We can accomated many different tire wheel combos and can go as big as your willing to cut wheel tubs. Also we can accomodate factory fuel tanks or we can install our frame mount stainless tank. Please give us a call for up to date pricing and other available options. Let us know what you think.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Street Rod Garage .COM

Street Rod Garage.com is undergoing some changes in regards to our website. We of course will be adding Blooger as well as You Tube Videos. Also to go along with videos we will be working on Street Rod Garage TV which will be a ton of videos of full build car projects, chassis, new products, tech and pranks around the shop. Also look for a section where you can get to know the guys as well. We are hoping to add several videos per week so be sure to stay tuned and please dont hesitate to let us know what you would like to see or hear about and we will do our best to add that as well. Remember to click on the headings above each post to go to that post page where you can add your comment to the blog.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Why the Mustang 2 Suspension is so popular.

Why is the Mustang 2 IFS so popular? It doesnt look that good. It definately does work that good as far a geometry (have you ever driven a Mustang 2?) Why use one of Fords cheapest cars ever as a donor car so to speak (inludes aftermarket Must 2 IFS) for your high dollar street rod or hot rod now days when we have so much better suspension knowledge than back when the mustang 2 was designed. Well here is why its so popular still today.....Back in the 70's and 80's, most hot rodders were searching for something better. Better back then meant that it could be made to fit and would drive down the road better than a drop axle or older geometry ifs. I have driven cars with Must 2 than actually drove worse than a drop axle. Hey they could be hacked out of the old small fords and with a little modification could be installed into about anything and wow we have ifs in our 32 ford. It was pretty cheap and realatively easy and then a few aftermarket guys that we will not mention said hey if we make a "kit" based on this Mustang 2 stuff it will sell like wild fire nd guess what, they were right. The only the thing is that was back in the 70's and 80's and here we are in 2008 and they are still producing the same old stuff they did back then. Its time to update from old technology dont you think? Just because it fits doesnt mean its good! What do you think?

What Chassis should SRG do next?

At SRG we are always looking for new and exciting products and projects and alot of times we get these ideas from our customers and fellow hot rodders. Thats why we want your input. What do you think we should do next, what trends do you see coming ?