B2tf's one stop rod shop.......

[Timmeh]

Originally Posted by back2thefutura

ef5l, im not a mechanic, far from it. I know a reasonable amount about cars (granted that knowledge is largely limited to fords), and that would be another challenge for me - learning about vehicles as much as possible. But I enjoy doing that, so its not so much a challenge, more a goal.

It's all well and good to have nice intentions, and don't take offence at what I am about to say, but you'd have to hire some experienced mechanics before I'd bring my car to your 'rod shop', just for the fact that I'd want someone who has done the time building high performance engines. Unless you're just planning to be a re-seller for bolt on mods that you can buy from ebay, then I'd only hand over my car to someone who knows what they are doing. Rebuilding engines is something that I have become addicted to, but if you don't know what you're doing, you spend alot of time working things out.

If I knew the owner of a 'rod shop' had never even pulled the rocker covers off his own cars engine, for example (I don't know if you have or not, but I am just being theoretical), then I wouldn't hesitate to keep looking to find someone who has done the time in apprenticeships and has rebuilt a thousand engines.

I assume insurance would be very expensive, in case you manage to make a hand grenade of someone's engine, whether by mistake, or as a learning experience, and so would a qualified mechanic with experience building engines etc.

I know I sound very negative, but either you're gonna want alot of money to throw at it, have some serious skills yourself and believe in them, or stick to visual mods and re-selling bolt ons.

Whether a town like Wagga can support your good intentions is another factor. I lived there for a little while, and I am not sure. Target the RAAF Base! :eclipsee_

Just thought it was important to bounce these ideas off the wall with you, if you do go ahead with it, all the best with it!

Tim

[b2tf]

No Tim, youve made some good points, but i have to emphasis again that this is all purely a 'what if' kinda thing at the moment.I hope you dont think Im stupid enough to go out and do something like this with anything less than a sound mechanic knowledge - only an idiot (or a Ford Mechanic) would play with someone's engine and not know what they're doing.

Oh and as for EBay parts. I challenge you to find ANY part on any of the cars myself or my father have owned which are less than either genuine Ford or very high quality. There is no way in hell any Ebay part will find its way onto my car and for that reason (along with many, many others) I wouldnt be in the business of putting them onto anyone elses.

[Timmeh]

Nothing wrong with eBay. I bought my genuine Ford bodykit from eBay for $125, better than paying a grand or so from Ford. Just got to know what to look for, and not buy rubbish.

I can't say I share your philosophy that anything genuine Ford is better than aftermarket gear. Genuine Ford stuff is absolute rubbish in alot of areas, especially in areas like the engine bay. Look at our Focus engines. Look at the cat - the exit is at 90 degrees to the entry with no gradual curve! Plastic throttle bodies? Please!

That's why we have aftermarket tuners! To replace crappy Ford gear with stuff that makes more power, looks better, handles better!

Just my opinion.

And on topic, I know you wouldn't do anything stupid. You wouldn't invest hundreds of thousands of dollars buying all the equipment and shop you need if you hadn't done your homework.

Tim

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Timmeh

I can't say I share your philosophy that anything genuine Ford is better than aftermarket gear. Genuine Ford stuff is absolute rubbish in alot of areas, especially in areas like the engine bay. Look at our Focus engines. Look at the cat - the exit is at 90 degrees to the entry with no gradual curve! Plastic throttle bodies? Please!

That's why we have aftermarket tuners! To replace crappy Ford gear with stuff that makes more power, looks better, handles better!

Just my opinion.

That is true but the vast majority of owners like to see genuine parts being used where possible. Prime example being what I am doing now in resolving the issue about my back window - I will accept nothing less than Genuine Ford.
I think to say its 'absolute rubbish in a lot of areas' is perhaps a bit of an overstatement. It may not always be the best but as youre aware, they do have budgets etc to contend with. And as you have correctly pointed out, thats what aftermarket places are for. My point is simply that if (and this is purely an example) if somebody came to me and said they wanted GT rims for their car, I would explain to them that there are Genuine Ford ones and aftermarket ones available - not just whack the aftermarket ones on. Whereas a lot of stores around my area especially would do exactly that.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Working for yourself in this day in age isnt easy, especially if your just starting off. 20 - 25 years ago then yes it might have been but todays competition is crazy, you have to compete with bigger companies who can afford to spend what you yearly turn over on marketing, not to mention the internet...

Out of all your suggestions in the poll probarly the easiest business to setup / make a load of money out of would be the detailing business.... Very little knowledge is required and the costs of setting up a quite small. As the country get dryer more and more people are getting their cars washed by detailers due to water restrictions and so on... The local detailer here charges $30 for a wash and vacum, including tyre shine, then about $90 for a mild tidy up / hand polish and interior shampoo etc.... Labour is also cheaper in this kind of industry.. All you need to buy is a load of carwash and tyre shine lol.

Good luck!

[b2tf]

Why is this thread coming up saying it has new posts when it doesnt?!...........spooky. is somebody trying to tell me to do it?

[Laminge]

its because people are posting in the poll you dooofus!

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Laminge

its because people are posting in the poll you dooofus!

: I knew that............ : :

[crusher]

Mate, awesome idea. Ive had ideas like this in the past with some of the things mentioned and other little different things too.

Good luck with everything. Whether it goes ahead soon or in years to come dont give up mate. Keep the dream alive.

[Polyal]

Mate it was nearly two years ago.....

[XR8 Uterous]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Mate it was nearly two years ago.....

Yeah and he still hasn't done anything about this!

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by MYGT05

Yeah and he still hasn't done anything about this!

how do you know i havent :

[crusher]

haha i didnt even notice the thread date. Someone must have voted in the poll for it to pop up again.

Dont shoot me for thread digging! haha

so has anything actually happened about this mate?

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by crusher

haha i didnt even notice the thread date. Someone must have voted in the poll for it to pop up again.

Dont shoot me for thread digging! haha

so has anything actually happened about this mate?

yes there is a moron among us who voted on all the old polls, we know who he is though so he can expect a "polling" of his own

In terms of what's happened about this idea, it's still on the agenda but it wouldnt be for a very long time. At the moment Im working on a few options related to AFD which would also set me up to do this sort of thing on the side, so we'll see what happens and go from there.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by b2tf

Yeah, thats just it. The setup costs and the initial workload would be enormous.

But who knows, maybe one day I'll say "$%#@ it, I'm gonna do it!".

Need some local staff let me know, i maybe able to sacrifice and move to wagga

[XR8 Uterous]

Originally Posted by b2tf

how do you know i havent :

Because the ute wouldnt be like it is now if you had of!