Do-it-yourselfers go to great lengths to build cars that are out of the ordinary and they’re also a staple of the Pro Touring industry. If you’re willing to cut, weld, grind, and hammer on a car to make it all come together, you’re ready to dive headfirst into a Pro Touring build.
If you’ve ever built your own engine, you certainly qualify to build a Pro Touring car. Even if it was a lawn mower engine, you’ve exhibited the necessary mechanical common sense. Some aspects are simply bolting parts together, though others require additional skills.
Cash is another subject that should be covered because not everyone is ready to spend thousands of dollars on an old car. The beauty of building a Pro Touring car is that you can get the right look without spending an inordinate amount of money right off the bat. A lowered stance, large-diameter wheels, performance tires, and a couple of engine modifications would provide a great start. Then you can upgrade items one at a time, as funds become available. In the meantime, you can still enjoy your car and keep it on the road.
Not everyone can afford to install a lift in his or her garage (sometimes space is the real issue) and it’s not a mandatory piece of equipment for the average car guy. It definitely makes suspension work a lot easier to handle but it’s a matter of convenience, not necessity.
This approach is okay for a budget builder, as long as the necessary steps are taken to make sure the car is safe to drive during the upgrading process. You wouldn’t want to take off down the road in a Camaro that hasn’t received any suspension or brake work in 20 years, so be cautious, and spend your money wisely. In other words, make sure the car is safe before you start spending money on modifications.
Many car guys would rather take on the entire project at once, instead of the piecemeal approach. Full-on gearheads take a car completely down to the bare bones and bring it back up from scratch. Be prepared for lots of down time if you take this approach. Jobs, family, and regular everyday life certainly get in the way of progress, so don’t expect to completely rebuild a classic muscle car in a few months. Sometimes it takes years to accomplish the goal but it’s worth every penny and every hour spent when you slide behind the wheel with confidence that your car will handle whatever you throw at it.
Regardless of your budget or skill level, sparks are going to fly if you take on a Pro Touring build, so safety is a top priority to protect your eyes, skin, and hearing. Unless you buy a completed car and bolt on some mild components, you need to brush up on your welding, cutting, and grinding skills. In most cases, a MIG welder is sufficient for the average build.
TIG welding is highly preferred in many aspects but it’s not the only form of welding that gets the job done. TIG welding is a little trickier than MIG, but as long as you know what you’re doing, it’s super strong and it lays down nice and flat.
Where Can a Pro Touring Car Be Built?
A Pro Touring car can be built in your driveway but it’s easier if you have a well-equipped shop, where the car can sit in the dry and remain disassembled for a while. Although Kyle and Stacy Tucker built their first Camaro in a small two-car home garage, you’d be better off in a larger setting because a car takes up much more room when it’s scattered into a thousand pieces. The last thing you want to do is move your wife’s car and your lawn mower outdoors while your project car is temporarily disabled, but that’s not to say it hasn’t been done against the will of wives around the world.
Some of the most awesome Pro Touring machines have been built in the attached garage of someone’s house. Although it isn’t the ideal location for a full-on build, it’s how Kyle and Stacy Tucker started. Full builds are tough in the tight confines of a home garage but minor repairs and modifications are easily achieved.
A chassis table is something most car guys never use, unless they work in a professional chassis or fab shop. These tables are very useful for squaring up a chassis but it’s rare that the average shop has enough room for a bulky rig that takes up as much space as the entire car.
It’s amazing how much space is needed when you tear a car completely down to the bare body and frame. Even a moderately sized garage (this is a 30 × 50–foot example) quickly fills to capacity when a car is scattered into a million pieces.
Suspension upgrades can sometimes be as simple as unbolting the original component and bolting the new one into place. Regardless of the severity of the build, you need plenty of room to get around and underneath the car.
Some folks say that an automotive lift, such as a two- or four-post unit, is necessary for a complete build. Although a lift certainly makes it easy to get beneath your car, it’s not a deal breaker if your shop isn’t large enough for it. Lots of incredible Pro Touring cars have been built in small garages with nothing more than a floor jack and an assortment of jack stands. In fact, Detroit Speed often uses wooden lift blocks and jack stands under their builds, as this brings the car off the ground while also allowing plenty of room to get in it, under it, and around it.
Regardless of the size of your shop, be prepared for an influx of junk filling every corner. Disassembling a car, especially when you have plans to replace many of the parts, creates quite a swap-meet pile. Some guys like to keep the original parts, in the event they decide to go back to stock, but here is a little secret: When you realize how well your muscle car handles with the Pro Touring treatment, you’ll never want to go back!
Swap meets are a great way to recoup some of your spending, and it clears out space in the shop, so maybe then you can get your lawn mower out of the rain. Swap meets are also a great place to find parts on the cheap. Here’s a thought: Just buy a cover for the mower and reserve the room in the shop for more car parts.
A must-have in the shop is a level. It doesn’t have to be fancy or high-dollar; just a basic level from the hardware store. A level and a tape measure have been instrumental tools in the automotive world. If you have a smart phone, you can get an application that offers a level, which really comes in handy!
It’s always important to remember safety when working beneath a car, so if you plan to do the suspension and undercarriage work without a lift, be sure