Here's the deal: I'm 19 and my life centers around worshiping God and I want to keep it that way. I'm not paid for my ministry (neither were Jesus or Paul, you'll recall) so I need a job that makes room for me to continue doing what I'm doing. I've thought about running my own small business based around a trade, a small dealership and firefighting (which I'm leaning towards right now). However, I still think it would be nice to make my living around cars. With that in mind, I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about things I might be able to do in that regard especially, but I'm up for any suggestions/observations you might have. I've thought about doing roll-cages but don't know a whole lot about the business end of that or how to get started.

I'm thinking one of the best ways to do this would be to build a project car as a showcase / learning tool so to be able to have some ground to stand on when someone asks, "why should I let you work on my car?" So far the best option looks like a Pike's Peak Open Wheel class car. It's different enough to really have a wow factor and the rules are about as open as the cockpits. I've talked to Jim Wells, the guys who's build every single winning car in the past two decades and he didn't say I was crazy, which is a good start. He even gave me alot of good advice. However, I'd like to consider as many options as possible before I pour my heart and soul into a car. Fire away!

 

no offence do you even have the money to build the car... sounds spendy..

for giving it a shot

 

Start by interning at a local shop of your choice. Gain experience, come up with a niche, take it and run.

 

^^^ a great way start i'd say. personally, you do need to have a niche market and really know your stuff to make good $ at doing custom stuff on cars. i like doing fab work on cars, but don't have the smarts to do it full time, so i use it as filler work inbetween the slow times on my industrial work.... which as of the past 2 months, seems to be pretty hectic.

here is a job i just finished today...

8 of these all together, i did the first 4 in about 12 hours, then the last 4 in about 10 hours. i had to basically cut out 4 pipes that were in the wrong place in some 4x4x3/8" square tube, then put new pipes in the proper locations, cut the top off, and weld a new cap on the top. not bad for $2400 in only just over 20 hours.

setup on the mill:



drilling 1.375" holes:


waiting to be drilled:


part of the problem was that the pipes that were already in there had to be cut out and plugged because the new holes were intersecting them. here they are plugged:


and the new pipes welded in:


don't ask me what they are because i have no clue. they were kind of akward to handle on my own since they weighed around 100lbs each.

 

starting off trying to do solely custom fab especially on endurance / pro cars might prove to be extremely difficult. Most shops supplement their income by doing more mundane service and repair until they've established a name for themselves. Also your location is listed as Florida so perhaps focusing on something that is more popular in your specific area opposed to high altitude mountain racing It's definitely not a bad thing to think about doing, there is nothing better than to wake up and do what you love while getting paid. Obviously you are going to need ALOT of tooling and machinery and most importantly experience. Perhaps pursuing schooling in some of the racing specific areas wouldn't be a bad idea ala chassis fab etc. Immerse yourself in the local scene and maybe you'll find a facet that isn't really addressed locally such as custom chassis, suspension, forced induction etc, then strive to be the best in that area.

 

Not the best choice if one of your primary goals is to have free time. I think you are seriously under-estimating the hours involved in starting and building an enterprise like that. If you want free time, work for someone else. Building any sort of real business will consume you for some time; probably years.

 

Your awesome!!!!! I admire the fact that you are so young yet you are commited to walking in Gods steps! Most kids are out smoking weed and partying! Do what makes you happy and if working on cars does well so be it!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DESTROYER &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Start by interning at a local shop of your choice. Gain experience, come up with a niche, take it and run.</TD></TR></TABLE>


+1, either start working for free at a shop, or for minimum wage doing work that noone else will do like sweeping floors, or shipping parts. Ask to help on everything and dont complain about having to do somthing, its a chance to learn!
I started up after building a few cars with friends, I have never even taken my car to a shop except a tire place. still to this day the only shop i have ever taken a car to is my own. I wish i could have gone back and interned or worked for a shop for a year or two, i wouldnt have made as many mistakes as i have.

 

Ive been wanting to slowly get out of the car market and into the industrial market, any tips on where to start?
cars are good income, but it kinda sucks the fun out of it when you spend the entire day building other peoples cars and then trying to work on yours right after 10-12 hours of "work"

 

personally, i think there is more money to be made doing industrial stuff. people who are modifying their cars, often want to do it on a tight budget and therefore shop around a lot of the best prices which drives profit margins down. industrial customers often don't care as much about pricing and don't have the time to shop around so they usually go with who can turn it around the fastest or who is convenient to deal with. a lot of it is about service and being able to offer solutions to your customers. i have a couple customers who are in the same building as me, one customer is right next door... so for him it is about convenience. he can just walk over and ask if i am able to do something. my new customer is a very large welding fab shop who does some really really big fabrications... some stuff is approaching 100 tons when assembled. they don't have a machine shop, and often don't have time to do the small stuff so they sub-contract a lot of it out to smaller shops like me. again, they want quick turn arounds and the service i provide is a matter of convenience... they call and i'm there in 15 minutes to pick up whatever they have and drop it off usually by the end of the day, or the next day. they like that they can depend on me for being able to do stuff like pictured above and they don't have to worry about it. they just give me a print, some parts and away i go. some stuff i quote ahead of time, but stuff like this, they don't even ask a price until i get it back to them becuase they are in such a hurry to get it out to their customer. i soaked them a bit on the price because i worked over night to get it back to them the next morning and they appreciate that.

 

^ thats true. Industrial is the way to go if you like working with your hands and dont want to be poor. I found a good medium for myself; a hot rod shop that charges industrial welding prices haha. For example, I just built 2 four foot long side pipes for a '31 ford...$2400 I know it's ridiculous but you gotta be paid for your work and most car people are cheap.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jon@ForcedFabllc.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">, but it kinda sucks the fun out of it when you spend the entire day building other peoples cars and then trying to work on yours right after 10-12 hours of "work"</TD></TR></TABLE>

You got that right, but after working on pos's all day it's almost an honor to work on my lude

 

I commend your interests and commitment. Think again about firefighting. It is a great base job for a person ministry minded. The benefits are good, great health insurance. The long days with long breaks will let you get out into the field for ministry work. If you can land a nice suburban department, you should have a fair amount of time while working to prepare your lessons.

If you don't know about Firefighters for Christ, check them out!

I have benefited significantly from their ministry: http://www.firefighters.org/

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Top Ramen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you want free time, work for someone else. Building any sort of real business will consume you for some time; probably years.</TD></TR></TABLE>

YES, the best advice i've read in this post... "business hours" and "bosses hours" are 2 VERY different things, especially in the beginning.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

YES, the best advice i've read in this post... "business hours" and "bosses hours" are 2 VERY different things, especially in the beginning.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well i work at a local shop and am planning on buying the owner out in the next few months and i work more than he does 7 days a week 15+ hrs a day... what the hell is free time check the post time above still at work now and have to pull a motor before i leave

 

I actually already have worked at a shop. It wasn't your average speed shop, though. Some of you may be familiar with SpeedSource. They run RX-8's in the Rolex and Koni championships. I did learn a ton and don't regret having put a ton of effort into doing well there. I know what it's like to work on cars all day and the passion changes, the novelty wears off quick, but I'm as enthused about cars as ever and feel capable of working on them for profit and fun.

As far as the specializing in mountain racing while living in Florida, that's not my plan. I just want to make the Open Wheeler as a demo vehicle. Doing good at Pike's Peak would be nice, but it's mostly about learning and proving I can commit to something serious and follow through. Will it be expensive? Perhaps not as expensive as you might think. Remember, it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Also, all I want to do is put roll cages in people's cars or something small and simple like that. I'm not looking to start up a full service shop or have employees or do a large volume of work. Even at a very small scale, starting up won't be easy and I realize this. My parents actually prefer that I stay with them for a while so I have something of a safety cushion besides a garage to work out of and think that if I do good work at a fair price, business will come.

Thanks for all the replies. They've been great. As far as the whole finding a niche thing goes, what other niches can you think of?

 

try to keep your overhead as low as possible. if you think you can do it out of your garage, then that will save you lots of $ and make it easier in the beginning. once you get a steady stream of business and get to the point where you don't have the room to keep it in the garage, find a shop space somewhere not too far from where most of your customers are coming from.

as for niche, try and come up with a product that everyone can use, but no one makes. i know it is easier said than done, but there are lots of people who come up with great ideas every day. research what people want and try to offer that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by white_fly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm thinking one of the best ways to do this would be to build a project car as a showcase / learning tool </TD></TR></TABLE>

I've seen many, and I mean many, shops go under after sinking tons of money into their "shop cars" and not producing any results (i.e. winning events or even making it to local events). The time and money involved with campaigning a shop car should come after establishing your business. It should not be a justification of opening a shop.

Good luck with everything.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by white_fly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I know what it's like to work on cars all day and the passion changes, the novelty wears off quick, but I'm as enthused about cars as ever and feel capable of working on them for profit and fun.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There's a huge difference between working on someone else's cars and designing your own racecar.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jon@ForcedFabllc.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ive been wanting to slowly get out of the car market and into the industrial market, any tips on where to start?
cars are good income, but it kinda sucks the fun out of it when you spend the entire day building other peoples cars and then trying to work on yours right after 10-12 hours of "work"</TD></TR></TABLE>

You work for pay, pay someone to fix your car or BARTER with them, maybe you have skills they dont and visa versa.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by weiRtech &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try to keep your overhead as low as possible. if you think you can do it out of your garage, then that will save you lots of $ and make it easier in the beginning. once you get a steady stream of business and get to the point where you don't have the room to keep it in the garage, find a shop space somewhere not too far from where most of your customers are coming from.

as for niche, try and come up with a product that everyone can use, but no one makes. i know it is easier said than done, but there are lots of people who come up with great ideas every day. research what people want and try to offer that.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Working out of your home can loose you your home, beware of fraud law suits or real ones for that matter.

 

OK, on the the real question, specializing is the way to go, lets say your roll cages, learn it, get proficient at it, train others to become proficient at it, trust them to do it correctly, timely and profitably, then move on to another specialty and start that cycle again.

Look at some new thing on the market, its been out for one week, jump on it, its not even popular yet, the early bird gets the worm, when it gets popular, you are already ahead of the game, if it doesnt, then its a learning process.

Designing body kits is one of my dreams, I want to build a Mach 5 body kit, its from the early 70's, Speed Racer, I AM GOING TO put 5 motorcycle chassis and drivetrains in a staggard configuration in the back of a van, 700HP, 20 cylinder, stock. Or build a car over two motorcycles, still gets 50MPG and hauls a$$.

As a technician I could easily live on doing Air Conditioning alone, audio and video installations alone, tires alone, being a consultant and farming out the work and never get my hands dirty alone, but like you and like I mentioned, you want to get your hands dirty but stay on top of the industry, how about the new types of fuel, convert vehicles over to these. Natural gas, bio diesel, or just plain ole water.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by white_fly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Here's the deal: I'm 19 and my life centers around worshiping God and I want to keep it that way!</TD></TR></TABLE>



If you need a good paying job and alot of free time look into becoming a fire fighter Very cool and rewarding job

 

i imagined doing something like this oneday too. you want to do something like ATOM right?

no intention of building blocks for the motors etc maybe a handbuilt motor to stay competiive in the speed department

and an all tube chasis vehicle. do you have any welding experence?

can you weld at all? chasis prep. engine building knowledge? any of that

 

and as a prototype car if you can build something that takes the flaws of the ATOM and you can whip some *** in hykhana events or maybe some drift events and since itll be so light DRAG racing events itll catch some attention. you really have to be an attention *****