How to Get Started on a Project Car (it’s easier than you think)

- If you're watching this channel, you probably like cars. (cars speeding) And if you like cars you've probably dreamed of having one as a

project

. Well, what's stopping you? Maybe you thought it was too expensive a hobby. Or maybe you thought you didn't have the skills to own one. Or maybe you thought you weren't cool enough to join the club. Well, I'm here to tell you that none of that is true. It doesn't have to be so expensive. It's really not that difficult and our threshold for what's cool is actually very low. Today I'm going to tell you five reasons why you can and should have a

project

car.

And once I've successfully convinced you, I'll give you my top three picks for project cars. I'm Zack and this is Money Pit. (thunder) Okay. You may be wondering what qualifies me to talk to you aspiring mechanics about project cars. And I guess really my qualification is that I'm as heartbroken as I can be. I have a problem with the project car, so to speak. I don't

think

it's a problem, but everyone else is. About six months ago, I moved from Ohio to Los Angeles to work at Donut. I sold all my cars in Ohio and drove a motor home to Los Angeles.

I lived there for about four months and now have four project cars and a camper in the backyard. So I guess that's my rating. I'm still buying junk in various states whether it's working or not. I

think

it's great, and if you're in the same boat and you have a project that's not running, that you haven't been working on, I hope you use this video as inspiration to get back in the garage. and get to work on it, and not be like my roommate Syrone, who bought a perfectly good project car about three months ago and took up the only garage space with it.

That was broken. And she hasn't touched it in three months. So don't be like Serone. Be like me. Turn some keys. Okay, so cars can be scary, daunting, and super complex, especially these days. But, once you start learning how to work on your project car, you will be very well prepared to be able to work on any car. It's like learning a language. You begin to discover how to get back to the trails and breadcrumbs. Well, you hear a sound. Now that you know how to work on your car, you know where to go to get that sound.

You know how to find the source of the sound and fix it. It doesn't just apply to cars. Let's say your washing machine breaks down at home. You can probably fix that now because you know how mechanical things work. But be careful, people will find out about it and suddenly you'll be fixing everyone's cars in the neighborhood. And they want you to do it for free. Charge them half price and bam, you'll be making money. That's a business plan. Alright, now that we have you excited and confident that you can fix anything in the world, sorry, we have to back off a little and be honest with ourselves, you won't always be able to fix everything. .

It is inevitable that you will be confused or stumped by a car problem. It happens to me all the time. But then what do you do when that happens? We move on to another of the most important reasons for getting into a car, which is community. (music) It's your family. The family you've been building. The family that speaks this language you've been learning. It's like you and your friends are dirty and tired in the garage at like two in the morning. You have to put this engine back in the car, but thing after thing, after problem, after problem, it stops you, slows you down, and undermines your confidence.

Happens. I've been there. But through hard work and perseverance, you and your guys get your engine back on track. You do the work and you always do when it comes to you and your friends working on something. In reality, you don't always succeed. That is a bad direction. Sometimes you won't get it. This language we've been talking about transcends any language you speak. I've had so many interactions with people from all over the world about cars because we all understand, even if we can't understand each other's language, we understand the language of the car, and that's great. - That was really good, man.

That was really good. - Thanks my friend. Okay, so you understand that there is this language now, and I think I've already harped enough on the community thing. So now I think it's time to start talking about the elephant in the room. Money. Honestly, it's probably what's kept you out of this game until now. But it's okay. We'll get through it. Let's talk about that. When you take up any hobby, you will end up spending some money and this is no different. I think a lot of people get obsessed with wanting to have expensive tools, which yes, expensive tools are good, no doubt, but cheap tools will do the job.

And I've made a list of the tools you need to get

started

. Here it is. The list starts with sockets and ratchets like these. You'll want to buy metric sockets because almost everything in cars these days is metric. Although it depends on what you're working on. You need a set of screwdrivers. Just get yourself a big combo kit with flatheads and phillips, you'll be pretty much set. And you will also need some pliers. Again, just a combo set of springs, get a little bit of everything and you'll be in good shape. You will need a set of keys.

Again, metric. And I recommend getting an adjustable wrench. Get yourself a good matching outfit and you'll be in good shape. And then you need a digital multimeter to handle all the electrical problems you may have, and this. This is a somewhat complicated tool, but we will learn how to use it later. If you're working on cars that are OBD II, meaning they're 1996 or newer, you'll want to have a code reader, a scanner, so you can see what the check engine light is on, what's actually happening. in Your car computer, an essential tool. And of course, you'll need a jack and jack stands so you can safely lift your car, get it off the ground, and work underneath it.

Speaking of safety, you also need some safety equipment. I like to use the 1982 version of safety glasses to keep my eyes in tip-top condition. You will also need a hammer. This is one of the most essential tools in the garage. You hit things, you hit things. You do not know. And then, honestly, I think having a lever is nice so you can, you know, pull things out. But that's all. That's not so bad. And I actually went to Harborfrieght.com, which doesn't sponsor this at all, and I put all this stuff in a cart. You can do all this for under $400, which isn't bad. - And if you can't afford it, do what everyone else does. - Steal. - Steal a tool from your friends, one by one at a time. - And if you can't afford it, do what everyone else does and just borrow them from a friend permanently.

At the end of the day with a project car, the only thing that matters is what you like. You can build a project car to your liking. For your own satisfaction and to please other motherfuckers. Whatever car look you think is cool, you can do it, there are no rules. I mean, if you want it to be street legal, there are some rules. But you know what I mean. So no matter what you like or dislike, you can use your project car as a way to express it even more. And honestly, it's one of the coolest ways to express yourself that I can think of.

We can play with machines. These are variable machines. Virtually any car on the road can reach 100 miles per hour or more. And that, if you think about it, is crazy. You can drive a machine that can reach 100 miles per hour. And there is no better way to express yourself than by building and promoting something like this. Well, you'll learn how to work on cars, you'll join a really cool community, you'll get to spend all your money and time in a really cool way, and you'll get to express yourself through the best medium I can think of. of.

So what's next? What's next on this whole journey we're talking about? Choose a project. So let me give you my top 3 picks for a project, as of early 2020. Each pick will be for a different facet of motorsports. If you want to call it that. Well, if drifting is your thing, if that's what you like. In my opinion you should get an E36. 325i or 328i. They're plentiful, cheap, pretty reliable, and make enough power to keep you gliding. You really don't have to do much. If you're a person who drifts a little, get yourself an E36, like the one you have in the garage.

Come steal this one! Syrones does nothing with it. So if off-roading is your thing, I think my choice has to be a Jeep. The ideal would be a Wrangler, and ideally with a four-liter inline six-cylinder engine. They have enough power to take you anywhere, but it can be difficult to get them for cheap. So go for a 4-cylinder Wrangler, or you can also find Jeep Cherokees with that 4-liter inline-6 ​​for very little money. So I would probably do that. And that brings me to my third pick, which I guess is actually my first pick, because I actually bought it.

I bought a Miata! I was looking forward to driving across and seeing all the beautiful canyons here in California. So what could be better to do that than a Mazda Miata? They are cheap, reliable, plentiful and, most importantly, good. It's an NA from 1994, so it has popups. James said he couldn't have one without the pop-ups. And it may not seem like much at the moment, but I assure you, this is an absolute gem. A diamond in the ruff, so to speak. And throughout the life of this program, we're going to tear apart every little part of this car.

And I'll show you how it works, how you install things, what it does and everything else. Thanks a million for watching. We're about to go on a great journey with this car, so I hope you'll stay with us. Follow me on Instagram @zachjobe, follow Donut @donutmedia, follow our new YouTube channel for our podcasts, Donut Podcasts and of course, as always. Subscribe to the channel. See you next week.