The Ins and Outs of How to Make Your Own Car

You might have gotten the idea while sitting there bored one day, wondering what project you could add to your hobby list to keep yourself entertained. Or maybe you and a friend were simply joking around one day, talking about how awesome it would be. No matter how you might have gotten the idea, the chances are that you first dismissed it as crazy. But then, you decided you might as well look around and see if you could find any information on how to make your own car. Well, you might be surprised to find out that the idea of making your own car isn't as crazy as you might have thought.

1. The Rules and Regulations:

Well, the first step that you need to take when it comes to starting your project of making your own car is to look over the rules and regulations that govern cars. These regulations differ from country to country, but in general, they have a few things in common. First, they will often have stricter regulations about safety issues than manufacturers. On the other hand, your car won't have to go through crash test ratings, either! For individuals in the United States, you can look at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/ for more information concerning the rules and regulations. Keep that link handy, because it will be essential that you meet all the requirements if you want to drive your car anywhere!

2. The Frame of the Car:

The next step you have to take when making your own car is to decide on the construction of the chassis. Will you want to use an existing design or will you want to build your own? If you choose to build your own, then you will have to go through the process of building the frame yourself. You can often build the frame from wood first and then go to various companies who will create a mold of your frame. From there, they can then create the aluminum frame replica of your wooden version. As you can imagine, choosing an existing design is often the simpler choice! All you have to do is to find the frame of your choice and purchase it. Manufacturers, junk yards, even eBay can help to provide you with the frame of your choice.

3. The Power Source of the Engine:

This is a step that many people might not even think to consider when they first decide to make their own car. But in an age of growing gas costs, it is a good idea to ask yourself how you would want to power your car. With so many alternatives on today's market, it might take a little research before you are able to decide on which your car should use. Hydrogen, electric, even trash-powered cars ( Convert your Honda Accord to run on trash ) can be wonderful alternatives to traditional gasoline powered engines. But when considering this, you might also want to consider that many of today's alternatives feature kits that can convert a traditional gas powered engine to the new power source. If you're not sure how useful a specific alternative power source might be, or if you simply want the comfort of knowing you have gas in the tank, you might just choose to go with gasoline.

4. The Features in the Interior:

Do you want your car to have an air conditioner? Do you want it to have a radio or CD player? Do you want to have a DVD player and a TV inside of it? The features that you are wanting from your car are essential things to consider before you actually begin any work on the car's construction. If you wait to consider these things until you have already started mounting things in the frame, you might find that you have to do some radical restructuring in order to make it all fit! Once you decide on the features you want to include, you can begin drawing up plans for how all of it is going to fit into the frame. Remember, though, the bare necessities come first (engine, drive shaft, steering wheel, seats, wheels, brakes, etc).

5. The Detailed Planning:

The planning is perhaps one of the most challenging and frustrating parts of the entire process. You will have already started planning your car, but this is the time when you need to really focus on constructing a detailed plan, keeping an eye out for the regulations that you have to follow. You might have to make some changes, perhaps even remove a feature or two, in order to ensure that your design fits specifications.

6. Purchasing Your Parts:

This one seems like a no-brainer, but there are a few things you might want to consider when looking for the parts you want. Try checking out shops that work on cars or even junk yards in order to find some of the parts you need. You might not find anything that you can use, but on the other hand, you might just end up saving yourself hundreds of dollars!

7. Get Your Hands Dirty:

This is the fun part for all of you mechanical oriented people... which is probably everyone reading this article! Hopefully, if you followed this guide so far and have done your planning well, you will find this part of the process simply a matter of patience and determination. However, the chances are that you might have to improvise or revise some of your plans during the construction phase. The best thing to remember is to keep an eye out on the regulations when you are implementing any changes during construction time.

8. Get It Approved:

You will need to have your car approved by government safety inspectors before you can legally take it anywhere. In addition, depending on your country, there will be other legal issues that you might have to take care of before you can enjoy your hard work. But don't worry, you're almost to the fun part.

9. Enjoy Driving your Car:

Once you wade through the legal mess to get your car approved for driving on the roads, you are ready to take her out for a spin! There's nothing better than the feeling you get of driving a new car... unless it's the feeling of riding a new car you just built from scratch!