Ratz e46 progress thread

[kittenpuncher]

At least drift it if it's going to look like a hot turd. Give it some real "character".

[Asshole Bicycle]

It seems like "rat rod" is just a euphemism for shoddy workmanship.

[MommysLittleMonster]

Or cut out the rust and go widebody or flares. Or do a swap and build a track missile out of it. Or use it hard and let the decay come naturally. Or do the "rat" thing (I so detest that word) with intent, care, and vision. Or or or or or.

There's a phenomenon among gun owners where they'll buy all brand new parts to build an AR or an AK and then they'll take and kick the gun down the driveway until it sort of vaguely looks like its been in battle or they'll apply a camouflage job that looks deliberately shitty and touched-up. They spend a huge amount of effort to make it look like they haven't spent a huge amount of effort. You'll see the same thing with guys who are way too far into the sprezzatura thing - they'll mis-button their jackets or wear mismatched shoes, spending huge amounts of time to make it look like they don't give a fuck. I'm sorry, I can smell that particular kind of bullshit a mile away. There's just no realness there.

Right now, this car is the jeans at the mall that come with holes in them. It's the cheap guitar on the rack that comes with dings and scratches so that it can pretend it's an old Stratocaster. It's the kid who goes to Hot Topic and buys neon hair dye and pierces every inch of their body, and then is mad when someone on the bus stares at them.

I don't mean to come across as a harsh critic. I'll be very interested to see whether this car develops into a project that says something, but for now, all I hear it saying is "look at me look at me look at me," and that's just not a very interesting message to me anymore.

This is gloriously true.

[zoo]

This is your bro


also, I do not recall seeing maroon or yellow on the German flag.

[pDubs]

I can just tell by looking at your car that I do not like you.

[TruTaing]

OP - I feel like you've ruined a perfectly good e46, but more power to you - do what you wanna do and make it yours.

[cblock406]

I don't **** it as much as I want to, and I like this thread...keep it going!

[OEM+ sluts]

I love the fact that you double parked it at that local show hahah

[Meeve]

I love the fact that you double parked it at that local show hahah

haha I thought well it's allready grabbing all the attention might as well grab some even more. I parked like that so people would be more inclined to walk around, check out the rear bumpers and stuff! It worked! haha

I don't **** it as much as I want to, and I like this thread...keep it going!

thanks! I didint realy have the will to work on it this week. Sunday I'll give it more time. I've got hood pins to install and I'm gonna fix my oil housing gasket leak.

OP - I feel like you've ruined a perfectly good e46, but more power to you - do what you wanna do and make it yours.

#ruinedit

I can just tell by looking at your car that I do not like you.

I can tell just by reading your comment that you are judgemental and probably close minded.

This is your bro

also, I do not recall seeing maroon or yellow on the German flag.

haha that corvette is hilarious. But I don't want to get that extreme. Never saw yellow on the german flag did you? Never saw a german flag I guess LOL.

It seems like "rat rod" is just a euphemism for shoddy workmanship.

You have to understand, if I had wanted to make a clean job, I could have. It just was never my intention. I thought at first about being the quarter and fixing clean, it was just not worth all the extra effort and cash and time to me. And as I said earlier in this thread, I'm not interested at all in owning a clean car that you have to take good care of.

At least drift it if it's going to look like a hot turd. Give it some real "character".

It will be drifting soon enough. My current problem is the open diff. It will be welded as soon as I get around to do the bushing and reinforce the subframe. Then drift.

All you need is an angle grinder and some filler, then the fender patches don't look like the end result here. I do all of my own work on my brother's 1987 Cressida, and get pissed with myself if I get a run in the primer, last thing I want is a hooptie bucket, or a "rat look"

I'm not ashamed that my car needed to be fix. Why hide it? I embrace it and shows it's flaws and fixes with pride!

why does it have to be a show car or a forced rat? It could have very easily been a mildly clean e46 with nice wheels and coils... to each his own I guess. Maybe the owner watched mad max stoned then proceeded to go out and paint his car...

This car could have been anything. But the only thing that matter is how I chose it to be. Why talk about what this car could have been? I never watched mad max but I sure will soon enough. And I've already stated that nice paint, wheels and drop didint do it for me.

[aLaFleur]

Looks like a brown car to me.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

I'm not sure you've quite grasped the spirit of my car. I don't intent to make it look old, used, or anything like that. This car was build for fun, I am doing 100% of it myself and this is my number one criteria.

See, I think that's fantastic. Your own personal enjoyment should totally be the number one focus of what you're doing.

But, if that's the goal, I'm not sure it reads, and your above statement is emblematic of this. If your message is not reading to your audience, maybe it's worth considering why. Every decision you make on the car says something, and it says something in concert with all the other elements. What are the elements you've chosen saying? How well does that align with your goal? Do those elements need to be edited to make them more closely conform to the goal? There's no shame in editing your work - that's part of the process of design.

I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that the shitty rust repair is actually my favorite part of the build so far. Honestly. I mean, it ain't how I'd do it, but at least you're acknowledging the car's condition and your current skill level. It's got a little of that Millennium Falcon quality, where it's been patched together out of what's available. That said, it's one thing to patch something together out of what you have and just make it happen, but this might be something else:

The rust is still fixed, I did it myself and it scream home made. I don't have a shop I do everything outside, and I am on a tight budget. So I couldn't just build whatever I wanted. You want to know what this car is? It's 100% home made, built for laugh, head turner, budget build, wild, and the more important, it's different.

This is where I start to hear the sad trombone. Pride and defensiveness in poor work, and I'm not just talking about the rust repair.

Look, I get it, I DIYed everything on my car except a spot of welding, and I did it in a dirty alleyway between a dumpster and a construction site on a grad student budget. I sooooo fucking get it.

When I first enrolled in architecture school, I had no clue how to draw. Just none at all, and that's a pretty big deal when your job is to draw. I sat down with one of my professors, and told him, "Look, dude, I don't know what I'm doing. This is going to look like shit, and that's just going to have to be okay." The professor looked at my work and looked at me, and said, "Sam, that's bullshit. What you're doing is setting your expectations low so you're not disappointed, but in doing so, you're not pushing yourself, and you're not learning. When you're just learning, the trick is to set your expectations higher than you can really achieve. Yeah, you'll always be a little disappointed with your work, but each time you'll get better, and one day you'll look back at your portfolio and be able to see the progress. Have some fucking ambition." And then he told me to throw my drawings in the trash, because they "look[ed] like shit" and were embarrassing. That's architecture school.

Anyway, just some thoughts. /lecture

P.S.: The German flag is black, red, and gold.

[240sx]

wtf has the car scene become. People like this because ? its different? ahah. Come on guys.

[Drop It Like Its Hot]

See, I think that's fantastic. Your own personal enjoyment should totally be the number one focus of what you're doing.

But, if that's the goal, I'm not sure it reads, and your above statement is emblematic of this. If your message is not reading to your audience, maybe it's worth considering why. Every decision you make on the car says something, and it says something in concert with all the other elements. What are the elements you've chosen saying? How well does that align with your goal? Do those elements need to be edited to make them more closely conform to the goal? There's no shame in editing your work - that's part of the process of design.

I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that the shitty rust repair is actually my favorite part of the build so far. Honestly. I mean, it ain't how I'd do it, but at least you're acknowledging the car's condition and your current skill level. It's got a little of that Millennium Falcon quality, where it's been patched together out of what's available. That said, it's one thing to patch something together out of what you have and just make it happen, but this might be something else:



This is where I start to hear the sad trombone. Pride and defensiveness in poor work, and I'm not just talking about the rust repair.

Look, I get it, I DIYed everything on my car except a spot of welding, and I did it in a dirty alleyway between a dumpster and a construction site on a grad student budget. I sooooo fucking get it.

When I first enrolled in architecture school, I had no clue how to draw. Just none at all, and that's a pretty big deal when your job is to draw. I sat down with one of my professors, and told him, "Look, dude, I don't know what I'm doing. This is going to look like shit, and that's just going to have to be okay." The professor looked at my work and looked at me, and said, "Sam, that's bullshit. What you're doing is setting your expectations low so you're not disappointed, but in doing so, you're not pushing yourself, and you're not learning. When you're just learning, the trick is to set your expectations higher than you can really achieve. Yeah, you'll always be a little disappointed with your work, but each time you'll get better, and one day you'll look back at your portfolio and be able to see the progress. Have some fucking ambition." And then he told me to throw my drawings in the trash, because they "look[ed] like shit" and were embarrassing. That's architecture school.

Anyway, just some thoughts. /lecture

P.S.: The German flag is black, red, and gold.

What in the fuck?? Lol why are you people trying to be so philosophical? Are you seriously gonna jump down the guys throat because he doesnt have the right shade yellow on his bumper?
I just keep coming back to read the bull this guy gets. Its so funny.
Keep doing what you do Meeve. Its your car. I seriously don't think these people are thoroughly reading what you're writing.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

What in the fuck?? Lol why are you people trying to be so philosophical?

In your opinion, what would you say the purpose of a build thread is?

Are you seriously gonna jump down the guys throat because he doesnt have the right shade yellow on his bumper?

I couldn't give less of a damn what color he paints his bumper. But:

Never saw yellow on the german flag did you? Never saw a german flag I guess LOL.

Yeah.

[shippedout]

Less talk more pictures and info on the build.