Be it a new engine or a suspension tuning, we’ve covered the most five popular hot rod modifications, along with some sources of inspiration.
Our beloved Hot Rods are things of beauty. But to get there, many parts of the puzzle need to be right for the proper outcome. Are you more of a show car guy? Maybe a racer? Or you are not even driving the thing as it’s bouncing up and down while you control it from the outside? Of course, there are tons of mods for hot rods, so keep in mind that we’ll be talking only about the most common here. In fact, the range of mods for hot rods is so wide that we’ll even just cover the most common types here. Each will be then covered extensively and separately later.
Gotta start from the beginning, right?
Body
Now, where should we start? Custom body mods could have a separate article, a whole series—probably an encyclopedia. That’s how large this topic is.
On typical rods, rarely does the original body stands untouched, even if it means at least a crazy color scheme.
But you can’t end up with just eye-catching (or eye-hurting) colors, can you?
So we have a chopped roof, shaved door handles, shortened wheelbase, wider fender flares, hood scoops, chrome front grille (or even chromed whole body), slammed suspension, or a jacked-up front suspension for that gasser look, or early ‘30s models with or without fenders …
As far as color goes, it even doesn’t have to have any color at all. Just put a clear coating on that good ol’ patina and drive that thing like you are on top of the world!
You are not that patient with modifications? Just switch the whole body with a retro-rod body kit on a newer frame!
Put on some flames; we don’t care. As long as you are happy with the outcome, it’s OK with us.
Suspension
There can’t be a hot rod without some kind of suspension modification. It changes the whole look of the car and affects the ride quality and handling—and those are the fundamentals of a hot rod.
Usually, restoring and upgrading the original chassis can do the trick here, but you can also build a new chassis from scratch (assuming you have the skill set for that), or you can just buy a new one from a specialized builder.
Worth mentioning, and often overlooked, the most important modification is the one that makes the car safe, and after that, whatever craziness you’d like.
So, the most common suspension mod is to lower the suspension. Dropping the suspension will increase maneuverability while also making the car look low and wide, which kind of increases dopamine levels in your brain for some reason.
Slammed suspension is a pretty complicated operation as you can mess with the car’s geometry and seriously negatively affect the vehicle’s behavior. However, if done properly, it could end up looking dope (will probably not increase the maneuverability or safety, though).
For those who want to preserve their spine or don’t what to be limited to driving their hot rod on a perfect tarmac and avoiding road bumps, there is always the magic of air suspensions. Air suspension gives you the freedom to adjust the height and get a better ride quality.
Meanwhile, a performance suspension requires a more sophisticated approach as it’s all about carving corners. It requires a predictable and well-balanced car. As the early cars had a live rear solid axle, they were not very good on twisty roads. So the most basic mod is an independent suspension that gives nice stability, especially during hard cornering.
Jacked-up suspension is also a modification that has a lot of fans. It may sometimes come with glossy 30″ wheels—but hey, who are we to judge?
Some of these hot rods can have both axles lifted, or just a rear axle, or in the case of gasser-styled rods, the front axle.
Lowriders are a different breed of Rods that can jump pretty high in the air. Those are heavily modified for standing against the brut forces of slamming on the ground after getting a high air.
Wheels and Tires
C’mon, wheel lovers, c’mon in! We got steel wheels with hubs; we got wire wheels, tall steel wheels, alloy wheels, vintage wheels, racing wheels, custom-made wheels, and even fully chromed wheels!
Jokes aside, the choice is that big. Hey, that’s maybe the first thing that could catch your eye on a car!
The hot rod scene has so many various styles that it opened up an enormous market for wheels and tires.
If your Rod is a ’32 Ford, then it has to have wide rears with sticky tires and narrow front wheels with high sidewalls.
The rim itself can be a steel wheel, wire wheel, or a billet wheel made of an aluminum block. If it’s an open-wheel rod, then the sky is the limit. I mean literally.
Some hot rods are extreme to the point that wheels and tires are almost as high as the actual car. You can usually find these on rat rods.
If you are working on a ’51 Mercury Coupe, then aluminum 18” to 20” dish wheels are a natural choice. They are maybe not that efficient in extracting the heat out of the brakes, but as they are made out of alloy, which withstands the heat better than steel, it’s not that critical for daily driving. However, for heavy braking, you’ll have to choose more adequate wheels.
Just remember that the most important part of choosing the right size and right offset. The disc size is a limiting factor too. When taking measures, if the car is jacked and has no real load on the tires, then the suspension will be making the difference, and you won’t be able to measure properly. Put on the wheels and tires, take out the jack, and even push the car onto the ground. There has to be a space for the suspension to travel freely without damaging the car fenders or the tire itself. There are many tools for measuring the right wheels, but the best one is to actually try it on the car.
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Engine Mods
What have we got here? The sweetest of them all. The heart of the car is, of course, its engine. It makes all the noise that provokes goosebumps and makes your eye pupils dot-sized. It’s all about the emotion here.
Yeah, you could make the car extremely fast with an engine swap of a twin-turbo inline 6 2JZ engine. However, that’s not really the style. When thinking of hot rods, the magical V8 comes right to mind. Not that Japanese engines can’t do the trick. There are a lot of examples of American cars with Japanese engines.
The thing is, from the moment you start a V8, shivers go down your spine. That is, of course, if you have no proper muffler, as the main characteristic of the V8 engine is smoothness. The other reason why V8 engines are so popular amongst hot rodders is the power delivery in the lower band and the potential to extract double the power with some modifications, including turbochargers or superchargers. Or both!
The price range of various engines is very wide, and it can cost anything from $500 for a “nice” V8 junkyard example and up to $30.000 for a small block 1.500HP crate engine built by specialized high-end companies. Another great option is a manufacturer-built Mopar 6.9 L 1.000HP V8 Hellephant engine that costs roughly the same.
Don’t fool yourself if you think that you can get away cheap, as even the $500 engine will cost a couple of times more than the original price tag in the end if you want to get back those runaway horses.
You can stuff even a diesel engine in that truck of yours. Go for an inline six-pot 6BTA Cummins 5.9L, as it is turbocharged and can make those wheels spin till the pandemic ends. It used to be blasphemy to put a diesel engine in a hot rod, but hey!
The best part of customizing is that there are no general rules. It’s a free world, and you can do what you wish.
Brakes
Nothing brings that confidence while driving a car as the brakes. Brakes are a truly essential part of every vehicle, but the stakes are even higher when we talk about modified hot rods.
Bigger engines, wider tires, better suspension, and hеavier cars are factors that dictate the required brake power. I mean, you can’t drive 200 mph without the power to stop on time.
If you’d like to keep that old-school look, aftermarket companies offer upgraded drum brakes and even shiny casing as well. Damn, they are so wild they look like some kind of sculpture.
The price for this setup could go from the basic kit for $200 or the posh versions for $2,000 for a pair. It could be a much-appreciated feature later, for the show cars, when all the parts are exposed, and the car is displayed on top of mirrors.
The biggest advantage of drum brakes is the lower cost than comparable quality disc brakes. The biggest disadvantage, however, is that they are less effective at dissipating heat. Besides, they struggle in the rain as water tends to pool inside the drum.
A more expensive but much better option is disc brakes, usually present in performance-oriented hot rods. Disc brakes have a more predictable behavior as they are less prone to locking up than drum brakes. That allows you to stamp on them harder and more frequently.
There are complete brake conversation kits, and there is no reason to improvise here to spare some money. Just go with the kit that is most suitable for your car’s characteristics and performance.
There is one more type of braking system called inboard rear brakes. They are used on specific cars that are simply built that way from the beginning, like Jaguar E Type, for example, or on XJSs’ independent rear suspension.
Whatever you choose, do it right!
Last Words
Building a hot rod is nothing short of art. Some will get the point; some won’t. As there are many possible modifications, a lot of styles are present in the hot rod scene. Go out there and choose your stuff and create your work of art. Maybe we’ll like it, or maybe we won’t, but that is absolutely not important.
The only important audience to be satisfied with is you!
