where did it all start

well this is definitly a newb question.......how did everyone get started really cutting into shit? classes at a community college? trial and error? or what? did you you just find somone and ask to sit in on them doin work? i am the very definition of an entry level tech. pretty much i wanna take it past bagging the front of my ride. I definitly dont have the confidence to bag the rear of my truck as it took me five years to pay for it. im about to get a project truck (hopefully a guy from works b2200). The time is the biggest thing and somewhere to work on it, we cant keep an empty bay at work for me to do my own stuff. and even though i got a great deal on quality work(work being done as we speak), theres still some gratification missing that i didnt do it. any info would help. didnt mean to get started writing a book, and i cant search old posts. neone?

The first time I cut into a perfectly good truck,I was sh*tin' my pants.I had done lots of other automotive projects before,and had welding skills before I started.My cousin pretty much gave me a sawzall and said cut them rails.I cut them and never looked back,lol.I think it helps if you see someone do it,and watch how they go about doing it,hands on approach always worked better for me.So see if someone will let you watch while they do work on a truck.

Well, your question is going to have many different answers cause everyone is different. In my case, I payed to have the rear of my truck done the first time, and I felt that feeling of not doing it myself. At the same time, I watched a good friend of mine get a feature with his truck and he hadnt done barely anything on it. He recieved alot of heckling ever though it was done vclean while all the people that were razing hims trucks looked like dog shit and could barely make it down the road. So on my second project, I have done practically everything with the help of friends. The bad thing about doing it yourself and learning as you go(welding, plumbing, cutting, buying products), you tend to have to do everything twice. This can get very expensive. But it sure makes you learn. I'm very pleased with what I doing now and I think that I will always look at somthing I did and think that maybe there is a better way but this is how this sport progresses and how the trucks we build get lower and more functional and most importantly, safer. As for the guy that got the feature, He eventualy rebuilt it and had a hand in just about everything this time, but it was just on the cover of both Minitruckin and Streetsource. So pick your path and dont ever have any regrets. L8r

thanks bro, looks like im right there, did the front payed for the back. im no stranger to doing things twice i think ive made up some new curses along the way. just sucks everyone i know from the scene is a 2 hour drive and he works 60 hours a week just like me.

I have been into Mini Truckin since my about 2003 when I got my Mazda. Made friends with people building trucks, and just picked up the welder and started messing with it when my friend wasnt looking. Now I cant get enough of working on trucks. Now I am attending Wyotech starting the 3rd so i can try and make a living doing so.

the best way to learn is to do it yourself. you will learn much more from just trying than going to a technical automotive school. try it yourself within the areas that you know. if you don't know, ask someoen to help you. that is the best wayt to learn. i have been lucky and have a few close friends who have taught me much of what i know today.

yea i've been talking to the Matco man about getting a MIG put on my bill, but he wants an arm an a leg. congrats on wyo tech, i went to a half ass technical school and regreted the hell out of it. but anyways anyone close to dfw thats cool with lettin somone look in on some work you can be paid in 30 packs.

I have a shop in lewisville, north of dfw. You can stop by any time, I dont mind visitors.

And beer is always appreciated.

Always been a do it myself person no matter what it was. When I bought my first truck I did everything myself. I never have payed someone else to do anything to any of my vehicles.

i was emo b4 and attempted at cuttingmy wrists to make my hands lower for easier wahckin off, but i missed and cut my truck instead.