It's like building a house...........first of all you have to decide if you want a Ranch home, two story, split plan, etc. In other words you have to decide how you want the car to end up looking before you buy or build the very first part.
Once you decide that you want it to look and sit a certain way the mockup stage begins. This is my favorite part because you get to put lots of blocks of wood, concrete, and steel under the body and various components until you get them sitting like you want them. Then you sit back in your pondering chair and open a cold beverage of your choice.
After looking at it for a while you move things around until you finalize the exact look you are shooting for. I like to prop up the body, engine, wheels, and any other parts that contribute to the look I want. IMO it is important to have your body, a representative engine, and some tires that are close to the ones you will be using on hand before you buy the first stick of rectangular tubing or order your frame.
There is nothing wrong with off the rack frames like Speedway and others sell, but you have no flexibility in the final look of the car. It pretty much is going to sit like the traditional T buckets you see..............absolutely nothing wrong with that look, we even have one in my family. But if you want it lower, or longer, or whatever, the only way to get that look is to fab up your own frame.............not as hard as it sounds, but it does take planning.
I always suggest the first timers (and even not so first timers) can benefit from building their first frame out of 2 x 4 lumber. It approximates the dimensions of the real stuff, is cheap, can be screwed together with sheetrock screws, and is easy to modify if you don't like the way it sits. By doing it that way you can move the tires into pretty much the place where they will ultimately sit, and you can see if you allowed enough room for radiator, fan, etc.
When you get a wood frame you like you can duplicate it in rectangular tubing. I like 2 x 3 for cars like early T's and 2 x 4 for later cars, like the 39 Dodge bobber truck I have. I think those sizes look more proportionate to the body........not to spindly and not too fat. We always use 3/16 wall because it allows us to tap threads for non structural items like line clamps, and 3/16 has a more rounded edge than 1/8. Just a personal preference.
Finally, if you don't trust your welding skills don't be afraid to tack weld things and then have a pro or good welder finish weld them for you..........I still tack weld stuff and have my Son, who is a better welder, finish welding it.
Don
