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Street Beast builds......Tips, problems and solutions.

291K views 804 replies 73 participants last post by  shortsteven618 
#1 ·
Street Beasts is out of business, so is their tech support.
A couple of us thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where
tips, questions and solutions regarding these car kits can be discussed and hopefully solved. We seem to have a number of newer members with these kits and a number of members that have built these cars and have solved many of the problems. This thread would give these members to get together with their common problems and solutions.

We did have some employees of the company on our board a while back. Their input would be welcome I am sure too.

BTW, this thread is about the build, not the company that produced these kits. The mods will be monitoring the thread and talk of the company and policies of the company will be edited out or deleted, whatever it takes to keep it just about the build......so, lets keep it that way.

Since this thread will discuss a number of different subjects, from body to framework to suspensions etc, I thought it might be best to have this thread in the lounge.
 
#253 ·
Hey thanks alot for the quick response. We are planning on priming this weekend and still trying to decide if we want to cut the fenders off and replace them, or how we are going to work this out. My dad is good with fiberglass but we'll find out how good. When you put your new fenders on did you glass them to the body of leave them seperate? I pulled the rear end out yesterday and i'm pretty sure its a Ford 8.8, however having the 5x4-3/4 axles it confused me. I looked into it a little more and it comes out to 5x120.7 mm which seems to have been standard in older camaros. I found this casting number on it E4DW 8A and a Ford stamp. I'm going to post a few pictures if I can figure it out. I only have a few but the first one is what the car looked like when we first got it a few months ago (not sure why the mini 14 is posing with the car). Theres one of our motor, I know I know, SBC.. But thats what we had here. 383 with 10.5 to 1 pistons, L98 Aluminum Heads and a good size Comp Roller cam, Scat rods, Sanderson headers. Oh and three 2's that just came in today to finish the motor ( Need to be painted). Also a pic of the rear end and the car a few days ago before I pulled the motor out.
Thanks again for any help,
Jason
 

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#254 ·
One other thing. I'm not trying to start ANY confrontation with anyone, by any means, but why do sooo many people bash street beasts. I didnt discover this untill after we acquired the car, but it almost made me wonder if we made a mistake. I'm about having a good time, building things you like and enjoying them, and I fully intend to do that. But at the same time I read some of these forums and its abunch of down talking on how bad street beast cars are. I'd like to think the one we got was pretty nice but still had it flaws, I know it'll be a nice car when we are done.
 
#255 ·
Lots of opinions out there

Jason0779 said:
One other thing. I'm not trying to start ANY confrontation with anyone, by any means, but why do sooo many people bash street beasts. I didnt discover this untill after we acquired the car, but it almost made me wonder if we made a mistake. I'm about having a good time, building things you like and enjoying them, and I fully intend to do that. But at the same time I read some of these forums and its abunch of down talking on how bad street beast cars are. I'd like to think the one we got was pretty nice but still had it flaws, I know it'll be a nice car when we are done.
It's a long story I guess, not really worth getting into. I bought my 34 when the company was Fiberfab/Classic Motor Carriage many years ago... they went bankrupt and I guess it reformed as streetbeast. It took a while for me to get all the parts that were missing on my car and I never finished the car. But now I'm getting back at it again with my new shop going up. My advise, just enjoy your project, there's many opinions out there and at this point it doesn't really matter, you've got the car, just build it.
No matter what project car you bought, real steel or fiberglass there's flaws and things that have to be done to get it on the road. My 50 Merc and 57 Chevy PU will take many hours to build and lots of bodywork. But it will be fun. Here's a really good resource, you can download YouTube videos and keep the how to stuff for reference. I have a complete set of DIY Stuff for the StreetBeast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDULQUCqOPA Pete tells how to do every aspect of the build. This is stuff you will not find anywhere else, tricks of the trade that will help you get things right as you build your car. Hope it helps out. Just type in streetbeast on Youtube lots of info there. Have a great time building your car... that's what it's all about!
 
#256 ·
A Really Good Resource On How To

I'm just now getting back to building my 34 I bought when the company was Fiberfab/Classic Motor Carriage... I sort of gave up years ago. But since I retired and my new shop is going up I decided to get back at the project again. I wanted to share a good resource I found on how to do the doors, trunk, headliner, wiring, suspension and just about every other aspect of the build done with fewer problems. If you go to YouTube and type in streetbeast there's a lot of great info. Pete, Southwest Rod and Custom, (my favorite) has a complete set of great, easy to follow videos posted on how to do just about every aspect of the build. Pete has lots of tricks of the trade you will find nowhere else. This link will get you started and make your project a lot more fun and less frustrating. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDULQUCqOPA
 
#257 ·
Streetbeast

Jason0779 said:
Hey thanks alot for the quick response. We are planning on priming this weekend and still trying to decide if we want to cut the fenders off and replace them, or how we are going to work this out. My dad is good with fiberglass but we'll find out how good. When you put your new fenders on did you glass them to the body of leave them seperate? I pulled the rear end out yesterday and i'm pretty sure its a Ford 8.8, however having the 5x4-3/4 axles it confused me. I looked into it a little more and it comes out to 5x120.7 mm which seems to have been standard in older camaros. I found this casting number on it E4DW 8A and a Ford stamp. I'm going to post a few pictures if I can figure it out. I only have a few but the first one is what the car looked like when we first got it a few months ago (not sure why the mini 14 is posing with the car). Theres one of our motor, I know I know, SBC.. But thats what we had here. 383 with 10.5 to 1 pistons, L98 Aluminum Heads and a good size Comp Roller cam, Scat rods, Sanderson headers. Oh and three 2's that just came in today to finish the motor ( Need to be painted). Also a pic of the rear end and the car a few days ago before I pulled the motor out.
Thanks again for any help,
Jason
As far as the bashing goes it's more about the company, than the car, they screwed a lot of people.

When I put my fenders back on I glassed them. Now you have to know what you are doing so that when you cut the old fender off the car you leave enough to glass too. When you take the new fender you have to cut the amount off of that fender that you lift on the car. A spot you have to check is were the fender meets the running board, you don't want one wider than the other.

These cars were setup to take a Ford rearend, Like I said I put a jag in mine, so I cut everything that was there out. and put a new crossmember in to hold the jag.

That video that gearhead posted is ok, but I can tell you some better things to do. That guy is a builder and want's to get it done as fast as he can, time is money. Everyone has things they can do to make a build easier.

Pm me I will give you my phone # and we can talk about somethings you might want to do. Also if you can get down and take a straight on picture of your front fenders, I should be able to tell if yours are the same as mine were.

Oh I have a CMC body also, it is different than the streetbeast body a little mostly in the firewall.

Bob
 
#258 ·
Here are a couple pictures of the front. It doesn't help that the driveway is slanted though so the car is not evenly sitting on the jackstands. Maybe its not as bad as I mentioned. From the front you can't really tell. I think it bugs me more because i've layed a tape measure down and measured them.
 

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#260 ·
gearhead1964 said:
I'm just now getting back to building my 34 I bought when the company was Fiberfab/Classic Motor Carriage... I sort of gave up years ago. But since I retired and my new shop is going up I decided to get back at the project again. I wanted to share a good resource I found on how to do the doors, trunk, headliner, wiring, suspension and just about every other aspect of the build done with fewer problems. If you go to YouTube and type in streetbeast there's a lot of great info. Pete, Southwest Rod and Custom, (my favorite) has a complete set of great, easy to follow videos posted on how to do just about every aspect of the build. Pete has lots of tricks of the trade you will find nowhere else. This link will get you started and make your project a lot more fun and less frustrating. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDULQUCqOPA
Funny you mentioned Pete. I actually was at his shop on Tuesday. I live in Denton and he works down the highway in Lewisville. Very nice bunch of people over there. I had previously seen his videos thats what made me go by there and check it out.
 
#261 ·
Streetbeast

Jason0779 said:
How can I tell if mine is a Streetbeast or CMC?

I'm not sure that CMC had the flat firewall, if you go back and look at the pictures I posted, and look at the two when the car was still black, they made them with a step in the firewall, like Henry made them, not flat.

I didn't mean those guys were wrong or anything, I just did things to mine that were easy and made it better.

Bob
 
#262 ·
35terraplane said:
I'm not sure that CMC had the flat firewall, if you go back and look at the pictures I posted, and look at the two when the car was still black, they made them with a step in the firewall, like Henry made them, not flat.

I didn't mean those guys were wrong or anything, I just did things to mine that were easy and made it better.

Bob
Oh no, I definitly understand. I was actually going to ask you about your firewall. I thought yours looked like it had a outlaw fire wall on it or something. Glad you cleared that up. What do you think about my front??? Does it look like one fender is wider than the other?
 
#263 ·
Streetbeast

Jason0779 said:
Oh no, I definitly understand. I was actually going to ask you about your firewall. I thought yours looked like it had a outlaw fire wall on it or something. Glad you cleared that up. What do you think about my front??? Does it look like one fender is wider than the other?
Well yours is not the problem I had. I tried to use a scale to measure yours, but the picture would have to be dead on straight. Looking at it the drivers side does look a little different, but it could be the sanding, with all the colors.

Jason pm me I will give you my # . To me it is easier than this typing.

Bob
 
#265 ·
Streetbeast

Jason0779 said:
I'm having a crazy idea of justing cutting all the fenders running boards off and building a car w\o any of them. What do you guys think?
A guy posted on here awhile back that had built his like that, but I think he had channeled it first, not sure, they sit pretty high.

Looking at your fenders, it is hard to tell. it looks like the tires and fenders line up, but that could be the picture. Where is the one wider?

Bob
 
#267 ·
Streetbeast

Jason0779 said:
The driver side is the wider one. I think I notice it more just cause I know its there and it bugs me. The wheel and tire looks like it sits in the fender well a little further.
From the picture it looks ok, when you get everything back on it that's when you might see it looking from the front, but I don't think so. If the stands for the head lights are the same I think I would leave it. if you want to make them the same you will have to find out where it is off, then make your cuts there and pinch it in.

When I laid my grille back I had too make the hood fit I had to make small pie cuts from the front and back so the hood looked right. One of the hardest pieces was the part of the hood that fit to the grille. I had to cut the front of the hood off, in front of the scoops, leave the front of it just like it was, but narrow the hood, then that piece I had cut off, I had pieces laying all over trying to do that, but it fits well and looks good.

Cutting the fender would be about the same, you just can't cut away. but it can be done.

Bob
 
#268 · (Edited by Moderator)
Metal Hood

I've managed to "install" spider cracks on my fiberglass SB hood, so I am thinking about putting on a metal hood. One of my son's friends does metal fabrication and can build a buck, etc for the hood shape.
Before I go about re-inventing the wheel, is there any one currently producing the hood in metal for these cars? )I've checked all the usual sources, including Brookline, etc. and no one appears to be in that market.)
*************************
Thanks...
 
#269 ·
35terraplane said:
I'm not sure that CMC had the flat firewall, if you go back and look at the pictures I posted, and look at the two when the car was still black, they made them with a step in the firewall, like Henry made them, not flat.

I didn't mean those guys were wrong or anything, I just did things to mine that were easy and made it better.

Bob

My CMC had the flat fire wall... I think they had more then one mold..
 
#270 · (Edited by Moderator)
btsave said:
I've managed to "install" spider cracks on my fiberglass SB hood, so I am thinking about putting on a metal hood. One of my son's friends does metal fabrication and can build a buck, etc for the hood shape.
Before I go about re-inventing the wheel, is there any one currently producing the hood in metal for these cars? )I've checked all the usual sources, including Brookline, etc. and no one appears to be in that market.)
*************************

Thanks...
Why not just fix the one you have ??? :confused:
 
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