So we finally hacked down the majority of Sherwood Forest to get at the fiberglass shell of the '34 Ford-like body that was delivered to our garage and begun with the lug nuts that I scored off of a Ford Taurus. I thought I scored big time when i was at the local junkyard and scored four rollers (wheels/tires) with a fist full of lug nuts for $50 bux. When I finally tried to use the lug nuts, they were both metric and too small. It didn't make sense, how was this possible? This was after all, from a FORD Taurus?
It wasn't until we tried to mount the wheels to the IFS that we were about a 1/4th of an inch off of the wheel pattern and that the center hole was larger than the center of the wheels from a '97 Ford Taurus. These rotors have ball bearing caps at the end of them and I was caught off guard.
However, to have both the incorrect rollers and lug nuts was very frustrating and almost inconceivable.
So the current plan is to call the yard and see if we can work out a swap with them for some Ford Mustang rollers. I'm very doubtfull we'll make any headway with them, but I'll try.
Well it's been a while since I've posted on this thread, but have with a lot of knowledge gained since the last post.
Translation: We've taken the shell off the chassis again to trim the blasted trunk bay one more time. :embarrass
Additionally, we've mounted the hood cowls on each side, mounted the booster cylinder on the firewall to the car and have a better understanding of the overall picture.
As far as support, Mike S. has been nothing but Top Shelf and this needs to be acknowledged. He's a real pro and has been there when we couldn't find our heads from our tails :thumbup:
Lastly, we haven't started welding yet and have a non gas welder on loan that I'm not too pleased about. I'm considering bringing in someone who's much more talented than I am when it comes to welding.
Jay.... your doing a great Job !!!! Glade to see your still getting it together..And glade to see Mike.S giving you the support you need.Keep up the great work your doing.. :thumbup: Building a car from that point is a lot of fun.And you and your dad will enjoy it...
Before you weld anything check the fit of the doors to ensure the body has not bent in the middle because you cut the door opening out.
You may have to raise the rear slightly to close a gap if it did.
Do It this way.
drill the holes for the rear bumper tubes (to the size of the actual tubes) jack the rear up or use cargo straps to pull it up until the door gap is where it should be.
Mount the rear bumper tube mounts to the frame and the bumper tubes to the mounts to hold the body in position.
I have a customer in Lake Havisue (sp?) that had his cabriolet doors professional done (by persons that shall remain nameless) and had to completely redo the entire process (by himself including welding) because the door blanks were cut out while the body was still movable.
We (my father and I) have made some significant headway with our build since my last post. We've cut open the windshield opening, mounted the master cylinder, mounted the radiator and attached it to the engine.
Any issues that we encounter are usually resolved over the phone with Mike S. @ Streetbeasts.
I do believe they've turned the corner as whenever we have a Question, it's answered.
Whenever we buy an additional part from them, its usually shipped as soon as possible.
In summation, so far ... so good.
Presently, we are working on doing both the steering column and the door frames for the car. We've also realized that if one is to do some welding, then you better have a 200 Amp welder and anything else below is merely for appearances sake.
I'm glad to see you're getting prompt service from those bozos. However, if you weren't posting updates on your kit build on this site, (the web site they're suing for telling the truth about them), you wouldn't be getting preferential treatment from them. This is a very public site and they know when people search for Streetbeast this site and our threads about them come up right below their own business web site. The last thing they want is more of the truth to become available to potential customers so they are bending over backwards to make sure you are getting all the factory help and parts you need. Lucky you!
This thread being kept with no bias is also a grand testament to the class and motivation of the man that runs this forum. This is the enthusiast that is reporting his passion with pride, not the controversial company, and the members also show great class supporting him. Just another reason why I really like this place. Perfect example Centerline is that I see that your criticisms can be quite harsh sometimes but usually to the point and spot on. Even at that, you give it up for the enthusiast here. Once again, really like this place.
This thread being kept with no bias is also a grand testament to the class and motivation of the man that runs this forum. This is the enthusiast that is reporting his passion with pride, not the controversial company, and the members also show great class supporting him. Just another reason why I really like this place. Perfect example Centerline is that I see that your criticisms can be quite harsh sometimes but usually to the point and spot on. Even at that, you give it up for the enthusiast here. Once again, really like this place.
I'm no fan of Streetbeast as anyone can tell you, however the purchase has been made. All I wan to see is a successful build and I'm very glad to see he's getting the factory help he needs to get 'er done. I only wish the average guy didn't need all that help to successfully build a Streetbeast.... but that's another discussion entirely.
1. Installing with a friend the McLeod Hydraulic Throw-out bearing that wasn't put in by the engine builder that initially 'helped' us. His version of 'help' included an aftercharge for everything that he was involved with during the duration of his assistance.
2. Drilled and installed an ididit firewall coupler that allows the steering column to come through the firewall.
3. Test fit and Installed the fuel tank yesterday.
In addition to learning how to use a rivet gun we (my father and I) ground down the knuckle that connects to the ididit steering column. At it's default distance, it looked a good inch or further between the knuckle and the steering column and that didn't look right to me. So we ground it down to roughly a 1/4" and it now looks perfect!
The funny thing about learning how to rivet was the fast realization that all store bought rivet hand tools aren't worth the packaging they're sold with. We purchased one for $17bux from harbor freight and didn't get a SINGLE use out of it! The teeth were bad to begin with, but the drive to the store and back would cost us more in gas. Same thing for the local Autozone too. We wound up ordering an air rivet gun from sears.com and spent close to a hunnert bux and it was money well spent.
JGK95, I'm not a regular poster here but I visit the site almost everyday for the education it provides. You are making excellent progress on your build and it is looking very good. I have seen several Streetbeasts in the past and I was not that impressed but your 34 is coming along very well. I was also pleased to see another person from Chicago here so please don't hesitate to let me know if I can ever help. Keep up the good work on your 34.
JGK95, I'm not a regular poster here but I visit the site almost everyday for the education it provides. You are making excellent progress on your build and it is looking very good. I have seen several Streetbeasts in the past and I was not that impressed but your 34 is coming along very well. I was also pleased to see another person from Chicago here so please don't hesitate to let me know if I can ever help. Keep up the good work on your 34.
jgk95, I'm certainly not an expert but it is always good to have someone near by to bounce ideas off of and who may know of businesses that they can refer to to others. My 39 is done but as usual not finished. Maybe I'll see you around the city some time.
The latest work that's been done is the following:
* Dad measured and cut the d-bar to the proper lengths.
* I hung the driveshaft between the Viper Transmission and the Currie differential. (What's the big deal? Aren't all u-bolts the same? You mean they're not? :thumbup: )
* Mounted the steering wheel to the ididit universal column. However, the steering wheel is from Grant and it required milling to allow the white vertical tube from within the ididit column that supports the horn button to pass through. We'll probably go with a flashier steering wheel instead of the one shown in the pictures.
The entire steering assembly is now complete, but the Streetbeasts provided column drop really needs to go for an ididit column drop.
A casual observation that might capture your attention is that Streetbeasts is running very lean at the present moment and our attempts to receive our side door windows that we've paid for is taking a longer than necessary amount of time. Two-way communication is largely non-existent and this is very disappointing. Some form of dialogue containing a shipping number is what we're after. I should mention that we did receive the front windshield with the kit, yet the side windows were on back order at the time.
I can no longer reach Mike Suhor, who is known as Grandpa Cobra here on the website as I'm certain he's not with Streetbeasts anymore.
Centerline, if you think I have favored status, I ask you to contact Streetbeasts on my behalf for the two side door windows that we paid for and still have not received. They are long overdue and were a part of the initial purchase. Heck, surprise me and even obtain a shipping number for them!
any competant glass shop should be able to make side windows, so after you'v had enough of waiting, just cancel the order and have a glass shop make them.. looking good so far
The side windows were part of the initial purchase. Would you pay twice for something you already purchased once?
UPDATE:
My father is in Florida visiting family and friends and is going to try tomorrow to reach anyone at Streetbeasts to see if he can obtain the windows/shipping number/any form of commitment.
I understand u arleady paid for them, but that does not mean you can't ask for a refund if they cannot deliver the goods in a timely mannor... you could always try using a diffrent telephone. if there as dormant as you think they are, they most likely don't have very many clients/ orders in the works so they just might be avoiding you
These clowns can't get glass in a year and a half? :drunk:
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