62 resto mod DISASTER with Street Shop Chassis
 

Update August 6, 3015


help needed to mount c1 rear bumpers to Street Shop chassis

See attached pictures of wood mock up of c1 (62) rear cross member and frame rails sitting on Street Shops rear cross member. The bumper brackets mount to the c1's inner frame rails that are 37 inches apart. The Street Shop frame rails are 34 1/8 inches inside to inside and 38 1/4 inches outside to out side.
Mounting the brackets on the original frame requires a lot of twisting and turning because of the spare tire tub. It appears the Street Shop frame requires the brackets to be placed INSIDE the frame rails. I find NO way this can be accomplished without cutting out 7-8 inches of the inside or outside frame rails and shim accordingly. This will certainly compromise the integrity of the frame rails and the rear cross member as well. Possibly other forum members have run into this issue and have a viable solution. Will be happy to hear any and all ideas and input from forum members.
Many Thanks
Don


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Woes mounting 1962 front bumpers on Street Shop chassis
Seeking ideas and/or procedures to mount front bumper brackets to a Street Shop frame without having to remove body mounts and/or raising body above frame. Pictures 5 and 6 show the mock up the original frame and the Street Shop frame. The pictures show that the bumper brackets bolt to the outside of the original frame at 26 and 3/8 inches. The Street Shop frame requires the brackets to be mounted inside of the frame rails with shimming necessary to locate these brackets. This is next to impossible to add shims through the front of these rails. In a previous post the rear bumper bracket mounting required removing about 8 and 1/2 inches of the side frame rail. This cannot be done for the front bumper brackets because of gussets welded to frame for the sway bar mounting.

The pictures 1 and 2 with the brackets finally attached required removing all body mounts and the radiator support to be able to shift body from side to side to be able to put brackets inside of the frame rails. Pictures 1 and 2 also show the miss alignment of bumper bracket to the holes in body. Street Shop provided 3/4" diameter aluminum bushings to locate the bolts through the frame, but these do not allow any tweaking of miss aligned holes. Thinking about welding heavy 7/16 flat washers over the the 3/4 inch holes in the rails after a solution is found for getting the brackets into the proper position.

Fortunately while working on bumper brackets I discovered the interference of the sway bar linkage to the steering tie rods. Pictures 3 and 4 show this. Does anyone know of different linkage that would correct this problem?
Thanks for any input
Don
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Street Shop chassis disaster EXPOSED UPDATE December 15, 2014

I have been researching for the best way to fix the Street Shop chassis disaster for my 62 Vette. I recently stumbled upon 5 or 6 of Street Shop's own photos that prove Mr Walden and Street Shop knew the chassis they sold to me was absolutely NO FN'G GOOD.

Every issue I outlined in the above thread are presented in MY pictures that are included in this link. http://s769.photobucket.com/user/don...ept913%20album They are nowhere to be found in any of these photos from the Street Shop link.
http://s769.photobucket.com/user/don...ted%20pictures

You can review the photos of the issues I have and compare them to similar photos from Street Shop.

EVERY ISSUE, I repeat, EVERY ISSUE I have encountered with this chassis that Mr Walden sold me are absent in the Street Shop photos. Mr Walden assured me they had made many C1 frames before and that he has been building custom chassis for years and that this would be drop in swap. These pictures are proof Mr Walden knew all the exact problems existed in this chassis before he sold to me. Coincidence,... I think NOT.

Mr Walden has absolutely and totally ignored every phone call and email from me.

After viewing his and my photos I can now understand his refusing to answer me. He KNOWS this chassis is junk and His claims to me in person and his brochure are totally false.
The Street Shop photos prove Mr Walden was less than truthful to me in representing this chassis because he knew of all the issue I would encounter.
This is a deliberate, deceitful and corrupt act by Mr Walden to get rid of his junk chassis.

His response to me has only been through his lawyer and he is wanting me to pay for transporting my body and his chassis to his chosen shop. ( All the photos reveal the issues with his chassis). Why would I invest another $500-$1000 in transporting a piece of crap that would only result in the same outcome? All issues revealed in the above thread and photos point to the fact that this chassis is 100% WRONG

In an attempt to resolve this matter I have twice (two times) offered to pay for a round trip airfare, lodging and meals for Mr Walden or his representative to see first hand the issues with his chassis. He has completely and totally ignored me.

There is no defense or excuse for this behavior.

I see no place in the Corvette community for any persons or company who commit unethical and dishonest deeds or practices such as this.

I ask the Corvette community to evaluate the photos and endorse only honest and upright companies. I mistakenly bought from Street Shop because at the time NO real time non-endorsements were available. I would be negligent in not informing Corvette owners the true character of this company.

Character is under girded by words and deeds. Mr Walden and Street Shop fail in both.


62 resto mod DISASTER with Street Shop Chassis September 9, 2013

PLEASE HELP - (link to pics on bottom)

I am seeking help from the Corvette Community to rectify a problem with a Street Shop Chassis purchase.
I purchased a Street Shop chassis at Carlisle in 2009. In the photo’s you can see the chassis as I receive it and just some of the issues I have found to date. The flywheel cover and the rear sway bar geometry are just two examples. The captions under each of the photos speak volumes as to the design and quality of this Street Shop chassis.
I had been working on items relevant to this conversion (getting items replated, doing body work, cleaning and repainting items, and gas tank modifications ect.) before attempting to put the body and frame together.
Some health issues intervened (a knee problem and issues with both eyes) pretty much halted any progress for the last couple of years. This summer I have found MANY, VERY SERIOUS ISSUES WITH THIS STREET SHOP CHASSIS and cannot get Street Shop to respond.

I was hoping to have it running this summer BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT…… The only success I had was cutting the front inner fenders and notching the spare tire tub. The first time I lowered the body to the frame, I discovered the engine was hitting the firewall and the cold air duct, and the rear body was resting on the frame kick ups. My first thought was to trim fiberglass from where it was hitting in the frame kick up area. I tried this and still could not get body to sit on frame. I then checked for anything that would prevent body from sitting on frame and found that both rear body mounts were sitting on the rear cross-member. I checked some frame drawings and decided to cut the rear cross-member down by ½ inch in order to move forward with this project

I could not go any lower as this modification put the bottom of the spare tire tub on top of the rear cross-member. Going any lower would require cutting out (OR BUTCHERING) more in the spare tire tub area AND in the kick up areas of the trunk. This confirmed that BOTH the rear cross-member AND kick up designs of this frame are too high compared to the stock frame. With cutting the rear cross-member down by ½ inch and cutting fiberglass in kick up area the body still does not set on this frame.

I decided to check entire chassis for additional issues.
I made a frame sketch with a datum to record findings for all body mount locations (elevations) on both my original frame and the Street Shop frame. I found that 3 of 6 body mount elevations are wrong on the Street Shop Chassis. The elevation of Street Shop’s rear cross-member IS OVER ONE INCH (1”) HIGHER THAN MY ORIGNAL 62 FRAME. To confirm this was Street Shop’s mistake I measured the mounting locations ON THE REAR OF THE BODY and found the body mounting points over the cross-member are about 1 inch lower than those in the main body cabin area. This confirmed the Street Shop chassis rear cross-member location is at least 1 inch too high and not the ½ inch I had thought when I first modified the rear cross-member.

I found the body mount in front of the passenger side rear tire is 9/16 inch lower than the other 5 body mounts on this chassis. (See frame sketch elevation numbers.) This is not a twist or bend in this frame area as the immediate areas surrounding this point show no sign or reference to being hit or damaged. This chassis has been welded in this condition. If the frame was bent from an outside source, the kick up and surrounding areas would be blemished and distorted as well. The kick ups are level across the frame just as is the front and rear of this chassis. By checking body mounting brackets from drivers’ side to passenger side it also revealed a 9/16 inch difference. It is obvious that the main frame rail on passenger side and the body mount were welded in the WRONG location. I verified this error three different ways. First by using a level across the frame to the drivers side body mount,( frame was level in front, in rear and across the top of the kick ups). Second, by using a string from front body mount to rear cross-member, (see photos). Third, by putting the body on the frame and sighting along the lower body to the frame. This revealed an obvious slope of the passenger side frame rail down to the body mounting bracket in front of passenger side rear tire.

The rear bumper bracket hole locations are a nightmare as well. (See photos) It would require removing the top of each frame rail back some 7 to 8 inches from the end of the rail if the hole locations were corrected and used as this chassis has been fabricated. Using the bumper bracket holes in the present condition, the bumpers will be mounted well over 4 inches below where they belong and this is before adding any shims to level body and setting the door gaps.

The only shims or cushions on my original frame were the ¼ inch rubber pieces.

Just shimming this Street Shop chassis as it was made, there would be no way it would ever be possible to mount the front and rear bumpers in their stock locations. The higher (wrong) elevation of the rear cross-member dictates the shimming of all other body mounts. It would require starting with at least a 1 (one) inch shim and increasing up from there on all cabin mounting locations. . A shim or spacer of at least 1 - 9/16 inches would be the starting point at the body mount in front of rear tire on passengers’ side. What this would do to the front bumper mounting locations, I cannot imagine.

I leveled the front wheels and frame to rough align the front end. I found the track to be less than the stock 57 inches Street Shop claims to maintain. By Street Shop shrinking the track width they have created serious clearance issues on this chassis with the exhaust manifolds and the steering shaft. To obtain the correct camber angles, shims have to be installed moving the upper ‘a’ arms inward, thus reducing any clearances for the exhaust manifolds and steering shaft. This creates a major problem for installing the steering shaft. (see photo)

A quote from the Street Shop brochure, “Built to fit. In-house designed and fabricated fixtures insure mounting locations for the body, engine, and bumper brackets all appear in the stock locations.” This frame is a nightmare and is a major disappointment coming from a specialized custom frame manufacturer with 15- 20 years of experience. This chassis does not remotely resemble any of the claims made by Street Shop.

To fix this chassis it will require removing and replacing the kick ups back to and including the rear cross-member plus the body mount and main frame rail on the passenger side. Correcting the front track width of this will require removing and replacing the complete front cross-member with the correct mounting points for the lower control arms.

You can see and gage from the few photos’ I’ve included, the amount and scope of work that would be required to get this chassis to an acceptable level. I am asking you, the Corvette Community after viewing the facts with photographic proof help me to get Street Shop to replace this chassis or give me a full refund of the purchase price. I’m sure that your passion for this hobby is as great as mine and that you will agree this chassis is not anything close to what it should be. If everyone would send messages to Street Shop and to anyone that may be considering purchasing a chassis from them, maybe Street Shop will stand up and make this right. Keeping quiet only allows others that share our hobby the possibility to have negative experiences such as this. Had I known Street Shop’s quality was non-existent, and they treated their customers this way I would never have considered them. I believe the forum is a great tool to inform and assist anyone and everyone with questions or needs. I purchased this chassis in good faith and that it was a quality product. It has turned out to be everything BUT. I have written at least three letters and have been TOTALLY IGNORED by Street Shop. Again I ask this community to do whatever you can to help me. I will be 70 this November and know only to well that time and health is a fleeting commodity, and I would certainly like to enjoy my ride again.

Sincerely, a fellow Vette owner (49+ years) and forum member
Don Peters

CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR PICTURES DOCUMENTING THE PROBLEMS:
http://s769.photobucket.com/user/don...ept913%20album

I seem to remember Mike Coletta having problems with one of their frames for a C2 project he did for a forum member. One problem was when he went to drop the body it hit on the driveshaft in the tunnel. Have you tried calling them? They are super busy and seldom answer but do return calls.

Don

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I don't know anything about Street Shop Chassis's so I can't help you there but given this problem is going on 4 plus years my guess is you are stuck with a product that doesn't work for you.

Any thoughts to cutting your losses and buying a good clean used frame?

D

That's what i was thinking. Life is short and 3 years later recouping the cost for that frame is probably a lost cause. I have read posts by Mike Coletta raving about this company in Seguin Texas.....strikes a cord with me as my parents were married in that city. Maybe bite the bullet and buy one of theirs as their reputation is superb. They now have C2 frames and about to release a C3 frame.

http://www.corvettecorrection.com

You will not be disappointed in Billy's frame. He builds a nice chassis, and is a genuinely nice guy to do business with to boot! He is one of the good guys!:thumbs:


Regards, John McGraw

Wow. While I'm not a big fan of that bunch, I can't imagine that things can be as bad as you say. Trey jig builds his chassis, so to be so far off on major items like the angle of the kick ups sort of baffles me. On the stock chassis, the body only clears the gas tank well by about 3/4", when the body is shimmed to height (about 1/2" of shim material). It is possible that the rear body would contact the rear mounts early, as there is definitely some "bend" in the fiberglass. What has me most concerned is that the body "tub", should sit on the four main frame points, without contacting the frame, with no shims, and it doesn't look like you're able to achieve that. You do know that the steering has to be "knuckled", and is not a straight shot on any of the aftermarket frames (steering rack). ? Based on my personal experience with them (2 frames), I wouldn't hold my breath. I wouldn't be too concerned about the bumpers, as you can always make some brackets that would work, but I understand your frustration with "what you bought" vs. "what you got". Keep trying to call Trey, and email him also (he likes emails best), and maybe he'll work something out with you. Good luck.

I've been studying your pictures, and you definitely have some issues. The six main body mounts should be level (on the same plane as the main frame rail on each side. Is that not the case???? You have one picture where you're showing a string line from the rear crossmember mount, to the front, but you don't show the relationship to the main frame rails. If the body mounts on the same plane as the main frame rails, then the other issue is the kick up angle. How did you measure that??? If you use a large piece of cardboard (which you did), you should lay on "on plane", on top of the main frame rail, and mark/cut the angle. This should match your stock frame when placed on the same plane. Does it??? If the mounts are on plane (except the one that is 9/16" off), then it appears that if you cut the spare tire tub (or notch it), the body should fall to the mounts. All of street shops engines are mounted too far to the rear, but if you can get the body down on the frame, it looks like you'll have more clearance at the firewall. Just trying to help figure it out. As I said earlier, I'm not a big fan of those boys, but none of this stuff is ever "a goes into b", and some modification is usually required. I just ordered my 16th frame from Corvette Correction, and I've never had a single issue with one of them.

BTW, If we don't turn this into a PROBLEM SOLVING ISSUE, the mods are probably going to move it to the "vendor complaints" section, and you won't get any help.

Mike Coletta

If you go the original frame route contact Vette Products of Michigan.
They make great C2 and C1 frames to GM specs.
One way to get an answer from Trey is to have a lawyer contact him, last resort but it usually works.

Street Shops would be money ahead if they correct the problem and give you what you paid for.

Please keep us informed.

The Corvette world is rather small when it comes right down to it.....word travels fast and there are several other chassis builders out there to choose from.

Im sorry to hear of yet another person having troubles with an expensive street shop chassis!!! I'm afraid your only hope is to bust out the grinder, welder, fiberglass, wallet, and a lot of patience. I had a lot of issues with my street shop chassis as well, not to mention the parts they supplied, and the "free" installation by unqualified employees. If you find help from Tray, it will be a miracle. It seems he is concerned with one thing and one thing only, and that is putting more money in his pocket. Once that final check is written, you will only get the finger. They wouldn't even send me the warranty paperwork for my LS3 engine and after i pissed Tray off because he wouldnt help resolve any of the issues with the products he provided, he was nice enough to lie to American Powertrain and tell them that i broke the transmission they provided, even though street shop installed it. I ended up being forced to spend an extra 3 grand on a Hurst Powertrain conversion. You can read all about my fun experience with Street Shop in the vendor complaint section of this forum. Again, sorry to hear of your problems! If they installed the engine and trans, i recommend you pull the bellhousing and inspect the bellhousing alignment. They do not check the tolerances at street shop, they just bolt them right on.

Where are you located? If you are nearby, you are welcome to borrow my welder and any another tools that might be of use in resolving your issues.

Don,

I appreciate you bringing this to everyone's attention. Most folks probably just don't speak out or just explain it away as 'bugs' and 'issues' that should be expected.

What you have is a product that is not as advertised nor delivered as such.

I don't know what state you are in but in Texas we have something called the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. You can kinda figure out what it is by its title.

I suggest you find yourself a surveyor or builder or mechanical engineer that knows how to read a transit (in this case, a simple surveyor's level will do) and document to the thousandth of an inch the discrepancies between the two frame mounting points/alignment/etc.....find a lawyer in Alabama.....fire off a demand letter with the usual lawyer lingo threats etc., and see what happens.

If that happened to me, I wouldn't have any problem finding Tray because a deputy would find him when he served the papers.

Yes - that was my 64 Restomod but nothing quite like is described here. With my project, the chassis was basically fine with small modifications to the front radiator support to properly fit, along with modifying the bumper brackets to mount the bumpers correctly. Mike had to punch out a little pocket in the transmission tunnel to allow the driveshaft to not rub against the fiberglass

I agree with Mike Coletta - the vendor uses a Jig to build these frames so it is strange that you have so many issues.

Mike - have you built a C1 with a street shop chassis before?? If so - what was the build issue related to it??

I spoke to Billy today, apparently there was a serious fire at there facility Friday night, but even in all the chaos Billy found time to get a steering wheel for me from the upholstery shop that was not affected by the fire. Hopefully they get back to normal soon.

Does Corvette Correction make their frames with C5/6 suspension or is it just C4 suspension?

Sorry to read about the street shop worries as they have been on top of my list for my next build. I'm going to wait until someone starts selling chassis with C7 suspension so I will have the latest stuff. :D

The Attorney General's Office is also a good starting point.

Seems you were actively seeking solutions and suggestions from forum members, not outright complaining about a vendor. There is really no good way to describe the issues with the street shop frames without complaining to a certain extent. My guess is that one of street shops cohorts is complaining to the mods when these threads pop up so that they will move them and they can avoid more negative publicity. Otherwise, i dont see why they end up getting moved so quickly, especially your thread. I would start a new thread describing your problems with lighter tones!!!

Thanks for your imput
 

Thanks for everyones imput. I posted this because I have received absolutly no response from Street Shop for well over a month. I will try to clarify with more info, the exact positition this chassis is in and ask the forum members the best ways to move forward with this project. I would be surprised if this vendor ever responds based upon what I now know about them. I am somewhat surprised the moderators don't allow factual accounts of problems that will inform members as to issues and potential issues with vendors. How else are we to know who may be a problem and who won't be? I visit this forum often and at the time I purchased this chassis I heard of no negative feed back for them. Since making this purchase I have heard more and more that are offering up their problems. Had this info been avaiable early on, I would not be in this fix.
thanks again
don

SPECVETTE Chassis
 

You should check out our SPECVETTE Chassis. It isn't just C4/5/6 suspension bolted on a rectangular tubing chassis. Everything is engineered and fabricated for the chassis to give you C6 performance under a C1, C2 or C3. The only Vette part we bolt on is the C6 end links and C6 spindles and hubs so you can use any C5/6 brake setup. Straight axle or IRS available. Check it out at http://www.heartlandcustoms.us/SPECVette_Chassis.html

"The mods" move these threads to the Transaction Feedback section according to the rules as posted below.
As you know, this has been explained before.

If you have additional questions about moderation, please send them in a PM and they will be explained.
I would also not advise other members to repost information that has already been posted, deleted or removed.

No one's "cohorts" did anything. A thread such as this, complaining abount a transaction, will be moved to the Transactions Feedback section.


If you would please read the forum rules, you would see that the forum does in fact provide a place for factual accounts of problem transactions. It is placed here in the Transactions Feedback section.

If you want to ask a general question about how to go about getting help in an unresolved dispute in the General section you may do so, but we will not allow a one-sided bashing without the opportunity for the other side to respond.

Please see guidelines below:



The Forum allows a factual post on an unresolved dispute with a vendor or another member once all efforts to resolve the issue offline have been exhausted. Then, the post must be factual and cannot be used to bash the vendor or the member. It should be posted in the Transactions Feedback section. Once the post has been made, it cannot be repeated in other sections or on other days.

Moderators will try to leave such threads open until everybody with direct knowledge of the issue being addressed has had a chance to provide their version of the facts. The thread must not become a running debate on the accuracy of the “facts” and may not deteriorate into an exchange of personal attacks. Neither should be used as an opportunity for speculation by those who do not have direct knowledge of the issue.

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As has been our past practice, members or vendors who show a pattern of unresolved issues will be removed from Corvetteforum.com.


http://forums.corvetteforum.com/foru...-disputes.html

I agree. One way this could all be avoided is if the vendor in question made a simple template/device that mimicked the mounting locations/body mounts and contour of the tub. Like setting the underside profile of a body on a finished frame to see if it actually fit (thereby catching any problems) before the frame went out the door. One would think that investing a couple grand in making one for each of the c1, c2, c3 frames would be in the vendor's best interest, considering that's all they make and for the money people spend on them.

It's called quality assurance.

A good read ,with some rational comoments
Bfit