Customs Let's try again (Tito's 37 Ford coupe)

I am starting a new build thread for my 37 Ford. I think most people remember the last build thread and perhaps were wondering why it suddenly stopped being updated. To keep it simple I was incredibly frustrated with the shop and work being done, not to mention the constant misinformation and sluggish build pace. I borrowed a trailer and went and pulled my car from the shop. I eventually dropped it off at another shop who is now in the process of cutting off everything done before and redoing it so it functions correctly. After more than a year of the car being not running I am looking to address the faulty suspension first and then move onto getting the car in a running an driving state after which point I will address all of the paint problems the car has.

Here is how you last saw the car sitting at the other shop and me in the background starring at it wondering if it would ever drive again at this pace.

 

I promise there is lots of good tech coming, but I need one moment to vent about the poor build quality first.


There were a number of personal problems between the owner of the last shop and myself because of this "build." But those problems were personal, NOT, business, and not enough for me to pull my car. This was the straw that broke the camels back, my suspension after all that time and money not coming even remotely close to functioning properly. I just felt this unacceptable.


My pinion angle at lift was so out of whack that it would bind to the point of not even being able to roll.



The rear bag placement being off center was wreaking havoc on my bushings after zero miles, and generally looked poorly thought out.



The front bags were jank-o-lious, ugly, and rubbing the frame and spindle
I know this is not a no limit build but I still think this car deserves better than some home made bolt in S-10 cups, and the rubbing is obviously a big no no. Not only did the bag rub but the control arm hit the spring cup at lift. What you see pictured was his second and final attempt to make the bags fit, yet as you can see it did not work.

 

First to go under the knife was the rear suspension. I took the car over to my friends at BSG Customs where they cut out all of the rear bag setup and started all over again. Here is a picture of everything cut out and the start of the new rear end. A full drive shaft hoop was added to start things off.



while cutting the old setup away the new builder showed me somethign interesting. As you can see the entire old bridge set up was built out of .120 wall HREW, not .250 DOM as previously stated.

 

I am wondering what size wheels and tires are on the front. Trying to figure out how to get my 35 4door down in the front. Have the rear figured out just need to notch it.

 

Here is the current state of the rear end. Lower arms made from 1/2" steel with "real" .250 wall DOM tigged in for the bag bolt access. These arms measure 27" eye to eye, an inch shorter than the previous bars which pushed the rear end too far back, both visually where the tires were in the wheel well and also where the drive shaft met the output shaft.



In order to get the "geometry" correct this time around Pat designed a sick looking, and functional over under wish bone. New bag plates were also added to the frame.

 

I will have pictures of the new front setup any day now laid out. The tires are 560 15 cokers

 

What you see here is all mock up, there are a number of custom gussets for the wishbone that will be going on this week and the new shock mounts will be on the lower arms. Unlike last time the suspension functions quite nicely this time, a giant relief to me personally. There will be videos of a full cycle soon!

 

Sometime's it's nice to see what wrong looks like.

 

Thanks can't wait to see what's gonna happen to the front.

 

as you could see from the pictures posted the front was pretty amateur looking and functioned even worse than it looked. So Pat over at BSG just cut it all off.



He added a much more significant point of recess for the bag to breathe in and also added a good deal of support to the frame and mustang two upper arm mounts. In lieu of a recycled bolt in bag cup he added a bag mount to the frame itself and , gasp, welded it in.




and some pictures of it laid out. Aside from looking cleaner and being safer, I would have to say my favorite feature it is not rubbing the bag on anything.

 

video of rear cycling

http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/XtotalanarcoiX/?action=view&current=MVI_4039.mp4

 

There are some rotten shops out there doing some ugly, scary shit to peoples' cars, and robbing folks blind for the privelege. Friggen' criminal when ya get right down to it, in more ways than one. Sorry ya had to go through that. DD

 

Dammit..... and thats why im taking the '39 to pat. Him and Mike are like a 1-2 punch there at BSG. I cant wait to see this thing painted.

 

VCan I assume that you are Tito?

I commend you for rescueing your poor old car from the hands of the evil sorceror. Looks like they performed way too much majic on it. You are going to sort it out right? If you were closer I would offer to help you with it.
BTW I don't normally go for blue cars but that color is beautiful on that car it just makes it. Now gt et the insides uup to par with the outsides and you are golden.


Ok disregard the highlighted statement. I should have scrolled a bit to see that you are getting it sorted out.

 

Yes I am. The car was supposed to be painted a sea foam green ish color but instead what I got was a very poorly done paint job in a color I never approved, or much cared for. There are spots of bleed through all over the car even though they painted it this color 4 times. Even worse is it came from four different cans, which explains why the different parts of the car are different hues of blue. I would have been annoyed had he told me he painted it a few times and a few parts didn't match but I would be no where near as mad as I am about the blue paint since he lied about it and blamed it on angles and lights. It does not matter what light the car is in the paint doesn't match since IT IS different shades. I apologize for that rant.

It's hard to take a picture of but if you look you can see the red bleed through in this picture. The car is covered in these spots



Anywho here is a sneak peak of one of the new colors for the car, since like everything else the previous shop touched I am having BSG Customs fix and completely re-do.

 

here are a few pictures of the gussets on the wishbone.


IMG_4084 by BSGcustoms, on Flickr


IMG_4086 by BSGcustoms, on Flickr


Next we began to address the problem of the paint and body work. I knew that the other shop had put way to much material on the car..... and done so a few time. Since we have decided to do it right this time I started the process of taking the car down to bare metal. Once I started sanding I was amazed at how much material was one the car, in places i could chip off pieces that were over an 1/8" thick of just paint and clear. I counted 17 different layers on the car.



IMG_4139 by BSGcustoms, on Flickr

 

wow BSG does some nice work , glad you got it fixed ,

 

Wow, a pro shop had finished paint on that roof? Good thing you're redoing it, one good bump and someone following you may have got their clock cleaned by a polyesteroid.

 

Almost finished with stripping the car now. Lots of very bad body work covered up with way too much filler and material seems to be the theme. I had told the other shop I wanted the car stripped down, but they said it would be too expensive and unnecessary. So far it has cost me about $30 in supplies and two days of elbow grease, not too bad. Doing the right way isn't always easy but I think it's worth it for a car like this. BSG is going to start sorting out the metal and lead work soon.

 

Yes you saw that right, the last shop tried to build my drip rails and door frame out of bond-o. The guys will be hammering and seaming my drip rails to the car this time for a cleaner look.

 

That is nuts!!

What I get a kick out of is how the body work is coming together there...

And that wishbone...oh my....

 

Nice car, and great re work...
But man that was some real shit for work on the original...
YIKES...
Keep us posted...
Cheers..............

 

Wow what a mess ! I am glad its in good hands now and that you didnt give up on it after all the heartache ...its gonna be worth it when its done!

 

looks like you've got alot better handle on it now,lookin good

 

Seems to be going in the right direction. Best of Luck with your build. Looks like it's going to be a really nice ride.

 

thanks for all the support guys, and I have to give a big thanks to BSG Tucson Customs for bending over backwards to help me out of this bind I ended up in. Not only are they good friends but one owner is a club brother.

 

so hamber GRSMNKYCUSTOMS was the shop you took it to, with all the shitty work?

the plot thickens!

 

Well im not going to put the other shop on blast.. lets just say thank god i have real friends to help save my car from the shit work..

 

what a beautiful car and i am glad to see you are leaving nothing to chance after the preveious attempt at repair, it will be all worth it . i am looking forward to seeing this one finished!

 

After a brief hiatus we are back at the car, here are a few updates, the car is almost all stripped at this point. The hood and doors were just as bad as the rest of the car in terms of poor bodywork being hidden under massive layers of material. Next the guys are going to finish buttoning up a few things here and there on the suspension and then dive into making the floor.

Some of the guys have started referring to the car as "Cake Boss" because of all the layers, haha.






IMG_0100 by BSGcustoms, on Flickr

IMG_0097 by BSGcustoms, on Flickr

IMG_0103 by BSGcustoms, on Flickr