Chad you dirty dog... I didn't know PHR was the photo shoot. To Cool.

Media Whore, just like your brother Carl with the fast 68.

Chad, I havent read any of the progress threads in a long time. Your car is coming along real nice. Its also great to hear that you were able to get some track time. And congrats on the photo shoot.

Should I mention that I needed to get Chad's phone number from you?

I finally have an update!

There has been huuuuuge delays in getting wheels for my car. I got caught up in the Fikse disaster and switched to Forgeline. Sadly, I got caught up in another disaster with them, so they were nearly two months late also. All said and done it has taken me 6 months to get my new wheels, which are scheduled to arrive at the shop tomorrow. With the wheels I will be able to finally order my custom width 12 bolt.

In the mean time all the old parts are out:
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/image...0754_large.jpg

http://carphotos4.cardomain.com/imag...0753_large.jpg


Front sub frame and most of the torque arm parts are powder coated chassis black. Front sub is bolted in with the LS3, trans and headers.
http://carphotos3.cardomain.com/imag...0709_large.jpg

http://carphotos4.cardomain.com/imag...0711_large.jpg

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/image...0712_large.jpg

http://carphotos2.cardomain.com/imag...0714_large.jpg

http://carphotos2.cardomain.com/imag...0707_large.jpg

Crazy busy week at work this week so I won't actually get to go see the car in person until next week :( Very interested to see how some of this has turned out in person.

Looking good. I really like that subframe.

Atta boy Chad. Nice to see progress.... man it's been a lot of wheel issues recently... sorry you got caught up in that.

Now Forgeline too?

Looking great. Sorry to hear about the 6 month delay wheel issue.

Congrats on the progress Chad. Looking sharp! Can't wait to see it in person. Interesting story about the wheels. I guess no company is exempt from the infamous wheel delay issue.

Been ordering more parts recently. Rather than trying to adapt my current exhaust I ordered a flowmaster kit since it appears the TCI cross members are notched for the Flowmaster kit and any tail pipes need to be custom anyhow. Somehow I think I may miss my old quiet exhaust. We'll see...

Brett at Fab53 finished up the Vaporworx retrofit install on my Rockvalley Stainless tank. I'm looking forward to getting that bad boy installed in the car.

And I finally got my dyno sheet from Mast Motorsports.
http://carphotos3.cardomain.com/imag...4961_large.jpg

Certainly plenty of cars on here with a lot more power but this will be the highest power motor I've ever had.

Chad, that's great man... keep pluggin away. Your car is gonna be badder and better than ever when it's done. I know the waiting sucks and you've had your share of tribulations... but hang in there and you can see the light soon! :thumbsup:

That motor is gonna be a great street and track motor. Awesome torque curve.

Awesome numbers, Chad! 600hp is a LOT of power any way you slice it. That's supercar territory. The car is going to be killer!

I just thought you might enjoy some pictures of your new Vaporworx retro fit gas tank setup.

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2590.jpg

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2643.jpg

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2652.jpg

Thanks for letting me work on your project

Brett at Fab53

Brett, that looks great dude. :thumbsup:

Looks great! Very nice fabrication and welding.

Suggestion: Next time, seat the #10-32 fuel line support plug all the way in the hole and weld around the flange. That way it does not stick out. Just flip the cushion clamp around and it will seat flat along the tank face.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/653/dsc01958w.jpg

Yes I saw that, but also noticed that you have less room for a wrench. So I put my own spin on it knowing what a pita it can be getting wrench clearance sometimes.

Loved this setup so much that I will be doing a write up on how to do the install in the RockValley tank soon with lots of pictures. Can't wait to do one in my tank.

ops... I almost forgot.

Thanks for the compliment Hollywood!

:thumbsup:

Here are a few pictures of the mouting variation you speak of Carl.

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2653.jpg

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2655.jpg

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_2654.jpg

She is going to be a beast Chad. Id be worth to get a ride along to see the look on your face the first time you lay into it.:wow:

Good stuff Brett, its always nice to get a line wrench on those pretty fittings!

Thanks guys! I'm starting to get some excitement about the car again with progress coming along. I'm stoked we finally have the rear end ordered. Wheels successfully arrived back at Forgeline today so I can now work out that with them too.

@ Jon ha ha, I hadn't thought about it much but its gonna be a whole different world laying down this kind of power. Can't promise you the first ride but there will be opportunities.

@ Brett. Sweet pics man. Can't wait to pick up the tank from ya. Will most likely come by tonight if you will be around as I'm doing a run out to PVC tomorrow with the Flowmaster exhaust and gas tank.

Very Nice Chad, this is going to be one fun ride. Tank looks great.

Well I picked up the car today!! I've been debating if I want to make a thread here or not about the experience. Most of my buds know the trouble I've been having with the shop and they didn't fail to disappoint when picking up the car. While the shop and I may not have seen eye to eye on what "additional" work vs what was included in the original quote, the thing not in dispute was the complete installation of the subframe and torque arm and mount the engine and trans in the car.

With that in mind when I picked the car up I was sad to discover the following list of problems:

- Front subframe not completely bolted in (Even more annoying that everytime I visited the car in the last 3 months I kept pointing out that these bolts were missing and other little things asking when they would be completed)
- A arms installed incorrectly in subframe (washers not inserted in correct spots) but will require removing the coil over to fix.
-Trans tunnel cut but not patched (never told me they would be cutting the tunnel
- Cheapo paint job on the rear end which has already been scratched to bare metal in spots from bending the brake lines
- Drum parking brake installed incorrectly so they are dragging pretty bad
- Inner fenders not clearanced to the subframe correctly (just needed a minor cut or bending) but instead they have cut into the sub and scratched off the powder coat
- Inner fender on passenger side left in direct contact with the upper A arm.
- fire wall hole for the wiring harness cut without permission (instead of the original 2" hole I know have a 2"x3" hole
- the two links in the torque arm were installed incorrectly and the sheet metal was not notched for correct installation
- Upper cross member for the panhard bar and coil overs in the rear had bolts on each side installed without an washers (something I had pointed out twice in previous visits but never fixed).
- Hydraulic clutch line was installed before the brake lines and steering column. When they installed the steering column and brake lines they trapped the clutch line causing it to be wrapped tight around the steering shaft in an unsafe manner
- At least 4 spots along the drivers rocker panel the paint was chipped down to bare metal.
- Missing bolts from the motor mounts on both sides (now I have to decide if I want to life the motor out so I can check if the bolts hidden behind the SBC mount are installed or not...
- Missing hardware for my gas filler neck (why did they even remove these, wtf?) and possibly my ebrake set up (they didn't reinstall the cables).

I didn't know all of these things until after leaving the shop with my car on the trailer. The shop and I parted on bad terms to do what was considered "included" in their estimate. However, I was pleasantly surprised that on some of the things (a arm parts, two link brackets) they were willing to stand by their work and have me bring the car back. Am I crazy for not wanting these people to work on my car any longer? There is a clear lack of attention to detail on the installation of these parts. Why would I want to give them the opportunity to mess up more stuff?

I'm incredibly depressed about the quality of work performed but at the same time I'm so relieved to have my car out of there. Instead of taking the car home I decided to drop it off at Fab53 so Brett could bail me out and fix a lot of the shoddy work and mistakes.

dang :( sorry to hear all that Chad.

you definitely took it to the right place though. your car may end up with a Fab53 sticker on it, but it'll be done right.

Wow Chad, thats irritating to hear. Makes me wonder how these monkey's stay in business. Glad bret has the car now. I've seen some great stuff come out of his shop just from this site. :thumbsup:

Chad you did the right thing! To many mistakes! You will never be happy!

Sorry to hear this. Atleast the car is under your control now.

Thanks guys


This is so true. It feels so good to have the car under my control and close by.

sorry to hear about this Chad....I'd bring the car back to them later. Pull a burn out in their driveway then into the shop finish it off with a couple donuts in the middle of it.

Glad to hear Fab53 will get it right.

What shop are we going to bash badly?

What shop did the shoddy work?

I'm not saying anything but if you look at post #2 you might figure it out. :_paranoid

I know who did his tubs but I didn't see him saying he took it back there for the rest of the work so I didn't want to jump to the wrong conclusion.

Good point... I've already said too much! :willy:

Keep moving forward Chad----It's in great hands with BC at Fab 53 for sure. He will treat it like it's his and you don't have to worry, ever---. Just make sure he know's it must be ready for the Sept event at Button Willow---also because there's someone else you guys know that will need to have a Torque Arm and Rear end to put in a 69 in the next couple of months---

D

That blows! At least you can breath easy knowing it's in good hands now.

Stay positive man!

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

It does feel good not worrying about the quality of the work with it now being at Fab53. I'm still stressing about just getting the thing drivable again. I can't stand how long its been!!!

Same shop. They reeled me in with a good job on the tubs but the work went way way downhill on the rest.

Good to know F those guys.......

Here are a few pictures of Chad's Camaro in the process of getting sorted out.

Just mocking up the ride height and starting to adjust the suspension to fit the new wheels.
http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...o/IMG_2848.jpg

The front will have about a 3.5 inch clearance at the header collector. The front suspension will be adjusted up about 1.25 inches to achieve this ride height.
http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...o/IMG_2849.jpg

The rear will have about 4.25 inches of clearance at the new TCI rear frame connector and lower rear suspension link bar. Also the Flowmaster exhaust with have a similar 4.25 inch clearance. The rear suspension will be adjusted up about 1 inch to achieve this ride height and the lower rear TCI link bars will be shorten to center the rims in the wheel well opening.
http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...o/IMG_2850.jpg

There are several other adjustment issues and some clearancing that I will be doing.

One of the major issues to sort out is the tunnel clearance for the T56 transmission. It is currently touching the top of the tunnel in several spots. Some of the wires are pinched and some of the transmission case castings lugs are almost touching the side of the tunnel.
http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...o/IMG_2815.jpg

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...o/IMG_2818.jpg

Great job Bret. Looks like Chad may be joining us at Buttonwillow after all. :thumbsup:

Man, that looks nice. Chrome and red make a killer color combo.