The moment I've been waiting for!
Any pics of the pipes?

Sorry but I'm afraid to touch anything right now. Everything I touch is falling apart today. I'll get pics later.

We all have those days....:bang:

You'll get it all sorted out, just takes time.

Sorry to read this Steve. Any progress or new info?

Steve --

Sometimes cars are just "like that".... Like the Mustang motor that lost a tip off the titanium valve -- no biggie just get it fixed (complete overhaul) -- next track weekend (a two day drive for me) - the head intake runner is cracked -- the motor comes our AGAIN -- Two days home -- Next track weekend -- I break a rocker arm... The motor comes out again... That's 6 days of travel -- 3 weekends of sitting around watching everyone else run... 3 weekends of entry fees down the tube. But HEY!!!
Think of the wear and tear I saved on the tires and brakes!! LOL


You'll get it... and then the smiles will come.

I checked the scratch again and it's really not that bad. I can most likely polish it out.

Are you still in town for the weekend? Week was a bit rough and I forgot to reply


Looks like the truck somehow managed to stay alive. I'm still nervous driving it but it seems after a fan clutch replacement and code clearing it's working just fine. I'm pleasantly surprised

This was the issue

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As far as the car, I finally started back on it last night. I flipped the cross shafts over last night without an issue. It's difficult to show the issue in a photo but basically 3 of the 4 sides on the shaft are concave in the center. My logic told me the one flat side should be the mounting surface... apparently this is not the case.... The flat surface of the cross shaft needs to be facing the engine, not the mounting surface.

I have not had a chance to check the alignment, I will try to have this done next Mon/Tues if work allows

here are some bad pics but maybe you can see the difference

Wrong - hard to see but there is a slight gap you can see near my thumb. When you feel the UCAs its much easier to notice

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Right

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Here are also some pics of the exhaust. I have some rubber isolators coming in today so will be pulling it off and taking better pics. I'm also going to cut the top of the pipe near the x-members to allow a little more clearance.

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Thanks for the pics. I hope things start looking up for you soon.

Glad to hear nothing too major with your truck. Great progress on the camaro. I'm still fighting with the wheels/tires issues with my car.

I'll be back in Austin Mon-Wed (driving back Wed after lunch).

I finished up a little more not the car today and confirmed there is a problem with the front suspension.

I previously flipped the UCA cross shafts based on guidance from Blake. Yesterday I took the car for an alignment. I found a shop that has a brand new Hunter machine using the sensors that mount to the tires and not the wheel. This was much easier to watch rather than fearing wheel damage.

Unfortunately even with the fancy new machine they still could not get the alignment to the spec Speedtech advises. Below is a shot of the screen with the final spec we set the car to. We removed all front shims but needed the front of the UCA to move even further to outside of the car. It seems either I need to cut and move the UCA mount or the Speedtech cross shaft is too thick and needs to be milled down. I left Blake and voicemail yesterday and will hopefully discuss the issue with him tomorrow. I didn't know what the best non-optimal alignment was so I decided to meet the caster spec at the expense of the camber.

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Good news for the day is that the truck is very much alive and not damaged by the overheat. I ended up replacing the fan clutch since the fan decided to cut the wire. Otherwise I added more coolant and cleared the codes but that's all. I was very excited to be able to pull the loaded car hauler up a very steep grade without issue. Huge relief.


It was also took the time yesterday to finish up the exhaust a little more. I added some clearance for the x-members and some isolator mounts to reduce the vibration.


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It was a nice day with the sun going down so a photo op was needed at the shop


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finally a full frontal!! Looks great man.

I hope you can just off set the upper shaft. That would be the easiest option.

I wonder if the support rolled in a bit when it was cut and rewelded. We usually cross brace the hell out of that when we modify them. Ive seen a bunch under pressure when you cut the top.