I'll sport the 'el cheapos' for a while. I am really digging the Forgeline Concave series wheels and those are the wheels I'll have. I just gotta figure out how to get that darn tree to grow:rolleyes:

My new GForce 4L60E crossmember came yesterday. Guess what? It doesn't fit:wow:

I would laugh at this point, but being told the same joke over and over makes it not funny anymore.

The subframe has 2 bolt holes on each side of the frame that the crossmember bolts to. The G-Force x-member only catches 1 of the 2 on each side. The transmission poly mount has 3 holes in it and came with 2 studs. The x-member has 2 sloted holes in it, which the 2 outer holes on the poly mount line up with outside of the car. When I install the x-member, I have to put 1 stud in the middle hole of the mount to only catch 1 of the slotted holes of the x-member.

Looks like G-Force is my latest company to go round and round with.

I can here it now, "your the first person to ever complain about this" not trying to bash anyone because I'm sure they will make it right. But when my shop was open we heard that all the time :rolleyes: It does get old after awhile. And I know it's Hot Rodding but something like this can get you very frustrated! Good luck I'm sure they will take care of it.

Yeah, that is what I am expecting to hear. Either my car is a mechanical oddity or these vendors are full of ****. My vote is for the latter.

Quite frankly, I don't know what they can do to fix this. They only make the one x-member for my application. It's offset to the passenger side, as if it were made for a big block with the offset motor mounts. However, it does not catch all 4 of the frame holes, only the back 2.

I wonder if it would cause any problems to run just 1 bolt in the trans mount to the x-member? Seems like I remember having a car once that had a trans mount like that.

I think you need to rename your project as it is bringing you bad luck ;)

I'd give the guy at G-Force a call. I've spoken to him a couple of times and he's always been helpful. He can at least confirm that the crossmember was designed for a big block setup. It does appear from the pics that way but the offset looks much more significant than I would expect. I think the offset is only 5/8" or something <1" anyway. The longer trans would require more off set though due to the angles involved.

Anyway, if that is the case I guess you could swap your mounts out? Although not sure that would be what you'd want to do and could just move the problem. It might help your steering box clearance though. I have a set of big block frame stands and a couple different sets of solid mounts I could send your way to experiment with if you'd like.

Thanks John...I may take you up on that offer if I can't get this setup to work. I did speak with the tech guy over at G-Force. He was very helpful and very knowledgeable. He pointed out something I'm surprised I did not catch. He told me the tail of my transmission needs to be shifted over to the passenger side of the car. He said the mount should fit no problem. He also told me to double check my motor pedestals to see if I had them on backwards. They weren't. However, shifting the tail of the trans over just may be the ticket. I was having some clearance issues in the tunnel with my transmission on the drivers side that I was not expecting. That little bit of shift just may give me the amount of clearance I'm looking for with the driver's side header fitting to the DSE steering box as well. Now I just gotta figure out how to shift all that weight over to the passenger side by myself

I played around with different motor pedestals that I had laying around, today, and ruled out any alternatives there. I have the correct ones for my setup installed. Thankfully! I did manage to get both bolts through the x-member into the trans mount. However, I'm not able to get the x-member to catch the 4 factory mounting holes. It is hitting the trans pan keeping me from getting both sides to catch. I can catch both on one side, but not the other. I can adjust the x-member to the rear of the car and make new mounting holes or notch the x-member to clear the pan. If I notch the x-member, then that would require a good deal of fab work, as well as, make my rear trans pan bolts inaccessible while the mount is installed. At this point, I feel I will just relocate the frame mounting holes. It also appears the x-member needs to shift to the passenger side another 1/4". I have gotten it to move over a bit, but these poly mounts are tight and seem to not give the ability to make many adjustments. I can see that the motor and trans will, definitely, need to be installed onto the subframe fully assembled before installing it to the finished car.

I'm making progress an 1/8" at a time right now:rolleyes:

Just a thought, have you tryed to lift the trans up out of the way and see if the mounting holes line up? At least then you know they made it correctly.

Yeah, I checked that while I had the engine lifted up a bit. The crossmember lined up with the frame then. Big thanks for helping me think out of the box though:bow:

I talked to Dave, tech guy, over at G-Force crossmembers and he and I believe we found what the problem is. Their website does not mention this, but another company that sells their x-member does. They said the x-member fits all 700r4, 4l60's and early 4l60e's. My trans builder told me the 97 4l60e, what I have, is basically the same as the LS ones, minus the removable bellhousing. Dave told me the LS trans is a tad bit longer. That seems to be my problem. The x-member is hitting the trans pan keep it from lining up on both sides of the frame. The only solution Dave and I came up with is just to drill new mounting holes in the frame. No big deal to me really.

I just looked on their website and they now say fits only early 4l60e's. I guess they changed it after I spoke with them. They requested I send over pictures of my install with their x-member so they can try to figure out exactly what is going on and so they can make possible adjustments to their x-member for the future. Wonder if I get the first one, free, for point out this problem to them?:unibrow:

Anyway, they are a great company with great customer service. I highly recommend G-Force crossmembers.

Side note, my driveshaft has been shipped and will be here next Wednesday!!!

Well at least in the end it is an easy fix!
As for the crossmember, I would offer to get them all the pictures and measurements they want, in exchange for the new crossmember? Even if you don't want to change it out at that point you can keep it for a future project :willy: Or sell it?

I'm not completely sure they will build a new crossmember. If they do, hopefully I can exchange this one or something for a new one. I am, most definitely, going to give them all the info I possibly can, though. If I give them everything, maybe I can get lucky:rolleyes:

Been out in the garage today messing around getting my front suspension finished. I got the new coil-overs mounted. From the looks of the front suspension at full droop, I'm not completely sure the 5" stroke shock will work. In the pictures, the upper arms are sitting on the bump stops, however look how low the front suspension droops down unloaded compared to the rear set at ride height. Does that look right? When the car is set down on the tires, will all the weight in the front compress the shocks 2.5"?

Also, I installed Ridetech Truturn system. It fits the Dynatech headers and my oil pan as well. Finally, something that fits. But! I'm not sure these wheels are going to work. It appears the adapters I have on there right now, 2", are pushing the wheel out too far. I don't know how to accurately measure for the correct size without having a reference measurement to go by. I found a great calculator on the net, but without a reference measurement to go by, I just have to play the guessing game. Anyway, the tie rod stud is within a hair of touching the rim. I could cut it shorter as it sticks out around a 1/2 inch past the nut when fully tightened and gain clearance there?

I made some brackets and mounted my power steering cooler. I still have to make the steering lines. I might make them tomorrow.

I, also, installed the transmission cooler lines. What a mfer it was to install those after the motor was installed. I knew I should have installed them prior to installing the motor/trans. They are TH350 lines and they fit right up to the 4L60E.

I would say, today was a good day:yes:

The latest episode in project "It Don't Fit."

I ordered my driveshaft last week. It came this past Wednesday. I quickly unpackaged it and installed it. I slid the trans yoke into the transmission and raised it to attach it to the pinion yoke. Guess what? It wouldn't go onto the rear yoke. It hit the yoke on the side of it. The driveshaft was built too long! Gotta send it back to be shortened and rebalanced:(

I finally had time yesterday to send back the driveshaft. After speaking with Shaftmasters, they goofed and did not account for the amount of slip in the slip yoke. Per their measuring instructions, I was to measure from the center of the u-joint on the rear diff yoke to the center of the u-joint with the trans yoke slipped all the way in. They were suppose to calculate the amount of slip, but did not do it. This is suppose to be corrected and sent back to me. We'll see!

I also got the front sheet metal attached to the car and started working on getting lined up. While I was at it, I installed the rear coil-overs, taking out the makeshift ride height brackets and had the front tires installed on the wheels. I tightened up all the suspension and set the car on all 4 wheels. I like the ride height. I think the front, with some adjusting, needs to come down a hair more and the front wheel adapters are too long. I need to order some 1.5" ones to replace the 2" ones I have on there now.

I pretty much got everything I needed to get mocked up before prepping body for paint at this point. As soon as I get the front sheet metal perfectly lined up, I will take the car all back apart and throw it up on my newly constructed rotisserie. I have a few welds here and there that need to be finished and others that need attention. I'll take care of all the final welding, then, and then sand, spot prime and spray the Raptor liner on the bottom of the car. I'll also paint the rear diff and subframe. After that, its finish spraying the high build primer on the car and block sanding time. I'm so close to paint, but with no time for all this!

Looking good! Its a great feeling when you get back on the ground :cool:

Indeed it is! Even, though, it will, very quickly, be back up in the air.

Looking good :thumbsup: On four tires .... that's a milestone rite there :woot:
Good job !

Thanks! It's been a frustrating and bumpy ride to get it back on the ground. I made it through though!:yes:

I have not made any progress at all on my car lately. I have been swamped. However, I am getting some free time again, so progress with commence soon. I'll be making my last Wilwood order this week for my front brake kit. That will finalize my brakes and complete my entire drivetrain.

I was out at George Poteet's place this past weekend. He had a big event there. His sister invited me over to check out his collection. He had his land speed car there for the first time at his place. I wasn't able to get any good pictures of anything as there were just too many people standing around all the cars.

Sorry for the crappy iphone pics.

It's always the cars fault why the parts don't fit, or sometimes you have to kinda jack things around a little bit, I had a manufacturer tell me that, I was thinking, dude I have jacked more sh=- around then you can imagine, one of them even told me that we don't build the cars we just build the parts, well maybe you need to build a car to see how your parts fit? Keep after it I have been there as well. Makes you want to jab a straight screwdriver in your head sometimes. Good luck

It's all part of building these cars that parts do not fit. It would be nice every once and a while to be able to bolt a part on and walk away though. I have a lot of the major bugs worked out now. One thing I still have to figure out is the routing of the parking brake cables. I don't like the way the factory did it. I, also, have to route my exhaust. With the Ridetech rear Airbar, I can't use the Magnaflow over axle tubes that came in my kit.

I am enjoying this build :thumbsup:.It is nice when the parts bolt right on.But I love it when folks don't give up and keep working to make everything fit togather.Thats hotrodding at it's Best.:thumbsup:

Scott, you are kidding right? I didn't know that EVER happened. I bet you've seen a unicorn too huh. :rofl:

It's not just your luck Mako. I took off Friday thinking I could make a little progress. Easy "just bolt it on" stuff like installing the steering box and the headers were first on the list. HA! Even the steering box didn't fit. Casting flash on the box hit the frame before it set flush. Nothing like having to take an angle grinder to your new Lee box :( . A few hours and a different set of frame mounts later the headers still aren't on. Maybe one night this week.

I feel for ya John. I just went through that same saga. I have turned my build thread into venting my frustrations. After beating my head against the wall and the concrete floor a few times through the process. I have managed to accomplish my goals. They just took weeks longer than the few hours I originally thought they would. It doesn't help when the vendors I order from goof up the order either, though

I will note, the reason why I have not made any progress lately is that I am running for State Representative in my district. That has taken most all of my free time, but I'm going to make a little time to get some stuff done.

Contributions to my campaign are welcomed:)

JeremyBryan.org

I need a new trunk lid for my car. I have tried 3 different reproduction lids and the fit was terrible with all of them. I put on an original lid and it fits perfect, but that particular lid is beat up pretty badly. The original lid would require quite a bit of work to use, so I'm looking again for a lid that will fit like it with less work involved.

I was looking at the Heartbeat City lid and was wondering how well they fit?
I was also looking at the Anvil lid, do they fit well?

I want a lid to fit as well or as close to the original lid fits. The reproductions are worthless and should not even be sold!!!

The Anvil componet's I have used fit good.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Not only that, the decklid was one of the best fitting parts they sent me:

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/IMG_1475.jpg

Good news! Thanks guys. Anvil was what I was leaning towards, but haven't found much info on how well their deck lids fit.

As much respect as i have for Matt and Co, please remember that it is a carbon fiber part and the recent batch will only be as good as the mold it's pulled from. Also I did find that under spring pressure the center bowed just a teeny bit; trunk seal will also effect fit. Just something to keep in mind...:cheers:

Good points, Ron, and those still have me considering the Heartbeat City one. However, the few reviews I have found from Heartbeat City are not the most positive. I wonder how true to form the Anvil will stay over time being in the elements?

It's been a long time since I have had the time to work on my project. The only thing I have done is get my new Wilwood front brake setup ordered and delivered. I have been campaigning for state representative in my district and it has gone into a runoff. The election date is this coming Tuesday. Responses have been positive, but I will not know if I win till all the votes are counted, of course. I'm anxious to get this campaign over with and get back working on the project. Keep me in your prayers for a win Tuesday!

Since I'm still a regular 'Joe' after losing the election in a runoff by 11%, I figured it was time to back to my long neglected project. I haven't made a great deal of progress, though. I'm having to catch up on everything that had to be put on hold during the campaign. I did get my brakes mocked up, master installed and my Lokar pedals installed. Now I need to route the brake lines, attach the accelerator cable to the pedal and route the emergency brake lines. Once I get all that done, then I can get the exhaust routed. Then mockup will be completed!

Merry Christmas to all the lat-g folks out there. Hope you all have a very safe and wonderful day with your family and friends.

I like it! :D


And Merry Christmas to you, 'regular Joe'. ;)

Happy New Year to all the lat-g viewers out there!

This past year has been full of frustrations for my project, but I managed to work through most of them. I am going to continue to plug away on this heap and do my best to get it finished. Hopefully this year will bring better fortunes for my car.

I have been researching colors for quite some time and have finally settled on a color that I feel would satisfy me. I purchased a small amount and sprayed out a test on my header panel to see how it looked. I've been staring at this for the past week and have finally been able to settle the frustration of finding the right color. What do you all think?

I LIKE IT! But then... I might be somewhat biased.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ps7a711ede.jpg

Mine is 1994 Corvette Admiral Blue, with a little pearl in the clear. Painted in '96

We think alike:)

In that picture, that is about as dark as that color gets. At different angles and lighting it gets lighter. The color I have chosen is House of Kolor Stratto Blue in the Shimrin fine metallic line. It appears to be very close to GM Jetstream blue, which I absolutely love but do not want a tricoat paint.

Here it is with a closeup shot at a little bit different angle...

That sounds killer. Pictures never seem to do paint a lick of justice but when you show that panel and say it is the same panel? Balls, that is some cool effect in the paint. I like subtle but I also love how some of the paints today shimmer, shade and change over contours and what better canvas than a classic.

I regret being talked into doing my flames and wish I had a more factory muscle appearance such as I was asking for. The shop swayed me from a white stripe around the nose to the purple flames.:rolleyes:

I keep my eye out for cooler shades that resemble the ash gold I see hidden within my car, underdash or undercarpet etc... and I could see myself going back to a factory remenescent hue and adding a black stripe someday. Especially if I found a Pewter/Gold color that makes a change like you just illustrated. That is very alluring.