Question? $2,500 C4 Corvette TriFive all new frame Think there's a maket?

[GregWeld]

You want to witness what heat does to metal -- just watch the larger slot cut on that laser and you'll see the metal curl...

Personally -- I think there's a huge market for DIY kits like this.... and I've said a million times... that you don't (as a manufacturer) really care if they ever see the light of day. Most "hot rods" have been sitting unfinished in the garage for years and never get done. The lower the cost of the parts - the higher the likelihood that the project never gets finished - because that customer looses interest or runs out of money etc well before the project is near completion. I'm not being negative about that type of build.. it's just factual.

I disagree with the others about the liability. There is no more liability than buying A arms and installing them yourself - or brakes - or bolting on your own set of wheels... and people do this millions of times daily.

[Budweasel]

I agree with Greg on the liability issue. Don't think it is as big a hurdle as it is made out to be.

[Tom.A]

Russell,

Your frame looks nice but with respect I think this sounds more like a sales ad that really should be reserved for companies supporting/paying to advertise here on Lat-G. I can think of four companies here that build complete frames and they spend several hundred dollars per year to do so. They are all long time supporters of this site in no specific order: Roadster Shop, Art Morrison, Ironworks and Schwartz. Sorry if I left others out.
Maybe it would be good to sign up and be a supporting vendor?

[rat_rod_russell]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

You want to witness what heat does to metal -- just watch the larger slot cut on that laser and you'll see the metal curl...

Personally -- I think there's a huge market for DIY kits like this.... and I've said a million times... that you don't (as a manufacturer) really care if they ever see the light of day. Most "hot rods" have been sitting unfinished in the garage for years and never get done. The lower the cost of the parts - the higher the likelihood that the project never gets finished - because that customer looses interest or runs out of money etc well before the project is near completion. I'm not being negative about that type of build.. it's just factual.

I disagree with the others about the liability. There is no more liability than buying A arms and installing them yourself - or brakes - or bolting on your own set of wheels... and people do this millions of times daily.

Its an unfortunate fact about the industry but a valid point. I want my customers to be comfortable with their projects before I sell something and on 2 occasions (When I was younger and more naive) I told the guy I would not sell him a frame because I thought what he was planning was dangerous. Now you just cover your but with a contract and make enough money to have a lawyer on call BUT like you said, 50%-75% of these projects will never make it that far.

Originally Posted by Budweasel

I agree with Greg on the liability issue. Don't think it is as big a hurdle as it is made out to be.

And I feel comfortable enough with it to cut guys loose on it. I hope that says something about it, lol. The video will make more since too.

Originally Posted by tom_a

Russell,

Your frame looks nice but with respect I think this sounds more like a sales ad that really should be reserved for companies supporting/paying to advertise here on Lat-G. I can think of four companies here that build complete frames and they spend several hundred dollars per year to do so. They are all long time supporters of this site in no specific order: Roadster Shop, Art Morrison, Ironworks and Schwartz. Sorry if I left others out.
Maybe it would be good to sign up and be a supporting vendor?

Yes it can be looked at that way. I haven't designed anything yet nor am I selling anything yet either. What I really wanted the input from the discerning members of this forum to let me know if they thought it was a good idea or not. I'm only 25 and know I'm still young and dumb so I wanted the opinion of others who have been around the industry and end user about their thoughts. I really love the Lateral-G forum, the information is quality with little to no BS. TONS of killer information and right people to provide it without a lot of fluff or mud slinging but I have had people point out BAD ideas to me and discuss them with me on how to improve them. I love that part of LG. (notice I didn't ask this question on PT.com) If this looks like an AD to a mod please feel free to slap me in the face but just don't band me, it was not my intention. I will definitely become a sponsor before I try to sell anything but first I need a product to sell and a shop that's truly my own. That I'm working on setting up right now with 2 of the guys I took with me to SEMA in 09 for you guys who saw us there with the PT-57.

Thanks again for all the input and please keep it coming (if that's ok?).
-Russell

[rat_rod_russell]

So I'll take my lashings for this I'm sure but I wanted to see what everyone thought. I have the prototype and I have a video. PM me if you want to see it. Its got my new shop logo all over it so I figured I better not post it directly. Some of the admins I've talked too here didn't think the idea would get any traction as an idea but I would like to here from other fabricators about what they think when they see it go together in the video.

Thanks
-Russell



And if you want to get mad at me for not being an adviser yet just don't post. The thread won't go back to the top and it will die or get lost and forgotten.

[T-Bolt]

I decided to try out this kit. I've always got several projects going at at time and wanted to build something to test out some suspension and engine mods before I get to the final build. For those of you that might be interested in what this kit looks like, my flatpack arrived yesterday with the C4 kit.



The entire chassis fits onto a double pallet, 4x8x2. Smaller package than I thought (which is good). I had it dropped off at my house. At 400lbs+ I shoehorned it into the garage while I make space for the build. I put the crate on a pair of furniture dollies which made it easy to get into the garage from the truck.



I ordered the welding tabletop along with the C4 kit, so this is how it was packed:



The tops are laser cut instead of water injection. I checked them for trueness and they are flat with no warpage. I need to weld the table tops together (top and bottom with some spacers that Russ included). This is not a job for a beginning welder. The tops are 11 gauge and can warp if too much heat is applied.

After I removed the table tops, this is the basic kit:







The laser cuts are clean and this looks to take average mechanical and TIG skills to assemble. It comes with some alignment jigs and all the subassembly parts are bagged together. The box tubing and other parts use 11 gauge, so this should be a solid chassis when I'm done.

It will be few weeks before I can start to weld the kit. I put in an entire kitchen from Ikea, so this has to be easier.

[214Chevy]

Start a build thread as soon as you unbox that baby.

[56pickup]

Originally Posted by 214Chevelle

Start a build thread as soon as you unbox that baby.

I agree!

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by rat_rod_russell

Right I have a pretty substantial contract already for the Frames we build for the 55-57's.



LOL, This guy don't know me very well do he, lol. You might check out the link in my sig

Seriously the reason I'm doing this is because I'm tired of the C4 suspensions and I want to go all C5/6. But I have a fully developed and tested frame why just discontinue it. As I get my other C5/6 chassis online and tested, including my C5/6 Differential Adapter that turns the stock trans-axle into a stand alone differential, I'll stop building the C4 rolling chassis and welded frames all together and just do the kit frames and my lovely C5/6 frames.

Thanks guys
-Russell

You really peaked my interest with this comment. Is it anything like the chassis concepts adapter? If I remember correctly they are somewhere around $1300ish.

I remember seeing some talk (text) about retrofitting an 03-04 8.8" housing into the c5/c6 sub-frame as well.


On topic that kit looks really well put together. A bit overwhelming at first but I imagine one step at a time it would piece together very nicely.

[jy211]

Originally Posted by T-Bolt

I put in an entire kitchen from Ikea, so this has to be easier.