wow. total f---ed up. worthless work. obvious the burns on the seat are from a halogen lamp.mebbe he shoulda used it under the truck instead.could have seen that shit from a mile away. if i was inspecting this truck (i'm a licenced automotive tech,and certified to do safety inspections)i would have condemned it before i even hoisted it to inspect it. sorry for all your pain,man.
Was wondering what caused burns. Now that you just solved my confusion. Thank you....I will be looking for several people with your qualifications to write a written affidavit regarding how dangerous the suspension is if they decide to take the court route.....what type of people are qualified to write a report on how dangerous this is. Is it a certain type of engineer? Or a certain type of training?
The work that I see is kinda iffy. I don't see any anti-dive in the geometry. The rack arms where they bolt on to the spindle are at the wrong angle which causes horrible bump steer. Hey man if you have anymore problems with that front end I could help you out.
Let me ask you this. Is there a cheap way to correct the steering and make it safer while I save up for el Polocka to do the suspension. I'd like to at,east cruise the streets and feel ok......it rides smoother but steering is just awful I hate looking out the window at my cool looking truck that I can't really drive
I hear ya man. I've been following this thread and really didn't want to speak up, I just had to now. A few things in the steering can cause this. One could be the pump, two to get rid of the bump steer looks pretty simple. Pictures only show so much. I would really need to see it in person.
gee whiz, what the heck did they do to your truck man. i am no expert on airbags by any means but, wft is with the angle of those bags, it just dosent look like they changed that at all. still looks like their going rub themselfs to death. and like said before your rack looks set too far back.
Noticed the lower "support issue" but what do you mean when you say "The upper control arm has no support on the mount tabs" ?
Unfortunately, the overall design of the front suspension just looks inherently weak. Add to that the laundry list of geometry issues ELpolacko and others spotted after the "improvements", and it appears that the entire suspension is just a series of compromises that wasn't well thought out or well-executed. For that reason I strongly suspect that the time and money required to do a temporary fix would be much better spent on a permanent solution. Sorry about your situation.
i keep checking this thread to see if josh is gonna chime in again and tell us all about his skills and how he fixed this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy8npcM5SxU&feature=youtube_gdata_player p.s. is it just me or when the passenger side raises do i see the frame flexing outward?
Here's a few different angles people were asking questions so I thought this would help... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9riqU0F9G0&feature=youtube_gdata_player Oh ya and highly doubt josh or anyone will get back on here and say stuff especially because there is chance of a law suit and he has already admitted via text and on here that there is no excuse for the work on the first set up so that can and will be used as a small part of my case if they choose to go that route. I left it up to them. Refund me $2045 which is my debit card portion or I'll see you in court where i will be filing $7500 lawsuit for waste of time, safety issues etc.
i would get a "known reputable builder" to inspect the work.some of these shops hang out a shingle,get a vehicle inspection station qualification and proceed to ignore all printed literature regulating them. if they have any sort of licencing,i would present the vehicle to the licence issuer and suggest some licences get pulled. there are people here in canada that sign off on inspections without ever seeing the vehicle. if that uninspected/unsafe vehicle gets re-inspected by vehicle standards,the original shop that signed the inspection becomes 100 % liable and faces big fines. just my .02 worth.
If you look at the upper control arm mounting tabs, they are just welded to the side of the frame with nothing to prevent them from folding backwards. When that lower control arm folds back after hitting a pothole, the upper arm mounts will rip backwards too.
Starting to agree with you. However, I know in the end when It is done cOrrectly I will be happy with the ride quality. The stock side drop axle and drum brakes were awful..... Plus next ill be working on the engine And really wanted disc brakes when putting a larger engine in.
I just saw the new video from yesterday. That gave me chills of the "craftsmanship" that poeple are proud of. I thought the guy was going to fix the issues. If that was the fix? That guy should not be working on cars at all, go back to building your rought iron gates. I sure hope you can get your money back. If not take the guy to court. Again, this guy defently does not belong working on cars. At least not doing "custom" work.
Yeah sure, already talked about that, i thought you meant sumthing else. Didnt notice the lower arm problem until you pointed it out thou. Umhh...you must come and see mine then proper hack shit. Was done b4 i moved in. Gotta find the time to re-do it between a project and the other. The main gate/door doesnt even open w/out a proper kick! and the car gate support is only birdshitted on one side of the post....must be a relative of the guy that did this LOL
Nope just went and checked out starlite kustoms in Torrance. Great guys great shop! They said they looked at this thread and it's way worse in person. They couldn't believe someone thought this was ok. The back they said hey did not notice anything of concern. They are giving me a quote for mustang 2. Camero and jaguar clip. I want el polocka to do it based on all the good things people said. I received some messages to check of starlite so I did. Reason I would want starlite is they are local!!! They said anything happens with heir work they will send flat bed and fix. I am sure el polocka would have same warranty but i am so far so i am trying to weigh my options. Also they have open door policy unlike other shop. They said don't call just show up it's your truck if you want to see it or take pics come on over. They had amazing cars unlike other shop that had punch of piles of shit. They mentioned all the concerns as everyone else after looking over car and they are writing a written affidavit on their letter head from a safety and engineering stand point for when I possibly end up in court wih other shop. I emailed the shit shop and I am waiting to hear back. I would put truck in immediately to get fixed however if we go the court route I don't want to change anything until its settled. Thank you for following up and I'll let you know what happens
I have seen ElPolocko's truck in person...stunning. I havent' seen any of Starlite's work in person, but everyone of their cars I see in a magazine makes me hate my car more and more. Those guys have some talent for sure. Good luck with everything Blake, don't get down brother. You'll get it done right and then you can drive the crap out of it.
Damn, Elpolacko tipped me to your woes this weekend while we were at LARS. Sorry to see that. We must have spent an hour looking at this thread and talking suspension design at your expense... I sure would like to see one of his Dakota based suspensions under your truck rather than a Mustang II. Anybody who knows me knows I love MustangII under fat fendered cars and such, but a truck from the era of yours is really too wide to run one in it's stock configuration. Most for the late fifties and early sixties truck kits are widened to fit the frame rails without too much regard to roll centers and other geometric factors. I especially wouldn't do one with tubular lower control arms NOT mounted in double shear at the rear inner... Most installers don't bother to correct this. I don't know if you were at LARS this weekend, but Steve and I drove his '63 F100 over and back as we frequently do. That truck handles soooo well, and for either of us to drop below the typical 85-90 MPH mark across the desert is pretty rare. Trust me, with the twin turbo big block, stuff happens quickly when you jump on it, so it's nice to have a confident, well tuned suspension to trust your life on when things start to move fast! I know it's a matter of geographics for you, and I have liked the stuff I have seen out of Starlight, but I just wouldn't do a Mustang II under a truck that size.
I am sure alot of people have used this hack job set up to talk about suspensions at my expense hahaha. I would love to do the Dakota Set up and have el polocka do the work. There is just something about having someone local so if there are any issues etc you can just make a call. I would have to tow the truck to AZ and possibly back which just ads to the expense factor, so that also is a negative. Im still not sure which route I will go. I was not at LARS but this weekend I will be at the Anaheim f100 wetern Nationals to show off my front end haha Just joking I will be fully aired out hiding the work under my car. I had a great convo with el polocka and he seems like a great guy and I can definitly tell by his truck not to mention the amount of users that swear by him that he is highly skilled in his trade. I hope to see his truck in person and thought maybe he would be at the ford western nationals but 2 weekends to so cal is probably not going to happen.
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