1987 pro-touring grand national, from the ground up

[gnfanatic]

Well, good luck. I love how everything is coming out. you have good taste my friend!

 

[dsapper]

Well thanks to everyone pointing it out, the steering linkage is now corrected, I forgot to take a picture but Ill get one tomorrow. The gforce crossmember and the H&R crossmember mounts both showed up. I sent them both to be powder coated silver vein as well to match the frame. They should be done tomorrow or the next day.

 

[JarheadJim]

Great looking build! Subscribed!

 

[dsapper]

Great looking build! Subscribed!

Thanks! Your guys positive comments keep me motivated lol.

 

[Pittsburghkid]

Had that problem not been caught would it have really cause any major problems? If the linkage is unobstructed and the proper adjustments made to the tie rod sleeves would it have caused any alignment, or steering problems such as bump steer. The only thing I could think of would be maybe excessive wear on the end link or interference with the front sway bar. I understand the correct way is best but in this situation it seems like either way could work.

 

[novaderrik]

Had that problem not been caught would it have really cause any major problems? If the linkage is unobstructed and the proper adjustments made to the tie rod sleeves would it have caused any alignment, or steering problems such as bump steer. The only thing I could think of would be maybe excessive wear on the end link or interference with the front sway bar. I understand the correct way is best but in this situation it seems like either way could work.

looking at my car, the distance between where the Pitman arm and tie rod on that side hook up to the center link is different than where the idler arm and tie rod hook up on the other side. i'm sure there would be some bumpsteer issues, which would be too bad considering all the high $$$ stuff that is being bolted to the car..

i hope everything goes together nice and easy- it's generally a good idea to put the car together as much as you can before sending all the different parts out to be made all pretty.. that way, if you do have to modify anything you can do it on bare metal parts instead of nicely painted/powdercoated parts..

 

[motorhead]

looking at my car, the distance between where the Pitman arm and tie rod on that side hook up to the center link is different than where the idler arm and tie rod hook up on the other side. i'm sure there would be some bumpsteer issues, which would be too bad considering all the high $$$ stuff that is being bolted to the car..

Oh it would likely go beyond just developing "bumpsteer" issues. You'd be looking at alignment issues as the suspension travels, steering alignment and angle issues (binding), incorrectly loading the pivots on the centrelink and so on...

I am willing to bet the OP's confidence in this shop's capabilities is now a little shaken considering they screwed up something this simple this early in their build.

 

[gnon18s]

Oh it would likely go beyond just developing "bumpsteer" issues. You'd be looking at alignment issues as the suspension travels, steering alignment and angle issues (binding), incorrectly loading the pivots on the centrelink and so on...

I am willing to bet the OP's confidence in this shop's capabilities is now a little shaken considering they screwed up something this simple this early in their build.

..Uh Oh, The Hater is back!!

 

[novaderrik]

Oh it would likely go beyond just developing "bumpsteer" issues. You'd be looking at alignment issues as the suspension travels, steering alignment and angle issues (binding), incorrectly loading the pivots on the centrelink and so on...

I am willing to bet the OP's confidence in this shop's capabilities is now a little shaken considering they screwed up something this simple this early in their build.

yeah- bumpsteer..

 

[motorhead]

..Uh Oh, The Hater is back!!

I never left, nutswinger.

 

[marleyskater420]

..Uh Oh, The Hater is back!!

All "hating" aside, is anything that Mr.T posted incorrect?

His attitude isn't the best, but I think the point about confidence in the shop's capabilities seems to be true, at least in my opinion. If I were shelling out cash for a build like this, I would hope I wouldn't need to rely on an internet forum to find out if things are installed correctly.

I love this build, and its really cool to see, but is anyone else curious as to how this will turn out, given what we've seen?

 

[ross87t]

is anyone else curious as to how this will turn out, given what we've seen?

I think it will turn out better than 99.99% or the cars on this forum.

 

[marleyskater420]

I think it will turn out better than 99.99% or the cars on this forum.

Oh I completely agree! I love this build.

What I was asking was if you spent the kind of money that OP is spending, and the shop made those kind of errors, would you be worried? Now I've never had a car built, nor do I have anywhere near the amount of cash OP does, so I'm just thinking outloud. I mean if I could afford to have someone else do the work, I would! (and I think most of us would to a point, theres some things that I just loved being involved with)

 

[ross87t]

It seems like a simple mistake that was caught early. There's not much else to putting a vehicle back together. In most cases things won't simply bolt up backwards. I'm sure because of their little mistake, the shop will be paying closer attention from this point forward. It would be hard to complain given all the other attention to detail already displayed in this thread.

 

[dsapper]

I'm not worried about anything contrary to popular belief. There has been one mistake in 6 months of them having this car, countless other parts makers have made mistakes that they have caught. Baer for example sent brakes mislabeled to put the calipers pointing towards the front instead of the rear, things happen. Its not like there is an instruction manual to all of this and on the items there are instructions, it is a guide at best. I'm not paying a fortune to have this done, I got to know the guys and talked to them over a few months while watching them build cars and am trading parts for labor to another person. I have much, much more money in parts than I do the labor. It was an interesting project for them and they have helped me out with the build. I'm very happy with the way the build is going and its exceeding my expectations in every way.

 

[Reggie West]

You know what Dsapper good for you. You are doing what you want with the car and that is all that counts.

Pay no attention to those with nothing better to do than piss on your parade. The car looks great, so what they screwed something up, they got it fixed.

Please keep us posted on your cars progress.

 

[EVIL]

Great build and I have been following all along. You seem to be on top of things, with a little help from your friends. I wouldn't consider anyone on here a hater or pissing on your parade. Just people trying to help in their own way. Yes, it was a cause for concern but a mistake is a mistake. This is kick ass.

D

 

[dsapper]

Ok, so I swung by and checked the progress and they were putting in the rear end. It looks great! Its the first time I've seen it powder coated. So its a currie track, its a ford 9" with beefed up tubes, axles etc. But the cool part is the nascar style rear diff cover. I love it, it gives it the 12 bolt look with the strength and safety of the ford rear ends. They were only half done but I snapped some pictures.

 

[dsapper]

here are the other pictures, can only have so many per post. As you can see the front end was fixed..... I think lol

 

[dsapper]

ok, so I need your opinions. I put the black center caps on the rear to compare. What looks best, the black center caps or the polished look on the front? Also, open lug nuts to look more race inspired or the chrome closed end ones on there?