Street Beast questions.(Beast owners please help)

[donraye]

To begin with PLEASE refrain from discouraging remarks about Street Beast cars, especially if you do not own one. I am a bit sick of hearing about the bad press that the company gets over its poor service and past problems.
If I had known about the problems with SB before I purchased one perhaps I would have gone another direction but now I own one and the wife and I both love the car. It seems fine in most aspects but there is one big problem I could use some help in figuring out. If anyone out there has a Street Beast Please help me out here if you can. The BIG problem that this car has is with the door mounting. I can not get the doors to be solid and properly allligned, and they move around on rough roads or tight turns enough to make contact with the body of the car around the doors and actually abraid the paint and even the fiberglass enough to make wear spots and remove the paint and glass where the points of contact are. Does anyone who owns a Street Beast have any experience with this type problem and how to fix it or is this problem exclusive to my car and not all Beast in general? PLEASE help me out if you know anything about this problem! I am willing to pay the professional body shop folks to get this addressed but tips on "how to address it" it would be a critical factor in having it done right.
My car was purchased already built with 500 miles on it. I have a 351ci Windsor 425hp crate engine with a T-5 world class trans. and a Ford 8.8 rear. The car was finished and titled in 2007 but I have no way of knowing when it was actually purchased since I have no histiry for the car. I do not know if the car is a "stretch" version or the older version and I would love to know that as well as where to find the cars ID/VIN numbers on the frame or whereever? Yes, I have the VIN on the Florida title but would really like to be able to find it on the car somewhere. If you can help with that I would really love it. Any information anyone could provide would be of great help and be most appreciated on any areas/issues of these cars. You Street Beast owners are the only ones who really KNOW these cars and any insights would be great.
Sincerely, Don

[EarlsflyinCobra]

Don,

I wish I could help you with your questions.....mine is not yet on the road. As far as the VIN on the frame I'll look at the build manual as soon as I can and see where they recommend putting it however the builder may not have followed that direction. I feel your pain on the BAD MOUTH of Street Beast.........I know there not one of the best companies to deal with but they have improved some in recent years.......I put a deposit on my kit back when they were Classic Motor Carriages and thought I lost out when CMC went belly up, then SB honored my deposit when they reopened and I finally got my kit.....I've been working on it about 5 1/2 years and hope to finish it soooooooooooooooon..................good luck with your questions.....Earl

[Clois Harlan]

Lew Payne has a CMC and I know he had some issues with his door fit and made some compromises. Here is his email address so you might want to send him an email. Lew's CMC is probably 10 years old but it has held up quite well.

Payne, Lew (GE Healthcare) Lew.Payne@med.ge.com


Good Luck!

Clois

[StreetSnake]

I have a streetbeast and actually am taking it for inspection today. I feel your pain on the doors. It is probally the worst issue we had. I don't know where you are rubbing but the main spot we had problems with was the top of the door at the rear. What we ended up doing was actually curving the door at the roll back towards the front of the car a little and building (glassing) the body towards the front . It completly fixed that problem and really looks nice. In regards to other areas, my only suggestion would be to sand back the body where the rubbing is occuring and repaint. I believe the problem lies in the door hinge itself, it is very loose. Eventually I probally will use a factory 5 hinge and redo the doors. My car has been a long process and I had the help of an actual builder (classic roadster), but now that it is done I really am happy with it. If it is worth anything, I recently had my car at the London show and I had a couple people tell me it was their favorite. Also, when a couple of the guys commented on how nice it was, and asked what kit it was, their mouths dropped when I said Streetbeast. Let me know if i can help any further. I'm in ohio, so if you happen to be close, I know I can get the help of my builder to fix your issue.

[tcrist]

donray,
I saw a Streetbeast this weekend at a car show in Lodi this past Saturday. It was the "stretched" version. I could tell because the distance from the steering wheel to the seats seamed about 1 1/2 times longet than a standard cobra. The owner told me that it was streched 8". So the way I see it is this, if you can get in it easy and do not feel cramped then it is probably streched. What I don't know is if 8" is a standard for their streched unit or if they would strech it any distance that you wanted when you ordered it.
Hope this helps a bit.

Terry

[CobraDan]

To start I don't have a Street Beast but I have built one of those off brand cobra replicas and if you don't have one of the top 4 replicas you have to be able to stand your ground with a lot of these guys here on club cobra but really not very many. Living in Florida I have seen many more Street Beasts than most and I had a member of the Deep South Cobra Club bring one to my house back in 2002 for a party of 18 total cobras and his was very nicely done. This crowd has really given Street Beast a beating but even with all the bad press they are still in business. As far as your hinges go and since I really never looked at the hinges and without pictures posted I can only help you from my Elegant Motors project. My hinge was bolted to an attached frame that was fiber glassed to the body and then this frame bolted to the C3 Corvette frame as did the original Corvette body did. The door it self had a metal plate glassed behind the fiberglass where the hinge should be attached. After aligning everything drilling and tapping the attachment points and every thing cleared you should pin every thing. In your case once you align the door for clearances weld the hinge to the frame and drill and drive a roll pin at the door hinge making sure nothing can move to loose those clearances.

[donraye]

Originally Posted by Clois Harlan

Lew Payne has a CMC and I know he had some issues with his door fit and made some compromises. Here is his email address so you might want to send him an email. Lew's CMC is probably 10 years old but it has held up quite well.

Payne, Lew (GE Healthcare) Lew.Payne@med.ge.com


Good Luck!

Clois

Thanks for the tip about Lew Clois, but I'm afraid his email adress is no longer valid. I tried to send a note to him but it came back as "not recognized" by the server.
Thanks anyway! If you have/get a new email for jim pass it along.
Don

[FST HSKR]

Noticed the same problem with mine. I purchased a roll of weatherstriping from Shell Valley. Cut and glued it to the door also used it on the hood and trunk area. This eliminated over 90% of all rattles and stopped almost all of the rubbing in the door jams. Have had the car on the streets for over 5 years now without any problems. The strip is not more than a 1/2 wide and less than 1/2 tall. Hope this helps.

Jim

[donraye]

Jim, I have tried to send you a private message twice but get no responce (email filter?). So if you ever read this could you PLEASE send me some photos showing exactly where you placed the weather stripping on your car. If not photos then tell me the exact location either inside or outside edge of door or door jans or ? This would be a great help when I try the same fix on mine. Email me at: donraye@prodigy.net
Don

[Scoober]

Streetsnake-Could you post a picture of your "curving of the door"?

[donraye]

Scoober, I Streetsnake can not post the photos of his doors here for any reason. I have the photos he sent me by enail of them. So if you send me an email with your personal email address at: donraye@prodigy.net I will email them back to you in reply. I will not attempt to post them here as they are too large a file and if made small you will not be able to see them well. Or you could probably get streetsnake to send them to you in an email attachment rather than asking that they be posted here which is a pain.
Don

[StreetSnake]

hopefully this picture comes through

[Paul F]

Don, I sent you a PM.

[PATW]

I know it's been a long time since this thread was active, but I am seeking advice on front suspension options for my CMC. I purchased the car already completed and it had 14" front wheels. I upgraded to 15" Team III wheels and they stick out of the fender wells about an inch or so. What set ups are you all running to accommodate 15" wheels? Thanks, Pat.

[donraye]

Originally Posted by PATW

I know it's been a long time since this thread was active, but I am seeking advice on front suspension options for my CMC. I purchased the car already completed and it had 14" front wheels. I upgraded to 15" Team III wheels and they stick out of the fender wells about an inch or so. What set ups are you all running to accommodate 15" wheels? Thanks, Pat.

I'm running 17" X 9" real Halibrand Cobra III wheels with 245/45 tires on the front of my Street Beast and the outsides are not quite even with the front fender flairs at the top of the fender. They're maybe 3/4" in from the top of the flairs. I think I remember the front wheel setback as being 45mm. I have the same wheels with 285/40 tires on the rear.
I have Mustang II tubular front suspension in the car with a great (highly recommended!) QA-1 Mustang II coil-over kit which has 12 way adjustable damping and 500 LB. springs.
I had 375 LB springs in the car first but they were too light and the 500s are perfect.
It sounds like you may have an issue with the setback on your wheels. They should not stick out that much or at all unless they are HUGE tires like 275 to 315 or something too wide for the front or the wheels are do not have enough setback.
I'm running a 351 Windsor with iron heads.
Hope this helps?!
Don

[1bad66]

you won't find the vin on the frame or the body

[727pilot@usa.co]

They give you a plaque and instructions to attach it to a door frame.

Actually guys we have a CMC and if you want to compare bodies it is one of the best out there. Lots of glass where it's needed.

I looked at one of the big 4 at the London show this Summer and i swear I could have put my fist through the glass, it was that thin.

Another point - if you are driving a CMC that you built you have overcome a rather formidable challenge. The car hobby is different things to different people. I am glad to stand next to my car and let anyone see my work any day of the year.

[newguy]

Anybody recommend Streetbeasts?

If not, is there another manufacturer out there that makes a roadster with more room then the standard models?

[StreetSnake]

When you say room are you looking for leg room on the width side or length or both. If you are looking for length, I'm not sure but width the streetbeasts are still very narrow down at the pedals. I know there are other kits that have some additional width at the pedals. Go to a show or two and talk with the guys/gals that have them, they'll probally have you jump in and test it out.
In regards to recommendations, if you already had a kit you should make the most of it. It isn't "paint by numbers" by any means but if you are familiar with builds you can do it and end up with a very nice car. I love mine and people always ask if it is a superperformance.

[newguy]

Looking for room everywhere. got size 13eee feet, looking for hip room too. I know in general roadsters are tight so wondering if anyone knows of makers whose kits have more room