Alloy Hi-Tech Build

[cobrakiwi]

Cleaned up the damage.
New door hinge brackets made up then tacked in place.

[joyridin']

What did they use? An arc welder set on the wrong polarity?

[redmt]

If your going to MIG tubing and brackets together, the best way I know of is to run hot and fast. Hold med. stick out and carry the heat towards the heavier piece. All being equal, hold to the lower piece on a 60/40 whip motion. If you just drag and lay wire, you'll end up with inconsistent welds, especially as your MIG gun jumps on the drag.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by joyridin'

What did they use? An arc welder set on the wrong polarity?

Pretty sure a punk like me could put down better welds with my old Lincoln AC 225 and some 6010 or 6018 sticks... blindfolded!

[CompClassics]

Does anyone know if the "fabricator" in question has any previous projects that people are driving around currently? Usually practice makes perfect and over time maybe this "fabricator" will learn how to "fabricate", only question is is he learning from his/her mistakes?

[redmt]

xxxxx

[Mongoose930]

I spent about $4K with my previous "fabricator" on door hinge brackets, door latches, door frames, hinges, hinge pins, alignment fixtures, etc. It is all in the trash now - worst workmanship ever. That was straw that broke this camels back. Craig has done an awesome job with the new doors and associated hardware.

[Mongoose930]

Originally Posted by Three Peaks

I'm starting to believe this was possibly a used frame at one time after seeing all the rivet holes and modifications to the frame. Was there and interior tub and/or footboxes installed at one time? I didn't notice it in the first few pics.

Okay, went back and saw it was more complete than I had originally thought. Was any of the original pieces- fender liners, tub, footboxes, trunk pieces, etc... reusable? At least the roll bars? Or is this pretty much starting from scratch.

This is starting to look an awful lot like my project. When I received my chassis, it was missing most of the birdcage, the square tubing, motor mounts, roll bar mounts, fuel tank supports, and a lot of the existing tubing had to be replaced or relocated. I can definitely appreciate all the work that is going into this project and the quality of the work and the difficulty of the locating process.
Do you have all of the control arms, uprights, shocks, and other items needed for the suspension set up? How about hood and trunk hinges?

Bob

Hi Bob,

Maybe when Craig has some time he can snap a picture of the stack of scrap aluminum that came out of the car. The floors that came with the car were wrong and I paid to have two additional sets made which still were not correct. Trans tunnel was completely wrong. I scrapped the original rear bulkhead for several reasons and the new one I paid for did not fit properly at all so it was scrapped with all of the incorrect trunk panels.

I have a full tubular suspension and I hope when Craig puts it back on the car we don't discover that it is in as bad of shape as the frame was...

The footboxes are OK. I sold the roll bar that came with the car and had Craig fabricate a new 3000 series style roll bar with all the correct details.

[Three Peaks]

It just hurts to think of all that wasted time and money. It looks like Craig has a good handle on it now and you should be able to get it on the road finally in a reasonable time frame. His work is outstanding from what I can see and even if you have problems with the suspension, I would bet he will have a remedy for that also.

Looking forward to the updates. Now that my car is finished, I'm kind of wishing I had another project to start on....

Bob

[redmt]

Originally Posted by Three Peaks

It just hurts to think of all that wasted time and money. It looks like Craig has a good handle on it now and you should be able to get it on the road finally in a reasonable time frame. His work is outstanding from what I can see and even if you have problems with the suspension, I would bet he will have a remedy for that also.

Looking forward to the updates. Now that my car is finished, I'm kind of wishing I had another project to start on....

Bob

Bob,
Ya know what hurts? What hurts is to see the guy continually trolling this forum seeking new victims. What hurts is to think about all the others he has ripped off like myself, like Mark, like all the others that for whatever reason haven't come forward.

[Three Peaks]

Tell you what, let's keep this thread on the fantastic job Craig is doing on this build and keep moving this forward instead of ending up in continuing this bashing. Been there, done that and I can admit this is some pretty rough fabrication- even knowing who the fabricator was. Nothing to gain by turning this into a bashing thread again. Lots to gain by seeing a true fabricator at work and learning from his generous sharing of his work. Wish I had this thread to reference when I was building mine....

Bob

[Mongoose930]

Hi Bob,

I could not have said it better myself. Looking backwards on this project is way to painful and if someone wants to figure out who my old "fabricator" was, it won't take too much detective work. After 3 years of bad news, bad workmanship and big bills, I knew it was time to move my car to a competent and honest builder.

My whole attitude has changed for the better since I started working with Craig. He is extremely talented, easy to work with, knows exactly what he is doing and the workmanship is top notch. It is really great to be excited by this project once again. I am looking forward to continue posting positive progress on my Cobra.

I am sure that I am not even close to being done uncovering "questionable" workmanship issues from my previous builder and I will continue to post those as a warning to others of how not to build a car.

[feadam]

Just curious, how much will this project cost you when done with both old and new fabricators? I guess i'm wondering if you could have bought a csx car for what you'll have in this

[LMH]

Originally Posted by feadam

Just curious, how much will this project cost you when done with both old and new fabricators? I guess i'm wondering if you could have bought a csx car for what you'll have in this

I was wondering the same thing only replace it with a new Hi Tech (Sagebrush) frame.
Larry

[cobrakiwi]

Originally Posted by LMH

I was wondering the same thing only replace it with a new Hi Tech (Sagebrush) frame.
Larry

Ha, the sideline Chatter

Anything wrong with one of my frames, Larry?

[LMH]

Originally Posted by cobrakiwi

Ha, the sideline Chatter

Anything wrong with one of my frames, Larry?

Not at all. But as I understand this thread, this isn't one of your frames, it's a Hi Tech. My question is would it have been cheaper to replace it with a new one rather than modify an existing one.
Larry

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by LMH

Not at all. But as I understand this thread, this isn't one of your frames, it's a Hi Tech. My question is would it have been cheaper to replace it with a new one rather than modify an existing one.
Larry

What does a correct chassis cost off the shelf? That would probably say it all.

[LMH]

Originally Posted by Bernica

What does a correct chassis cost off the shelf? That would probably say it all.

You know, I would have to find out but out of respect for Craig and the fact that this is his work on a customers frame, I think it wouldn't be right for me to post that. But as I say, I don't know and would have to check to find out.
Larry

[cobrakiwi]

Originally Posted by LMH

Not at all. But as I understand this thread, this isn't one of your frames, it's a Hi Tech. My question is would it have been cheaper to replace it with a new one rather than modify an existing one.
Larry

Larry, nice try
HiTech (the U.S. Hi-tech) is no longer, so what difference would it make?
In all your posts to this thread so far not one good comment on the work preformed right?

[LMH]

Your work does look good. That said, Hi Tech, Sagebrush, Tim and Mike show, call it whatever you want, a chassis can be bought today from the very same jig that produced the Hi Techs back when they were in business.
Larry