Cascade Crew

iansane · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:32 pm Post subject:

What brand of dust boot are you using? I just grabbed ball joints in the MasterPro (O'Reillys house/cheap line) and the boots fit perfect? Either way, that sucks that you couldn't find any.

You should be able to grab some poly stock style bumpstops from a local parts house (I know O'Reillys stocks them at the warehouse). I had to cut mine in half when I put the founders plates on. Not sure why.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:34 am Post subject:

I tried EVERY parts store. Baxter's, O'Reiley's, Autozone, Knechts, NAPA. they fit pretty snug against the base but they left a gap around the shank which would have protected it somewhat from dust and particles but not from water. I already ordered some from Howe's so we'll see how those do.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 12:19 am Post subject:

So I ended up using Howe's dust boots. They fit great for the shank, but the base is a little loose, although they stay put just fine with a zip tie wrapped around them. I got everything together and ended up having to raise the car a little, lol. These fat tires don't agree with my non rolled fenders. The cars seemed to drive fine around the block, one thing was weird though. I have an excessive amount of rubbing on the rear of the fenderwell when turning to the right... This wheel/tire setup didn't rub there before. I also had to have my right front weight jack adjusted quite a bit higher than the drivers side to have a level ride height (measured from the inner A-arm bolt to ground).

So I put the car on the alignment rack today and the first thing that I found weird was that I could only get a max of -1.1* camber from the right front. I know you lose camber the lower the ride height but I was able to get over 2.5* before. So i ended up setting my camber to -1.1* for both sides (previously I was running -1.8*). Then I checked my caster, I could only get a max of +4.3* on the right front before the strut would interfere with the opening through the upper fenderwell (previously I ran +6.2* without any interference). I started looking around I I see that now my header collector is touching my A-arm mount. Then I saw there there is a ripple on the inside of the right front frame rail near the firewall. It appears that my frame is bent. Sad

jchaussee · Member Joined: 14 Nov 2010 Posts: 1318 Location: renton

Oh man. Sorry to hear that.

Dewey316 · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 6:21 am Post subject:

Can you pull it out with a come-along?

Twilightoptics · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:34 am Post subject:

DBL_TKE · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:21 am Post subject:

My dealership has a frame/body shop. I'll talk to them and see if i can have them straighten it out. They might cut me a deal and only charge me 7 hours Shocked

I guess I never realized how much work goes into frame straightening. I'm going to talk to one of the guys over there and see if he would be willing to do it on the side. This whole ordeal is starting to get pretty expensive. Sad

iansane · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:32 am Post subject:

Crap.

Whiskeychick · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:01 pm Post subject:

Apparently my work comp didn't load the updates about the frame damage.

That sucks, frame pulls are never cheap and they are a pain. I was worried about that when I saw your pics. Hope this guy can do it on the side for you, make it a little cheaper.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:23 pm Post subject:

So I finally had the body shop do a frame check on the car. And I don't have any good news to report. They say that the car is bent out of shape in every direction. 13 of the 20 main measurements we're out of spec. And not just by 1-2mm, one was off by 20mm, another was off by 13mm and several more were off by 5-8mm. There are two large buckles on the right frame rail. They estimate that it would be well over $2k to fix and would take 2-3 weeks. If this were an insurance job, they would have totaled it, no question about it.

I'm not sure what to do right now. I definitely don't have that kind of money, but this is pretty much my dream 3rd gen that I'm building here. This is pretty depressing.

turbo_jimi · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:42 pm Post subject:

That's too bad...was it just from smacking it into the wall or was there previous "unknown" damage? Just curious.

jchaussee · Member Joined: 14 Nov 2010 Posts: 1318 Location: renton

That's too bad, but if its your dream camaro and you plan to keep it for awhile fix it, or strip all the good stuf and keep tour eye out for another simular if you can pick up for a good price. Ans start all over

jchaussee · Member Joined: 14 Nov 2010 Posts: 1318 Location: renton

That's too bad, but if its your dream camaro and you plan to keep it for awhile fix it, or strip all the good stuf and keep tour eye out for another simular if you can pick up for a good price. Ans start all over

chevymad · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:53 pm Post subject:

If its that bad, there's no way i'd spend $2k on the frame and still need to fix and paint. I'd find a cheap solid roller.. bolt everything of yours on it and then use that $2k to paint it. Alot of labor but its only your time right?

aaron_sK · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:05 pm Post subject:

I was in the same boat last year. Buy a new shell. You can get a super-base model cheap and swap all your stuff.

DBL_TKE · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:30 pm Post subject:

I would only get another 91-92 Z28. I know I could just swap everything over but having a "Z28" does have sentimental value to me. I like all the little subtle differences. I'm going to talk to my bank and see what kind of loan I might be able to get approved for. I've been talking to a guy on TGO who has a '91 Z28 that has been built from the ground up. It's a lot more money than this one was but only a fraction (<25%) of what's been put into it. It's mostly a pipe dream but we'll see where it goes. Realistically I might actually have this one repaired sometime down the road. Although who knows how "straight" it will actually be.

fiveoformula · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:12 am Post subject:

That really sucks man. How about a second shops opinion just to make sure?

aaron_sK · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 5:58 am Post subject:

DBL_TKE · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:31 pm Post subject:

blue89 · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:41 pm Post subject:

You could get an old bmw like the rest of us Razz