Schwartz 1964 Chevelle Chassis Final Fix

G

grr456

Club Member
After months and months of dicking around with this Schwartz piece o'crap chassis, I finally have the last hurdle just about fixed.....Remember, this is a custom built chassis for the 1964/1965 Chevelle....Not one thing was correct. After fixing what I thought was everything and having it powdercoated, I go to bolt it up to the body and the rear kick-ups interfered with the trunk pan. After being so sick and in and out of the hospital that I couldn't work on the chassis for several months. I am finally beginning to feel a bit better so an old friend and I tackle the project...Here are some pictures of the interference, the cut away and finally everything 90% welded in place......

grr

Left side interference with trunk pan
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Right Side interference with trunk pan
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Body mounts Miss the frame by 2"
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Also offset....
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Cut the interfering section part of the frame away
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Cutting and fitting rear section
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Grinding on front part of frame while still bolted to body
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More grinding
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Cutting and fitting new frame section
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One new piece tacked in place
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Welding in pass side down piece
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Finished pass side
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82hatch said:
What did they say? Any explanation why it was off so much?
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They told me it was an early chassis, and all of the issues have been taken care of. Unfortunately they were unwilling to tell me of the other issues. They let me spend hour upon hour trying to figure out what they already knew. The worst of it was that he didn't tell me of the frame interference with the body. By them not telling me what and were the problems were, they let me spend $800 to have the frame powdercoated and figure out that it really doesn't fit the body the way it should. I may as well have just thrown the money out the window.

So, would you trust them with your money?

grr
 
grr456 said:
They told me it was an early chassis, and all of the issues have been taken care of. Unfortunately they were unwilling to tell me of the other issues. They let me spend hour upon hour trying to figure out what they already knew. The worst of it was that he didn't tell me of the frame interference with the body. By them not telling me what and were the problems were, they let me spend $800 to have the frame powdercoated and figure out that it really doesn't fit the body the way it should. I may as well have just thrown the money out the window.

So, would you trust them with your money?

grr
Click to expand...

Do they not do any test fitting before selling to customers? Or are customers the R&D test subjects? I'd be blasting this on every relevant forum...
 
CruisnCobra said:
Do they not do any test fitting before selling to customers? Or are customers the R&D test subjects? I'd be blasting this on every relevant forum...
Click to expand...



they probably figured the customers would just chop the trunk and be done with it. On a car as nice as this, chopping anything would be a last resort.
 
More from a previous post......What I had to do for the motor mounts and some suspension....


I had to move the transmission mount forward about 4 inches. The radius rod pivot was too far down by about 1-3/8 inches so I moved that up, and had to scallop the kick out for bolt clearance to the outside. It was causing the lower control arm to bind as it was going into jounce.

There is still one more thing I need to do and that is to fix the rear bumper area, or lack of bumper mounting. There are some brackets which need to be made for the rear bumper which were never there….

The headers still more of less fit. I know one or two tubes will need to be modified for the steering shaft which now goes to a rack...

DSCN4647_zpshg0e3zcm.jpg


Strut Rod Relocation 1
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Strut Rod Relocation 2
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Engine and driveshaft in with spacers - Pinion angle needs to be set, but everything will work.
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Transmission mount needed to be moved forward about 4"
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About 1" of spacers needed. Wanted to isolate engine from chassis with hard rubber.
DSCN4654_zpsbrxfmdmi.jpg
 
Gary you are one hell of a guy, for the price of their shit I would have blew a gasket on them and would not be fixin shit. I hope you were compensated for their shit work. Good thing is now you know it's done right.
 
The amount of work you have had to do is unacceptable. They should have made it right with you. Good thing you know what you are doing. I would be lost.
 
I put the last thing I needed and this bar is for the shock mounts.....I put a tube all the way the both frame rails. This way everything will be as strong as it needs to be......
DSCN4969.JPG DSCN4970.JPG DSCN4971.JPG
 
DeFormula said:
Gary it almost seems like they sent you a frame for a different car! How could they be that far off otherwise?
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You know, they told me it was an early chassis and they have since fixed the issues. I understand that part and issues are part of the game. I am in the business of designing and building brand new machinery and know the pains of initial run-offs and what it takes to fix them. The reason I am so mad is that they NEVER told me what those issues were or how extensive they were. I probably would have bought another bare chassis at that point. I wouldn't have even been that mad at that point. Every time I would fix one thing, I'd find something else, fix it and find something else and it just kept going.....

It is the company's core values and integrity I question because they had many chances to help me. I sent them multiple "E" mails and numerous phone calls and everything went unanswered. I even bought the brakes and adapters from them thinking if I spent a few thousand with them, then they would talk, but no dice. So, the bottom line is I have zero respect for a company like that. If I can get just one person to not buy their product because of what they did to me, then I'll be happy.

Word of mouth is always the best advertising......But, it is over and done with......Well, almost over with. I haven't mounted the rest of the body yet, and I do know the front core support is about 1-1/4" too low when I checked by trying to mount the front fenders. Not sure how the bumpers will look, either. Can't do that until the body is mounted....

grr
 
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Finally finished welding everything up and painting.....

After welding
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Ground the outside and bottom welds smooth
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Painted
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Added Jacking Pads
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