vettebuyer6369

This thread is far less a "comparative" thread and more one complaining about one particular vendor. Therefore. I will move this to the Transaction Feedback section.

65silververt

I would say it is more feedback than a complaint thread. It should be ok to leave feedback about a vendor in the main thread section, especially one that could seriously impact others. there may be those that complain to moderators because they are associates of street shop, but that is not a reason for moving a thread. There are other vendors for a reason, it's called the free market. Consider this thread like reading a copy of consumer report when you are thinking of purchasing a new car. For that reason, i think it should stay in the main section.

bowtie racing

Good info, thanks!

mark6669

I have built 2 Jamison chassis cars (63 coupe & 69 conv.) His main drawback was the use of the C4 suspension however he has a new chassis that uses C5 suspension and only requires raising rear floor 2".
I just ordered a new C3 chassis for another 69 conv. I have, will keep you informed on how it works out. John Jamison really cares about his products and what people think about them.
Mark
Old Chassis


New Chassis

Dejavet

Thanks for your response Mark. I am in the early stages of building my 65 restomod. I like what I saw of the Jamison chassis at the Orlando show in January. I will need to place an order for a chassis within a few months. I am also considering Billy Dawson because of his strong reputation, but his C-2 chassis is also very new. Neither vendor has any of their new chassis under completed cars yet.
I will send you a PM with questions.
Thanks,

Dejavet

Mastr Fab

I went with the Street Shop chassis and I've regretted it ever since. Like mentioned before the rear end pinion angle is way off. The engine was off set to the right even though the rear end is centered. The axle shafts hit the coilover springs in the rear. The transmission cross member had exhaust pass throughs even though we ask they be eliminated since we run side pipes. The brake distribution valve was welded directly under the driver side battery box mounts so you can't get the brake lines installed. Support after the sale doesn't exist. Overall bad experience.

vettebuyer6369

This thread is only about complaining about this vendor and nothing else. it does not belong in the main section. It belongs in the Transactions Feedback section, as was was advised previously. And by your own words, if its a feedback thread, it belongs here, in the Feedback section.

When the contributions to this thread cease to be anything new, it will be locked.

65silververt

Yup, that is what it turned into and that was not my original intention, although i have been wanting to tell of my experiences with the company. Thanks for letting US post our comments and experiences. If it's alright, i would like to continue posting, but i will keep the tone down. Thanks again!

65silververt

I was told that a driveline angle difference of 18 degrees was acceptable with two fixed points and that my concerns shouldn't be an issue. Umm, ok. Obviously setting up the correct Driveline angle is very important and I have always gone to great lengths with all of the custom cars i have built to make sure that that the driveline angles were set up correctly to prevent excessive vibration and strain on the u joints.

My distribution block was not welded to the frame and i havent had issues with the rear axles hitting the coilovers, so perhaps they have learned from their mistakes and fixed those problems, maybe. However, when paying this much money for a custom chassis, you shouldn't have to be the guinea pig or bear the cost of repairing their mistakes. It's really a shame they don't stand behind their product.

I did see where Dan had to hack his driveshaft tunnel out in the rear. I didnt have that problem. My driveshaft angles up from front to rear, but no clearance issues. Dan, did you cut your floor to get the right driveline angle or was that just for clearance?

dcaggiani

Just a notch on the passenger side for clearance of u-joint ...

65silververt

Sorry, wrong terminology. I had to trim and reglass the trans tunnel in one spot under the console for clearance of the tremec. I spaced the body out as far as i could with spacers and shims and the trimming was unfortunately necessary. I had to ditch the tunnel insulation as well since there wasnt room.

Rzepka_r

Guys,

I wrote this elsewhere, in another post a while back, but I would agree with everything here - if/when I build another it will be something other than Street Shop...

In the end everything is fine, BUT it took a lot of work on my side to make that happen!

1. U-joint angles were terrible - I had to raise the rear of the transmission and tilt the rear some as well..

2. Upper control arms on wrong sides AND even when on the correct side take a significant amount of spacing to get decent alignment

3. I had to shim the body up some for transmission clearance, but I guess it allowed me to run a very tight 3" exhaust under the car perfectly so it worked out okay in the end

4. Stock battery tray wouldn't bolt on, was forward such that it interferred with the inner fender

5. Paid a lot for a front to rear gas line from him that wouldn't fit in any way or form, at my own cost I had another made locally that fits perfect

6. Boots on the tie rods were too small, the tie rod taper was larger than the boot hole and both boots were split

7. Motor adapter plate countersinks were not deep enough, the motor mount rocked on the bolt heads

In the end I was SO glad I didn't have the chassis powder coated or final assembled - they had assembled everything loose for the trip home, but I found several instances that bolts would bottom before tightening and I'm sure they would have been left that way if I hadn't done the final assembly myself..

I'm also glad I bought my front accesory kit from another source (Wagner Motorsports - which was great), made my own clutch bracket set-up and bought engine and transmission dirrect from the sources!

Take care everyone,

Rich

rickm2@tampabay.rr.c

For my choice would be Street Shop. For the ride and the look.The Tube frame look doesn't look that good to me.It looks totally aftermarket or kit car like.. If Tray at street shop was better at communication it probably would be much different. I see most builders of these cars want something fast an easy to build.That's usually not the case. Every older corvette I have seen is different and none are built the same from the factory. To each his own!!!

65silververt

I say go for it Rick from tampa and then report back with how you feel after the build.

rickm2@tampabay.rr.c

I have one. Mike C built it and did a fabulous job as usual. It rides great and drives great. When I take it to a car show people go WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Mike C. is an artist!

65silververt

Mike knows what is involved to set these cars up correctly with the street shop frame, just as I do. My car rides great and the handling is awesome, but i will contribute that aspect to GM engineering.
There might be minor deviations in bodies from the factory, but that wont affect the way the car fits the frame. My point is that it takes a lot of extra work and money to get the street shop chassis to work as advertised and when you run into problems with the components they installed, you can forget about getting any help with the failed product. It is a whole lot more than poor communication.

Enjoy your car!

rickm2@tampabay.rr.c

I will !!!!!!!! Thanks

scotzilla

i just finished the 62 restomod with a street shop chassis. I too ran into some of the very problems that others are having. Right away bumper brackets were welded in the wrong location even though i was insured that "it would be impossible" to put them in the wrong spot. After pictures back and forth he admitted they were welded on the wrong side of the jig and sent out more brackets. Other big concerns were the headers had the wrong flanges welded to them. After firing up the car and having them leak I was put in contact with the manufacture who was going to take them back and weld the correct flanges on them. We were pressed for time and I wasnt %100 confident that the headers would fit our custom v banded exhaust system that was already done. so I opted to have them send me over some flanges and fix the issue here. We also had clutch issues, shifter issues, and the biggest was a the rear coil overs were binding on lower control arms.

we bought the project second hand but we did get receipts for everything and the assembly was done at street shop. All these issues we blamed on the previous mechanic but Trey was helpful in the end and we got through all of them. Another thing, if you are having problems with the ac idler pulley, there is nothing to retain the bearing thats pressed into the pulley. Ours worked flawlessly for about 200 miles and then let go. As the system heats up the bearing looses its press and the pulley walks out on the bearing until the back of the pulley hits the block bracket. This happened when I had delivered the car, so I used sleeve retainer as a fix until he sent another. That second unit had 130lbs of press at room temp (which I thought would be enough) but had the same end result. I drove the car about 70 miles on the freeway before it let go this time. Simple fix, i machined a groove and used a inside circlip to keep the bearing in place.


in the end I think people that spend this kind of money dont want to hear denial when they have an issue with something. They just want results and a fix. We all know these are custom hot rods and there are going to be issues and bugs. Its interesting others had the same exact issues with axle bolts, clutchs and bumper brackets. Which leads me to believe that these are known issues and they are still being sent out with them.

At the beginning of the build I had some concerns with the way the cross members were fit and welded into the frame rails as well as some just flat out ugly cold welds. I emailed trey some detailed pics and said im sure you'd like to see this but never heard a response.

In the end I hope street shop and others see this as first hand feedback on their product and service. Its not meant to be a slam, like I said trey sent out new parts and was helpful throughout the whole process even though my customer bought the parts second hand. I would use them again, just this time re-assemble everything myself.

Here are some other feature I would like to see to help improve their package as well.

- brackets for e brake cables that use the factory pull lever (i have shots of what we came up with, without bolting something to the bottom of the chassis)
- more front end adjustment without having to stack shims on the upper control arm.(something like the factory lower control arm eccentric)
- adjustable steering stops
- And just a personal preference thing... DE-BADGE YOUR CHASSIS! one or two of your logos is enough. it wouldnt be so bad if it didnt remind me of all the adolescent flamed mini-truck logos out there.

overall thanks for offering a good product and standing behind it.