2008fx4

Thread revival - I sold the Chevelle several months ago - and very glad to be done with the shop that had it. I feel bad for the customers that have not been as fortunate as I was to walk away from their project. There were several vehicles there when I dropped mine off that still haven't been completed. Please, whatever you guys do with your money is your business, but please do not support the shop that had my car. No good will come of it, I can promise you that.

i admit i have. my garage is a mess, and I have been swamped opening a new offroad shop. however, I did recently get back involved in it when the paintless dent removal place next door to me sourced out a couple cars to get some wetsanding marks and such buffed out and their guy used old pads and hologram'd the paint. Thank goodness they did, because last week after I had taken all my polishing equipment to the shop, I got an ink pen lodged in between the lugs of my front tire and sprayed ink all down the drivers side of my truck. what a pain in the ***.

Figured I would have some raffles at different times - probably 2 or 3 drawings every hour on the hour starting at 12 pm. Everyone who shows up to support will receive a raffle ticket. Everyone will have the option to purchase a $10 raffle ticket (you can buy more should you choose to do so) with all proceeds going toward Toys for Tots. The paid raffle will go off at 3:30 pm. - MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN!

Received some hats and shirts from Smittybilt and Pro Comp, along with a banner from Smittybilt, Rubicon Express and Pro Comp to include in the giveaway raffle. Also have a ton of prduct brochures and such to hand out as well. Also have a small detailing kit from Adams Polishes (thanks to Dylan) that will be included in the paid raffle.

pm sent stud!!!

As of right now I will be offering a raffle at $10/ticket for a chance to win one of 3 gift certificates from the shop - a $50, 100 & $250. There will also be a 4 door set of Grabars for a Jeep JKU, and 2 $50 off codes from Ace Engineering and Fab as well in the paid raffle. All proceeds from the raffle sales will go towards Toy for Tots. I will also be giving out raffle tickets for a chance to win a Trasheroo, Bubba Rope, Jeep JK antennas, Quick Deflators, and a Rigid Industries Flashlight. Stay tuned for more info - as some goodies from Rock Krawler, Rock Hard 4x4 and others might come available!

this was before.

i removed the rear seat back and fabbed up an anchor point that would sit right above the seat back so that my kid's car seats could be attached safely. if you look in front of the tweeter on the bottom of this picture you can see the top of the bracket.

Grand Opening June 20, 2015!!! Shop will be open from 10-5. Food from 1-4 provided by BK Tacos, non-alcoholic beverages as well! I will have raffle prizes - some small things as giveaways, as well as selling raffle tickets for various gift certificates. All proceeds from the raffle sales will go towards Toys for Tots. Parking will be available across the street at Dentbusters, as well as up and down Ventura Street east of Stone, and in the dirt lot next to the shop.

So I have been AWOL for a while - all but retired from the first occupation, and fooled around for a little while - lots of golf and vacation time. Got bored quick, so I decided to start a new venture. Decided to start a business around my hobby. Offroad. You've seen my Jeep and the Raptor, so this seemed like a logical thing to do. I had found a really nice place in town, decent building, some equipment there from a previous shop and a fenced in lot. The owner of the building was in the midst of starting some tenant improvement projects, and we came to a good verbal agreement. This was back in January. I was able to work on some trucks and Jeeps, set up lots of suppliers and connections, but was never really settled in. Fast forward to a little over a week ago. The building was still not even close to being finished, and I was on the lookout for a new place. I hadn't had a working bathroom for almost 2 months, and the office was useless for two weeks. I also hadn't been able to work on a vehicle on a lift or garage floor for at least 6 weeks. Due to the owner not fulfilling his end of the lease agreement, I gave my 30 days and planned a move to a new spot. 24 hours after that I was notified by the owner that he had put all my tools, equipment and such outside, and really could care less if someone stole it. awesome. I had to accelerate the process and signed a lease on a new spot a mile from the previous one. Almost the same size, but better usable space. The one thing I gave up was a fenced in yard/parking. But I am paying a third of what I was at the other space. That permitted me to buy two new lifts, deck out the office, install a kick *** alarm/camera system, and have a shop space I am very proud of. The new space is a big open warehouse space with a restroom and a small office. And I got the space done from a bare shell to where it is now in 8 days. I have to put some shelving/pallet racking in and get a sign done on the outside, but other than that I am ready to roll!

according to this pic - they at least still have the car. but its taken 5 months to put the other wheel(s) on, get it off the lift and put the trim piece on the hood.

looks good!! similar to the Cosmos I have (no metallic) - but you can barely see blue on mine any more!

shop has had the car for a couple weeks now - no work has been done. next few weeks is going to be interesting. i dont know how much more i can deal with.

what legal gound do i have? verbal agreement in a he said/he said case. won't go anywhere. there was never a set delivery date, never a true set-in-stone budget. just verbal exchanges that have been neglected on one side. if you want to pay for my legal fees, feel free. but I for one really don't want to waste any more money than I have to for this car to get done.

if they were doing work...... they'd probably charge me double.

such a stupid test. strap a solid front axle on the chevy/gmc or vice versa - an ifs on the ford and see the results. articulation dependent on front axle setup can make a big difference in frame twist.

wish i had good news, but i don't. car had to have both sides resprayed to get the metallic to lay down more uniformly. And the shop in PHX - who flat out said they are not building a car for SEMA have neglected the chevelle because, oh wait - they are building a car/truck for SEMA; the owner's superduty. when I called him out and asked about it, i was told it was none of my business what he was doing. and i was told that i don't need a boost gauge for a supercharged engine. and they had the dash painted before they drilled the holes out for the gauges. getting really old.

me personally - i would paint the mesh grilles black. then i would probably have a good vinyl place wrap it in gloss black - leaving the carbon fiber vents on each side exposed, just to see if i liked the black versus the carbon. but thats just me.

this just aggravates me even more. My painter picked up the car on monday because the color was just a touch off from the doors to the rear quarters. The shop doing the brunt of the work was asked multiple times to just put the fenders and the hood on, so that the painter could come get the car to fix the color. so the shop decided to almost fully trim out the front end, and start the wiring etc just to give the painter more work. after they have constantly complained about the painter being the reason that the project has taken so long. this after the shop had the car sit for so long with no work being done to it, and then work done that the painter had to redo (metal work was bad, panel gaps off, etc) and as of right now the vintage air unit isnt even in the car. i need to start drinking more.

Honestly i can't wait for this to be over so i can let the cat out of the bag. Its truly an experience that no one should have to go through. no matter what - it is never the shops fault. Its my fault because i want to stick to my budget. The paint shop took too long - although he recommended that shop. Its parts suppliers fault - although he hasn't really ordered any of the parts we need. he's always bitching about not having the parts - but when he gets them nothing is ever done. I said to him that if this kept on i would just want to sell the car. He took that as - i want to sell the car, stop working on it. His reasoning? well, people that might want to buy the car don't necessarily like what you have done to the car. Tough **** - if they don't like it they don't have to buy it. he keeps taking in projects without finishing any. found out he had my painters camaro that all he needed it for was to build door panels for it. gen 2 camaro. he had it for 11 years. painter didn't really care because i don't think he's had one second to himself considering where his business is at and how successful it is. i am pretty sure that he bills customers as the builds go on to fund other projects. And he always has time to make sure that the customers cars are pushed to the side and his own vehicles are worked on.

the painter came to look at the car after some concerns came up regarding the color match - i think there is some work to be done to blend the doors in - color is a bit off. nothing seems to go right with this. and after some heated exchanges with the shop owner - he doesnt seem to give a **** about customer service and has pretty much decided to only work on the car when he feels that the shop can afford the time. From what i understand money may be an issue and he has run out. i have been told that he cannot finish the car for the budget we have set - although i am already well over the budget i have set. stupid.

everything is left to be done. all the lines - fuel, brake, complete interior, all the plumbing for the motor, suspension has no coil-overs, all the panels need to be put on, steering linkage, all the wiring...... $110,000

its official. car is for sale. builder is telling me that they cannot finish the car for the budget that was set. In fact, if you include the motor trade for the paint work, I'm already $15-20K over budget, and really close to the number that they said they could build it for. i don't expect to be updating this thread for a while. I am no longer going to contact the builder in any way, shape or form. It doesn't work to get anything done. In my most recent communications with the builder, I asked multiple questions, and mentioned in one sentence that i had to pay double for the body work. (his shop did a lot of metal work, and supposedly lined up all the panels - painter informed me that he had to redo a lot of the work) and the reply i got back was the builder only worrying about his side - didn't answer one single question. if people want more details feel free to pm me and we can discuss this build further. I have learned more about the industry than I should have, and a lot more than I honestly cared to about how not to do things.

Looks like the last of the parts are painted - fenders and hood.