**pissed** kids and their hackjob installs.

[MrDude_1]

FYI, I wrote this for another forum, but i thought id share it here, unedited. (Later edited by staff to remove language)please excuse the language/tone, its not written as i would have wrote it for here, and i was quite upset at the time of its writing. (See above)
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**pissed** kids and their hackjob installs.

sooo Im a little pissed.
Heres the short version of the story.

Im building a 51 Chevy on a S10 chassis. I'll go into that build in detail in a later thread.

For the S10 chassis, I purchased a S10 from this kid off craigslist. It was priced a bit high, but since I was just going to trash 90% of the truck, I told the kid he could keep some of the "cool" stuff off it to bring the price down.. We agreed he could keep the chrome rims, the crooked license plate tailgate, the clear taillights, etc... you know, kiddy. Only real requirement is if he kept the rims, he must put wheels back on it so it can roll. Daddy owns a towing company so GM wheels should be no issue, and he can bring it to me. Great.
Instead he shows up and starts unloading the truck...My thoughts were... damn thats low.
Truck is slammed. We're talking its less then 3" off the ground. While its on the trailer I peak under it. lowering shocks all the way around, lowering coils up front, maybe lowering spindles too, I cant tell.. out back it has lowering mono-leaf springs with a 3" block on top. I see the skidplate and underside of the truck is scuffed.. but im going to bag it, no worries, right?
He starts it up and it sounds like ass. loud ass. He goes on about its "dual exhaust"... it has the smallest exhaust shop dual exhaust ive ever seen with cherry bombs for mufflers in the middle. I know its total crap, but i think "meh, hes just a dumb kid that doesnt know any better right... let him go on about his dual exhaust, im just going to scrap it. no worries"
we get the truck in my driveway, and he starts jacking the rear up. WTF? oh. he could only get 3 wheels that fit it.. this one has to go back on his dads trailer...but heres a free jackstand! UGH. thankfully i know i have a blazer wheel inside that fits.. atleast i get a 5th jackstand out of this, right? no worries.

S10 as i got it:



so I pop the hood. its not the CPI Vortec V6.. its the TBI V6 (no offense to anyone here with it, but when you expect the cast alum intake decent looking vortec engine, and you see the TBI, its annoying.)
then i step back and realize.. hmmm wheres my front ground effect bumper? gone. then i see the stereo. gone.
So i TRY to explain to the kid that, "hey, how am i going to get my money out of this heap if you take EVERYTHING from it?"... deaf ears. hes too stupid to understand. he only knows im going to use the frame.. thats all he gets. he cant understand that i was going to part out a decent S10, to fund the cost of the frame and break even (or maybe even profit a little for the work it takes to do all that)
instead, i have an S10 in my driveway with no wheel, a dent in every bodypanel (that it still has), etc.
but..... the price was still cheap enough. I was paying with insurance money that i got from when someone backed into my motorcycle.. and easy come, easy go.. right?... so i take it.
a couple weekends later, im tearing it down, and i see the fuel tank pump rings are covered in what looks like black permatex RTV. ugh. this tank is crap. no worries though.. i already realise im probably going to put a blazer tank behind the axle, or run some other tank. annoying but no problem.

So I go on prepping the frame. First i cut the body mounts off and clean up the sides.. Next I shorten it. Its an extended cab, so its about 5" too long. for those that dont know, your S10 frame is 2 pieces. Front part and rear part slide together under the cab. they're all the same front part, shortbed, longbed, regular or extended cab.... the back C-channel part is just cut shorter for the shorter wheelbase trucks. If you take a long frame, grind out the welds, you can pull it apart, chop it, and slip it back together at any length you want.
So i grind out the GM welds. As im looking at these poor quality OEM welds holding the frame together i start to question GMs welds elsewhere. I glance over to my side. As i look at the front left I see much cleaner looking MIG welds.. and i go "cool"... it doesnt click yet.
I finish shortening the frame. This was last weekend.





Well, someone on here in the airbag forum was asking about how a stock spring pocket looks. Im fairly good at cutting/working metal. No expert. No artist. ..but I can make a strong and pretty bag cut. so i figured id do a how-to. Step one is to take a pic of the stock spring pocket.
Even with no body on the frame, its a tight area on my truck. I have 10"+ wide tires on the front(275), so to get a good pic i lean it.
And i see it.
and i go WTF?!
and I grab a light.

sure enough.. yeap.
a crack. under the brake line mount bracket.
and then.. yea.. someone hacked the frame for a airbag. badly.

its totally screwed. the top spring mount is twisted. he cut the side out completely so its just tearing itself apart. its still a good example.. but its the example of what NOT to do. when you look at it... its just... WOW.
see for yourself:
(this is just the passenger side. two pics rear cut then front cut.. front of truck is to your right.)



More Pics:
http://www.fastgm.com/travis/truck/M...330_214137.jpg
http://www.fastgm.com/travis/truck/M...330_214349.jpg
http://www.fastgm.com/travis/truck/M...330_214403.jpg

the cutting it actually just cut up.. and up. and up.. PAST where he needed to cut.. and then didnt weld it back it or anything either.. just a huge rectangle cut with the cuts going past where they needed to go.
Its this kind of not-thinking-things-through hackjob person that gives the rest of us bad names. I can understand small things not done right by people new to working on cars. i think im a fairly easy going guy.. but man, at some point you need to draw the line and say, "hey drop the saw, you dont know what you're doing."
OK that said.. its NOT what im pissed about.

what im pissed about is the other side of the truck. where someone has re-welded where its was breaking.. where someone has welded a postage stamp size plate over the same crack on the other side.
what im pissed about is how i gave that kid the benefit of the doubt, and he KNOWINGLY covered up a huge issue and sold the truck to me. KNOWING that this was there. THAT is what really pissed me off. the rest is just a disappointment.

I can accept responsibility for looking the other way on other things. I can accept that i made a bad purchase choice. but what i will be pissed about is someone knowing something so critical, covering it up, and passing it off. THAT pisses me off.

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EDITED: Please remember to watch your language in these forums. This is a family friendly environment and trying to work around the language filter will not make you any friends. I understand your complete frustration, but please take a moment to calm down and clean it up a bit before you post next time. I have taken the time from my day to go through and not only read this very long and illustrated rant, but also to edit out any cursing and bypassing of the language filter.

<3,

Your friendly neighborhood staff.