Hey its me again, my car is still sitting in my driveway.

The owner of the auto body is still looking for this "engine cradle". He said he would call back, when he gets word. I still want him to check out the car. He can find a lot of 15 inch wheel engine cradles, but hasnt found 16 inch wheel engine cradles. Which I personally find it to be absolute bullsh!t. I mean you got about what, 6 years of cars that had 16 inch rims. And not only is he looking for just one car (Camaro), theres actually two choices, (Firebird). So he's got all these years to look at, and two different cars, and theres not ONE engine cradle, my @ss! He better start looking harder.

Couple questions though, what exactly is an engine cradle. How is it replaced? How much work does that take? How much of an estimate you think it will cost?
Thanks.

As a side note, check out the poll..

BTW I was at Snap-On Tools sponsored show at Englishtown on Saturday. Awesome show, could have been better though. I actually felt like making a shirt, that said ThirdGen.Org, with my name ChevyLuva3 written on it also. Just in case someone recognized it. Cool idea I think.

 

look at my car right now....the whole rear subframe is gone...

 

89,

That oughtta be interesting....


C-luva,

I wasn't aware there was a difference in the 'K' member between cars equipped with 15" or 16" wheels. Perhaps you could start contacting salvage yards yourself. When you find a good clean subframe, tell the shop estimator where it is located.

There are some differences in the braces, stabilizer bars, and springs between general 'F' cars and WS6 cars, but I seriously doubt the K-member and subframes are different. All the differences are in the bolt-on items, AFAIK.

Anyone have mre definitive info?

 

Woops, messed up on the poll. The one that says "No, spent money on another car", I actually mean "Yes, but I spent my money on getting another car, not on fixing it." Hope that clears that up.

Vader, yeah I dunno, thats what he said that theres a difference between them. One point I would guess would be the Steering box and shaft thats included with the cradle. I'm sure the steering ratio would be different. Like an IROC is 2.55 ratio, and regular camaros are 2.25 ratio I believe.

 

Is there something wrong with the gearbox too? It would be possible to get the crossmember from one and the gearbox from another.

 

Sounds like total BULL****....why would GM of all people create an entierly different engine cradle for a 16" wheel car...

 

Plain and simple resolution:
Take it to someone else!

Screw that guy.... He's totally giving you a line of BS and expecting that you will just say "OK"???

I hate MF'ers like that.

And to 89,
Dude, wouldn't it have been easier to just get a clean body shell and move everything from you old car? I mean even when you get it all back together you will have more time and money in it than its worth. Just my honest observation..

 

Yeah my gear box is snapped or cracked or whatever.

I'm thinking the guy said he's looking for a 16inch cradle, to save time looking for all the parts, because its all included with the 16inch cradle. While if he gets the 15inch cradle, he'll have to find all the parts seperately. So maybe thats what he's doing, he looked for a 16inch one with all stuff on it, but he didn't find one, and now he's just taking a 15inch one, and looking for all the parts that go on 16inch cradles... or whatever.

The autobody guy said, when he'd call his business friends (junkyards I suppose), they would ask him what size wheel? So he said 16inch, and they were like oh, we only have 15's here. Or something.

Thanks for the reponses BTW.

 

I think he's full of it, too. Get your car outta there fast! Bring him an engine cradle off any '82-92 f-body, and tell him it came from one with 16" wheels.

Hell, aren't the SPINDLES and entire FRONT SUSPENSION the same for a 15" wheel'd and 16" wheel'd car? Why would the k-member be different?

ChevyLuva, my buddy was at that show, said it was awesome. I was crawling around junkyards, and finally found my 1/4 panel! (Anyone interested, see this message: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=108890 ) I might go to that GM vs Ford thing this month; there's some NJ v6 fbody club that might be meeting there.

 

Damn, am I the only one that replaced his front subframe?? Wow. Way to go, TomP! (applause) Thank you, Thank you!

Okay, well, technically, I didn't replace it myself. I stripped my card and the parts car down to Just a motor (no intake, wiring harness, etc). The body shop welded the parts car frame onto my car for $900, and swapped the windshield for $100 more. Then I put my car back together- what a job. I'm still not sure why I have all these screws left over!

 

I've noticed you all seem to agree the owner of the auto body place is full of total bullsh!t. I also believe he's full of it also. But just one thing.. why would he be bullsh!tting me?? Just wants to waste my time? Doesn't wanna do the job?? What? Cuz he's not wasting my money. My car hasn't even entered his shop or any shop yet. My car is still sitting in the same spot in my driveway the day it was brought home from where I had my accident. Help me.
Thanks for the responces once again.

 

BTT

 

He may just be getting the line of BS from the people he's talking to, and doesn't know any better, so he's passing it on to you. Even if that's the case, I would take it to somebody else. He should know more than to believe some stuff like that.

 

Believe it or not, there are people running businesses that don't REALLY know what they are doing! It is sort of like "learning as you go" for them.

I've run into these types a lot in Calgary because it is a boom town. Every shyster in the country is on the make here and you have to be careful and shop around before you do anything.