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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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 Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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Had a slight change of plans in the front end again. I just replaced my Tweed 5/8" spindles with new Foddrill 7/8" ones this week. I also finally had some time last night to get to the shop and weld everything up. I have one piece of the roof that I need to finish and then weld it all but other than that, everything I added is now welded. I have never done step welding or much round tube before so I was teaching myself how to step weld tube as I went. I had some issues with the welder when I first started. I was getting excessive splatter and had issues getting an arc. After a few trial and error welds I switched out to a different welder (I'm lucky enough to have many to chose from) which worked much better. Although I didn't finish the roof, I got everything positioned with these cool tube clamps that I have which really helped get everything in place. Over the long weekend I should be able to finish the roof and go over everything with a wire wheel to clean up any splatter.
_________________
My Honda powered Class 5 car build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6599511#6599511 |
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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 11:59 am Post subject: |
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Hey Man the car is looking great! We are still chugging along on ours. It seams like the more we get done the more we find to do.  Hope to see some updates soon!
Cheers, Alan
My Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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Stingray250
Samba Member
Joined: February 17, 2011
Posts: 243
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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Just out of curiousity... are you "trigger welding"... by trigger welding I mean pulling the trigger... making a puddle tack and then overlaying another trigger weld onto the first one? Pulse welding by another name... If so be careful... although they may look pretty enough, in reality your basically "cold welding"...
A pulse weld will never have the strength that a continuous weld will. It may look pretty but that's it, and that's why everyone does it. By pulsing you are not getting nearly enough heat to the part as there is needed. Your heat is never consistant this way, hot when on the trigger, cold when off. Hot-cold-hot-cold is not good. You need consistant heat. Even whipping back and forth is not as strong as just burning in a straight line (no whipping or pulsing) slowly with lots of heat. The whipping has the same hot-cold affect as a pulse does, but still give the part plenty of heat (usually) which makes it an acceptable welding technique.
Just my 2 cents... |
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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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I know that welding this way isn't as hot but I have no concern of the strength of the welds. I am building this car in my dad's fabrication shop. He has been doing fabrication work for over 37 years professionally. The welds all penetrated fine.
_________________
My Honda powered Class 5 car build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6599511#6599511 |
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Stingray250
Samba Member
Joined: February 17, 2011
Posts: 243
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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crumco
Samba Member
Joined: July 03, 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:19 pm Post subject: Re: Crumco Class 5 build |
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| Hondub wrote: |
I got a chassis built by Rick Crum of Crumco back in November of 2012. I have slowly been working on building this car since. I am building this car with a Honda 3.5l V6 and a 091 bus box. I have seen a decent amount of interest in his cars on here as well as other sites but only seen a few of his cars so I am going to give my complete honest opinion of my experience with Crumco in this first post and then move on to the build. I saw his add and called. Very short on the phone the first time. I almost hung up. I called back a week later and showed interest in buying a chassis. Then he was extremely nice and helpful. We set up a place not too far from him but closer to me for me to drop off my body (500 miles away from me in Arizona). He told me one week and the car would be done. The night I was supposed to leave to pick up the car something came up and I was not able to go. I let Rick know and he said it was no problem and I could come the following weekend. I left the following week to get the car. Rick told me I could come straight to his house the get the car which would have been about 2 a.m. by the time I got there. 15 minutes from his house Rick calls me and tells me the car is not done and to come at 7 a.m. I slept and showed up at 7 to find the car still not done. Went to breakfast for 2 hours and came back to it still not done. No X bracing for a side roll over or front end bracing. No tranny mount either which I was told was included. Rick told me he was extremely sorry and gave me a few small parts (CNC clutch pedal without reservoir and motor mount bushings) and said he would give me 2 Fox smooth body shocks and build me a shifter to make up the rest of it. I also bought micro stub rear brakes from Crumco which Rick told me he made himself. I got home to find out they were Latest Rage Chinese brakes and one rotor rubbed on the caliper and the studs were not pressed in correctly so the wheels did not fit. I called Rick about the brake problem and looking for the parts he promised me. He told me there was no way I was getting any parts from him but if I sent him my brakes he would warrenty them. He called me once he got the brakes and told me I was an idiot and should not be building a car because there was nothing wrong with the brakes and I didn't know anything about cars (I was a dealership mechanic for the 2 years prior to starting this build and had other off road people look at the brakes and agree there was a problem). He repressed the studs on one hub but not the other and left everything else. When I got the brakes back he had thrown everything in the box with very little packing material so the studs rubbed the other hub leaving marks and the calipers bounced around getting a little beat up. I let those things go and focused on my car for a while. I recently needed new front trailing arms so I called Rick to get a set. He told me that he builds his own arms and he had a set sitting on the shelf. I sent a check and got an email from his wife once they got it saying they would order my arms now that they got my money. I emailed back saying Rick told me that he made the arms so I wanted to know who did make the arms. I got a response from Rick saying it was his business who he got his parts from, that he was sending my money back, and that he would no longer do business with me. I later found out the arms are cast Latest Rage Chinese arms just like the micro stubs that he claimed the make also. My overall experience was not that great. I think Rick does very good quality work for a cheaper price than anyone else but he is not a people person. He is difficult to talk to and was unwilling to work with me on the issues I had. I think it was still worth driving 2,000 miles drop off my body and pick up my car though. I am very happy with the quality of work put into my chassis. I hope this helps anyone interested in buying a chassis from him. If anyone has more questions about that I am willing to answer them but other than that, from here on I will just be talking about my car. Now here are some pictures of my car from the last 6 months.
Everything with blue tape I have added.
Mounting my body and doors.
Welded a nut in the stock rear seat belt hole for these ones.
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Justin I'm truly sorry that drive plate with the one crooked stud got passed us over here. We got 5 sets in and our helper obviously didn't press one of yours flush. You called us 4 times and I tried to explain to you how to fix that obviously you couldn't fix that and you sent us your set back. I hope the new set we sent you worked. By the way your hubs were falling out of the box when we received it. No big deal that happens. Again truly sorry for that.
I asked you when you purchased this chassis that they are very simple to complete. You told me you were a mechanic and this would not be a problem. I told you anybody can do this it is not hard. I'll take care of your suspension and chassis and you would take care of the rest. We offered to help you out by allowing us to help you finish the car when you could afford to - no charge.
We asked you what parts you have. You have 2 coilovers front and rear Foxes. I told you I don't build around Foxes we build cars with King shocks. My choice. The shocks are personally made for my cars by Brett King himself. You were really excited and you told us you could not afford to put king shocks on your car and that you were on a budget. I asked you if you had front arms and you told us you had Tweed. I told you that their gig was messed up and that we have a set of inexpensive arms that are better than Tweed arms. You told us that you didn't have any money and we felt bad for you and wanted to help. Therefore we donated a set of CNC pedal assembly without the reservoirs because you could not afford them that's what you told us and I felt sorry for you and we also wanted to donate one of my shifters when I realized that you couldn't pull a stud straight with a socket and a lug nut I knew you would not be able to install my shifter. It is complicated and requires knowledge of how a shifter works. No offense. Now when you got angry with me because the one stud was crooked I decided then to send your money for the front arms back to you because it was blatantly obvious that you had your own vendors to purchase from. Also please send back the CNC pedal assembly and we will donate them to someone who can not afford them because it's obvious that you were not truthful with us. Again Justin it's over one stud that was not pressed in correctly that got by us. Again I am truly sorry. We also told you that it was a chassis and arms not a complete racecar. Now if you feel that it needs more tubes put them in it's your car it does not need it.
Now by the way your fabricating skills are absolutely awesome. You did not need me to build you a car. Now for adding all that extra tubing to the front of your car has now made your front beam weak. It is designed that way to flex and not crack. You need to cut the beam out and buy a Kartek 2 1/2 .250 wall chromolly beam. Again Justin I am sorry that this was all over one stud that was not pressed in correctly.
Justin all the vehicles that are built here are built the same way with the exception of the convertible fiberglass body. They have one more mid rail on each side because of the fiberglass body. When you use a steel body it should be welded to the chassis to become a part of the structure. Then you would not have to add 60 ft of tubing. That's the way they use to do it in the old days. I know I was there. Now for your roof bars be very careful in a end over end crash your head will try to take one of those out. I know I've seen it happen. That's why I don't add them. The body is a part of the structure Justin and you don't need all of those tubes. Good job Justin. Your car does look awesome.
The white Crumco convertible that is racing the Mint 400 that is posted in our ad on the samba is identical to the way your car was when you picked it up. Now there are people posting on here 'you get what you pay for' which is very true you can purchase a $20,000 fortin transaxle and rear fortin hubs and fortin front hubs or pro-am front and rear hubs. We just purchased a set of $4600 Rear Fortin floater hubs and had to machine the brake pads because they did not fit the caliper's. Per Fortin we were told to notch the pads to make them fit. We said not a problem. Sometimes in this industry you have to do that. Justin it's your money you can buy whatever you like. We suggested our inexpensive parts because you told us you had no money. We also have very expensive parts. Like I said Justin it is your money and you can buy whatever you want. That's why we sent your check back to you. Again I am truly sorry for that one crooked wheel stud. |
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crumco
Samba Member
Joined: July 03, 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| fordfreak wrote: |
I have heard that he does good work, but builds a little on the light and weak side. He definitely needs to slow down when you talk to him! lol
He does claim he has parts built for him, even though they are latest rage.
I have to stick up for the latest rage front arms and spindles though, I have seen them get really beat up and stand up to some torture.
Nice build though! Look forward to the updates.  |
Exactly!! We let Rene and Gary know what parts we need for the industry. Now some of these inexpensive parts have different names on them but we know where they came from. Their front trailing arms were molded from I can't say but it's obvious by looking at it. These arms are better than any tweed arm in the industry. You can run dual shocks on them. Now these are tough inexpensive arms. Remember these arms are all designed after stock vw arms..some are longer some are not. I'm sure tweed arms would be a great arm again if they fix their gig. No big deal it's an easy fix for them.
The rear micro stubs are still designed after a chevy product the S10 and 350. The S10 is good for a 2300lbs car with a 33X10.50 on a 4 " wheel with less than 150 hp. no problem. But the 350 934 is good for 2700 lbs. with 200 hp. and your pushing a 35. It's not if you're going to break it it's when. Now that's when you buy yourself a set of Fortin, Pro-am etc. to handle the big horse power. |
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UpstateNYer
Samba Member
Joined: November 05, 2012
Posts: 1
Location: NY
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| Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:05 am Post subject: |
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| I'm sure tweed arms would be a great arm again if they fix their gig |
Not looking for trouble or anything, just wondering what this issue you speak of is. I bought a set of 4" x 1.5" over Tweed arms over the Latest Rage ones because of them being made in the USA.
Thanks |
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Hondub
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2012
Posts: 57
Location: United States
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| Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:14 am Post subject: |
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It's been quite some time since I've updated this page. I have gotten some work done as well as gotten some new parts. I have also run into another major problem that I will have to fix. Before I update my build I see that Rick Crum has found my build and has said some very untrue things that I would like to address first.
Rick, I will respond to you in the order you said things in your comment. First, there was more of an issue than just one stud not being flush like you mention throughout your whole comment. There were many problems I have addressed in the past on here already. As far as the stud goes, were three on each hub. I called you about the caliper rubbing on the hub like I have pictured on here. I told you that I also had the problem with the wheels not fitting because the studs were not flush so I figured I could get both problems fixed with a new set of brakes that you said you would warranty if I sent them back to you. When you got the brakes, you called me and yelled and cussed at me saying I was an idiot and should not be building a car because there was nothing wrong with my brakes. You had your helper fix the studs on one side and then sent me back my old brakes with the studs still crooked on one side and the caliper still rubbing. You did not send me new brakes like you are telling everyone reading this. You also sent everything loose in the box with the studs on each hub facing each other so the studs scarred the opposite hubs from rubbing. I fixed the studs on the one side and had to file the caliper on the other to put them back on the car.
I did have a few different issues when I first got the chassis home that I called you about and you did offer to finish the parts of the chassis that I thought were included but got left out on my car due to you waiting until the last minute to build it because you were too busy working on your own car. While I did appreciate the offer, like I said on the phone it was not practical for me to do. It is a 9 hour and 500 mile drive each way to your house and back which cost me over $300 in gas and a whole weekend worth of time that I didn't have.
As far as parts go, on the phone you asked if I had shocks. I told you I had an old set of Fox coil overs and smooth body shocks that I got used for cheap. You told me to bring shocks for one side of the car and my body. When I gave you the shocks and body you told me you could get me a good price on King shocks and that you prefer to build on those shocks. This is a build I am doing as my time and budget allows and like I told you then, my budget did not allow at the time so I was going to stick with the shocks I already had. You "donated" that "pedal assembly" to me which was just a clutch pedal with no master cylinder or reservoir because you felt bad that I gave you double the amount of time to build my car and that you were still cutting tubes when I showed up to pick it up and you did not finish the car. You said the 14" smooth body shocks I had for the rear would not work and I needed 16" that you would find a set and send me them along with a shifter to make up for not finishing the car and making me leave and come back to your house to find the car still not done. My dad and I had to help you cut tubes and hold them while you welded them in because you were in such a rush. You told me there was no way you would send me any parts once you got my brakes back because I was "an idiot who didn't know anything about cars" because the way you told me to pull the stud straight was not working because it was not the correct way to do it. I used the proper tool (a press) to fix the studs that you said you fixed but did not.
The tubes I added in the front of the car are some of many ones you left out. You only had two structure tubes connecting the beam to the car. The front tubes I added to the beam are the same ones you put in all of your other cars. I just flipped the triangle shape to make it look better than the way you do it. As far as the other tubes I have added, I did them so I did not get killed by the car folding if it was crashed. There is no way it would have passed any tech inspection the way I got it from you. There was no side bracing at all to prevent the car from folding in a sideways roll. That is why I added the "X" behind the seats that you left out of my car but put in your other cars as well as the rear tubes that wrap the shocks.
You're saying that I am supposed to weld the body to the car for the roof structure. I told you that I was making the body removable before you started the car. When I got the car home, I was forced to cut the body off because you forgot the make the engine cage big enough to fit the engine in so I couldn't have left the body fixed on even if I wanted to. I added the roof "X" the make the car much more study in a roll from any angle. I realize that my head may hit the tubes but I rolled them to fit tight to the body for more head room and I will be wearing a helmet as well as harnesses. I would rather risk hitting my helmet on the tubes than not have them there and roll on a boulder that bends in the roof and smashes my head.
On your second post you mention micro stubs. You are saying that the 930 micro stubs you sold me are good for a 2,300 pound car with 150 horsepower. I have a 300 horsepower engine which I told you about many times over the phone as well as in person when I dropped off my body to you to start my car. Based on your comment, you are saying that what you sold me will not work for my car and will break. I will make sure and send you back the old ones when they break for a replacement that will not break.
To UpstateNYer-the problem with the Tweed arms that Rick is talking about is that the jig for the arms is off just a bit which means the arms are not completely straight and have a problem with getting the correct camber. That is what he told me when I got my car from him. He is the only person I have heard this from. Hopefully your arms are working fine. As for me, I now have Foddrill arms.
Finally on to the updates of my car. I have replaced my front arms and spindles with Foddrill ones. I got my Howe power steering parts, Wilwood pedals, Momo steering wheel and Sweet quick release coupler. All parts came from ADS Shocks. The guys there have been really good to me with good deals on parts as well as info on building this car. I also started teaching myself to TIG weld and built myself some seat sliders with a few TIG welds on them.
The major problem I ran into last week was that Rick built my rear shock mounts incorrectly. I am only getting 12.5" of rear wheel travel because he was rushed so he put the top shock mounts in the wrong spots and did not build the car to cycle on the shocks that I gave him to do so with. I will have to cut the shock buckets out and redo them. I took the car to ADS and they looked at the car and helped me determine exactly what I needed to do to fix this. I also took the car to a local off-road fab shop which told me the same thing.
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My Honda powered Class 5 car build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6599511#6599511 |
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crumco
Samba Member
Joined: July 03, 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| It's crazy I haven't been on this computer for a long time and there you are again. I agree the car is a mess sell it now and buy yourself a Jimco. By the way the money you spent over here would buy you a set of trailing arms there. Tell Mike Julson that you're a mechanic and that you can fix anything. It's obvious you have a problem come and see me. Out of all the cars we build here and then there's you, a guy from AZ who's a mechanic who said he can fix anything. We pick and choose who we sell cars to and we made a mistake by choosing you. Put the car online and sell it. Don't forget to tell them it's a Crumco they'll understand. Read the comment on your shocks you dropped off a 10" Fox front coilover and 14" Fox rear coilover so if you putting a 14" bypass on it you obviously wouldn't have 20" Rear Wheel travel. Here I'll help you out the rear shock should be a 16" and if you don't get 20" travel out of that come see me. It doesn't matter if it's a King or a Fox I can only imagine the stroke of that bypass you put on there - but then again you are the mechanic. By the way your car can handle those microstubs you're car will grenade your bus box but you told me it's not a racecar. Plus it's not allowed in any class other than sportsman. And I felt sorry for you. Why don't you bring the chassis back and I'll give you your money back. I don't do that for just anyone. It's obvious you need to buy a Jimco. By the way they will tell you what to do with the shocks you brought. Look forward to seeing you soon. |
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fordfreak
Samba Member
Joined: September 21, 2009
Posts: 58
Location: Orange County, CA
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| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 12:12 pm Post subject: Re: Crumco Class 5 build |
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Back from the dead.... Any updates on this build? I'd like to see the motor install and any problems you ran into.
Thanks. |
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