4.5L Whipple 'Murder Cat'

[MurderCat]

I'm Sorry for all your troubles.
I know you had posted where you were but, I thought you changed shops?

In the Top Speed Shops they have knowledge
Of Whipple builds.

Linda

Thanks - I did change shops with the recommendation of Dusterhoff tuning to 'Big Power Racing' in Long Island, NY. Which turned into an even worse nightmare than the first local place in Rochester, NY 'Boosted Creations'- Apparently after my car was destroyed by them D.T is no longer recommending shops. It's really a sad turn of events.

Update: Cleaned the under-chassis and installed new jack pads. Still have to clean wheels, corroseal/enamel coat the suspension rusting, brake clean rotors and DSS 1400hp axles. Waiting for warmer weather to finish up what I can. Car needs a serious professional detail/paintwork even after all that is done. - Will have to wait since it needs to visit a tuning shop for the third time. Most likely will be OST dyno which I was originally scheduled for. Lots of experience with Whipple from the research I've done. Hopefully they can help turn this nightmare into a dream build.

426 stroker/trans upgrade is definitely pushed back for a few years. I'll be using the 93/5" pulley to be 'safe' in the meantime on stock rods.

End goal for this season is only to get the car back to how it was along with peace of mind the build is done right. Dyno data wouldn't hurt either Should be no reason the car needs to be retuned as it sits, unless something was done wrong. $1350 for tuning is the most i've ever payed for a car so it better work lol (Much more than an R35 GTR which has hefty parts 'tax')

 

[Linda's Hell Cat]

Every Tuner is different how they Tune and most likely yours will be tweaked by the next Tuner.
It is what it is.

The Best Tuner who is very knowledgeable for solving problems is AJ @Hemituner. He is part of this Forum and is also in New York.
I would give him a call for his opinion.

https://www.hellcatforum.org/forums/hemituner-performance.197/

Linda

 

[greasy]

Wow terrible to read man, makes my blood boil. Hope to see/hear the car running correctly when all is said and done.

 

[MurderCat]

Cleaned the dirty cat as best as possible in the cramped garage. Suspension/rotors are done to satisfaction. Touched up quite a few spots with corroseal/enamel coat. Per directions anything over 45 degrees is ok ➠ used a small space heater to dry everything. Worked out decent. Quality stuff I'd recommend.

Axles can be replaced eventually. The surface rust wont affect integrity so will live with it.. though it really pissed me off since they were just installed.

Down the road with a built motor/trans would be interested in an overhaul of the suspension now - light-weight K-member+subframe, AAD dragpack, and a Hemituner/Per4mance billet differential kit or 9 inch (whatever is strongest) Would be slick to shave off 200-300lbs without carbon/fiberglass panels + lexan windows.
Going to get this car perfect as pictured when started one way or the other. Show room quality + ready for the business in the 1/4 and 1/2 mile

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Now to fix the interchiller etc. so I can drive the beast finally. So far two recommendations for AJ @ Hemituner (down the road from the shop that just butchered the car) One for OST. And lastly Whipcat's buddy in Florida. Really don't want to jump around sketchy shops anymore looking for someone to stick with for years to come that's more than capable with results to match. And willing to take on the car to begin with. The closer the better to be honest but at this point open to options. Don't want to make the wrong choice for a third time. Will have to decide soon enough with spring approaching.

 

[MurderCat]

Moved on but months later got this text today. Gave a chance to make it somewhat right as there is no way the car will touch that shop again. No dice.

 

[greasy]

Shah-Shah-Shah-Shady!!!!!!

Pretty pathetic, looks like he was waiting for you to cool down and then make the ask. In my best Italian mobster voice “OHHHH the balls on this guy!”

Smart man on refusing.

 

[Old Mopar Guy]

Never heard of OST! So either he’s a lying piece of shit or is so far removed from these cars he had no right touching it in the first place. I’m certain it’s both actually.

 

[BULL]

@MurderCat

I'm sorry for you that you've had to deal with this. This is one of the specific reasons that I've avoided doing some of the work that I've wanted to have done.

Even with me planning to do all of my own wrenching, at some point you're turning it over to a shop with a dyno and then the datalog exchange with a tuner.


0wtq.....


Right....



Again, sorry that you've had to endure this.

 

[Speedy!]

 

[droptopp]

Incompetence only made worse with run on sentences.

I’d tell them, you’ll continue bashing until you get a dyno and respective tune parameters.

Clueless.

 

[Primetime Hellcat 17]

Incompetence only made worse with run on sentences.

I’d tell them, you’ll continue bashing until you get a dyno and respective tune parameters.

Clueless.

Hell ya! Bash away man! Loss of words for what that shop did to your car. Hope they make it right in the future.

 

[MurderCat]

Incompetence only made worse with run on sentences.

I’d tell them, you’ll continue bashing until you get a dyno and respective tune parameters.

Clueless.

a

Best to move on from here 100% Nothing will be worked out after that conversation Friday with the Owner. Left a review with the pictures and full story for BPR. I did remove the review on Dusterhoff tunings part. I believe Curt really didn't mean for this to happen and makes his business look bad giving recommendations like that. If the car still needs to be tweaked at OST pretty sure he'll stand behind the tunes.

Looks like the dyno was most likely broken per a video I found with the car in it. First 20 seconds shows the tq is not working and proves they touched nothing before slapping the car on the dyno.
Strange way to operate a tuning shop.

Fingers crossed third times the charm. Will earn my business supporting the build for years - (426/trans/suspension etc.)

 

[Hpindy]

I have had nothing but pure awesomeness from OST .

Sent from my BBF100-2 using Tapatalk

 

[MurderCat]

Waiting game now for winter to pass so I can get the car to OST's crew. We are getting hammered up here.


Got called out by a few local LS owners with 10 second cars before the build is even done - only one that may give some competition is a c7 z06 running 9.5 @ 147.
Have a feeling it will be like bringing a machine gun to a knife fight.

 

[greasy]

Just realized that BPR was the guy on Team NYC in the ‘69 Camaro from Street Outlaws Fastest in America from this past fall.

Anyway good luck with OST!

 

[fubar569]

OST's mechanical work is 130% on point.

Mike is awesome on the keyboard too.

I don't think you'll have any issues.

 

[Xylander]

Sucks the OP is going through this. It's something I've gone through myself on a classic '64 T-Bird... what with the good shop/bad shop revolving door. Nothing like spending $74,000 on restoring my dad's old T-Bird that was worth about $30,000 when it was finished. Easily $30,000 of that cost was undoing and redoing shitty work. On the plus side, it got finished eventually. I hope yours gets done soon as well!

 

[greasy]

Sucks the OP is going through this. It's something I've gone through myself on a classic '64 T-Bird... what with the good shop/bad shop revolving door. Nothing like spending $74,000 on restoring my dad's old T-Bird that was worth about $30,000 when it was finished. Easily $30,000 of that cost was undoing and redoing shitty work. On the plus side, it got finished eventually. I hope yours gets done soon as well!

View attachment 37996

WOW that is a beautiful car!

 

[Xylander]

WOW that is a beautiful car!

Thanks, it was my grandfather's car new. He gave it to my dad when he passed in 1968 (My dad was 18). My dad is not a car person. The car sat in a garage from 1982 until 2014. Factory original, 12,000 some odd miles. I restored it for my dad for his 65th birthday. I did about half the work myself, but the other half required specialists to straighten the body without damaging the paint. What you see here is all original body panels and paint, original 390 motor with all of its original internals still in there. It was expensive because every piece of that car was deconstructed and taken apart and put back together with new gaskets, seals, etc.

The company that reassembled the transmission (an ultra rare vacuum shifted automatic) screwed it up and I had to ship it around to multiple shops until I found someone in Arizona to put it back together properly. There are literally no parts for it and no spares that don't sell for 12 grand or more available. Same with the electronic "transistorized" ignition unit. I also paid to have the factory AC and power steering pumps disassembled and put back together with NOS hardware and internals. To make it work, we had to fabricate new ducts for the headliner (A/C goes up over that into the back seat, similar to a 68 Eldorado). All the bright work was sent out for refinishing... and it took multiple send-backs to get the finish correct. Nothing like a front bumper and grille that are clearly multiple different shades of chrome.

It took me just about 11 months to finish the project. I did most of the take off and reinstall of parts (to include the drivetrain). The biggest cost was the re-chroming and concourse paint correction. They came to the house and stayed 2 weeks to massage the lacquer paint back to perfect from decades of sitting under a leaky window A/C unit.

So, while I'm glad it ended up nicely, I flip that car the bird every time I see it.

 

[MurderCat]

Scheduled to ship down to OST June, 7th. After they are done repairing the kitty and possibly doing a 15" conversion at the same time will be going right to the paint shop for trim replacement/touch up/blending. Replacing the current red badges with updated OEM 2020-21 versions. Applying PPF to the front clip too. - Think it will be a much cleaner factory style look.

Also decided to sell the 17" Forgestar D5 drag pack, will be replacing with 15's+275 radial pro once sold. Slowly getting there.. Nothing worth having comes easy...it will be worth it.