Thread: '37 Oze build

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Well when the time come - look me up Roger!

I guess I need to repost my pictures of those Oze grilles that not only fit terrible, the chrome was scratched and falling off when I got them. The last one also had broken welds. Tim Taylor tells me tough $hit, that all you're getting! I couldn't believe that he would send anything that poorly made to a customer.

That row of big ugly MIG welds down the center of the grille is NOT how Oze in Canada made the grilles. Their welds were all on the back side, where they couldn't be seen. Anyone who has seen a Canadian built Oze with either a chrome plated steel or stainless steel grille knows that they are nearly flawless. The ones I got from Tim were both junk.

When Tim had Alumicraft build an Oze grille a few years ago, they had to build an entirely different welding fixture than the one brought to them, because it did not allow the welds to be placed on the back side, out of sight. Unfortunately, the welding fixture was patterned after the one provided by Tim and it made grilles that fit poorly. They now have the modified grille that I sent them, so there is some hope that a decent grille will someday be available for the Oze body.

The windshields that were replaced had been sitting in the original delivery crate and I had no idea that two of the three I bought were scratched until I took one out to install it. I do appreciate the replacement, but again,I would expect nothing less.

Should I repost pictures of the gelcoat that was up to a half inch thick and looked like a sponge? I had to repair that problem around most of the trunk opening and both the inside and outside corners of both door openings. I appreciate the replacement console, but I would also expect nothing less.

How about the door latch that was mounted nearly 3 inches lower on one side than the other?

The suspension was so goofed up it was hard to believe. It took several days of work to modify the A-arm pivots to get 3 degrees of caster and correct the 1 inch discrepancy in the wheelbase. The right upper pivot tube has a 1 inch of spacer on the back end and the lower one has about 1/2 inch of spacer. That's how far off those mounts were located. On the left side, there's about 5/8" of spacer at the back of the upper pivot and about the same amount at the front of the lower pivot, to produce 3-4 degrees of caster. Prior to that modification, there was NO caster at all. That required cutting material off the pivot tubes in four locations.

After my latest change to relocate the upper shock mounts in front, I can actually get full travel from the front shocks and not have to compress them when they're installed.

Our much-respected Roger said that I should cut the front suspension out, get a new one that was made properly and install it, but of course he also said that I couldn't square-up the rear end which was just ridiculous.

Roger:

You just can't resist being nasty, it seems. I only posted my credentials because I've lately been accused of not being able to use a tape measure and also not being an engineer, or the wrong type of engineer. The majority of my experience is in manufacturing, using machine tools to produce precision metal parts for aircraft and nuclear weapons. I spent the last 12 years at Honeywell in facilities engineering, working on projects to down-size and reconfigure the plant. That gave me a lot of experience with various types of construction, many piping systems, HVAC and heavy equipment moving. I forgot to mention that in 2001, all of the facility engineers got outsourced to Burns and McDonnell. When I returned to work on January 1, 2001, I was an employee of Facilities Engineering Services, LLC, which was newly created to perform the facilities engineering services for Honeywell. That cost me about 85% of my pension, but didn't matter in the end, since I moved to the Denver area only a couple of years later, essentially retired at age 50.

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

Mr. Taylor, thank you for your input and welcome.
Just a few questions;
As I now understand it you tried to work with him, even offering his money back with free pickup? Yet he posted here that you did none of that, so some of us suggested he consult legal advise to resolve. Which he claimed numerous reasons why he could not, while in reality he could not because he had refused the ultimate resolution. Was he expecting to pay nothing and keep the product too?
Seems to me the wrong people may be apologizing?

Sorry Mr. Taylor, don't mean to get you any deeper into this mess, and you are a gentleman! I'm sure a lot of good people from here will visit your shop and tell us the true findings.

You really need to stay out of conversations that you don't fully understand. That's not how the situation went!

As for offering to buy the car back, what a joke! Tim never had the money to do that. If a company can't refund something less than $2,000 for a returned grille, then they sure can't take a whole car back and return me the $29,000 that I paid for the roller and various parts.

Here's how it really went:

I returned the first grille to Tim (at my expense), soon after I got the car and never got a dime back, after several months. He did write me to apologize, but said money was tight. I told Tim that I'd rather have a properly fitting grille, than a refund of money. Tim then sent me the "new and improved" second grille and although it fit better, the construction was total junk - chrome falling off and broken welds. When I complained about that grille, that's when he told me that I would NOT get anything better from him.

I'd gladly give the car back today, including the leaking gas tank, the brake lines that didn't fit and the radiator with hose fittings on the wrong side for the LS3 that I told him I was using. I think the total was about $29,000.

Just getting those crappy doors fixed so they have door latches in the same location on both sides, power door latches, power windows that work and something to attach window weather stripping to is worth a few thousand.

The chassis is all set up for an LS motor and you can actually remove the transmission from the car without having to remove the front of the body and the motor first - big improvement over what I received. About a hundred hours working on the front suspension has it working properly too.

Originally Posted by OzeRodShop

Thank you all ! You are all welcome to come down to the shop and check us out. If weekends are better for some that is no problem. Give the shop a call and we will arrange it. I will definitely stick around the forum.

If any of you visit the shop, be sure to get a close look at one of his beautiful grilles with all the ugly MIG welds, and the scratched and falling off chrome. Then compare it to a Canadian built grille, at the next car show you attend. Tim should be embarrassed to sell such junk.

Here's a picture of my first grill. Tim told me I needed to bend the grille to make it fit better. I told him to do that before sending it to a customer. They way if it breaks, he can replace it.



Here are pictures of the second grille.



Look at the mismatched angle of the hood to the grille. Not easy to fix that much mismatch. Notice that I removed about ¼ inch of the top fin, so it actually fit the hood side. Also removed some material from the other side, but not as much.



Would you be happy with the chrome peeling off your new grille? How about a few broken welds so the fins flop up and down? Is 1/4" spacing between one pair of fins and 3/8" on the next pair OK too? Another thing that's hard to understand without seeing one of these grilles in person is that the mig welds on the underside of fins are seen distinctly as a reflection in the chrome, so the grille lools like crap.



Here's a picture of a Canadian built body and grille, with the body still in it's original gel coat. The grille fits well, with no body work done to the hood or lower grille area of the hood sides. There are no visible welds. I got to look at a 2005 model grille in June of this year and guarantee you that there is no comparison between what was available in 2005 and the crap that is sold today.

Originally Posted by daveS53

You really need to stay out of conversations that you don't fully understand.

I'll give you that Dave, I do need to stay out that conversation.

Dave, I'm sorry that you see my comments as "...being nasty". Earlier you stated, "There will be no more posts to this thread", but yet you continue to post. By deleting all of your early posts, except for the one or two that you seemed to think were "cute" or served your purpose, you've rendered this thread totally useless as a Build Thread, which I believe is a much more descriptive title than "Build Log" which Brent selected for the sub-forum title. A Build Thread is intended to document the build process, including hitting rough spots and asking for advice as well as posting what you see as innovative approaches to problems encountered, in order to help others who may encounter the same problems as they complete their projects. When a Build Log contains processes and approaches that are counter to accepted good practice they are by definition, counter productive.

What is here now is, in my opinion, your personal soap box to attack Tim Taylor, and while I can only speak for myself I see ZERO VALUE in this thread, start to finish given your deleting all input. I sincerely hope that Bill, as moderator, or Brent, as owner of the forum will make the choice to delete this thread in it's entirety. With that action they can give you a fresh start, should you choose to bring your questions, comments, and project status to the members here. I wish you the best, and hope that you find a way to end up with a safe car that meets your needs, satisfies your desires, and serves you for as long as you choose to use it.

May you find peace and satisfaction in all of your endeavors.