Podcast #146

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RIP to Scott Kalitta.

Some new pictures came out this week of a Silver 5th Gen Camaro SS. You can check them out here at https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=614879.

Camaro will be the official car of SEMA this year in Las Vegas. https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=614230.


New contest is still running!! Head on over to the Camaro Wiki at http://www.camarowiki.com and start adding your knowledge. At the end of this month we will be randomly choosing pages and giving out some pretty cool prizes. This is the final week to get your submissions in!

An e-mail came in this week and we read through it and answer.

Blogs are now live on CamaroZ28.COM! Just click on the blogs link on the top nav car in the message board to see them. https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/blogs/. Who knows, maybe we'll choose a blog of the week next?

We just launched our new Links program. You can check it out at https://www.camaroz28.com/links. This service allows you to add your personal website or car clubs site on our new Links page. It is very integrated with the Message board so you won't needs an additional account. Go check it out! Submit your site and have a chance of being chosen as our weekly site of the week.

You can now listen to this podcast right from your cell phone at anytime. Just dial 650-644-1939 and our newest episode of our Podcast will be availble for you to listen.

If you'd like to be in our Podcast by asking a question, or just making a comment, we have a phone number you can call now. It is (586)486-3182 or you can e-mail a question to both of us at webmasters@camaroz28.com. Also, if you enjoy the Podcast please fill out our survey at http://www.podtrac.com/audience/star...d=MfnelEo7UJo$

 

SOB!!!!

I already did a bunch of editing and page starting on Camaro wiki and NOW I noticed that I needed to register.. GD it all... I'm an idiot..

 

What's Jake Robb have to do with this?

When we pull a page for a prize and there is no author info because of situations like this, we will run the IP address against the user database here and see if we can determine a winner that way.

 

Oh.. Thank gawd.. I started two pages.. And edited a couple misc things..

*crosses fingers for Nittos* I NEED TIRES PPL!! My GS-D3's are almost done!!

 

On the issue of T-top center pillar: It's not the backbone of the car. The backbone of the car is actually the transmission and driveshaft tunnel. That is really where the strength of the car lies. It acts like a high strength steel tube which is fully 12 inches in diameter at it's narrowest point.

 

Thanks for that, Dan. We'll note that in our next show. I gotta think that it is an important structural piece that probably shouldn't be removed, though. Any thoughts in that direction?

 

In 1996, when I was still working as an instrumentation engineer that served the Milford Proving Grounds, I did a project for some chassis engineers who were in the fourth-gen F-body development group. They told me a story about a hard-top third-gen test mule which they were using for development of the fourth-gen. They claimed that they had put strain gages all over the body, especially around the sail panel area, and made stress measurements while putting the car through a series of extreme maneuvers. After the testing was done, they took a sawzall to the car just for entertainment, and cut off part of the roof to approximate T-tops. They then put the car through the same test, and surprisingly noticed no measureable difference in terms of stress or deflection on the body at the measurement area. The conclusion that they came up with is that hard top versus T-top, there was negligble difference in body rigidity. They didn't do a targatop sawzall conversion, which is too bad: It would have made a good conclusion to the study.

Yet, I think the idea of a Targa top isn't much diferent than what is done when making a convertible. In both cases, the top of the car is removed from the structure. The only difference is in the under-body bracing, which is absent in the sawzall targa top car. If I were in the business of customizing a car, I'd look at how a unibody convertible is built, then approximate the underbody bracing to regain any rigidity that was lost by removing the roof. I *think* that a ragtop car gets some extra bracing in the floor, but not much. If that's the case, then it's an indication that GM thinks the construction of the rockers, floorpan, and structural steel transmission tunnel are sufficient to provide an appropriate level of rigidity.

 

Neat story....Not needing much bracing for the 4thgen vert is a big contrast to the C4 Corvette drop tops that had that huge X-brace under the floor pan.