will.b.brown

Thank you Injuneer for confirming that like I said, "There's no REAL difference in the weight of the two body styles".

JETMAN95Z28

I used to daily drive a 95 hardtop Z (hence the jetman95Z28 name) and had an accident that totaled it out. I bought my current 96 T-top car to replace it, and honestly could tell no real difference. I added a quality set of weld in sub frame connectors and noticed a difference. In and of itself it wasn't huge but it did seem a little tighter, especially over bumps or potholes. Adding Koni shocks and 17" wheels/tires made the biggest handling change in conjunction with the SFC's.

formula218

I just ordered a set from MWC connectors, I went with theirs because they use a design that actually go from sub frame to sub frame. Rather than the UMI, BMR, Ect that only go back to the control arm mounting points. I figure that any good subframe should do as its name implies and actually connect them rather than just connect the front to the LCA.

$155 shipped to my door and I got them in the mail the next day, can't beat customer service like that!

will.b.brown

@JETMAN95Z28

How much time was there between riding in your old ht and the new t-top. I jumped directly from my car into my friends and then back. I wasn't appreciating the extra torsional flex that I experienced. My father has a convertible and, faaaaahget about it! It's so sloppy it just rediculous. The cowl shake is comical.

Wild Willy

actually, just the opposite. My friend converted his B4C Camaro to T-tops, and, when he cut the metal pieces above the door, the car sagged so much, it bound up the sawzall blade. He went out right away and bought the subframe connectors.

love my UMI 3-point ones. Made a noticeable difference on my hardtop Z.

6SpdLT1Z

I can't comment on a converted car as I've never took a sawzall to any of my car roofs. Definitely no arguing that subframe connectors are a great mod for any 4th Gen Camaro, that should've come on these cars from the factory.
I'm not jetman95z28, but I did own a '94 Z28 t-top and '97 Z28 hardtop at the same time for 3+ months and spent a bunch of time jumping back in forth between the two (hard to pick if you want to drive the car with the cool exhaust versus manual transmission)

JETMAN95Z28

Will, actually it was a couple months before I settled my totaled Z claim and I found my t-top 96 car. I just didn't notice a big difference. It did make a difference with the SFC's installed though, specially on rougher pavement. With the 17" wheel/tires it would follow every imperfection in the road and after the SFC's it wasn't as bad at all.

will.b.brown

Hmmm. Its odd to me then as to why my friends car felt so much flexier than mine. Idk

will.b.brown

Injuneer
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Join Date: Nov 1998
Location: Hell was full so they sent me to NJ
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Re: Hardtop and body rigidity
The presence on the two large beams in the roof, directly above the side windows, provides a significant increase in torsional and bending rigidity. Go to the Appearance forum, and take a look at the "sticky" on T-top conversion. After removing the glued-on composite roof panel, there are two large beams that need to be cut away to make the T-top installation possible. It would be short-sighted to suggest that those structural elements do not provide substantial increased rigidity.

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RobsWS6

SFC's was one of the first mods I did to my car. Early 97 we had a group purchase for Kenny Brown Double Diamond SFC's and I got them then. Made a world of difference to the car and still is as tight today as it was back then. Also, using a jack is also easy.

It made such a huge difference to the car that the very first mod to the GTO was SFC's even though everybody said it wasn't needed but that car is just as tight as it was when new.

FWIW, mine is a hardtop.