Z28barnett

I understand all of that better than you do.

If you think a little piece of tubing the size of your arm is stiffer than the body of a car, made from steel and 3' from top to bottom. Then you have no understanding of structures at all.

You and the guy wasting his money were warned.

Note: I am not trying to sell anything to anyone here.

If you don't want to take good advice, then don't and do what you want.

It is your car.

Good luck

Z28

ABA383

I think it all depends on your goals for the car. I have the stock springs, stock Decarbons, and Hotchkis welded SFCs and panhard bar, along with Spohn LCAs, TA, stock front sway bar with poly end links, Spohn 1" rear sway bar and I think the car handles great, but I don't care much for the autocross stuff. My 60's are 1.55 with 16x8s all around and 255 MT radials. I can't believe that the SFCs don't help out tremendously. I know I felt and saw the differences at the track when my SFCs were installed. I've just never heard of anyone warning against SFCs.

--Alan

6SpdLT1Z

TTTing my thread.

Quick question... There isn't any difference between the basic box and round ones is there? Can you see it from the road? (I need to figure out if I want red (body color) or black)

Will I be happy with just the generic round style or is it really worth the money to get the exspensive SLP or w/e 3 point setups. My car is a ttop car, and its already 12 years old and I'm going to be holding onto it for atleast 5 years.

SpeedDemon02SS

IMO the box frame is better than round. The triangular SLP sfc's will give better support for twisting. If you go with the SLP's, you can see them. if you are eyelevel witht he car. I went with black.

if you go to my cardomain site (found in sig) and look at the exterior pics...you can see them. They hang down about 3/4" below the car.

hotpart

The round tube subframe connectors per pound are stronger in all ways. If you take the same weight (not size) round tube and compare it the same weight of a square tube the round will be stronger in bending, compression, tension, and torsion stiffness. The square/rectangular subframe connectors such as ours get the torsion strength by acting as a lever arm. These subframe connectors work because of the triangle portion acts like a lever arm and that is what gives that subframe connector the torsion stiffness needed to do its job. Without the arm you will only get tension, compression, and bending benefits of the subframe connector. I guess what I am saying is if you get what we call a flat tube style whether it be ours or one of our competitions make sure it is a triangle version and not just one square tube connecting the front to the back. On the other hand if you get the round tube style make sure you one like ours which runs along the lower pinch weld. This allows you to stitch weld the subframe connector the whole length of the vehicle. Both the round tube if designed properly and the triangle style again if designed properly will help you achieve a stiffer chassis and not just adding weight. Good luck on your decision. Remember that anybody is welcome to call our office for technical support as well.

Sam Strano

Let's not blow this out of proportion.... Nobody was saying SFC's were bad, or warning against running them. Z28barnett was simply saying that they shouldn't generally be the first mod, and I completely agree with that if better handling, ride, and less rattles and such are the goal.

I'll make it really, really simple. Shocks are suspension dampers. When you hit bumps and such that cause your dash to shake and steering column rattle, it's because those impacts were not soaked up in the suspension as they should have been. They then make their way into the unibody and cause it to quiver like a big old tuning fork. That loosens things up and you start to get rattles and so on. Get a set of shocks that does what they are supposed to and the huge majority of impacts that get to the unibody now, won't. And the result is not only a car that stays tighter longer, but also one that rides better and handles a hell of a lot better.

MOST folks do SFC's for those issues. Issues that start somewhere else, and the SFC's are the last line of defense. I'd rather stop the issues where they start, and the other benefits become huge bonuses.

Further I want to add this. You can ALWAYS make something stiffer. When does it end? You add SFC's, but a car with SFC's and a 6 point cage is less flexible. Also, unlike the 3rd gen and Mustangs, 4th gens are much, much more rigid and were designed to be convertibles!!! We aren't talking rolling egg-noodles here.

And finally, I'll add the oft-told story of a woman I know named Karen and her '96 1LE. Bought new...drag raced, autoxed, open tracked since new--350,000 ago. Even broke a FACTORY k-member. No SFC's on the car and the car drives just great. You wouldn't know it didn't have more than 75k miles on if you didn't look. Considering it has 25% stiffer than Z28 springs, the Koni's are never run softer than autox settings (she doens't turn them down), has run all autoxes and track events on much stickier tires which transmit more force than street tires, has gone 13.41@106 at the strip I think that says a lot for the structural integrity of the 4th gen body.

And, this car BROKE a front GM k-member (and not from rust). Yet the body is tight, and the car drives great sans SFC's.

If you drag race and have a lot of power and stick, put SFC's on for god's sake.... But in reality most folks don't have the ability to put the force on the body that will cause longevity issues. And even many who can put forces into the chassis that are higher than normal, still don't hurt the car.

MHO.