G-body Roll Call

[CraigMorrison]

Greetings,

Somcamaross and John S - many thanks for the welcome. Posting on different web sites can be an incredible time sink, so I frequent extremely few.

Question for Craig Morrison/AME: if you wouldn't view it in the realm of proprietary information, would you please share any stiffness measurements on the stock chassis? Torsional stiffness about the car's CL longitudinal axis, and between the front and rear axle locations, would be of key interest. My opinion is that the stock chassis is woefully limp, and mostly because of those flimsy C-channel side rails in the mid section of the frame. Also, as I recall, the fundamental vertical resonance of the body mass on the frame (lambda/2 deflection mode,) was down in the 15-18Hz range. Again, a woefully low number for anything other than a cushy boulevard cruiser.

Best,
MAP

MAP- Thanks for the question! No, it's not proprietary info, but to be honest we haven't done any calculations on the stock chassis because it is so horrible. When we were measuring the chassis with the Faro arm, just mounting the arm onto the chassis was causing it to deflect. We had to add extra supports under the frame to keep the 30# of the Faro arm from deflecting the chassis and creating errors in the measurement data!

With the chassis supported by jack stands under the housing you can hold the rear passenger rail in one hand and lift and visually see the deflection all the way up to the front suspension crossmember. I know that this is pretty anecdotal evidence but we've never seen a chassis that has been this weak.



It is pretty apparent that it's sole purpose is to locate the bumpers and suspension points and the body is providing the chassis strength.

You are extremely correct when you say that the chassis is woefully limp!