Chassis Stiffness - AME Rear F-Body Clip

[silver69camaro]

We always work hard at increasing overall vehicle stiffness for obvious reasons - allows the suspension to do it's job, reduces squeeks and rattles, and increases handling capabilities.

As you may have seen in the previous thread, our rear clip simply replaces the factory spotwelded rails. No floor cutting required, but you do need to stitchweld the clip to the floor and rear valence. Truely something anybody can do in a weekend, even with a 110v welder (or pay somebody for an hour of welding time).

Replacing the .045" thick 2x3 C-channel rails with mandrel bent .120" wall 2x4 tubing makes a heck of a difference as you can see here.




Here the floor jack is placed about 24" ahead of rear axle C/L on the clip's frame rail. The jack is pumped until the rear left wheel is about 5 to 6" off the ground.



With absolutely no changes in door gaps or strange noises, the front wheel left wheel lifts off the ground as well. Keep in mind the weight of the front end is making the car tilt on the jack, keeping the front tire from raising as much as the rear. This is a good indication of bending stiffness. There is a huge moment arm between the front wheel and jack placement, I'm amazed it is this stiff.




Because of a high degree of torsional stiffness, the right rear tire is off the ground as well.




Here is a rear shot to illustrate how stiff this is. This photo is actually misleading because the majority of the vehicle's weight is on the front right tire, and it's actually the only tire touching the ground. Yep, the car is balanced on the floor jack and 1 tire...you can move the car up and down with your index finger placed on the rear bumper. If I were to lock the front suspension, the car wouldn't look nearly as twisted.

[MoparCar]

I know I've mentioned it before, but I'd love to have this clip for my Dodge Challenger. How about it? Still no plans?

Thanks, Wes

[silver69camaro]

I know I've mentioned it before, but I'd love to have this clip for my Dodge Challenger. How about it? Still no plans?

Thanks, Wes

Not at the moment. We are so jam-packed in our current building that it's very difficult to keep expanding. It will be a little while until the new building is built...

[modular93fox]

I dont even have one of these kind of cars but the quality and r&d involved is awesome! good job

[Vegas69]

I'm going to try this with my car now......

[1969CamaroRS]

Didn't you guys just not too long ago (few years) move into a new building? My instructor at school tells a story where he took a tour of your new building...

[silver69camaro]

Didn't you guys just not too long ago (few years) move into a new building? My instructor at school tells a story where he took a tour of your new building...

Hmm...he must have been confused about something else. We did lease a seperate facility for our machine shop a while back, but it's not directly connected to our current facility.

[parsonsj]

Matt,

Nice work. Does that car have subframe connectors?

jp

[silver69camaro]

Matt,

Nice work. Does that car have subframe connectors?

jp

Yes, welded to the floor as well.