No Roll Cage....?

[GNBRETT]

It Seems That When Brutal Horsepower Is Applied To The Tr Is Has A Tentancy To Twist A Little With Evidence Of Frame Twisting On The Car Consisting Of Small Crinkles Causing The Paint To Flake Off. For A Street Car With A $6000 Paint Job That Is Not Good! Does Anyone Know Of A Set Up That Would Keep A Car Together (straight) Without A Bar Or Cage.

What I Mean By This Is There A Way To Strengthen Up The Body Of The Car Without Adding A Bar Or Cage And Cutting Up The Interior To Be Visible From The Outside?

Is There A Way To Add Support To The Car Via The Trunk Area Alone That Will Keep The Car From Twisting Without A Visible Cage. Basically, If One Was Interested In The Sleeper Appearence Could A Car Be Strengthed Up Enough To Prevent Frame Twisting Without being Visible From Outside The Car?

[Googs]

I would start with the rear seat bracing (goes in the trunk behind the seat) that several venders sell. Also replace the worn out body bushings & insert the 6-8 missing ones. With the amount of torque these cars are capible of producing, it always going to be an up hill battle fighting body flex.

[corymc]

i have a set of rear seat braces i can sell ya if your interested pm me or something

[GNBRETT]

Im Aware Of The Braces. I Am Also Aware Of All The Stuff All The Vendors Sell (wolf, H&r, Etc....) All Upper,lower Control Arms....etc. But The Question I Really Have Is When The Roll Bar/cage Is Installed It Is Welded To Certain Areas On The Car. Is It Possible To Weld Some Sore Of Configuration That Would Rival That Of A Roll Bar But Not Actually See The Roll Bar To Attain A Sleeper Effect? Or Does The Bar Need To Go Thru The Rear Seat In Order To Attain The Type Of Rigidy That The Car Needs? When You Back-half A Car A Bar Is A Must For Support But Can That Be Accomplished Without Going Thru The Rear And Visibly Hacking Up The Car To Indicate That Your Car Is Making A Lot Of Hp And It Needs This....

[SVT F15O]

Good question as I would like to get a repaint on my GN and DON'T want to do a roll bar!!! -Mat-

[Grumpy]

frame is very flimsy.... maybe box the center rails

[tomcatturbo]

My Roll Cage goes through my speaker holes, and down through the trunk and is welded to the rear frame.

I don't have a stereo now, however if I really wanted to add speakers, I can possibly just modify the size of the speaker holes to accomodate them.

I just came back from taking my car for a spin with my son here in Florida, and to be quite honest, I don't really care for a stereo system anyways.

[SGRIM]

Boxing the inner frame rails and leaving the front sway bar on should help. Along with all the other good stuff mentioned, bushings etc...
Also the braces for the front under the hood and rear behind the seat X braces should help!

The H&R bar made the biggest difference in one of mine!

[Louie L.]

You could do just the floor section of the SFI 25.5 chassis for full frame cars. It involves doing a sub floring that makes a ladder type subframe. It does away with the factory trans cross member and it ties the rear ssuspension at the upper center frame piece, just over the axle and the lower control arm boxes...

[turbodave231]

A few years ago, I remember seeing a Regal frame that was reinforced with a
1 5/8" round tube welded inside each frame rail. It was very nicely done. That would help with frame flex. I think if you were to do that and add at the other bracing and body mounts, you'd have the most torsionally rigid stock appearing GN around.

[GNBRETT]

Originally Posted by Louie L.

You could do just the floor section of the SFI 25.5 chassis for full frame cars. It involves doing a sub floring that makes a ladder type subframe. It does away with the factory trans cross member and it ties the rear ssuspension at the upper center frame piece, just over the axle and the lower control arm boxes...

WOULD THAT BE VISIBLE FROM THE OUTSIDE?

[Louie L.]

No it would not be visible from outside. But it would need a custom exhaust system built. The system would hang lower than stock as it would have to clear all that tubing. I think that you are very limited in reaching the goals you seek. You could also box the frame rails but that would entail lifting the body in order to complete the welding. That still only fixes one bend axis.

Here is what the mid to back section looks like:

[JC Turbo]

Louie is that the underside of your car?

[Louie L.]

Originally Posted by JC Turbo

Louie is that the underside of your car?

John,
I wish it was. That is actually a chevelle.I have a file on my PC with 25.5 chassis pics and articles. Since im looking to go V8 the SFI rated cage will have to follow soon after...

[GNBRETT]

Thanx....