Leaderboard

the 1st gen front ends are extremely strong. I just wish that they continued that same rigidity for the rest of the car. Primarily around the B pillar area and the rear end.

Been reading some of the comments here and one thing I will say...the front structure of our cars, and I'm referring more to the 1st gens, they have an extremely strong front end. I believe this is why the derby guys love them so much. The rad support being welded in and with the way it's designed along with the added bars that connect the rad support to the strut towers, they can take a lot of impact. I think those bars are more for directional or controlled collapse in an accident, but maybe the do add to the stiffness of the front end.

Interesting topic as I was thinking alot about body stiffness for my 3800SC Cutlass. 2 thoughts on stiffness 1. I believe the inner rockers, at least on a 1st gen are major structural component in body stiffness, as it was a large area of focus when GM build the convertibles. 2. I had some thoughts this summer to add "frame rail connectors" basically connecting the front "frame" (the portion where the front subframe connects to the body) and run a 2x3 piece of steel to the rear foot panel/front of the fuel tank area and tie into the trailing arm mount areas. I think it would add a TON of structure to the chassis. But I decided for now to forgo the project as it would be a large endeavour to do this. Interesting to know your thoughts as to why and if you had a plan for stiffness?