i have the s&w racecars sfc. they are awsome. they stiffend the car up alot

 

They are NOT useless by any means on these cars. Especially with t-tops.

 

What about convertibles? I assume it's even worst than t-tops...

 

You are correct. I always hated cutting the roof off a car (unless it was a full frame car to begin with). That's why I bought a hard top!

 

What's up Fran! Long time I dont see you around. How is everything going?
Home? car? I hope everything is fine!

 

Hey Stefano!

Yes, everything is well. Just bumming around on my Thanksgiving vacation. How are things going with you? Work? The wife? Any new life changing experiences looming on the horizon?!

I actually have the car in my garage up on four jack stands at the moment. I have the trans and clutch out. My experiment with the drag radials this summer showed that the old (110K miles), stock clutch was not going to hold the power with the extra hook. I'm just working up the nerve to order a new clutch and upgrade parts for my trans (while it's out of the car). You know what a cheap SOB I am!

 

You CHAEPO!

No kids so far (if this is what you mean wit "life changing experience").
Just about 60 grown up kids in the company... Since last september I lead the plant. That was the BIG CHANGE!

The spring of my stock clutch broke (!!!) and I had to remove everything
While the tranny was out I rebuilt it with some fine performance parts (the usual stuff).
Not so difficult... the Internet is full of good explanations for this job
Let me know if you need some help.

It shifts better now, maybe the new stock clutch helps.

I also changed the throttle cracker tables (lower values): this allows the engine to slow down faster while shifting ( = faster shift)

 

Really?! That's very interesting. Is this due to the blower or when you're normally aspirated?

 

A SFC devides the loading between the front and rear unitized rails that would otherwise be absorbed the weak floor pan. The cabin of the fourth gens as well as the front structure is very stabil and needs no other bracing. A strut tower brace has been shown to be an appearance item only on the fourth gen. There are professional road racers that frequent this site that will back up this statement. There are cars that do make use of a STB "Mustangs for example" but the fourth gen F-body isnt one of them.

Any serious car will have a roll cage in conjunction with the SFC's providing even further strength to the structure. This makes the standard two point more than enough to get the job done. After a point you just start adding needless weight to your car IMO.

 

With the blower it was necessary to zero almost all of the cells or I would have a delay of 1 sec between lifting the gas pedal and the RPM drop (!!)

NA it helps a little. Now with the new clutch and the rebuilt tranny it's less necessary than before.

F-Bodies have a lot of lash between the tranny and the rear end: the lower the throttle cracker values and the more the car will shake when you'll lift the gas pedal. I run now the Vette values which is something between zero and the F-body values.

 

i kind of miss hard launches in my vert before my bmr weld-in sub frame connectors. the dramatic flexing gave the feel of more power.
now it handles like it's really on rails - not what you'd expect from a convertible.

 

 

Why not build something like this?
(Sorry UMI for strealing your pics!)

 

After 9 years, I recently installed a STB. I was not expecting much but was surprised.
The front-end feels more stable and cornering has improved.

I would recommned this inexpensive mod.

I have lots of suspension mods but do not have SFC. ...not sure I will go there.

 

T T T

 

mine look liek the third set but arent installed yet. i hope they do something lol

 

Good info in here