tubular subframe?

[somedude_001]

I just put a tubular K member (subframe) in my camaro. it knocked off around 50lbs. I wanted one for my turbo SHO but there is not one avaliable. if I could drop 30 or 40lbs off the front of the car I would buy one in a sec. especially if it eliminated the god awe-full strutrod setup in favor of a suspension that actually hold up to track duty.

 

[ycode90]

Time + money . If I only had more of either one.

 

[matasho]

I got flamed years ago for mentioning this....

i have thought about this many times but i have to take my ideas to other forums, this forum is such a wet blanket to any new/different ideas. i dont know what it is about the sho owners that snub their noses at anything that changes the car, for the better or worse. i remember when putting a turbo on a sho was flamed now most love the idea.
i say if someone has the time, or money, or both to get this done to just do it. if nothing else good comes out of it you will gain a bunch of space for turbo piping or whatever else your into.
you could use the control arms from a gen3 subframe= no more strut rods! you could even move the rack mounting up to compensate for an extremely lowered car(coilovers). the possibilities are endless if you have the imagination and skill to achieve your vision.

go for it!

mike

 

[shooff82]

i have thought about this many times but i have to take my ideas to other forums, this forum is such a wet blanket to any new/different ideas. i dont know what it is about the sho owners that snub their noses at anything that changes the car, for the better or worse. i remember when putting a turbo on a sho was flamed now most love the idea.
i say if someone has the time, or money, or both to get this done to just do it. if nothing else good comes out of it you will gain a bunch of space for turbo piping or whatever else your into.
you could use the control arms from a gen3 subframe= no more strut rods! you could even move the rack mounting up to compensate for an extremely lowered car(coilovers). the possibilities are endless if you have the imagination and skill to achieve your vision.

go for it!

mike

I'm all for experimenting and trying different things to try and improve your ride regardless of what it is. Of course, the SHOs are a limited run car with a unique engine which is why most of us fell for the cars to begin with. But there's no such thing as a perfect, problem free car. They ALL have their shortcomings and strong points(sometimes). I love the SHO V6s, I have limited knowledge and experience with the V8s and no ideas of the new cars other than seeing one at a car lot. I understand wanting to keep them in factory condition because of their rarity, but when it comes down to it, its YOUR car. You can do whatever you want with it. I love SHOs and even regular taurus's(especially light metallic blue 2nd gen cars with vulcan 3.0s; I'm sick. I know I have a problem)but I'm going to make mine a rwd because I'm sick of torque steer, broken diff pins in trannys that are a b*tch to find and the lack of driving excitement rwd cars hold for me(oversteer). But I love taurus's and destroying grand am's and grand prix's with them. They turned grand am's into rwd's(GTO's). Why can't I do it with a taurus?

 

[SHOtime2511]

Gen 3 sub frame swaps save a little weight and give you real control arms.

 

[SHOmethewayhome]

I'm all for experimenting and trying different things to try and improve your ride regardless of what it is...But I love taurus's and destroying grand am's and grand prix's with them. They turned grand am's into rwd's(GTO's). Why can't I do it with a taurus?

um... Who is they? owners of Grand Ams were buying GTO drivelines and putting them in Grand ams? pics or ban.

or do you mean GM made the grand am the GTO, because this post is also false. they made the GTO from the Holden Monaro from GM australia. very similar to the pontiac G8 pretty much being a holden Commodore.

either way what you said does not compute.

 

[HotRodKid]

^^^^

no, its just a common derogatory line about the GTO because it really could have been designed to be more macho.

instead, it looked like the rest of pontiacs lineup

 

[Shoaz]

I got flamed years ago for mentioning this....

i have thought about this many times but i have to take my ideas to other forums, this forum is such a wet blanket to any new/different ideas. i dont know what it is about the sho owners that snub their noses at anything that changes the car, for the better or worse. i remember when putting a turbo on a sho was flamed now most love the idea.
i say if someone has the time, or money, or both to get this done to just do it. if nothing else good comes out of it you will gain a bunch of space for turbo piping or whatever else your into.
you could use the control arms from a gen3 subframe= no more strut rods! you could even move the rack mounting up to compensate for an extremely lowered car(coilovers). the possibilities are endless if you have the imagination and skill to achieve your vision.

go for it!

mike

IIRC, at least the thread I recall, the flaming was not so much about having a tubular subframe as the way that was proposed to do it. A few of us with engineering backgrounds pointed out that the front subframe is a pretty critical piece of hardware, since all control, i.e., steering, braking, acceleration, depends on the integrity of the subframe. This doesn't even consider crashworthiness, which is also important.

A properly done tubular frame is great, but when the suggestion is that somebody they know with a welder said it would be easy, well, constructive criticism is your friend. Even if you don't know it.

 

[ycode90]

I also remember that thread it was not as elegantly put as that . It was kinda like your ******** and gonna die if you try that lol .

 

[shooff82]

^^^^

no, its just a common derogatory line about the GTO because it really could have been designed to be more macho.

instead, it looked like the rest of pontiacs lineup

That's what I was going for. I know they're not actually grand ams. They're actually pretty kick-ass cars, but its like they got lazy in the styling department. From far away, if you don't look too hard, you could mistake a GTO, GrandAm, Grand Prix, G6 or G8 for each other. The G8 is bad ass, too. Why does Australia get the cool cars? Do you know what the Falcon is down there? I want one.

 

[Jonny Cash]

I also remember that thread it was not as elegantly put as that . It was kinda like your ******** and gonna die if you try that lol .

Well wouldnt that make it so much sweeter to actually do it, and prove the naysayers wrong? More time on the drawing board or in the shop trying things out, less time on the computer BS'ing about it. 4-5 threads on this matter and still no tubular subframe.

 

[Shoaz]

Well wouldnt that make it so much sweeter to actually do it, and prove the naysayers wrong? More time on the drawing board or in the shop trying things out, less time on the computer BS'ing about it. 4-5 threads on this matter and still no tubular subframe.

Like a lot of things, it's easy to build a tubular subframe. Building one right that'll hold up and not get somebody hurt, well, that's a lot harder. As I recall, that was the gist of the previous thread.

I'm not sure of the motivation, though. It's not like stock subframes are rare or expensive, or hurt performance. And if one wants a bit better performance the G3 subframe swap is pretty well sorted out.

 

[ycode90]

Well wouldnt that make it so much sweeter to actually do it, and prove the naysayers wrong? More time on the drawing board or in the shop trying things out, less time on the computer BS'ing about it. 4-5 threads on this matter and still no tubular subframe.

I know , I know , but it's so hot. I can't bring myself to sit on the porch much less do ANYTHING outside after work .






Sound sad and whiny enough

 

[TwistedD85]

Hey, I also made this thread when I stopped lurking years back

 

[SuperHO]

if i had the fab skills/welding skills/welder that can weld aluminum/time/CAD software, i'd do it just for ***** and grins.