I know someone that has a worked 87 Iroc with a 350 in it. The frame is twisted up and his theory is that it's from too much torque. His car has t tops and everyone has told me that t tops allow your car to twist up more easily. Is this possible or true? If so, how much torque would it take to twist up a frame? Do t tops really make the frame that much weaker?

 

thats a load of BS, cars drive hundreds of thousands of miles without being at WOT and really the only substantial hit a car takes when at WOT is a good launching car at the line. Even then, that load is against the strongest part of the car you are pushing it length wise whereas a bump in the road wants to pull the wheels apart (castor )

You are liable to cause more damage to your "frame" hitting rough roads or speedbumps at speed.

I wish people would stop repeating this myth.

I could get into some fancy metallurgy and explain why most of this "twisted frame" stuff is crap but its a waste of breath because 100 people will come in here and swear otherwise.

look up "plastic region" of metals or something along those lines and you might get an idea.

 

I might add one thing, airplane wings are made of a substantially weaker metal than steel and have a much smaller plastic region and they flex ongodly amounts through their lifespans. Not to mention tons of hard landings, etc.

Take an H46 helicopter, the last one was made in 1977 and most of the airframes I work with (im a helo hyd mech) have been flying for 30+ years, and they very obviously flex from fore to aft in a twisting motion, not to mention how many hard landings these things have through the years, you should see what happens to a wheel when one of these things comes down hard.. yet they still fly every day and are one of if not the most reliable helicopter on the planet.

 

He said it's a worked 350, so assume some hard launches. Yes that can twist the frame. When you launch hard, one side of the rear pushes up against the body forcing the car to tilt. Yeah it's the strongest part of the frame, but it's going against the heaviest part of the car (up front) with the weakest part of the car between them (the floorpan). Enough hard launches from a worked car with good traction can twist a stock f-body frame at the floorpan. The lack of a substantial roof on a t-top car makes this an even more likely scenario.

All theory and bickering aside, just go get the car looked at by a body shop, straighten it if need be, and get some subframe connectors welded on. And that's way more than a suggestion.

 

i guarantee he is not going past the plastic region of the unibody on any launch... as for fatigue.. the dude would have to launch the car thousands of times for that to even play a part because hes so far from going past that plastic region

a buddy of mine htat used to be on here, used to go by zz3steve had an 871 blown 383 86 sport coupe with T tops and no subframe connectors, 28x some huge width tire in the back and would lift the front wheels on the street on command and his car never bent out of shape.

and yes, some academic types are going to come in and point out that the construction of things plays a huge part in their ability to handle stress but I think my aircraft example is still illustrative nonetheless.

I have a stick thirdgen.. no subframe connectors, no crash beam, and it wheelhopped bad enough to break several axle shafts, has a stick.. and I rag on it real hard. I added the door shims that T top cars have and with mal adjustment i could make it so that the doors would jam. I adjusted them very tight, years ago.. guess what the doors still open and close just like they did when I put those in there and the car got modded afterwards.

 

For all i know, he's lying. How much would it take to twist one up? I'm thinking of putting a 350 in my formula and doing some stuff to it but i don't want to mess anything up. I got an 88 formula with t tops and a 305 for now.

 

it would take more money than you have... or you hitting something hard