Hey ya'll. I've been doing some thinking about what car to purchase next and I have a few questions pertaining to the structure of the 3rd gen F-Body. I've got a Buick 455 in my 81 T/A, but it's just a project car and I can't really do anything with it. I'm thinking about purchasing a V8 3rd gen Camaro, driving it until I feel like tearing into it, and then swapping in my 455 Buick. My question is, since this motor will make a buttload of torque, am I better off with a hardtop or T-Top? Can I just weld in some subframe connectors and other suspension items to the T-Top car and be fine? Or should I stick with a hardtop and not worry about body flex at all. I'd REALLY like to have a T-Top car (All my previous F-Bodies have been hardtops), but I could live with another hard top if it would be better off for the car. Anyone?

 

Structurally the hardtop is better but if you really like the open air, go with the T top. They can be made plenty strong enough to handle the power a 455 can put out. SFCs are a must even for a 4 cylinder T top car so I'd suggest getting a quality set. If you are still worried you could always put in a cage. Check the Engine Swap board to see if anyone has done this before; it could give you some ideas of what they did to stiffen up the chassis and could potentially save you many many headaches down the road.

 

Yea, that's what I figured. Like I said, I wouldn't mind a hardtop but a T-Top would be much nicer! Thanks for the info!

 

My car is a T-Top. It has SFC and a full cage though. It's making a lot more power than your 455 will.

There's times when I wished I had a hard top but poping the T-Tops out when I'm working in the car makes climbing over the door bars easier even with a halo bar.