Hi everyone. I'm taking my car to a body shop for some paint and while there, the frame will be measured to see if the chassis is straight. I want to straighten the chassis in case of deformation or twisting due to the stress and unibody construction issue everybody is tired of reading about around here. The car is going to be inspected for cracks of any kind and I was wondering where are the majority of cracks found in these cars? I heard about the steering box and B-pillars or something. Any more spots that should be carefully examined? I appreciate your help guys.

 

C'mon people. Anyone

 

No cracks anywhere on mine and I abuse it more than a street car is.

 

Uufff! That's good to know then. Now I have to see if everything's straight. Thanks

 

one thing i have heard but not seen on my car is where the steering box connects to the frame the or that area in some cars crack in that area. if you have a wonder bar that stops it or atleast helps it not happen.

 

That's a scary thought. Those crack(if present) can be welded and everything goes back to normal, right?

 

my car is cracked, same spot, both sides of car. creaks pretty loud at the track

 

most of the time, those cracks in the roof are cracks in the paint, not the metal. the metal there is braized in, not welded and will stretch over time if you have a bad suspension, or bad hing pins on your doors. a car with sagging doors and bad suspension is more likely to have those there. fyi, i have only seen a completly torn roof on a wrecked car (hard hit), all the others were cracked paint. Also, if the car does not have the mid grade or better suspension option, the steering box crack is not likely unless an impact has occured. The wonder bar will prevent this from happening and came stock on all iroc-z's and the 89 TTA.

thanks

 

Sorry, I need to correct the misinformation. No 89 TTA's left the factory with a Steering Brace (aka Wonder bar). In fact a stock GM Steering Brace will interfere with the intercooler shroud.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

My car squeeks and creaks pretty loud by the rear right corner. I though it was the spare tire being loose but I removed it still does it. Feels like the chassis flexes way too much while driving through rough terrain or driving over speed bumps. I suspect the frame is not straight and that's why I want it checked and aligned. The SFC's, and steering brace will be installed after that. I'm expecting those today.

 

my bad, i was thinking the TTA had one.

thanks
anthony

 

It sems the cracks in the frame where the steering box mounts is an undocumented feature

If you get the cracks welded up and possibly have the area plated THEN fit a wonderbar, that should cure it. However, I'm not sure about your inspection laws as regards qualified fabricator for the welding etc.

 

I thought I had that same problem a couple of years ago then discovered my dead hatch struts and out-of-adjustment pull-down where allowing the hatch to bang up and down going over bumps. May not be going on with yours but something to check...

 

Well, the pull-down mechanism is all fu@#% up and the wires and everything were cut when I bought the car. The hatch does not properly aligns with the rest when closed. I'll have the body shop take a look at it.

 

Be sure to let the Body Shop know that Top-Down Solutions has any parts they need to repair that hatch pull-down unit. At the minimum I'd recommend a Striker-Sensing Switch. The switch has all the wiring for the hatch pull-down unit. Just mount the switch, plug a relay into it, plug it into the reversing switch and connect power to the blue wire and connect ground. If they can't solve the problem, I have an alternative. I sell remanufacutred hatch pull-down units on my web site. I even include a postage-paid return ship label so you can send your old unit back to me for a core deposit refund when your new one arrives.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

I would look at the frame rails right behind the p/s box on the driver's side, and again on the pass. side in the same location. My frame had a crack on 3 sides of the frame rail right behind the p/s box. I had to put it on a frame strecher and drop the p/s box out of it, but I was able to weld it back together. This was after I bought the car and was in a small fender-bender. My boss at the time said his best guess was that it was there before the collision, as the collision did not even cause the plastic crush material of the bumper to deform.

 

Can't I just get rid of all the stuff and close the hatch as if no pull-down mechanism was ever there?

 

You can't just remove the pull down assembly and install a normal latch. they have a different body mount welded onto the rear tail light panel for the power pull down.

thanks
anthony

EDIT: this is at least the case on my 85 t/a, might be different on the newer models?