So much disparate information, trying to sort it all out...my running thread of record is here:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...1-rs-3-1l.html

in the Engine Swap forum as that's the "overall" project, but it's had me through everything non-engine related so far. Pretty sure I'll have twisted every damn bolt in this car by the time all's said and done.

Long story short, I'm upgrading my 91 RS into a 91 Z28/SS whatever. (Yes, I'll badge it SS because it's mine) Dropping in a 383 stroker if money/time allows.

I'm in this forum now because in prep for the big drop in I've already rebuilt the entire front suspension into v8 (now a lowered & modified Z28 front clip all poly ) and done the 4 wheel disc conversion w/ passive posi rear end.

So I'm up to frame concerns. SFCs are what I'm shopping for presently. The consensus seems to be tubular weld-ons are the way to go. The welder (buddy of mine) recommended I go bolt on to not fatigue the frame metal and create rust points at all the weld joints. Additionally, he and most of the instructions seem to indicate that welding to the floor pans is required as well. My pans aren't in bad shape, but I live in New England so I expect to do them...should I do them as part of the sfc install or if I weld to the old pans, how much more difficult does that make a pan change later?

Advice anyone?

 

if your pans are in good shape, why change them? thats a heck of a lot of work. Just clean up the surface rust, if any, prime and paint where you ground the metal down, then have the car undercoated again. It will last for another 20 years.

you need to have the connectors welded in. the issues with bolt in ones are that unless there are actually reinforced areas to bolt to, the bolts will work loose and begin to oblong the holes and your connectors will get loose and you will loose much of their benefit.

on a 3rd gen, the only place the subframe connestors can be properly bolt on is the rear LCA mounts, the trans mounts, and the pinch rail, but that ones requires drilling holes. Anywhere else, you have to drill holes through a hollow frame section, and without something inside the frame to keep that part for collapsing when you tighten the bolts, there is no way to keep the connectors tight.

If you paint over the welds, and coat over that, you will never have rust issues.

and since you are in the north east, like me, you have to deal with road salt. best thing to do is not drive the car in the winter, but if you have too, make sure the car is well undercoated, and hose off the underside and wheels well regularly in the winter when the roads are salted.

This year was particularly bad, they must be using different salt or something because all of our trucks at work rust underneath really bad this year for some reason, its actually shocking. I need to check over my personal pickup and see if its rusting anywhere are take care of it before it gets out of hand.

 

So tubular weld-ons it is, . Since I don't weld myself, I guess the only thing now is how much the weld job will cost. I'm sure it varies from shop to shop, but does anyone know the average market estimate for the job?

 

Ok, so I got quoted from the welder...$50 for his time + lift rental time (variable).

So parts shopping now... I've seen a thousand posts on everyone's thoughts on sfcs.

Tubular Weld-on is still the way to go so the consensus seems. Looking for black (I've been color coding the various systems under the car, A-Arms and k-member all got coats of black when I redid all the steering linkage in red so the sfcs should be black to stick to my convention).

Read and priced out the spohn's (extremely popular) and the best I can find is 234.05 shipped.

I've been having problems finding other competitive brands offering the tubular design (checking size weight thicknesses, etc.) any recommendations?

 

Ok, so I have a pair of Spohn weld in tubular subframe connectors waiting for weld, and I got the Spohn Chrome-Moly tubular steering brace, bolted that in this weekend

Lesson learned on the steering brace install...

The V6 engine coolant hose is not routed to account for wonderbar installation. I was able to bend the thin metal bracket back enough to install it without interfering with the hose, but I know the brace I got was a lighter stronger dimensionally smaller alloy metal. The standard issue part, if it's any bigger would have been a considerably more difficult install.

I guess since the wonderbar is a v8 option there was no design level thought as to it's spacial requirements.

 

had the same issue with the wonderbar in my 92 bird. but again, i just tweaked the metal support for the hose and all is good

 

my running record is https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/en...1-rs-3-1l.html (91 RS 3.1L V6 AT to V8 6spd)

Just wanted to throw it out there for those in prep, presuming nobody's keeping a v6 engine in there Camaro. Lol.

 

I use the following version (note the sale price):

http://www.globalwest.net/82-02-fire...onnectors.html

JamesC

 

Alright...so I've been looking into the weld on SFC job...found a master welder, knew exactly the job I was looking for $120 front to back (has his own lift, very good long standing rep, etc.)... big notable prerequisite: THE CARPET/WIRING NEEDS TO BE REMOVED (or at least picked up away from the pans) PRIOR TO WELDING TO THE FLOOR PANS TO NOT SET THEM ON FIRE!!!

Terrifiic, so now the plan is to pull all the interior out (my job) before I can get the weld job done....