Hello new to the board. I have heard that the early model 3rd gen can develop stress cracks by the steering box. I have an opportunity to buy a low mile super clean original paint 84 Z28 non HO car. I have been under the car and it does have the reinfoced factory brackets and I can not see any cracking around the steering box or sway bar bracket. Car has only 48,000 miles and looks like it has never been worked on, some say you need to fully remove the steering box for inspection but the seller will not do that and I cant blame him. Should it be a concern ? What are your thoughts ?

 

I would not worry about it. If it has ever been an issue, I'm not aware of it. This is the first I've ever heard about it happening on a 3rd gen. I have owned many and taken many apart.

 

Hi, I have owned a couple in the past years ago and never heard of this before until now. There are a few video's on youtube but that may be the rare cases when the car has been driven hard or over powered ??

 

Driven very hard or even something as simple as neglect. Like if someone replaced the steering box but forgot to tighten one of the mounting bolts.

Or maybe previous wreck damage where that area of the substructure was tweaked and cracked later on.

At any rate, I'd worry about steering box area cracks about as much as I worry about getting struck by lightning today. And it's a clear sky today, lol.

 

If the frame area by the steering box is damaged, you would be able to see the box moving when the steering wheel is turned while sitting still. Basically it gets loose from heavy use or whatever the reason and behind to flex and stress the sheetmetal
as time goes on, cracks can form and everything will get looser and looser.

 

This as I understand it is the exact reason that GM installed the wonder bar. Put one of those on, there are many different one's available, and be done with this issue.

 

Not on all cars and only on cars with 16x8 wheels.

 

Thanks for the replys.

 

I doubt it's going to be cracked from normal driving. Autocross, road racing and track days, maybe, but unlikely otherwise.

My car has been autocrossed since the late 1980s and only developed a crack 3-4 years ago:



17X11 wheels on Hoosiers autocross tires from 2011+, and 16X10s with whatever Kumho/Hoosier/BFG prior to that.

Pat

 

Sadly, in my years I have seen this happen to a few( maybe 3)F bodies generally older than 1986. Most had power steering issues that put a lot of stress on that area of the frame but is easy to repair by a good welder.

 

My very first car had some stress cracks by the steering gear bolts. I added a wonder bar and drove the car like an angry teenager for 10 years and never had any issues. It should be fine. If you are genuinely worried, it would be easy to weld a plate there to reinforce the panel. I'd say buy it, if its the car you want!