me and a buddy got into a discussion about how much power our cars can handle bc im talking about a 500+ horsepower build for my 92 camaro. he says the car wont handle it. i say it will (with sub frame connectors ofc) so other then subframe connectors and the suspension to handle 500 horses, is there anything else? body and frame wise.

 

....um, yeah, they'll handle 500 rwhp no problem. Rigidity has always been more of a minor, easily solved annoyance than a real problem with these cars. They aren't wet cardboard, you know.

 

Subframes and a cage will handle anything

 

thought so. thanks guys.

 

It will handle it after replacing almost everything the car came stock with..rearend,tranny,etc. And like the other man said subframes and a cage.

 

For the record,

If you follow his build...Orr89RocZ's car pulled more than 1000RWHP on the dyno.

Now, if you mean in stock trim...350hp in a hardtop car without adding sub frame conectors and doing rear-end work. It just gets more expensive from there.

 

I agree with dmccain, It depends on what you take out and replace, also slicks or street tires. My stroker exploded my carrier in the 10 bolt. Ive also heard that if you dont use sub-frame connectors you can bust the rear glass out. but im talking 500hp plus... So it depends on what your buddy means "cant handle it"

 

There are people on here with T-tops and 300hp motors...at the crank, that are popping T-tops out from the torque twist of the cars. It's why GM never put T-tops and 350's together from the factory.

 

669 HP in a T-top car... SFCs & 8 pt. cage = no problems.

 

As these cars came stock... NO, no they can not handle 500 HP. I would say 300 HP is pushing it on a dead stock third gen.

Add weld in sub frame connectors and that number goes up to about 375-400 HP, then at that point you start breaking rear ends and stock transmissions if you have any traction.

Replace the rear end with a ford 9", chevy 12 bolt, or dana 60 and have transmission rebuilt and you are good to about 475-500 and then the chassis becomes the prob, the SFC is no longer enough to keep the body from twisting, so weld in atleast a 6 point roll bar,

 

i'm running 400 hp in a t-top car. no problems. I don't dog it, just drive, and have some spirited acceleration every now and again. I plan to add subframes when the time and $$ are right.

 

I've just seen many posts about how people went around and accelerated out of a corner only to have their t-top pop or rear hatch glass shatter because of the body flex

 

Not gonna recommend this but i ran close to 500 hp a whole summer and dozens of 11 sec passes on stock body just fine. No cage or sfc. Sprayed 150 shot into the 10's for few runs before getting roll bar and sfc. Again car twisted but didnt hurt anything from what i could tell

Soon as i did roll bar and sfc the car changed. Felt much stronger/tighter. Had to completely change suspension settings and get used to how the car left the line

 

That's why I definitely want subframe connectors.

I know it's definitely higher than what the body (and rear) can take if I were to push it, but it gets by for now. Street tires help a bunch, I can put my foot through the floor and spin until I let off, now if it ever actually hooked I'd be riding in a pretzel

All about how you drive it.

 

hahaha

That's about it. Hope you can get them in before you have any major issues.

 

thats crazy. never heard that low of number doing that, But thats why I joined, to learn more about our 3gens. Glad I put in sfc and welded them. (on flat ground) That would suck to have that rear window pop or loose a top.

 

ya i know about the rear end and trans lol those are common sense to me anywas. i was worried about the body and frame. and ya i probably wont do more then 500 as its not a drag car, just want something to drive around daily and when need be put the ***** revving his engine next to me in his place. good advice tho guys thx.

 

It's more dependent on TC, gearing, and traction than just power.
With the mighty stock LG4 and a 100 shot, the car in my sig cracked the paint at the sharp corner transitions from the roof to the "C pillars" (at upper rear corner around side windows) with a few 1.6X launches before SFC's were installed.

 

But they DID put them together from the factory. 87-89 L98+TTops was available. I think you could still get them up to 92 on TA's, but Im not sure.

 

X2, I ran a hand full of 11.0 passes with; stock diff, stock driveshaft, no SFC or cage, stock LCA and panhard arm, stock front and rear shocks, stock rear springs.

In saying that, it car felt alot better with aftermarket stuff.

 

T-tops on my '88 T/A cracked at ~700hp SBC running 6.0's 1/8 mile. Cut the top off and replaced with an '89 Camaro roof, no issues after that. Ended up being a 5.50 car, full cage but no issues. They'll handle whatever you can afford.

 

Will say after last few years being a turbo car, my driver door seems to stick out from fender at the front hindge gap area, more so than i ever remembered. Not sure when ithappened but i gotta think this power is trying to twist car pretty hard.

 

That is not happening........ I've NEVER seen a T-top pop out of one of these cars except for not being locked. I've ran 11.00s on a T-top 350 car as well as quite a few of my friends. The least of our worries were the t-tops.



You could get T-tops from 87-90 on the Camaros and many years on the Firebirds as well.

 

double post

 

I've seen at least 8 posts on here and several more on the facebook pages I follow of people's T-tops popping out or rear hatch glass cracking.

 

My 305 HARD TOP car fishtailed on wet pavement one day (6 years ago) and split the glass right down the center from body flex.

 

Im sure every car varies. We would like to think that they were built the same, but humans make errors. missing spot weld here and there or what have you, rust,a prior accident,ect.. T-top car vs hard top. Glass is very hard and pretty darn strong too.. I was told from the guys at TPIS in chaska MN that sfc are a big help with both engine upgrades and helps with handling as well. The main reason i got them was for handling reasons. If you are running street tires and not launching 3000 stall, W/ 600 hp, W/ slicks, Id like to think a guy would be ok. Be sweet to put sensors on the car in various places and see exactly what/where/how much it was flexing. T-top/hard top.

 

I did that in my 98z28 when I forgot to latch it and hit a bump

 

so if I put 500-700hp on my 1989 firebird hardtop and put an 8 point cage and inner and outter sfc (welded) I won’t have any problems with it being a mid to high 10 second street car. This will be a street car but I will have a drags setup (drag tires) it will be auto crossed and other tracked events.
thabks for your help

 

I have a 10 pt roll cage and SFC.
It'll handle whatever you throw at it.
I street drive mine
I also have t-tops, which aren't the best. A hard top would be better, and potentially lighter

 

so I would be ok if I did all of that and I WONT HAVE PROBLEMS?

 

I have right around 500hp @ crank, maybe a tad bit more. Car handles it fine.

HOWEVER. I'm not launching hard at all, its all rolling power. My tires will long give up the ghost before the car can put anything down.

That said, I absou-100%-lutely need SFC's. I have them, however, I need to have them welded in. Those will make the car feel so much better.

 

You can run 500hp no problems. The hard-top cracking issue happens due to flex from changes in road camber more than torque put to the ground.

On street tires you will NEVER be able to put enough torque to the ground at launch to bend the car. The tires will give up long before the body does.

 

I had welded subframe connectors with an honest 550 hp (427 LS) and all the body panels were out of shape and the roof beginning to crack at the corners of the windows after one summer of driving. Installed inner subframe connectors and a 6-point cage and nothing has moved for years. Those Alston inner subframe connectors are the real deal, I'm not even sure I needed the cage but I wasn't fooling around anymore. Autocross guys that don't want a cage put a brace bar in the tunnel behind the transmission.

I've heard a rumor that it is flexing of the front firewall that puts so much stress on the roof and a three-point strut tower brace helps with that. I have no idea if it's true or not.

A good steering brace has got to help in some ways. The Detroit Speed steering brace is gobs better than the classic "Wander Bar."