So How Stiff is the S197 Chassis?
09-18-2010, 09:15 PM
#12
4th Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Harrisburg PA
Posts: 1,778
So I agree that things like the amount of travel, droop of the suspension and even the solid axle are having an effect. But I got to tell you...the difference is dramatic. With literally just a couple pumps of the jack the vette's front and rear wheels are up. It probably takes three times as many pumps or more to get the stang up on two wheels. Maybe the vette is not stiffer as some of you think but I know what I see and it sure looks like it is. But I don't want to argue the point...I'll just accept it as an interesting difference between the two cars, whatever the reason for it.
09-20-2010, 12:21 AM
#13
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Tri Cities, TN
Posts: 452
Sorry Argonaut your description doesn't indicate that the chassis is bending. Wheel travel, sway bar strength and balance point all influence your description.
And uni-body cars are much stiffer than frame cars or space frame cars for the weight. Stiffer and lighter. A formula one car is uni-body. Passenger cars for the street aren't built to be just stiff. They are built to crash well and this requires some flexibility in certain areas so stiffness is not the overriding goal. Old frame cars were much worse. Even truck frames are worse. Jack up a corner of a truck made a few years ago and watch the bed to cab gap close up. A space frame like a NASCAR is stiff but it is built for what it does and there are no doors. I could give a 100 more examples....
And uni-body cars are much stiffer than frame cars or space frame cars for the weight. Stiffer and lighter. A formula one car is uni-body. Passenger cars for the street aren't built to be just stiff. They are built to crash well and this requires some flexibility in certain areas so stiffness is not the overriding goal. Old frame cars were much worse. Even truck frames are worse. Jack up a corner of a truck made a few years ago and watch the bed to cab gap close up. A space frame like a NASCAR is stiff but it is built for what it does and there are no doors. I could give a 100 more examples....
Also, the '07+ S197s are slightly stiffer/stronger than the '05-'06 because of the GT500 which came out in '07. Ford did some added re-enforcing for the GT500, but incorporated the changes to all '07 models. I know of several who have tested shock tower flex with the '07 and it's almost non existent. I would wager the 07 Mustang's chassis is every bit as "stiff" as the Vette.
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