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I had my 2004 on a lift and I got a good look at the undercarriage.
VERY IMPRESSIVE! I have crawled around a lot of cars over the years and I would have never recognized the undercarriage as coming from Detroit. The fit and finish were very good. Perhaps it is the Jaguar influence on the design?
Some of the goodies under there:
-cast aluminum front and rear suspension to lower unsprung weight.(first seen in Detroit with the Corvette)
-large diameter gas charged shocks
-Variable twist coil spring struts
-cast aluminum front wishbone
-cast aluminum rear wishbone
-cast aluminum transmission cross member
-large front and rear sway bars with European style connecting links.
-three X braces to add rigidity
- front pan facia to smooth air flow under the car
-a very sophisticated front and rear suspension geometry
-intergral strut brace hidden under the windshield facia
- finned aluminum differential with large rubber mounts to reduce noise(not a variable slip unit though)
-plastic saddelbag type gas tank to allow the transmission, drive shaft and differential to be mounted high in the underciarrage. This facilitates lower ground clearance, lower center of gravity and decreased body roll on turns.
- large rubber isolater attachment between the drive shaft and the differential to reduce drivetrain noise.
- all aluminum engine with deep crankshaft casting with webbings to increase the stiffness of the engine block.
- all aluminum heads, 4 valves per cylinder with coil on plug ignition and varible camshaft timing.
I saw three items which I was not wild about.
-the car has a steel driveshaft and I expected to find an aluminum shaft to lower weight (although the aluminum driveshafts sometimes make funny tinging noises).
- The design of the brake system has the rear brake line connectors mounted on the inside of the rear fenders where the lines are exposed to stones and other road debris.
-the exhaust system seemed undersized and very restrictive (not mandrel bent tubes). I am not sure that the exhaust diameter is too small since I am used to 5.0liter (350 ci)V8s and this car is only a 3.9litre (238 cu) V8.
There is a lot of expensive hardware under there which may help explain the high cost of the car.
My last car was a $29,000 1998 Z-28 convertible and the tbird is clearly worth the extra $10K. Mechanically it makes the Z-28 look like a go cart. But I miss the 6 speed manual.
Well that's enough for this nights rant.
GHerndon is online now Visit My Gallery Edit/Delete Message
VERY IMPRESSIVE! I have crawled around a lot of cars over the years and I would have never recognized the undercarriage as coming from Detroit. The fit and finish were very good. Perhaps it is the Jaguar influence on the design?
Some of the goodies under there:
-cast aluminum front and rear suspension to lower unsprung weight.(first seen in Detroit with the Corvette)
-large diameter gas charged shocks
-Variable twist coil spring struts
-cast aluminum front wishbone
-cast aluminum rear wishbone
-cast aluminum transmission cross member
-large front and rear sway bars with European style connecting links.
-three X braces to add rigidity
- front pan facia to smooth air flow under the car
-a very sophisticated front and rear suspension geometry
-intergral strut brace hidden under the windshield facia
- finned aluminum differential with large rubber mounts to reduce noise(not a variable slip unit though)
-plastic saddelbag type gas tank to allow the transmission, drive shaft and differential to be mounted high in the underciarrage. This facilitates lower ground clearance, lower center of gravity and decreased body roll on turns.
- large rubber isolater attachment between the drive shaft and the differential to reduce drivetrain noise.
- all aluminum engine with deep crankshaft casting with webbings to increase the stiffness of the engine block.
- all aluminum heads, 4 valves per cylinder with coil on plug ignition and varible camshaft timing.
I saw three items which I was not wild about.
-the car has a steel driveshaft and I expected to find an aluminum shaft to lower weight (although the aluminum driveshafts sometimes make funny tinging noises).
- The design of the brake system has the rear brake line connectors mounted on the inside of the rear fenders where the lines are exposed to stones and other road debris.
-the exhaust system seemed undersized and very restrictive (not mandrel bent tubes). I am not sure that the exhaust diameter is too small since I am used to 5.0liter (350 ci)V8s and this car is only a 3.9litre (238 cu) V8.
There is a lot of expensive hardware under there which may help explain the high cost of the car.
My last car was a $29,000 1998 Z-28 convertible and the tbird is clearly worth the extra $10K. Mechanically it makes the Z-28 look like a go cart. But I miss the 6 speed manual.
Well that's enough for this nights rant.
GHerndon is online now Visit My Gallery Edit/Delete Message
