schwartz f body chassis

[deuce32]

looking to get some feedback as to whom ever used this chassis . im very close to ordering a chassis for my 68 camaro project , but if you had any dealings with this chassis or are confident enough to share your thoughts on it threw photos id like to hear your opinion .

reason im going with a full chassis is im looking to run some road coarse with it as well as street use and maybe at the drags , so im looking to get a chassis that will adjust to my likings . also im working with a car body that needs some help and id like to set it on a sturdy chassis and build it around it . oh yeah another great thing about it you do not have to cut the floor to install the body

thanks in advance :thumbsup:

http://www.schwartzperformance.com/index.htm

[deuce32]

do i hear crickets??????..........:lol:

[tyoneal]

looking to get some feedback as to whom ever used this chassis . im very close to ordering a chassis for my 68 camaro project , but if you had any dealings with this chassis or are confident enough to share your thoughts on it threw photos id like to hear your opinion .

reason im going with a full chassis is im looking to run some road coarse with it as well as street use and maybe at the drags , so im looking to get a chassis that will adjust to my likings . also im working with a car body that needs some help and id like to set it on a sturdy chassis and build it around it . oh yeah another great thing about it you do not have to cut the floor to install the body

thanks in advance :thumbsup:

http://www.schwartzperformance.com/index.htm
========================================
Hi:

I just saw your post and thought I would add something that might be helpful.

I have a '69 Camaro that I am wanting to be able to track and (Hopefully) really learn how to drive it properly.

I purchased a car with the LD 3-link and I have been talking to Jeff abould building a special front chassis that will work with it.

If I didn't have the 3-link already (Which I do really like), I wouldn't hesitate to go with something he built.

Several of the main reasons are:

1) He drives what he builds, and has been a successful builder and driver for many years. (ie. He knows what works)

2) If you haven't spoken with him, give him a call. I did and found him to be really knowledgable and patient with my questions.

3) I have seen some of the cars he has built and driven. He made a Cadillac that would beat just about all the other PT cars on a Road Course not long ago, and would out run a Lambo, Ferrari and I think the vette at the drags.

4) One of his principals to great handling focus on soft springs and big sway bars. I have had several well handling cars in the past and there are different ways to build a suspension as far as the way it "Feels" to the person driving it. I find this, "principal", is one that would work well with the way I like to drive, and wouldn't be a total Bitch on the street.

Check out his site, and check out the cars he has built in the past, especially the Cadillac. It was one hell raising ride that I would have loved to own.

Take a look, and give him a call, and post back with your thoughts. I have several things I want my car to have that are not being offered currently, and he is someone that can make that happen.

Also, there are a lot of really great quality manufacturers that are sponsors on this site. Any of them can do a very good job of really increasing the handling of your car.

Find the one you feel is right for you, and along the way look at what all these different guys bring to the table as far as experience and capabilities.

It really depends on your wants, needs and cash. (Not always in this order):D

Anyway, enjoy the ride, you will learn a heck of a lot in your search for the right, "ONE", for you.

Get to reading and calling, and post your thoughts of each, and what are you wanting to do with your ride. There are plenty of people here who have gobs of knowledge and are great to visit with. Many, will be happy to also give their thoughts and opinions like I have.

Take Care and good Luck,

Ty

[deuce_454]

what he said... but..

as far as i know the chassis arent made in house at schwartz.. so you need to talk to jeff and be sure that he is your guarantee that the chassis lives up to what you want.. hes going to specify it to the builder, and QC'it when it arrives at his place...

i dont think jeff would ever build a chassis for him self that had holes in the frame for side exiting exhaust... and sacrifice rigidity for bling... or that dual rail chevelle chassis..

all that being said, i think it is your best bet in your quest to find a camaro chassis....

[deuce32]

i have spoken to jeff and he seems like a straight up guy i was really only fishing for info from the other side of the fence . i appreciate the posts and i will read as much as i can before making my purchase

[TravisB]

his chassis do not appear to be very rigid to me..... the camaro chassis is made out of like 2x2 isnt it????

[andrewmp6]

Id go with Detroit speed and engineering front clip there rear 4 link and some good sub frame connectors.There front clip is the only hydroformed one i know of it makes the clip a lot stronger.

[frankenstang]

Stay on topic here guys. He's looking for ACTUAL owner feedback, not another post asking which subframe is better. If you do not have feedback from customer experience, please stay out.

The frame rails on the camaro chassis are 2x3 box tubing. The exhaust holes in the side have little to no effect on the overall rigidity of the design. If you feel they will hamper the rigidity, I'm sure Jeff can delete them from your particular one.

[deuce32]

yes , please guys im only looking for a full frame, i appreciate everybodys posts but let keep to the full frame topic . :thumbsup:

[Budweasel]

I am also interested in the full frame idea as well. If memory serves, Jeff said there were several of his first gen f-body frames ordered some time ago. Does anyone have a line on the buyers and if there has been any miles on them? I'm sure someone has one completed, maybe they don't check out this site. I would have thought the V8tv Royal Purple Camaro would have had some road testing information on it.

Jason

[deuce32]

id like to hear road testing info as well i think what they said on v8 tv was speculation ...."it will perform well" ........

[nvr2fst]

I agree with frankenstang on criticism (SRG chassis got enough to last a month) so lets not go there.
But I will say one thing that I have noticed. A lot of members mention that the vendors they spoke to on products were very knowledgeable, great insight and were a pleasure to talk to. But remember that is there job! to sell u there product. I do believe that in the short time that i have been a member here the best insight you will get is from other members on there performance evaluations and then judge for yourself. Keep in mind its your car and your money not theirs, which is the most important thing over fads, what's hot or what the neighbor has.
As far as jeffs product. I took a 2hr drive with my son to visit his shop and see the chassis set up. Yes I am aware he does not build the frames in house but does assemble to your specifications. Im not an expert in any way but for a "bolt on" simple solution with minor fab work to a camaro its definitely a alternative. I did take the time to to price out jeffs chassis options per his price sheet against the MaxG full frame price I got from Dave at AME with the same options and the MaxG came in approx. 1800.00 cheaper. (keep in mind the added costs for floor mods etc. on the max g)
But my shipping costs werent in there and since jeff is kinda close it would be a direct pick up and then he would have been cheaper. Despite all that after two months of research and taking to multiple chassis gurus and vendors. I have personally decided to go with the lateral dynamics 3 link/watts back half and the front clip from a custom designer for my 69

[COYBILT]

I would say upgrade your F-body with a tube chassis from Jeff, the chassis has the same road manners as the A-body chassis to some degree. All the parts on the chassis are good quality race parts. I would say get the frame bare and do any upgrades you want to do. As far as flex anything beats a flimsy F-body with a sub-frame. The connectors work and I know this for a fact, my buddy in high school built a 10 second 68 Pontiac Firebird (it was Pontiac powered) and the car had insane amounts of flex until he decided to weld in sub frame connectors. It used a narrowed 12 bolt with a parallel 4 link and coil overs.

The car improved quite a bit, but the car needed a cage so he could take the car to the strip. Once the cage was installed it didn't flex as nearly as much and was legal and ran 10.90s-11.00 all day long. I forgot to mention his dad was loaded and used to be a fabricator back in the 80s.


Moral of the story is F-Body's could use a full frame for any sort of hard use.
The body's with sub frames connectors and sub frame's are pretty good but far from excellent.
Im not just saying this on behalf of Jeff, I am giving my honest opinion about what my buddy and I observed and corrected.
Go ahead and tell me im full of myself if you would like.

[frankenstang]

Joe- you're full of yourself....



BTW, are you done with that car yet?

[nvr2fst]

It might have the same road manners but isnt the A body chassis much thicker/bigger framing than jeffs unit. How are u comparing? If Im not mistaken the A bodys run solid all the way through (in the middle) and jeffs is joined at the "exhaust port" from what I can remember.
dave

[TravisB]

I would like to see a car on one.....how low does the chassis hang down under the car? What designed ride height? Caster? Camber gain per "? Bump steer? What wheels fit it? Roll center? the list goes on. I wouldnt buy anything without knowing some details. To say here is a chassis and it works....makes me sceptical until I see some numbers. What suspension design software are they using? Do they have printouts?

there are lots of subframe and full frame companys out there do some research before deciding on one....

[bucks69]

Hey Travis I hope you all made it thru the night all right, I heard it got bad on the left side of the state tonight,

Back to original thread, In my opinion, and my opinion alone, I talked to Jeff on Power-Tour in Little Rock and told him my situation with the car and Jeff was kind enough to steer me in another direction as far as a frame went, He knew what he had was not right and that there was other options that fit better. I think Jeff is a stand-up guy and was easy to talk to and took the time to answer all my questions (mostly were just newbie questions) and explained them in a way I could understand. I will look to him on future projects just for this reason. Thanks for letting me state my opinions.

[V8TV]

We built the Royal Sport Camaro with the very first Schwartz F-car chassis. Like any first of anything, the chassis we had is different from the ones you buy from Jeff now. There have been various subtle mods / changes / improvements made to the latest versions.

As for performance, I wish we could give you some numbers. We built the car and drove it briefly at the YearOne Experience last May, but it had to go back to Royal Purple at that point, so we only had a day or two to actually drive the car around. The people at Royal Purple have been finishing a couple details we left on the car... like charging the A/C, swapping the sway bar ends for a different design with better clearance, the convertible top install, and chasing down a mystery vibration in the drive line - which I think was clutch related.

As soon as the schedule allows, we're supposed to do a final photo / video shoot and evaluate the car more completely.

I can tell you this... the car felt fantastic... no harshness from the heim joints or road noise like I had feared. The chassis felt good, the tub was stiff. Now we added about 30% more spotwelds than the original car had, but it all added up to a great feel. The rear coils are too stiff, but that's an easy fix. The steering was nice, too. It's a cool car.

[TravisB]

Hey Travis I hope you all made it thru the night all right, I heard it got bad on the left side of the state tonight.


We were at the shop working and got a call that there was 1" hail and tornadoes around so I hauled ass home but never actually expreienced any of it. It went just north of Kenny and I. Im sure between his body shop and me being an insurance adjuster we will have a busy couple of weeks now:mad:

[tyoneal]

I agree with frankenstang on criticism (SRG chassis got enough to last a month) so lets not go there.
But I will say one thing that I have noticed. A lot of members mention that the vendors they spoke to on products were very knowledgeable, great insight and were a pleasure to talk to. But remember that is there job! to sell u there product. I do believe that in the short time that i have been a member here the best insight you will get is from other members on there performance evaluations and then judge for yourself. Keep in mind its your car and your money not theirs, which is the most important thing over fads, what's hot or what the neighbor has.
As far as jeffs product. I took a 2hr drive with my son to visit his shop and see the chassis set up. Yes I am aware he does not build the frames in house but does assemble to your specifications. Im not an expert in any way but for a "bolt on" simple solution with minor fab work to a camaro its definitely a alternative. I did take the time to to price out jeffs chassis options per his price sheet against the MaxG full frame price I got from Dave at AME with the same options and the MaxG came in approx. 1800.00 cheaper. (keep in mind the added costs for floor mods etc. on the max g)
But my shipping costs werent in there and since jeff is kinda close it would be a direct pick up and then he would have been cheaper. Despite all that after two months of research and taking to multiple chassis gurus and vendors. I have personally decided to go with the lateral dynamics 3 link/watts back half and the front clip from a custom designer for my 69
=======================================
Have you picked out a custom designer for your front clip? I think you and I are in the exact same position. Great rear set up, big ??? for the front. I have only found a couple Custom front subframe guys. Do you have someone special in mind? I am always looking for more sources.

Take care and thanks,

Ty

[nvr2fst]

I do agree with travis on "show the specs" Im not a hard core racer in any respect, but I do like to know what my car can do and can not. Also if I ever sell a vehicle to someone thats hard core into it, I feel its best to have this info on the tables. I agree it is difficult figuring out what to do with the options you have out there and I have contacted almost everybody that does front clips and frames for the 69. Answer is they dont want to give out specs, dont have it, or don't respond at all. I even tried contacting the chassis guy who did scott whiblys camaro when the pictures were posted a couple of days ago just to ask what he did up front for the cars stance (no reply). I have found someone though just waiting for a confirmation. Most likely if he sees this thread he may respond to you directly.
dave

[deuce32]

wow thanks for all the replys , :thumbsup: . i guess at this time i should tell you guys what im doing with the car .....

my goal is to buy a full frame and build my car with all new metal . when finished id like that low stance and ridged feel / i happen to have friends that road race and id like to do so too . but id like to run a camaro because i really wanted one again anyway . and far as the frame goes when i would get one if i saw those exhaust ports in frame to look weak ...hey ill box it in . (i am a welder as well )

im sure there is other places to explore and im going to seek them as well . i did talk to jeff on the phone and like others said he seemed like a good guy and helpfull to boot .

thanks again guys and please still post :cheers:

[rocketman]

I would add a cage to it that thing looks weak there is almost no trianglation to it

[frankenstang]

There are bars that attach to the firewall from the shock hoops and a bar that goes over the engine to tie the shock hoops to each other. How much more triangulation do you want? You can't put much more under the car and expect to be able to run exhaust and plumbing.

Look at the factory design, was there any triangulation from the factory? I counted at least five crossmembers on the chassis at the shop tonight. Come out and see one if you think it's not strong enough.

[deuce32]

yeah i agree the stock bodied car has nothin and i think the frame will do good justice myself .