Prodigy,
I won't name names, but it was a Challenger. The car sat EXTREMELY low and still mainainted 4" of ground clearance, the roof may have been chopped also. But anyway, The seats were angled back a bit to get the man to fit (I asked Craig, he's 6'3").
All in all, this chassis is nothing new. Many builders have been using it, and seat height just hasn't been an issue; there are many ways around it.
Mark,
I agree with your statement wholly. Like you said, the chassis should be welded to the body (and is how we recommend it). I also agree that you really cannot start to dramatically increase torsional rigidity until you triangulate the chassis in some manner (or other means). Simple engineering statics, no big deal. However, we aren't dealing with the type of customer who is willing to turn his Chevelle into a Cup car.
I also agree that unibody cars can be quite good with SFC. Take my car, for example, as I installed DSE SFCs a while back (with solid bushings). Is the car still flimsy? Yeah, it is. Don't get me wrong, it's a world of difference, but it's still not very rigid (and I agree, it's not crap). But, if you were you jack up the car by the rocker (just rear of the front wheel), the front tire will be completely off the ground before rear really starts to rise. This is a rust-free original car w/ no prior accidents.
Now, try this with a new unibody car (RWD, though). The wheels will lift pretty close to the same time. I mention this because I have nothing against unibody cars, and like you said, they can be made quite well (and are often light weight!). Newer technology has greatly enhanced the stiffness of unibody chassis, something that may be lacking with older cars.
The only thing that we can produce is a conventional-type frame that has increased stiffness, both bending and torsion. I apologize if I sounded as if it was the stiffest thing available, but it IS better (through hand and COSMOS evaluations) than factory-stock frames. In my eyes, comparing the torsional strength of this chassis of this chassis to a high-end monocoque or caged chassis would be unfair, it's a whole differrent ballgame.
Well, this post has taken a turn that wasn't intended. My orginal thoughts were to gather some market data on how to ease the predetermined notions of pain about installing these frames. But hey, I enjoy addressing concerns or new ideas.
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