According to someone at Pontiac, per a book on Firebirds, it was done by Pontiac engineers to get a cowl shake out of the car. I understand that the convertibles would continue to exhibit cowl shake for several oscillations beyond the actual road imperfection. In other words, the car kept twisting like a spring back and forth several times each time it hit a bump. The book goes on to explain that they tried all kinds of bracing, but to no avail. Finally, they came up with the weight suspended between two springs, the things we now call cocktail shakers. I understand that the lead engineer was very impressed that they had solved the issue until he learned how they did it. Apparently, he thought it was a cop-out. In any case, they kept trying other ways for a while, but gave up and went back to those cocktail shakers. As to weather or not you need them now, I have no idea. Since it was a body flex thing, I would imagine a good set of sub frame connectors would solve the problem, but I don’t know for sure.
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
’72 442 “Inamorata”
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