Mjolitor 68

I was at the Homestead Speedway getting ready to go out on track when I noticed my windshield had a crack starting side to side.

I think the power of the Katech must be twisting the frame a little resulting in the cracked windshield.

Either that or I broke the sound barrier & the windshield is not built for supersonic travel

kenw

Probably a little of both.

ZedNought6

I am getting ready to dump some ponies in my car, I was concerned about the extra stress on the frame so I included a tunnel brace into the build. Have you done this or thought about it? I have no results myself yet as the car goes in for surgery next week, but I am hoping for some increased frame rigidity. Once the build is complete I am going to post my thoughts on the components. I've also wondered if retorquing some of the underpinnings shouldn't be part of some preventative maintenance, especially on a track car. Hopefully some others will chime in...Could also be a windshield defect or a rock impact...Seems like I'm constantly dodging road garbage here.

40YRW8

I have been on here a long time and I may be wrong but I can't remember hearing of windshield cracking being a problem. It could be a stress riser in the glass. I have seen them install windshields at the factory and I doubt that installation is a problem. Bad luck?
Gary

68sixspeed

You run Daytona also? I've heard of chassis flex and wheel bearing problems from the muscle car guys running rovals (road coarse/oval combos). The transitions on/off the banking can add stress. Or maybe you just caught a rock?

marktsmith

Time for a full cage to stiffen the frame ?

Mjolitor 68

I run Daytona once or twice a year. Run Homestead once or twice a month and that has a nice NASCAR banking on it so that could be part of it.

As to the full cage, I don't want to mess w my Caravaggio interior so I'll pour the full cage $ into my GTP Vette project

TheYoungConnoisseur

most twisting is going to be done in 1st gear and very little in 3rd and 4 I go to 2nd gear for turns 3,4,5 & hairpin going on to the back straight. no way will an extra 1-200hp effect the chassis negatively to cause stress cracks.

I had a crack in my ford raptor windshield that developed out of no where but I think that was from jumping it off a train track

Mjolitor 68

Must b I'm going Supersonic then

40YRW8

Just a point. Since our cars have a torque tube, there is absolutely no frame twisting or torque reaction from engine torque. The only torque reaction that the car sees is a reaction to the inertia generated by accelerating and decelerating the driveline assemblies. This is one of the big secrets to the Z's success on the road courses. If chassis torque flex actually cracked the windshield, my biggest suspect would be banging the curbings. It's worth a lot of time but imparts a lot of torque stress to the chassis.
Gary

erichg1000

How is there no torque on the chassis? The motor is mounted to the subframe which is mounted to the frame. The tranny is mounted to the subframe which is mounted to the frame. Those 4 points work against each other right?