C8 Engine Chassis Strut Brace
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Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 90
Likes: 55
Here is the article where Ed Moss talks about the central tube and the need to transfer load from the struts to the central tunnel (which the c8 Chassis Strut X Brace accomplishes). It is really very effective at helping tie the "Big 6" chassis pieces together. Here is the Popular Science Ed Moss article: https://www.popsci.com/corvette-stin...s-engineering/
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 2,559
Likes: 1,758
From: Mandalore
Solid nuggets of info at the end of the article:
“The trick for torsional stiffness is that you’ve got to get the load through the tunnel and back to the shock towers and it is hard with the engine there,” Moss said. The car’s central spine, or tunnel, carries load from the front suspension back to the rear of the car, where the engine cradle castings transmit loads to the rear suspension mount castings.
That makes the tunnel a crucial link. It is a three-sided aluminum square tube, with an open bottom. For the C8 Corvette, Chevrolet applies a carbon fiber panel to the bottom to close that tunnel off, boosting its strength by 10 percent.
Chevy engineers applied carbon fiber judiciously to keep the ‘Vette’s cost down, selecting the fashionable material for the tunnel close-out panel and for the rear bumper beam. With the engine and transmission at the car’s rear end, it was important to minimize the weight of other components at the back, which is why the rear bumper beam is carbon fiber, Moss explained.
“We started with more carbon pieces, but those are the only ones we thought added enough value to be worth the money,” he said.
“The trick for torsional stiffness is that you’ve got to get the load through the tunnel and back to the shock towers and it is hard with the engine there,” Moss said. The car’s central spine, or tunnel, carries load from the front suspension back to the rear of the car, where the engine cradle castings transmit loads to the rear suspension mount castings.
That makes the tunnel a crucial link. It is a three-sided aluminum square tube, with an open bottom. For the C8 Corvette, Chevrolet applies a carbon fiber panel to the bottom to close that tunnel off, boosting its strength by 10 percent.
Chevy engineers applied carbon fiber judiciously to keep the ‘Vette’s cost down, selecting the fashionable material for the tunnel close-out panel and for the rear bumper beam. With the engine and transmission at the car’s rear end, it was important to minimize the weight of other components at the back, which is why the rear bumper beam is carbon fiber, Moss explained.
“We started with more carbon pieces, but those are the only ones we thought added enough value to be worth the money,” he said.
