Mine came this morning. Installed and have driven about 60 miles.
It's worth every penny. Very pleased and shocked at the flimsy part GM used.
Anyways thanks for a great part.
I also mentioned the backbone to Craig, who at the time was the Vehicle Systems Engineer for Chassis, eventually became Lead Development Engineer for Kappa shortly afterward. He has extensive experience in structures, and off hand he did not think that since the tunnel belly pan acts in shear, that thicker would do much.
I also have a question in to another friend that worked on the early structural models and get his opinion.
__________________ I am a GM Engineer.
I do not claim to be a GM representative, all of my postings are my own interpretation and personal opinions.
OH CRAP !!!!!!!!!!!! I REALLY misspoke. In my earlier post I MEANT to speak about the PROBEAM, not the BackBone. My serious bad. Just shows you have MUCH i Want the BackBone.
ProBeam SCCA legal if installed without the three big bolts.
BackBone illegal in SP and SSM not matter how it's installed.
I DID go back and look for the error, but I was seriously UNDER coffeed this AM. Sorry.
__________________ Redline (pre-halt), Pearl, Black/Red
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I had both installed at the same time, but base on my testing (always on the same place) my conclusion is as follows.
The backbone changes the way the car transmits the road imperfections to the driver.
Going over railroad tracks the car feels more solid than before. The same thing happens with bumps or rough pavement.
The ProBeam makes the car handle a lot better. I have verified a 10 to 20 mph higher cornering speed on the same portion(s) of a track.
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I also have a question in to another friend that worked on the early structural models and get his opinion.
Steve, if at all you get a chance to run that blind test, please do and share the results with us. I am by no means any real driver, but do have a problem with curiosity. While no doubt, terrible testing, I did try to gauge the feel differences with a few different setups, using a local driving school which uses the Streets of Willow course at Willow Springs. For tests I did get in, we'd get about 100 road course track miles per config. Luckily I hooked up with one of the course instructors who is a real driver and had him taste test each configuration. My old 2.4 was the first client car that he ever put off-track after a missed down-shift, and things went from there. I never got the chance to test the backbone on track as 'verts without safety equipment were banned just after I installed.
I started with a stock suspension on my 2.4 and took it to the track. Wanted more suspension so added the full GMPP kit. Better. Out of curiosity, added the Z0K crossmember and hit the track again with just a month gap between runs. Both I and the instructor felt an improvement. Kind of a hassle to install the crossmember though. When I traded my 2.4 for a 2.0, I brought the suspension pieces which were different and later added both the DDM crossmember brace and backbone at the same time. Remember, I'm neither a driver nor engineer, but unless I'm mistaken, there shouldn't have been much difference beyond the backbone I figured. The last track test with the backbone, as mentioned, didn't happen as I couldn't get that last lapping day, so the RL has never hit the track. . It sure feels like something's different and better with the backbone, and I had plenty of time and "local tests" with all but the backbone, although I did swap models. Please do run this down for us, but I donno. I'm not uninstalling.
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I was told about an example of where someone with a backbone was run of the road and had some damage to the right front. The adjuster told them that is similar cases she had seen the frame was bent from such and impact and the car totaled, in there case the backbone kept the tunnel from collapsing and they were able to repair the car. I know to some degree collapse of parts is meant to absorb shock and help us live through a crash, but in this case it helped the car survive and no one was injured.
I would love to see the difference between the effect of a backbone on a Coupe versus a ragtop, I bet the difference is far less significant. ALL ragtops tend to flex, it is a consequence of no roof. If being stiffer had any disadvantages wouldn't they appear in a coupe as well.
I am not an engineer but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night....
Steve, Thanks for giving me a head ache no really, knowing your imput in the design of the car, I really do appreciate your imput, even if the bean counters win out in the end. come to the Maryland Mod meet in October, I bet we can do the blind test there, there are at least a dozen stock covers in Joe's Garage.
That said, I offer the following to those on either side of the fence:
I am not an engineer, don't think I have slept with one, and didn't stay at the Holiday Inn Express last night so you can take my opinion for what it is - an opinion
My car is not quite stock, even with the stage II supercharger set up, when I accellarated hard in first or second gear (just below the point of wheel spin) the left front of the car would flex upward and the rear would squiggle right, left, right in rapid progression before settleling down. When I did spin the tires, the rear would shoot to the right hard and I would have to feather the troutle to control it.
I installed both the probeam and backbone at the same time so I can't say which did what, but the car no longer squiggles, doesn't twist under accelaration, and when I boiled the RSA's the power slide was easy to control with steering imput. I have since gotten ride of the RSA and I am using a more aggressive tire, so there is better bite more weight transfer to the rear as the front end lifts as one with out the flex.
So after all that, my opinion - they are worth the money.
Carl - I had to take of the cross strut brace as well, my supercharger was hitting it. I believe they are re-designing the supports.
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dealer expected deliver 6 March, arrived 28 Feb, picked up that night w 3.2 miles on the clock :)
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This is strange, as the descriptions of how your cars acted before the backbone installation is exactly how a kappa starts to feel if you undertorque or remove some of the middle bolts in then tunnel belly pan.
Are you sure that the bolts were all tight before you changed to your backbone?
__________________ I am a GM Engineer.
I do not claim to be a GM representative, all of my postings are my own interpretation and personal opinions.
This is strange, as the descriptions of how your cars acted before the backbone installation is exactly how a kappa starts to feel if you undertorque or remove some of the middle bolts in then tunnel belly pan.
Are you sure that the bolts were all tight before you changed to your backbone?
Here is my input, not sure how much it will contribute to the debate.
The bolts on my OEM plate were all tight, in fact I ultimately had to go to a garage to get my backbone installed because I could only loosen 11 of the 12 bolts during my attempt at self-install. And the 11 I loosened were all pretty much a struggle to break loose, and at the limit of my strength given the position I was in lying under the car.
When I did bring it to the tire place close to my house for them to install, the mechanic commented that he thought the backbone might break some time in the future, as the backbone is a flat plate but the OEM plate had some curvature to it. Now I don't know if the OEM plate is supposed to be completely flat or not, but my thought was that it may have started out flat and the curvature on the OEM plate when it was removed may have been due to flexing over the course of the 25,000 miles I have already put on the car, most of which were driven rather vigorously through varying degrees of twisty roads.
Flash's Owner, do you know if the OEM part is flat or slightly curved when installed new?
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This is strange, as the descriptions of how your cars acted before the backbone installation is exactly how a kappa starts to feel if you undertorque or remove some of the middle bolts in then tunnel belly pan.
Are you sure that the bolts were all tight before you changed to your backbone?
Well, now that you have up THAT subject, what should the bolts be torqued to?
__________________ Redline (pre-halt), Pearl, Black/Red
complete option list except auto, 3" MF cat-back,
painted calipers, owner installed power lock buttons, muc uprated springs, S.P. downpipe, Wester's tune
This is strange, as the descriptions of how your cars acted before the backbone installation is exactly how a kappa starts to feel if you undertorque or remove some of the middle bolts in then tunnel belly pan.
Are you sure that the bolts were all tight before you changed to your backbone?
The impact gun didn't spin wildly on any of them From what I have read the torque on those bolts is on 30 lbs right? I was putting 239hp and 245 torque to the wheels at the time
__________________
BIX A BEL Cool, Ebony leather, Chrome, loaded, no XM/onstar Founding member of the "Lost Sols Club"
Deposit (1100) - 9/29/05, 1101/1102 - 2 Feb 06, 2500 - 7 Feb 06, 3000 - 8 Feb 06, 3100 - 13 Feb 06, 3300 - 13 Feb 06, 3400 - 14 Feb 06, 3800 - 24 Feb 06 (112544), 4000 - 24 Feb 06, 4150 - 24 Feb 06
dealer expected deliver 6 March, arrived 28 Feb, picked up that night w 3.2 miles on the clock :)
NOT WAITING ANY MORE! DDM Stage III Upgrade here
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I REALLY misspoke. In my earlier post I MEANT to speak about the PROBEAM, not the BackBone. My serious bad. Just shows you have MUCH i Want the BackBone. 
I never got the chance to test the backbone on track as 'verts without safety equipment were banned just after I installed.
. It sure feels like something's different and better with the backbone, and I had plenty of time and "local tests" with all but the backbone, although I did swap models. Please do run this down for us, but I donno. I'm not uninstalling. 
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