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Originally Posted by crayzayjay
$22k = approx £13k, which wont get you much in the UK. Ok, so at 22k its good VFM. But only for the idiots who “don’t know handling from the hole in their head”. As we've agreed these people are the majority so surely, from the bean-counting factory’s POV, modding potential isn’t the whole point of the car.. Call me a cynic but I find it hard to understand / believe that only a few cheap parts transform the whole car. Why wouldn’t they be fitted from the start? Then you’d have a $23k car that handles and goes well. Surely the bargain of all bargains...
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The stamped pieces probably cost in the $1 range for GM to make, more or less depending on the size and amount of material to be made. Tubular ones from an aftermarket company cost in the $200 range for the smaller to $400 for the larger, more complicated ones, so you can see where the bean counters would have their field day.
It's not just a matter of the price, GM has to make a profit on all the pieces, you need to pay for the machines to have them made, the men to run them, and the cost of the material. It's not very cut & dry.
As to the amount of difference they make, well, this is where knowing and modifying the cars comes into play. I'm not going to go too far into it unless people are either going to actually listen, plus I don't want to hijack the thread, but to put it simply... The pieces holding the axle to the chassis on an IRS car are firm, they don't flex, bend or anything and that's good. On the camaro, they can get away with having stamped pieces that flex because there won't be catastrophic failure if the axle moves out of place.
The only things holding it to the chassis deflect and bend when placed under load,a nd I'm sure you know what a dancing rear axle will do to a cars ability to turn, which is where the massive oversteer stigma (and admittedly, problems) come in. Like I said, I can post some pictures and show what I mean, but I'm not going that far into it as I'm sure most don't care.
To Jimster, that obviously is a very biased article, the LS1/6 is an extremely reliable engine and has won many awards from this sites favored magazines. The aussie spec LS1 is the same as the US, since all of them are built here and shipped over to OZ. Here the worst problem we've had with them is some piston slap during cold starts, which as anyone will tell you is harmless and common with large clearance engines, a must with an aluminum block, but many made it out to be much worse then it really is.