[68ragtop]

Skip, I am not sure what you are talking about. Can you post a pict?

I'll bet that is what happened. I suppose as the "new" frame design came into production, they probably all had the holes in them. In the same way they have holes for the clutch linkage brakets.

I suppose as new frames were used, there were still old style fames in production lines. If you had a WS6 car with the old style frame, the car didn't get the braces. If you had a non WS6 car & new frame, you got a frame with holes in it for the brackets, but no brakets.

What would help prove this, is if everyone took a look to see if their cars have the holes & posted their build date. If this is true, then late 78, 79 & up cars should all have the holes. I would think the old style frame would be gone by late/mid 78?

[MalteseFalcon]

Here is a pic of the Camaro bars. These are installed on a race car, but they show the mounting provisions.

[MalteseFalcon]

Here's another piece of the puzzle. A very knowlegable person over on TAC advises that the Camaro-style braces started showing up on Firebirds in 1977 along with the"shaking" Buick V6 - so the sub frames should be drilled in 1977 up. The WS6 braces fit in the same holes.

If they changed the subframe for the 1977 model year, I would have thought that at the rate they were building Firebirds and Camaros in 1977, GM would not have old stock lying around, but in any event, would have been through it by the start of the 1978 model year.

Must be another reason.

[P@blo]

I thought the sub frame connector was at the rear of the frame rails and those little support bars were on all TA's ?

[MalteseFalcon]

These are sub-frame braces. Uou are right that sub frame connectors are bars that connect the front and rear sub-frames

The sub frame braces are not on all T/A's, just WS6's (Or most WS6's anyway!)

[P@blo]

Thanks Falcon

[BLURR]

Originally Posted by MalteseFalcon

These:

HAHA thats my cars sub frame you got a pic of.

My 78 was made in November of 1977 and had the holes and braces as yall could see from the pic.

[MalteseFalcon]

Originally Posted by BLURR

HAHA thats my cars sub frame you got a pic of.

Well, it is an excellent picture

[68ragtop]

I thought I would revive this post again.

I bought a 77 T/A That I am Parting out. Basket case car.
It Has frame conectors

Its a early 2nd quarter 77 car. I am guesing it must have been wrecked & got a 78+ WS6 car doner frame. But I don't see any obvious signs of a frame swap. Weird......

So I have a original 78 WS6 car without them, & a 77 that should never have had them.

[MalteseFalcon]

So here's another interesting piece of information on this topic. The scan below is from the 1980 Firebird assembly manual. Its entitled "FRAME ASM & FRT BRACES to FRT CROSSMEMBER". This diagram shows nothing except where to mount the braces. Hence, it should have been issued at the time they went into production.

I'm not sure if you'll be able to read it, but in the notes at the bottom, it says "Date" and "Revision". Between those words is something else, might be "SER" but its not clear on the copy I have.

But the first entry says "12 FE 78 ISSUED"

So based on this, it looks like this might be a running change that occurred in February 1978. Nothing that I can decode on the document indicates that its part of the WS6 package, although I believe that it is.

[superdutybob]

My early March built 78 WS6 car had them and I used to run Hooker Headers without an issue. I never needed to take them off.

[Larry Navarro]

I took the right side brace off of the '79 to access the oil filter a little easier.
Those bars don't look like they help much as they are very short and really don't span a long distance on the part of the frame that is obviously very strong. Now from a point under the crossmember to say the forward body/frame mounting bolt would be more obvious.

[MalteseFalcon]

I think they're intended to control front-to-back deflection of the lower rear control arm mount.

[grandam1979]

I have a set of them chromed if anyone is interested.

[wh33lman]

I'm missing one these connectors/braces, passenger side. I probably took it off when I had headers installed.

Anyone have one they want to sell?

Not many 2nd Gen TA's in the yards around here.