quote:Originally posted by Bosswrench:
....There have been rumors that body flex with an unmodified Pantera have cracked some fully bonded windshields. ...
Jack, I'm sure that could happen but my experience is that it must take quite a blow. I hit an unseen drainage dip at about 25 mph hard enough to completely bottom the front suspension and flatten the lip of the front "chin" under the radiator (I had the Hall heavy duty springs and the shocks set in the middle) and break the 1" (hollow) sway bar. My glue in windshield did not break.
In my opinion (as a Mechanical Engineer with no analysis to back it up) the glued in windshield is probably the most effective thing that can be easily done to stiffen the Pantera.
When I was restoring ZONKEY I looked at the various front and rear stiffening kits available then (~2000) and was not impressed that any of them could accomplish much as they were all working at or near the center of the moment of inertia where they would be least effective. And there was no data to support their value. It would have been relatively easy for any of the vendors offering them to provide before and after stiffness measurements. I still have the Hall rear swaybar add on kit that I bought but never installed (it was going to be a bit of a pain) after looking at it more critically and thinking "how could this noticably improve stiffness".