Of course the coupe has a more rigid chassis. But how much worse off is the hatchback? I figure a few things could easilly solve the problem.

Strut tower bars

Roll cages (welded to frame)

some sort of cross bracing.

Truck conversion!


Anyone else agree or dissagree? also post up your radical ideas..

 

i dont think the hatch is too much worse than the coupe. i think with a cage and some decent bracing between rear strut towers it should be good to go.

if u look at the differences, the coupe has the rear deck and slope where the back portion of the rear seat meets that metal and it has more of a trunk, less side window and less rear window. but the hatch is i guess floating (since it opens it doesnt solve flex between the two hatch "rails" (rails = where the hatch sits on the body) so maybe welding that shut or bracing it near the inner part of the taillights would help but that would go along with a complex cage.

also the coupes are lighter to begin with, so if someone was to try and make a hatch more rigid, they would remembe that:

weight of coupe with cages, etc < weight of hatch with same

 

I keep forgetting the actualy weight differences between coupe and hatch of the same year.. lets say 89... Going on autotrader.com, carpoint, and edmunds to find the answers

 

cool i remember seeing weight #s before but i dont really pay attention to s13 seeing as how i dont have one. i know they can be gotten into the 25xxs and i think greaser might be in that area (with cage, maybe with driver too?) i just remember s14 is

2800 base/2861 SE, but im sure mine is probably at like high 2900s

i do know 89/90 coupes were lightest as per mattback. but that could be due to sohc < dohc

 

Autotrader = 1990 S13 Hatch 2,684 / 1990 S13 Coupe 2,651

Edmunds = 1990 S13 Hatch 2,684 / 1990 S13 coupe 2728 :o WTF

Car point = 1990 S13 hatch 2,684 / 1990 S13 coupe 2,651


SO theres the verdict on weight a whole 33 lbs. I dont think 33 lbs makes that much of a difference....

 

so if you remove the rear seat and panels from a hatch you have a coupe lol with more flex.

 

yeah... I dunno, i dont think its gonna deter me from doing a sil80 vs making a silvia outta my gold car

 

On the subject of weight, just saw some thread where a s13 weighed in at like 2,300lb. Insane!

 

hrmm in one of the new import tuner mags they have all the specs on both coupe and hatch for the s13 chassis, as well as soem other drift cars

 

Well, usally I dont put Rear Strut tower bars on my cars, but when I put it on my 240sx hatch it made alot of differance, but I did TC rod bushings at the same time, so it could be combined, but either way more bracing helps both cars. Overall I dont see that there could be that much differance between the 2.