It is 12 ga material so about twice as thick as the factory sheet metal. Very heavy duty kit.
Sounds like a gauge thickness upgrade for those with 39lb rotors, and there is only one member here who likely understands that comment, and he has me blocked.
I've been thinking about your comments and am wondering what is driving them.
It appears that you have the opinion that some people are adding things to their cars that do not make much of a difference except to add weight. If that is your take on it, I can see your point. Maybe there are some people that are buying into a story.
I do not have a chassis jig to test any of this stuff. I rely on trusted professionals to do the testing and display their observations. It is obvious to me that the OEM factory stuff was a compromise of cost and durability. Cast iron rotors and calipers were part of that.
These cars were built in a different time too. The factories were trying to comply with crash standards, emission standards, fuel economy demands, etc. Handling was not a huge priority yet then.
Rick Ehrenberg has written for years about how to make our classics handle better than stock. He is a proponent of frame connectors. XV Motorsports did extensive testing in chassis stiffness. Now maybe they spoke about their findings to establish a false belief that their products were necessary....OR Maybe they were right. US Cartool offers some things that look similar to some stuff XV had. The stuff they offer don't seem to be very heavy. I don't know if you have ever cut apart one of these cars but I have. The frame rails are pretty flimsy on their own. So is the core support. Sure, welded together they are a lot stiffer but they do still flex a bit. The brace inside the front wheelhouse that fits between the cowl and upper control arm mount area ...To me, that seems to make sense. The one that runs under the radiator does too. I have a pair of A body front frame rails out back with the torsion bar crossmember and core support, all welded together as original. It will twist torsionally and you can see it in the core support area. This is just with two men twisting it. No engine or trans weight, no suspension, just 2 guys of average strength. The bracing there in the form of square tubing would probably be impressive.
For me personally, I have a few of these chassis stiffening items in my own car and I can attest that they did make a difference.
I welded the K member and added gussets around the steering box mounts. There is no flex there like before. I made my own torque boxes, essentially copies of factory versions. I added them after welding in 3x3" frame connectors. I may have been able to get similar results with smaller or lighter 2x2" units but the car felt much more solid after the installation.
My car, a 1970 Charger weighs 3940 lbs with a 440/727/8.75 axle with HD torsion bars, front and rear sway bars and a full interior. Whats a few extra lbs if it actually helps?
Lot there to digest, but it deserves a response.
1. The vendor that is mentioned as the current supplier, IMO has a long proven track record of supplying "solutions" that are not well designed, including the cantilevered DS safety loop, the "rocky mountain" 3 sided frame connector, and now this essentially, a front bullet deflector/rad support, among others. I would never suggest these items have NO benefits, but the designs are often lacking, and don't appear to be well thought out, and for the average car owner, they should be aware of any shortcomings of these offerings. It's their money, and their car, and can make any decision they chose, including adding weight for little bang. Nobody should refrain from having a fair discussion, warts and all.
2. On to the core support, keep in mind all chassis loads effectively start at the tire contact patch, and migrate thru the suspension to all items of mass of the car. In our cars, the mass in front of the K member is minimal, and often unimportant, from a handing stand point. Up front, keeping the UCA pivot points positioned, is not well achieved with a 12g radiator support, located a distance away, with only some 14g(?) connecting the two.
I am not saying it does not make this area stiffer, but I question how important it is in the first place, and what benefit is really gained here. One hyperbole example, it might be like bragging about upgrading your radio antenna with a 1/2" Dia model, so it doesn't shake when the car is driven. when I read about the 4 post XV video from years back
3. OP has a well earned, long respectable reputation in our car world, and made his choices here to suit his needs, but others may have a different set of parameters.
4. I am surprised with this level of an upgrade, no mention has made about making the center upper rad support removable, for easier swaps, etc., which I have done, and will do on all my future cars.
5. To be be perfectly forth coming, my last Rad support I built, is 5/8" thick, weighs 9lbs?, is Carbon Fiber/Kevlar/multi Ply Russian Birch sandwich, it removed approx 3 lbs? from in front of the front axle.
