1997 - 2004 Corvette: Technical Article: Corvette Crossmember Design and Manufacturing

Description:
This is an in-depth article that takes a look at the design, engineering and benefits of the C5 Corvette’s frame and crossmembers. It was first published in the SAE Automotive Engineering Magazine - August 1997.

Excerpt:
"The new C5 Corvette’s front and rear suspension crossmembers support these performance goals by providing a number of improvements over the previous model’s setup. The reduced sprung mass that results from their use improves performance in areas such as lateral acceleration, acceleration times, vehicle test weight class, stopping distance, and fuel economy. The higher local stiffness they provide means better component isolation is possible to reduce noise-energy transmission into the occupant compartment. The machining process used to make the crossmembers facilitates improved dimensional accuracy and repeatability, which contributes to handling precision by reducing suspension geometry variation..."

Link:  Corvette Crossmember Design and Manufacturing