GC floor pans

[toadjammer]

I am building a '93 Firebird I am building.
I would like to weld in frameconnectors and to attach the cage to make the car safer.
With that in mind I still want to maintain ground clearance so I am going to cut them into the floor pans and weld them to the rockers.

Will this kick me out of GC?

I also need to allow room for the exhaust tubing.  I can either cut the areas of the floor pan out and move them up or add a hump for the clearance. The least ammount of "modification would be to add the tunnels.  Which way helps me stay within the GC class?

Thanks
Trent

[JR529]

An important thing to remember is that as far as the rules are concerned, the airflow underneath the car is no different that the airflow above the car and the floor of the car is a stock body panel. GC is explicitly denied a step pan or a belly pan and are not allowed much in the way of streamlining at all. Now, with that said, there is a certain amount of common-sense leeway given with exhaust and frame reinforcement as neither of these could really be stock.

The ultimate question when viewing these changes is always the same, was this done to increase the apparent aerodynamic efficiency of the air flow in that area? 

I have seen wide, flat exhaust pipes that ran the length of the car and had a side benefit of really "cleaning up" the underside aero. The were disallowed because while they were exhaust pipes, they were also streamlining and illegal.
I have seen fabricated fuel cells that just happened to improve a really dirty underbody area into a clean aerodynamic shape. It was disallowed because while it was a fuel cell, which is allowed, it was also streamlining and illegal.

So, look at your frame rails. Has the aero been cleaned up in that area over the stock system? If it is a push or worse then you will likely be judged as good to go and there wont be a problem. Look at your exhaust and ask the same question. BTW, in Gas Coupe you can exit the exhaust through the front fenders, removing this potential pitfall all together.

Good luck with the build

[jimmy six]

I work with a competitor running that era Firebird in GC ( done by having  a qwik change) and I guaranty the bottom is stock. As stated above GC's are to be as "Production" as possible and everything he does is passed by the committee first. No one is telling you what vehicle to choose; but when you do you work with that platform. Good Luck.