3rd Gen Torque arms

[1bad Lad]

that exhaust is sweet much staighter than some of the y pipes out there...very nice who makes it???

[Braile]

Dan I have that exact trans crossmember you have, actually I have the prototype My exhaust system is alomst identical!

Ok so What system is it? No I have not seen it before. who makes it, I was planning on ordering the S&W one. But it is on Back order for another week or so.

[zacknolden]

Did jegs just come out with that one? That looks interesting. I'd like to see a closeup of the bracket/slider. It needs to actually decouple to change the instant center for braking.

It also looks interesting up-close

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My Truck Accessories

[sonic z]

I use Spohn torque arm and BMR extreme anti-roll bar.Spohn everything else.1.4 60ft.I think It works.

[ws6transam]

Ok so What system is it? No I have not seen it before. who makes it, I was planning on ordering the S&W one. But it is on Back order for another week or so.

http://www.unbalancedengineering.com

Jason Swindle made the torque arm, and I adapted it to the third-gen chassis.

I also have one of Andris's prototype crossmembers (http://www.skulte.com) for the T56 and long tube headers. It's what enabled me to create that straight exhaust with over 3.5" of ground clearance. Sorry, but the Y-pipe is hand-fabricated, then was ceramic coated at http://www.zoofactorycoatings.com in Kalamazoo, MI.

[Duke]

Good idea having it ceramic coated Dan, I might do the same thing. I'll go take a pic of my Y pipe right now...

[Duke]

[ws6transam]

See? There ya go! With a chop saw, a three-inch cutoff wheel and a MIG, anything is possible. Our Y-pipes look pretty much similar. IIRC, mine took about twelve leisurely hours to fabricate, and cost about $100 to make, plus $110 to ceramic coat.

However we're straying from the thread, aren't we?

FWIW, it's my opinion that the choice of the ultimate torque arm design is probably going be determined by the principal application. A shortie BMR/Madman design that employs a crossmember will lend itself to drag racing really well, but will sacrifice braking performance in autocross/road course applications. Steve Spohn's torque arms are highly bullet resistant, stout pieces, and you can't really go wrong with it. However my personal experience is that Spohn torque arms tend to get noisy and bang around under there on the street. (I've purchased and used two of them on my car).

If I were to have an automatic transmission again, I'd probably go back to a lightweight, adjustable torque arm that fits into a polyurethane bushing on the tailshaft. It's cheap, stiff, and light weight.
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Sean, I can't really figure out how the Mcpherson strut arrangement of a thirdgen versus fourthgen makes a difference in terms of wheelhop under braking though-- I'd need to get my head around some math to become convinced of that.
---
The torque arm solution I settled on is certainly not for the faint of heart as it required some intermediate skills with fabrication: I had to install steel tubing into the floorpan to strengthen it, fabricate brackets, recontour the transmmission tunnel, and even cut & widen it a few inches down in the rear seat area. It was also expensive, and I still haven't fully sorted it out for ultimate traction. It does great on the road course, and seems to hook on the drag strip, but I kept bogging the engine on the launch and never managed a 60-foot better than 1.88 seconds.

[TWOBEERS]

Do you have any pics? I'm currently working on my gen3. I'm running a SBC with a T400, and a moser 9". My intentions are to set it up to Autocross, some recreational Road course, and Drag Race. So far I've made my own adjustable Panhard, Relocation brkts, and boxed the control arms. I'm contemplating what I want/need from the Torque arm, and what design, or combination of, that I want to make.

[Sean]

Look at the way the 4th gen puts wieght on the strut and the upper and lower ball joint angle in a 3rd vs 4th gen. the SLA front suepsnion lends itself to dive gvien its geometery. Third gens are also over 100lbs lighter on the nose.

See? There ya go! With a chop saw, a three-inch cutoff wheel and a MIG, anything is possible. Our Y-pipes look pretty much similar. IIRC, mine took about twelve leisurely hours to fabricate, and cost about $100 to make, plus $110 to ceramic coat.

However we're straying from the thread, aren't we?

FWIW, it's my opinion that the choice of the ultimate torque arm design is probably going be determined by the principal application. A shortie BMR/Madman design that employs a crossmember will lend itself to drag racing really well, but will sacrifice braking performance in autocross/road course applications. Steve Spohn's torque arms are highly bullet resistant, stout pieces, and you can't really go wrong with it. However my personal experience is that Spohn torque arms tend to get noisy and bang around under there on the street. (I've purchased and used two of them on my car).

If I were to have an automatic transmission again, I'd probably go back to a lightweight, adjustable torque arm that fits into a polyurethane bushing on the tailshaft. It's cheap, stiff, and light weight.
---
Sean, I can't really figure out how the Mcpherson strut arrangement of a thirdgen versus fourthgen makes a difference in terms of wheelhop under braking though-- I'd need to get my head around some math to become convinced of that.
---
The torque arm solution I settled on is certainly not for the faint of heart as it required some intermediate skills with fabrication: I had to install steel tubing into the floorpan to strengthen it, fabricate brackets, recontour the transmmission tunnel, and even cut & widen it a few inches down in the rear seat area. It was also expensive, and I still haven't fully sorted it out for ultimate traction. It does great on the road course, and seems to hook on the drag strip, but I kept bogging the engine on the launch and never managed a 60-foot better than 1.88 seconds.