R13_Braz

Hey guys.

I've spent the last 3 hours searching and reading about our torque arm and the rear diff and here's my questions:

I've got a 8.5 rear axle out of my 79 that I saved after it got totaled. I have quite a bit of money into it, and plan on spending more eventually to accommodate my future plans. That aside, it has posi, 3.73's, moser 31-spline and a rear disc conversion on it.

The issue: I want to use it under my 92.

My reasoning: I'm dropping a 4.8 Vortec in, and the eventual goal by mid-2016, at the latest, is running a TT setup similar to what Hot Rod magazine did and getting as close to 1400HP, possibly throwing a methanol kit on as well. It won't be a constant 1400HP, but I would like the possibility to get there.

I already know about cutting and moving the mounts, etc... but I'm hitting a wall when it comes to the torque arm. For now, I had planned on using the the stock TA until I can upgrade to handle the HP/Torque, but the lack of mount (obviously) on the 8.5 has me scratching my head in frustration. There don't appear to be any aftermarket mount adapters that are sold and I really don't want to try to spend a ton of $$$ on another rear end as I'm working a budget build. The GNX idea, while great, isn't going to happen.

I initially thought about possibly designing and fabbing up an adapter that the mount could attach to that incorporates the 8.5 diff housing, with possible braces across the axle tubes? I admit, I don't have much fabrication experience, yet, but I do have access to a mechanical engineer (my dad) and planned on bouncing idea's/designs against.

The 4.8 with an LS6 intake, mid-tube headers and a tune should make decent HP for now, but the car has over 200k on it and while I could drop a few hundred on a new carrier and pinion/ring gear with 3.73's, if I could spend close to that amount fabbing up a mount for my already done 8.5, that's the direction I want to go.

Any and all opinions are welcome.

-B

1BADRZ28

iTrader: (2)

Racecraft has all the parts you need to convert that rearend. Look in their rear suspension parts. They also have a torque arm that mounts with tabs on the rear end.

R13_Braz

Thanks for the direction!

I forgot to mention that this car will see minimal track/strip use. I'm mainly doing this as a statement/show car (but not the kind that doesn't get driven... she's going to see miles).

I have a friend who builds strip cars and he claims he'll build me a 4-link.. if that's the case, TA be gone but I'm going forward with my plan/idea until such a time as he's in my garage with me welding and fabricating! lol

R13_Braz

After browsing the site.... very wide array of products! Can you confirm the quality of what they make?

Also, were you referring to the 82-02 CAMARO TORQUE ARM REAR MOUNT KIT? I sent them a message on it, but due to the lack of info in the description on it, I'm not seeing how that could work.

R13_Braz

Welp. No go there. That kit is mainly designed to be used in conjunction with their tubular TA, and also with their housing. Not with the stock TA or housing. So, back to the drawing board.

Granny

Not saying this is the way to go for you, just another data point of an 8.5 torque arm setup that does not require welding to the center section...







Wish i had better pics of the 8.5 version, but it's similar to the TA i make for the 8.8 shown below...



I don't sell the 8.5 version, just giving you ideas.

AlkyIROC

There's a lot of work fabricating something strong enough to take the stresses that the torque arm will put on the diff mounting hardware. The cast center section makes it almost impossible to weld anything to it. To get the cast hot enough for a proper weld, you end up distorting the case.

Sell your 8.5 and use the money to help pay for a proper direct bolt in 9", 12 bolt or D60. In the end, it will be a lot cheaper than trying to fab something up that's going to be safe enough to use. The aftermarket diff, will have all the proper mounting points installed or cast in, it will be the proper width and normally will allow for better brakes to be installed with different axle ends.

The stock TA sucks to begin with so you're going to want to replace that anyway. Any good aftermarket TA will move the front mount off the back of the transmission and put it onto the crossmember where it belongs.

If it was easy to install a non third/fourth gen diff, there would be a lot more threads on how to do it.