02-27-2009, 01:02 PM
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#51 |
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Join Date: May 2001 Location: Delaware Twp, NJ
Posts: 408
Car: '79 Malibu Engine: 355 Transmission: º º 0 . . . |-|-| | Re: IROC Handling vs GTA WS6 Handling
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Originally Posted by GICATA  Okay, so it seems I'm talking out of my tailpipe...sorry I don't mean to blab about things I don't know enough about. I come more from the drag racing side and have always been led to this mod. | That mod works much better for drag racing because you actually want additional rear resistance to the car rolling. The more roll resistance you put back there the better you get to use the engine torque reaction to "re-plant" the RR tire that wants to go light. Some of the G-body guys use a HUGE rear sta-bar for the same reason, and ladder bars are just another way of doing the same thing.
Together with stiff poly bushings, you get a little less roll and a lot more lateral head-toss going over one-wheel bumps and diagonal dips in the road, so I can see where it would be easy to think that more stiffness back there has to be better. Unfortunately, it isn't. You can tune around it a little, but that's kind of like putting a band-aid on a self-inflicted cut.
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I wanted to replace the arms on my TA...but not for the curves I guess?
So the vehicle wants flex in a rotational manner at the axle, but no flex in a horisontal manner? Doesn't the Torque arm (axle to trans) keep this from happening? Does the upgrade aftermarket adjustable torque arm afford less flex and cause problems as well? Help!
| The vehicle wants to roll in the turns. The axle mostly doesn't (tires do deflect so it does a little). Anyway, all of the links between the axle and the chassis need to be able to accommodate this movement without putting up a lot of resistance. As OE stock, this is mostly accomplished by flexibility in the bushings, though the LCAs have been left torsionally flexible partly to help this (another reason might be to avoid creating water/crud traps in these rather mission-critical components). As soon as you stiffen up the bushings for a cornering situation, you need to find another way to provide this flexibility, and if all you do is further stiffen the LCAs - you're going in exactly the wrong direction.
I'm not sure what you mean by "flex in a horisontal manner".
The torque arm resists side view axle rotation about the axle shaft center(think pinion angle change). That's all it's supposed to do.
The PHB resists lateral axle movement. In terms of controlling axle movements, that's all it does.
The LCAs keep the axle ends in place, which also keeps the axle mostly perpendicular to the vehicle centerline as you look down on the whole business (plan view rotation).
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