Here are some pics of my custom made crossmember I fabbed up to get more ground clearance for my long tube headers and ypipe. I made this to work with my Spohn torque arm which uses a sperical rod end and rotator plates as a mount. I had to made shorter rotator plates since the new mount is postioned higher up in the tunnel. I used 1"x3" steel for the construction and 2x2 steel for the mounting arms. I will post a few pics here to start with. there is a link under the last pic which has a lot more pics of the crossmember.






MORE PICS HERE>>>>http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y98...8/crossmember/

 

that looks awesome! how many hours do you have into it? i look forward to seeing it with the exhaust installed

 

I have pics of it with the ypipe installed in my photobucket album. There is a link to it under the last pic. I have about 8 solid hours into it.

 

sweet! i wish i had one of those when i was running longtubes. having an 1/8 inch of ground clearance sucks.

now i have 2055s, love that y-pipe.

...you bring long awaited hope to LT fans! any possibilities on production?

 

Nice job on the crossmember. I will have mine complete on tuesday. I like how yours goes up so that the exhaust is lower then the crossmember. Mine will have the crossmember be lower then the exhaust but that is just how it all worked out on my car.

I am assuming that the 2" x 2" is angle iron. How thick did you go? I used 7ga (3/16") steel for the mounting flanges of mine and I also used 1" x 2" 1/8" steel tubing for the main part of my crossmember.

I'll post pictures on Wednesday of mine. I do still have to build my exhaust. That will be a pretty good tasy. So no picture of the exhaust as of yet.

I like how yours worked out with the factory frame. I relocated my frame rails for more exhaust room on my car. How big our your head pipes off your collectors?

 

I'm running 3" pipes straight back from the header collectors. The 2x2 steel is some angle iron I picked up at a local metal shop. The 1x3 steel was bought online somewhere. I dont remember how thickit was. I wil have to do some looking around for the reciepts. here is a pic of the exhaust installed

 

nasty!

 

It looks great. I like the fact that there are some gifted people on the TGO board. It helps pust the level of fabrication to the next level. I was really bummed with the qualitity of fit and clearancew with my Spohn crossmember. How the heck are you supposed to run exhaust with that set up? I have no clue????

I mean other then the crossmember the workmanship and qualitity was great!!
I did not want to build all of the stuff from scratch. I ended up having to do major modifacations to my car anyway. So I shoud have just bilt mine from the get go.

Just curious... Do any of you have a 9" in your car wit a Spon torque arm? If so did your car hit in and around the torque arm mount around the rear end? I am having mine hit around the bolt on bracket. I will have to box the area to make mne fit.

My car is lowered about 2" all the way around.

 

Comp if your talking about the top of the torque arm hitting the tunnel of the car onhard launches then it is a common problem with most aftermarket beefy TAs on cars that are lowered. I think mine hit once in a blue moon. Maybe when the tank is full. I ended up grabbing the 3lb hammer and tweaked the tunnel just ever so slightly for a little more clearance. I think I may have grinded the bracket a bit too or was planning on it if it did it again. I hasvent driven my car since then so I can tell. Im running a 10 bolt with the Eibach pro kit though

 

from the pics it looks like its time for some sfcs?

 

are you saying that because you see something you dont like or because you think I need them with the mods I have? I am already running a 6pt roll bar. I chose the bar over the SFC because at that time, I was runing a custom dual cat setup similar to the SLP one and it was right on the way of where the passenger SFC had to do and I wasnt cutting up the exhaust. I may consider it now though. Maybe I will make my own....hmmmmm another project

 

you've got a great car, i didn't realize you had a cage. i was just a bit surprised looking at all the go fast parts in your sig that you didn't have sfc's.

not trying to tell you what to do, just curious whats next

awesome car.

 

Awesome job man might have to copy that design myself

How is your is your ground clearance?

 

I do and my car is not lowered and she hits just like your saying. I had to make up a new rear mount bracket for the torque arm so it don't hit the trans tunnel and then I had no choice but to take a hammer to the body to make room for the bolt

 

Tony,

It sounds as if it is a combination of a few things. First that my car is lowered and second that I have the 9" rear end with an aftermarket TA. Mine hits more then a hammer is going to fix.I have already massaged it with a hammer and only was able to get about an 1/8" of room with the car sitting loaded. I have created a box to weld in around the torque arm. This should fix the issue. Once I complete my crossmember that is the next thing to install.

 

Mine hit the tunnel as well. I was lowered at the time, I am now bakc up to stock hieght. I still thought it was close, so I cut the floor, opened up the cut added a piece of sheet metal in there and welded it up. Took all of 30minutes to do. Now it will never hit and the work is hidden by the rear seats.

As for that TQ arm mount/x-member............That looks great. If you ever manage to make more, I will be more than happy to dish out a couple hunded bucks for one!

 

Hows the ground clearance Bottled? I always wanted longtubes, but loving lowered vehicules makes me hesitate... Even tho Im going w/air ride.

 

Spike, I have no idea about the ground clearance yet. I havent taken my car off the stands yet. I planb on adding the air irde as soon as money grows on trees. Oh and there is a pic of a side view from the GFX showing how far down the setup is. Its inside the link under the last pic. As for making ore of these for resale... I dont know how that will work out. Everones car is a little different so it may be hard ot make one for a car that isnt here to mock it up on.

 

the more I look at it, the better it gets :-) what're the odds of getting a print or some dimensions? that's a T56, right? which long tubes are you running?

 

I am running Hooker 2210 LTs. I donthave any dimensions of the crossmember right now. Yes it is a T56 transmission.

 

See I had the same problem cause I to have the t-56 spohn torque arm and a 9" moser rear and mine was doing the same what yours was but I think I had like a 1/2 gap but still not enough for travel. That's why I made a new bracket that basically moved the 2 pieces going up on the bracket as close as I can get to the yoke, then kind of reshaped the top and bottom plate. I can't say this would work for you but might be something to think about. I can probably jack up the car and take some pic's if you want if it would help.

 

Def take some pics. I am having trouble picturing what you are saying.

 

Looks great. Nice to see how it fits in there. I was wondering how it fit.

 

it fits perfect. Thanks for the powdercoating

 

Good work man, that looks great. You do some good work.

 

nice job!

 

Thumbs up! You should market them. Im sure they would sell !!!

 

You should talk to Steve spohn, maybe you can send your X-member to him for a few days, he can take measurments and pay you for the design. Then he can mass produce them. Just a thought. Might turn out that you make somehting off your great idea.

 

I have thought about that already. Id would have to email him and see how he feels about it. I dont even want money though. He can send me everything that fits my car from his catalog. Then we both win. He gets publicity from his name and I get PARTS for the car.

 

BOTTLEDZr28,

If your will to send it to someone drop me a PM. I'll be happy to pay for shipping both ways. I would just take some measurements and build a jig and then Tig weld them up.

Between the fabrication stuff I have at my work and also at my shop I could build some really nice ones. My car has just been reworked around the crossmember area so I can't take any measurements off my car anymore.

See thread in fabrication 1982 Silver state project

I'll be happy to pay you for the design too.

Brett

 

Even better. You should def do that. And send him a link to this thread, so he knows there is interest. I can tell you now that I would be first in line. $ in hand. haha.

 

Hey bottled where are you in Eastern MA? I am in Needham. I might have asked you this allready... I have a bad memory. It would be cool to see your car in person sometime.

 

Tony,

I thought about making a new bracket or modifying mine but it was just easier to form up a sheet metal box in the brake at work. Since I have doing quite a bit of welding on my car anyway it was just easier to weld in a new section around the TA. I appreciate the offer for the picture but I already know first hand about what the issues look like. I'll take some pictures and post them on how I fixed mine. Since the back seat covers it all anyway it is really not a big issue.

With all of the work that I've done under my car that was hardly anything to worry about. It is just one of those things that with all of the little things start adding up to alot of time.

 

Dennis Im from Westport MA. Just one town over from Tiverton RI. Id behappy to show my car off just as soon as the pig gets finished. I have a little bit left on it and I sgould be able to fire her up before christmas to make sure she good for the spring time.

Brett, what do you think something like this is worth to someone who can mass produce them? I have no problem sharing my design but I want to be reconized for it in some way or another.

 

that would be awesome if this part were reviewed by someone like Steve Spohn and available for purchase. Not that I don't believe you did an awesome job with it, because you did, but it wouldn't hurt to have someone that makes chassis and suspension parts for a living review the design and construction before mass producing them for sale.

I would contact several places and see what it's worth to them. Although you don't have a patent so they can produce a very similar or even identical design if they so chose. basically, don't expect to get TOO much from them. I'd hope that you would get some free parts out of it though

 

Trust me, if Steve Spohn or any other copany out there wanted too, they could make one of these in a weekend. And now that there is hard pics of mine on the internet, it will be even easier for someone to get a better visual of it and its all a matter of fabbing something up from there. Id be happy if Spohn said hey we like your crossmember and we would like to mass produce it, heres a new front K member, sway bars, and A arms for your car, Free. But I dont think it will be clsoe to that. I think there way to many varialbes involved in making this part. Its a custom one part for a custom exhaust setup. If this part was mass produced then the buyer would have no choice buy to make their own ypipe.

 

Hey BOTTLED, you already know I want one of these bad boys too. LOL Spohn could market them with his torque arm and maybe throw a driveshaft loop on it too. Well call it the Zr28 crossmember for use with a T-56 tranny and longtubes. Why should Skulte be the ONLY one making a T-56 longtube crossmember.


I want one!!

EDIT: Another thought, if Spohn was to market one of these, he could also make a Y-pipe for it as well. One for Hooker 2210's, and maybe one for the Headmans too. That way Mufflex wouldent be the ONLY one to make a Y-pipe.

 

hell yeah! good idea. Man I wish I had one. I wouldn't have to redesign me entire exhaust.

Oh well. Till then the neigbors are going to have to deal with my dual dumps. And hopefully the cops leave me alone.

Good thing it is winter soon and the car will be in storage. I hope some company gets this idea and runs with it before spring.

(fingers crossed)

 

awesome work. That's the only reason I haven't bought the rest of my suspension, I'm doing an LSx conversion and don't want a factory exhaust i want the most i can get out of it. And this means long tubes. I've even toyed with the idea of going turbo since i couldnt run duals. But my buddy is doing a similar build as myself and is staying NA and I know he'd buy one.

 

you are my hero!!!!! Ive been wanting to try this for awhile now. I didnt want to cut up my spohn one tho...

So a couple of questions.

1. Will the 'bushing' style end that comes on the spohn parts work? Or do you have to switch to the rod end???

2. The cylinder that you welded onto your arm...was that a piece of the spohn member...or did you use a piece of tubing or something. Im talking about the crossmember side of the "shackle"...

I know what Im doing this winter... byebye hawks pavement dragging poor flowing y-pipe. Hello ground clearance and 3"s all the way back!

Justin

 

Well, I guess I’ll be the big party pooper in this thread… it’s something that I’m good at anyway.

First, if anyone wanted to produce that setup they could do it easily from the pictures posted. I’ve had a few ideas ripped off/marketed by assorted venders before and debate about posting useful pictures of them anymore just because of that.

Second… just a quick, cursory look at your pictures plus having seen failures with the assorted T56 crossmembers out on the market, I think you’re giving up both ground clearance and strength where you don’t need to.

For example, instead of hanging one leg of the angle iron down like you have it (it will catch all sorts of crap…), I’d flip it so it boxes the inside corner of the subframe. You’d have to unscrew the one fuel/brake line clip, but you could make it so it actually attaches to your crossmember if you want to, and any moving of the lines would be so minor that it wouldn’t involve any bending or anything. With that done you could get rid of the funky tight/compound angle on the driver’s side, square off the box stock and tuck it up higher so you’d have even more exhaust clearance. On the passenger side, you could probably replace the bend with a straight section and do the same, or keep the bend and weld the box stock to the horizontal surface instead of the vertical surface.

Having seen a few subframes rip open in that area on T56 conversion members because you’re shifting the weight to a part of the frame that was not reinforced for the tranny or TA load I’d actually consider adding some reinforcing plates there, or if I wasn’t worried about a weld in install I’d make the angle iron parts weld on saddles to the subframe with a captured bolt in piece for the actual cross member.

You either shouldn’t have a doubled box section where the trans mount bolts through to the crossmember or that section should be reinforced with a through tube to support it, otherwise you’ll just be fighting an assembly that is going to chronically try to loosen/rattle on you.

Finally, for a fast car that TA pivot should at the very least be gusseted, as it is it will tear out if you put enough wheels up launches or hard road racing on it. Even better then that would be if you didn’t use the spohn TA and had slightly different geometry locating the end of the TA slightly differently so you could make the pivot more of an integral part of the crossember _and_ adjustable.

Though I will defiantly thank you for posting pictures, you have some good ideas there and it finally got me to sit down and do some concrete thinking about how I’m going to do my 4L80e crossmember (tranny mount is another 2-3” further back then the T56 and the tranny is MUCH more bulky) and custom torque arm setup.

 

Ive thought about getting some different angle iron, and putting on the "INSIDE" of those subframe areas. And throwing a couple bolts in horizontally as well as the stock bolts taht go up from the bottom. Do that...and I dont think anything is ripping off of those suckers.

I definetly agree with the mount comment. I planned on making a bigger hole in the bottom for access to the bolt. Shouldnt comprimise strength that much.

As for his torque arm mount...I think that will work. I mean its not much different from the original Spohn assembly. I think some gusseting is always a good idea...but might be overkill. That thing looks pretty strong as it is.

If I cant get this idea to work....and I will try...Im ditching the torque arm in favor of those g-force ladder bars. I plan to reinforce the control arm pockets even more than the SFCs do, and run those. Its nothing permanent, and I can always go back to torque arm. However, if it does work out, I can do whatever I want for a crossmember...like use the famed Drews crossmember...or a homemade version atleast.

Justin

P.S...by the way. I had a nasty "slamming/banging" sound from the rear when I first started driving my car after the swap. Knew it was the torque arm bracket...so I let it clearance itself. One big bump, a super loud bang, then that was it. I supposed it wont hit again until I hit an even bigger bump...but that has yet to happen in over 1400 miles of driving.

 

ghettocruiser, Im not familair with the bushing style attachment from Spohn so I dont know if it will either fit or work well on this style crossmember. That "cylinder" you are talking about is a new piece I bought from Spohn. It is the same part he uses and he sold me a bare one for a few bucks. I made my own rotator plates since the stock ones where about 1/4" to tall and the top bolt would have hit the case of the tranny.


83 Crossfire TA, I read your first sentance and I said, here we go.... But Im sure you bring some good points to this topic. First off, I knew that putting these pics on the net may give others an easy way out and just copy this idea fromme to make there but I really dont mind. I used this same idea from another member here. Now I dont really understand what you mean by "I think you’re giving up both ground clearance and strength where you don’t need to." How am I giving up ground clearance with this setup. giving it up compared to what? Even if I could tuck the pipes up further, it wouldnt be worth it. somewhere along the way, the pipes have to merge into some sort of collector. The only places for this is under the torque arm and driveshaft or just to the passenger side of it. Either way, the pipe(s) will be low there no matter what. If the pipe is at a certain height there then why would I try to raise the rest of it between there and the header flanges up even further and make more work for myself? My ypipe is tucked up as far as it will pysically go without modifying the floor of the car. It sits 1" lower then the center of the crossmember where it bolts to the tranny. I think thats pretty good ground clearance considering the setup I have to work with here.

Also you said "For example, instead of hanging one leg of the angle iron down like you have it (it will catch all sorts of crap…),".. the angle iron is the same exact size as the Spohn unit. I just measured his and made 2 copies so its not like mine are low compared to the "professional" ones out there.

you also said "You either shouldn’t have a doubled box section where the trans mount bolts through to the crossmember or that section should be reinforced with a through tube to support it, otherwise you’ll just be fighting an assembly that is going to chronically try to loosen/rattle on you."
There is a through tube welded inside that section. If it becomes an issue then I will drill out the bottom hole bigger, remove the tube and install a shorter bolt.

Also, you said "Finally, for a fast car that TA pivot should at the very least be gusseted, as it is it will tear out if you put enough wheels up launches or hard road racing on it" That setup is the same as the Spohn unit. Now I have no proof that his idea is a proven never to fail idea but the guy does this for a living so you gotta give him some credit on what and how he builds things. But, if for some reason, it fails then I will come up with something different. I dont claim to be a structual engineer and cant say this will never fail but if it does then I will learn from my mistakes and fix them. This thing was built in a driveway on my back with nothing but a welder, tape measure, grinder, drill, and some beer. I attempted something that most will never be able to do. This is how custom made parts become parts you buy in a catolog. Trial and error until its perfect.

I dont plan on road racing or living at the track with this car. It wont see the abuse some cars get so Im not too worried about my subframe failing. But again, if it does then I will fix it and make it better. That just what we do in this hobby But again,83 Crossfire TA, I appreciatte, your opinions on this and maybe after all this someone can make a "perfect" crossmember from information from everyone who is involved in this modification.

ghettocruiser, one more thing, you also mention the idea of putting the angle iron on the "inside" of the frame rail. If Im thinking what your thinking then the only way to put those "extra" side bolts in would be to drill a hole on the outer side of the frame rail so you can get a bolt through the rail. Nothing difficult though. Or maybe cutting out a retangular box, drill 2 or 3 holes in the inner part of the rail and then welding a nut to the inside of the rail. Then you can reweld the cut piece of steel back. Then all you need to do is screw the bolts in. Is that what your talking about.

 

If I were you I would get some type of a patent on that before you send it to anyone. That part will end up in the hands of someone that will mass produce it and make big money on it for a long time. You deserve the sweat equity you have into designing that part. Just my 2 cents.

 

Don’t worry, I’m rarely 100% thrilled with anything. My point is more “real world it will probably work OK, but it could be significantly better.” To be honest, if I was running a T56 swap I’d consider anything that let me tuck the exhaust up that close unless I went aftermarket with the slave cylinder or LS1 style and then I’d also insist on using v-band clamps for that section of y-pipe so that it could be quickly removed with no hardware or gasket hassles for tranny service

Heh, don’t like much of what spohn makes… which I guess puts you in OK company . They’ve got such a following here because no one else goes as far towards making these kinds of parts for our cars, but that also doesn’t mean that they’re right. For the most part my issue with them isn’t function so much as design. They don’t have an excessive tendency to fail, but that’s because in many cases they’re way overbuilt and cause other issues because of design…

I really think that any reasonable size angle iron hanging down is just asking for problems… especially with the sharp corners… my suggestion would not only get rid of that but also get rid of your funny angled joints that would make the whole assembly stronger and less work to make. Does it really need to be stronger? Unless you’re making 9 second wheels up passes I kind of doubt it, but that same stronger also = lighter, less work, uses fewer materials and leaves more room for other stuff. This is the same answer that I’ll give to your ground clearance point (and I do admit that you have a point), if you get more for less work and $ then why not?



Again, spohn…. Anyway, I’d be surprised… all of the other “extreme duty” TA’s using a similar design are gusseted… and usually attached to something with a lot more surface area (BMR uses a 1-5/8” tube with 2 gussets that wrap half way around…). To be honest with you for yours and 99% of the other people out there that have aftermarket TA’s I would stick to something more similar to the stock setup, maybe using a sway bar bushing or something, going to this pivoting solid link in the place of the oem sliding link is just asking for noises and binding, and the added motion control is absolutely unnecessary for anything but the fastest drag cars (and possibly just wrong for a road race car). Hell, I hate to say it but between the subframe rails and your TA pivot location you’ll have more flex in your setup then any deflection a bushing would have.

No such thing as perfect, there is just “best for the intended application”

You will need to add some sort of reinforcement, and that would be a reasonable way to do it. If I remember correctly from the last time I messed around in there I’d be very impressed if you could do a good job of it with the tranny installed also.

Honestly, I doubt that I’d use angle iron at all for this piece, but instead bend up a piece out of 1/8” or maybe 3/16” that follows that contour, but not everyone has the equipment to do something like that (my homemade press brake will do a straight bend up to 22.5” long in 3/16” steel and the bending shoe/die is replaceable like with a pan brake so I can make inside bends in much smaller pieces). Alternatively, you could cut out a section that matches each of the surfaces that you’re looking to match and then weld them together, not as neat but as functional

 

Good conversation going on here! Nothing better than constructive critisism and some good thinking!!

Thanks for the input bottled... I might give Steve a call and see about getting one of those "sleeves" and a rod end that will fit in the end of my arm. Basically...instead of a rod end, I have a fairly large poly bushing. Like a panhard bar bushing. I dont think there will be room for it.

83...yeah, yesterday I got home and looked. It would be tough to send bolts in through the sides. Maybe with a 90 degree drill... In any case...my car has been acting up, and a new clutch might be in order. So the trans could be out soon. Good time for something like that I guess. I was thinking the same as you about the plates. Maybe make two, and weld them together. The tighter it hugs the contours of that sub frame the better. However...Im not saying the angle iron used as bottled did isnt good. I think thats plenty. Im using all three bolts with my spohn x-member...so that helps.

I talked to Steve while I was picking up parts one time, and I told him how I wasnt looking forward to hacking up his crossmember to fit the hawks y-pipe. I think he mentioned something about wanting Hawks to send him one already cut, so he could make provisions for the Hawks y-pipe. However...I think re-designing the crossmember to something along these lines is a MUCH better way of doing it. Hawks can rework their y-pipe...make it one piece, and have less issues making them a "universal" fit for all f-bodys with this trans and x-member. I definetly think you should talk to steve about the design...and maybe work with him on something. I respect you for wanting to share it with everyone, and give us all ideas how to do it..but there is nothing wrong with getting alittle compensation for your hard work and good thinking

Justin

 

Justin, I think you could still pull off a bushng stlye attachment on a setup like mine. Heck I bet I could change mine out to one with a few replacement parts from Spohn. Im sure he uses the same length tube on all his crossmembers, as well as the same rotators plates. If you look at the rod end attachement on my setup, you will see 2 spacers,1 on each side of the rod end. This spacers ensures that the rotator plates are straight inline with the tube. I bet the poly bushing he uses will fit right in place of the rod end and spacers I use. Im sure the same bolt will work as well. Im trying to find a pic of the bushing style he uses right now

 

Yeah it might work... Im not worried about the width of the bushing. Im worried about the diameter of the bushing..and the metal sleeve that houses it. Im afraid if i shorten the rotator plates, that the bushing end will be into that sleeve mount thats welded to the x-member. Maybe I could move that down a tad to compensate. Its somethign I gotta look into. I might need something else from spohn here soon...so since Ill be going up there, I might as well just pick up the rod end and the mount at the same time. If I dont need one or the other..I can get rid of it.

Im actually kind of excited to try this! My nice, purdy, mandrel bent hawks y-pipe is a mess right now since I had to hack it to pieces and re-weld it. I have leaks, and it hits on everything. When I parked in grass the other day, the pipes were IN the grass... So it was either figure this out, or ditch the torque arm.

Im wondering...would it be possible to make the crossmember out of tubing? And where the trans mount goes just have a piece of square tubing there in the middle? Could you make the loops bigger, and would they be stronger since you dont have to cut and weld?

Not sure if you could make the bends though..

J.

 

I guess you could try using tubing instead of the retangular steel I used but it will be hard to get the tube to bend and the right angle you need and still be strong. The metal on the outside section of the bend will be stretched a little and could possiblitly weaken the tube in that section if the angle is too severe and the tubing is a thin gauge. My rectangular steel is only 1" thick so I think that is fine. I am excited to see how my crossmember works but I still have other things to finish on my car before it comes off the jackstands. I am already thinking of new ideas on a new crossmember in case this one doesnt work out. One area I am concerned about is where it mounts to the rails. I have been meaning to address that area but never got around to it.. I want to get rid of the threaded inserts that GM put in there and put new ones in there place or possibly somewhere else, I have basically worn them out. I just have to figure out the easiest way to do that. I just dont want the threads failing on me one day because the outcome will be bad. Im also thinking of making new side mounts for the crossmeber that follow the rail. Both you and 83 Crossfire TA, brought up some good points on making those side mounts fit tight up agaisnt the rail for more clearance and more strength. By doing something like that, you could almost use 4 bolts to hold the crossmember to the car on each side. put 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom with 2 going in horizontially and 2 going in verticaly.2 would be in front and 2 would be in back on each side. I hope I am explaining this good enough. If I get a chance, I will try to make some side brackets that fit right over the rails like a glove. Then it will be the hard part to figuring out how to get inside the rails to weld in some nuts . Either cut a box out on the outside or on the bottom. Id say do it from inside the car in the floor but Im not taking all my interior out AGAIN. I'll have to go look at it again and see whats better. I dont want to comprimise the integrity of the rail either while this is being done.

 

the repairs i see on the inserts involve a thick steel plate.
the plate is drilled and threadded, then they cut a slit in the subframe and slid the plate in.
the bolts go thru the old holes (now drilled out) and into the threaded plate... this sandwiches everything together.

i dont know if i would do my car that way, but its how ive seen it done on two cars now... one of them being a mid10second drag car that has had this setup for years.