ok guys so i'm approaching roll bar territory and my torque arm is still on the trans.. and i dont feel too good about it.. i dont want to buy another torque arm so i'm thinking of doing a custom crossmember like the new UMI unit..

but heres what i want to do for mine:

instead of the drop down that the mounting flange does, i want to raise it up into the tunnel to increase clearance for the 3" true dual that will be coming soon.. everything else will pretty much be the same..

i'll post pics of my progress.. should probably start sometime next week..

 

Should work pretty good.
Then again, while you're at it, you could build yourself an adjustable TA...
That's what i'm doing (when I get time...). I've got the tubes, rod ends, etc for a torque arm.

 

i already have a spohn trans mounted torque arm.. so the crossmember will just take it off the trans.. i also want the adjustability of the crossmember to alter the instant center.. higher IC means wheelie prone..

 

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In all honste i would just buy one there cheap and its going to take a bit of time if its your first attempt at making one . . .

i made one you can find it here in this post
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...-up-start.html

its really not that hard to do. . . if you do plan on making one make a jag to work off

 

update...

its been raining and weather is crap.. gonna try hit up the metal shop tomorrow and see what they got.. then i'll go from there.. if all goes well, i should have it done by tomorrow.. but definitely by friday it WILL be done..

till tomorrow...........................

 

alrighty then... today had some decent weather so i started the project.. looked around my garage and found some scrap metal.. alot of it actually so i used 2" x 3/16" steel and some left over 1 5/8" rollcage tubing.. heres what i got so far..

car in the air... Start!!!

as it sits for now..

drivers side exhaust to crossmember

exhaust off

close up of my work area

crossmember off

drivers side bracket.. theres a bit of angle that goes into that so i couldnt use angle iron


mounted

 

passenger side bracket


a bit tricky to bend and align


both mounted

passenger

driver

crossbar mounted

trans mount

 

trans mount

trans mount welded on.. it looks off center but thats exactly how the stock mount is..



and back on the car..




so thats all i did so far.. gotta go to the metal shop to buy 1/4" plate for the torque arm mount..

 

Looks very professional

 

thanks Pocket!!

well i went to the metal shop to get my 1/4" plate and found out i was already using 1/4" for the other brackets!!!! i didnt measure it and thought i was using 3/16".. so tomorrow, its back to the metal shop to hopefully return what i got.. cost me $23.00 for a 1'x1' piece!!!!!!!! good god thats a case of beer and then some..

update tomorrow with hopefully the finished product..

 

Nice job so far!

But, the IC does not change with raising the front of the torque arm, or lowering it. Your torque arm like mine is considering a sliding link design more or less. You need to have a fixed mount in order for that to apply here. Like the Spohn crossmember mounted units? I thought the same as well when I made my own crossmember for my T56 swap:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...6-gen-1-a.html

I also wanted to take the torque arm mount off the trans, and using the BMR & UMI sits as reference I made mine. I actually bought a bare plate from BMR to use but after learning the adjustable height wasn't really going to change anything as far as IC went, I abandoned the idea. My plate has one set of bolts holes now. Make sure the trans output shaft angle and rear pinion angles are equal BUT opposite, set your desired pinion angle and ride!

Do a search on Dewey316, he has some really good info and links to IC information.

 

Awesome fabing, 56TA.....Will you be posting the finished pictures with TA mounts? gotta see it!!!

 

sorry for the delay.. i finished last week but i went away to visit the girlfriend.. didnt have time to post the pics.. here it is.. all i have to say is that the top bolt sucks.. i might cut the top of the hole out and make it a slip-in..

 

 

 

 

Very nice.

 

super baddass dude

 

thanks..

too bad i wont be able to test it out for a long while.. last week i blew the motor while doing some "spirited" driving.. thank god i didnt meet any police.. how would i explain the oil in the middle of the road, the thick black tire marks and the hole in my oil pan?? time to save money.. that new motor is gonna be quite a wallet burner..

 

dude that sux!! throw a rod did we?

 

yup. i did.. not too thrilled about it.. besides the fact that i wont have to pay for gas or insurance.

 

Super! Sure wish I could weld! Bummer that your motor went south! Do you think the fact that you hooked better caused this? Didn't see your rear..stock 10 bolt?

 

I have to say...supernice DYI stuff, man. Nice work. Wish I could weld fab like that... have all kinds of ideas lol

 

thanks guys.. as for traction being the culprit, it was.. it was a lack of traction that made the motor blow.. i was basically doing this.. motor was bouncing on the rev limiter and let go.. btw, i have a ford 9"..

 

what chip did you have in it?

 

nice i'm gonna look at making my own for my T56 swap. that looks great!!

 

thanks Orr.. and it was the 6900 limiter..

 

damn, what kind of rods are they? stockers?
i buil my 385 with 400 rods reconed them, with trw pistons and eagle crank. its all balanced so i fig 7000k would be a safe redline.... how long have you had your setup?

 

idk about 7k on 400 rods.. better put some ARP bolts in them if you want to turn those rpms.. my rods were cheapo h-beams.. dont even think they had ARP bolts..

your combo will live a healthier life at 6500 redline.. and dont be like me and stand on the limiter for about 8 seconds, waiting for the tires to stop spinning.. i had my rotating assembly for about 4 years now.. put on about 5000 abusive miles.. but thats what i built this for.. racing.. i knew it would die one day, but not this soon.. i figured, i had at least 5 more years on this rotating assembly.. but **** happens, times change, just build a bridge and get over it..

 

yea i got arps through out, 7k is strip rpms. rods are my weakest link, i fig if i can keep it alive i can swap to a longer rod/shorter and lighter piston. shitty part is thats where my cam likes to be. as for now i have no limiter, just a light ..lol

 

what sucks is that it took out alot of parts that you could have parted out or reused like the block/heads/etc. Oh well, built it better and go faster

 

what cam you using?? strokers usually bring the rpm range down about 3-400 rpm.. so a 7k cam is actually about a 66-6700..

i know what you mean.. i was actually planning on using the heads in a little toyota truck project in the future.. since i do have a used .030" over 327 shortblock in the storage that just needs rings and bearings.. it would have been a bit over kill but its better than buying new heads for it.. figure 2500lbs truck with a 327 and tko500 would have been a fun ride..

 

its a chet herbert solid roller, small base circle .626 .625 @ 261 271 dur. 4degrees advance on the cam timing, 39deg ignition. comp roller lifters harland sharp rockers with stud and push rod girdles. world product heads hogged out to 220cc runners and a hurricane single plane intake that pulls to 8500 i think. 850 dbl pump mech 2ndarys. + i have some n20 on it but not sure if i wanna arm it yet...lo l

anyways it has plenty of low end tourqe, but the top end wants to spin to the moon, short block isnt going to like it. its the first sbc i built and i used the trw pistons and 400 rods i had already. i wish i would have went with some 6.0 rods and better pistons.



i love the old yodas! i take it one of your heads were deystroyed? that sux!

 

oh wow.. that should be quite a beast of a motor..

but idk if my heads are destroyed yet.. the motor is still in the car.. it blew an hour before i left to go back to college.. so the motor is gonna sit for a long time before i can look at it.. hopefully i can just change the valves and guides.. but even if i can salvage them, i'm gonna go AFR for the new motor..

 

5678TA, how does your 9" Ford rearend housing mate up with the rear end of the Torque Arm? Did you fab some special mounts up yourself, or did you buy them somewhere? Do you have any pictures of the 9"- to Torque Arm mounting?

Sorry about your engine! 400 rods are known bad actors.

 

its actually a currie enterprises bolt in 9".. has the brackets for springs, shocks, panhard and torque arm.. just bolt it up as if it were meant to be there..

and the rods were aftermarket forged h-beam 5.7", not 400 rods..

 

Looks like a pro made it,killer.

 

For the crossbar, what did you use? How thick are the walls on that tubing, or is it solid like subframe connectors are?

 

thanks georgealtemus..

Orr, the crossbar is 1 5/8" tubing.. its the leftover from my 10pt. rollcage.. its .134" thick..

 

nice thats what i figured.

 

Orr, where did you see solid subframe connectors?