i just built my own sfc's and im also working on a new shortened heavy duty torque arm pretty much like the BMR trakpak. but as far as the sfc's go i actually made it out of 2x3 inch square 1/8" steel for the sides and then used 2" round tubing for the braces that go from the sfc's to the front subframes. here is some pics lemme know what you think.

p.s. ill have pics of the new torque arm and crossmember that i made for my car tomorrow night .

as long as they work ...cool.

You need some serious practice on your welding man.....

If you can't lay down a nice bead, have someone else do it, those welds are really sketchy.

330hp_91RS,

I know the welds are not the best in the world. But at least he is trying. You got to start somewhere. I hope to learn to weld someday.

when I did mine, I knew that dirt and crap would interfere so I spot welded away till I was happy.

He's just saying its probably not a good idea to weld something like SFCs if you can't do it right. It looks like those are going to fall off- from the pics it looks like no penetration.

Yeah those welds are hideous man... and its nothing against you, but safety wise... like burning an unnecessary hole in your frame in your last pic. They just dont come off as looking solid and may break and cause damage. Just to give you something to think about, maybe going back and trying to correct this.

Good work tho otherwise.

not really good at welding om my back ,and i appreciate the concern for my safety, but i guarantee those arent moving i got my BFH out and beat it to test to see if they would hold they didnt move a bit and that was with a stick welder
when i get some more wire for my mig im gonna go over it again just to make it look better and clean the weld up a little

is here is pics of the heavy duty torque arm(selfmade) the boxed lca's and the crossmember for my true duals ill have on here when im finished

note to self, do not ride in firebird89355's car...are you planning on doing anything about that crossmember? that thing looks like one good womp on the throttle will twist that thing into a full pretzel, instead of the half pretzel it already is!

also, with that torque arm being that short, your going to have some SERIOUS handling issues...specifically when braking.

with the sfc's being as strong as they are the 1/8" trans crossmember shoudlnt see that much force with a properly functioning trans mount im not solid mounting it so it shouldnt see that much abuse from the drivetrain, plus the factory crossmember is just 1/8" flat plate steel so this should be at least as strong as the factory. and, the shorter torque arm might cause some braking issues but nothing to extreme not planning on running top end just mainly some cruising with some mild track time, its close to what the BMR TRAKPAK is just made a little heavier.

Yikes Did you even clean the spots where you were going to weld? Sorry but I wouldn't trust those parts at all on your car. I did a couple projects before even thinking of welding critical parts onto my car. The practice sure paid off but I'm still nervous about my own welding. Here's one of the LCA brackets I just did couple weeks ago or so.

remind me to never drive in mississippi for fear of being hit by a car with ****ty welds and ghetto *** pieces

i wire brushed them didnt grind down into fresh steel but i did clean them , and why EXACTLY wouldnt you trust those parts? whats wrong with them?

well the welds might not be pretty but they are holding pretty Freaking well i can hit it with a 10lb sledgehammer and they wont budge, as far as the "ghetto" pieces yeah they may not be spohn or 1 of the other companys but i made them with some stuff i had in our salvage yard they may not be as pretty as some but for a backyard job without any machine shop tools to work with just a torch and a welder not too bad if i do say so myself.

omg: i agree it is nice to say you built your own stuff for nothing, but there has to be a safety issue to realize. You have a bad safety issue for your self much less everyone on the roads. the only parts that looks like a problem to me is the crossmember and the ta ex. if it is going to cause braking problems i would not use it.

ok what exactly is wrong with the crossmember all it is a stock dual exh crossmemberthat i cut to fit under mine to run true dualswhy is it such a bad thing ,cause i havent cleaned the welds up and painted it its extremely strong its bolted to stock location. ?????????? please explain instead of just saying its crap not gonna work blah blah blah.

i never said it would not work sure it will work but is it going to be safe. you can run true dual without doing that there are plenty of thrid gens running them with stock crossmembers.

For one, the crossmember has a lot of cutting done to it which makes it basicly one side holding the trans up. The other side is just a flat bit of metal that's easy to bend. I'd like to see some more bracing in the torque arm but that bend in the one bar seems like it would be a great place for that thing to fold up. Seeing your welds just scares me, makes me wonder if those things could hold over time with the stresses they see. Also, do yourself a favor and buy a grinder. You can at least make the parts look better rather than leaving the flame cut edge on them plus you can clean the metal better than a simple wire brush.

well i am planning on cleaning the welds up with my GRINDER and paint it i just got done with it in those pics, and also those rods that i made my torque arm out of is 1 inch solid round stock and im pretty darn sure they arent gonna bend very easily even with the abuse they are gonna see. and as far as the crossmember goes that passenger side is extremely rigid could hardly bend it even with a 4 foot pry bar only way i could bend it was heating it up til it was cherry red,and before you say i must be weak im 6'4 265.

well the soild tube will bend easier than hollow tube and heating the crosmember will make it weaker so i will have to agree with evilcartman

I just cant even imagine that being true, and im not completely done with the crossmember still have some cleaning maybe reinforcement to do.

do some reserch and find out which is stronger then. if soild is stronger than tube why dont all the chasiss shops use it, cause it's not as strong. thats why lca's, panhard rods, tourqe arms, roll cages, etc are build out of tubing.

Can you rip a car with your bare hands? The torque from your engine will twist the frame and can rip the shell of your car (common problem top of the B pillar near the front).

hence that is why im reinforcing the frame(sfc's) so it wont twist and break something. and 91drag i believe the reason they use the tubing is weight and cost. not the strength of it.

just so you know, i'm not knockin' the home-made stuff, but without the proper equipement, you're going to run into quality issues that could cause serious safety problems. here are some pics of my home-made stuff, based off the jegster bolt-in subframe connectors that were no longer cutting it (chassis flex was too great)
driver's side before:

after:

pass side before:

after:

and a shot of the 1 5/8" diameter .125" wall thickness tubing i used for the bracing:

well in all hoestly it looks like mine and yours are pretty much the same as far as design and the way we put them in.

yea, except i practiced alot before i layed those beads down. and i did it with a mig welder. if you look, my welds have deep penetration, and a good bead. blowing holes through the metal means the current was way too hot, and shows in-experience. i would have practiced a bit before welding on a vital part of the car. your design is on the right track. i would suggest boxing in the end where the lca mounts, by boxing this area, you will increase the strength 10fold. you say you have a grinder...a cutoff wheel on the grinder makes MUCH easier edges to weld on then a flame-cut edge.

the part of the sfc that runs front to back on yours is just bolted to the floor pan and not welded just the tubes that go from the outer sfc to the subframe is welded correct?

nope, it's welded next to the lca, and then the pad with the bolts running through it up front is also welded to the floor there...i just put the bolts back in to plug the holes.

ok so those two small welds are better than what i have done on mine? just to clarify.

yes, cuase mine actually penetrated the metal, as yours are sitting on top of the metal. not only that, but the pad up front is nearly 10" long, there is aLOT of weld up there...and a good solid 6" in the back where the lca's mount up to. and then there's that big *** bolt back there holding the lca in acting as a fail safe.

ok well ill do it the way im comfortable with even if its not as pretty as some peoples welds i know it will hold. now if anyone has any constructive criticism please feel free to express it.

THOMAS

you're on the right track, i already stated that. get some wire for your MIG, PRACTICE and then go on with more projects.

I guess you missed that episode of Mr Wizard. He hung a weight on the same diameter solid bar and tube, the solid one failed way before the tube did.

No, they use it because solid is heavier.

I really can't beleive you gonna run those parts. Kudos for you for trying, but I think you'll be sorry.

ok if you are just gonna say these parts wont work or cant believe what ive done ,without explaining why please dont post but if you wanna explain yourself with a little imformation as to why then please feel free.

THOMAS

It has all been said above. I haven't been welding all that long, and those simply will not hold up to what you need them too. It literally looks like you just melted the rod on top of the metal, and called it a day.

you dont practice welding on your damn car lol

agreed...

i hope you pay more attention to detail while building that "355" of yours, otherwise it will probably never start

well i wouldnt talk too much if that civic is all you have.
and justin i wasnt practicing on my damn car , and further more i can see why this board has went too what it has i used to be proud of being a member of this site but now im not too sure it seems like whenever someone does what is not the norm everyone bashes on that person instead of trying to be helpful they just tell them it looks like crap or it will never work just imagine if the same kind of people told John Lingenfelter or some of the other big names in the business that there ideas would never work? we wouldnt have what we do now days its called research and development, maybe it will work maybe it wont but its mine im doing the work not any of you so if you all cant help and just wanna bash this isnt the post to do it in.

THOMAS

p.s. and arrow this post has nothing to do with my 355 so if you cant stay on point dont say anything at all.

the ideas are not what's being discouraged here, it's your ability to weld and fabricate. i understand the lack of equipement, but if you can't make what you have work then don't try until you have the proper equipment. there are things that i know i can do cause i have the ability, but lack equipment, so i don't try to do them. burning through the frame on your firebird indicates you need more practice. thats all i'm saying about that.

now, on your tranny crossmember. you trimmed off the raised edge on that one side, that is a strength bearing edge, you need it on there. without it, it will be flimsy...and with 400ft/lbs from your new 355, i'm sure it'll twist up.

yes i did notch the passenger side hump to allow for clearance but i did leave the flat vertical part of that goes from the bottom portion straight up, however as i stated before i tried to bend that portion with a pry bar and it would just barely even move it doesnt flex too very easily and with a good poly mount the actual crossmember should see too much force as it will be absorbed by the mount and not the crossmember.

THOMAS

no, the only way that tranny mount would take the force is if whatever it's mounted to doesn't flex...if i took a pry bar to mine, it wouldn't flex at all...i'm not really sure why your wanting to make that crossmember anyway, the way the exhaust would have to wrap around the tranny to put the pipes through those humps would make the pipes restrictive and would also be wrapping the exhaust around the tranny pan, which would put alot oh heat into that tranny...which is NOT good for an auto...a stick would be a different story.

mine goes under the stock crossmember, you can see it and the h-pipe in the pics above.

well when this tranny goes im gonna go with a 350 or 400 that will take the abuse alot better than a 700 yes i will lose my od but thats ok dont wanna have to pay to make my 700 bulletproof. so if yours doesnt flex and mine doesnt flex doesnt that mean they would perform the same?

but you just said your's flexed!!! bah! your impossible! lol!!! brother, read what you just posted two posts up, you said that it doesn't move very easily, which would imply that you got it to move some.

also, the exhaust will have to be re-routed again when you put in your 3spd cause the pans are shaped very differently and will not allow you to run it the same as with your 700r4.

not only that, but you can easily build the 700r4 to handle serious hp without spending a ton...just gotta look around some. ebay has some really good deals on bulletproof 700r4's.

Im not going to argue with you. The reason everyone is bashing you is because a monkey could do better welding that what you have. Shut your yap and listen to what people are telling you. It will not hold up. I think its great you are giving this a whirl on your own, but you suck at it, try again. Seriously.

ok then quit arguing and get off my post if all you are going to do is insult me show me what you have done or let me guess you havent done anything yourself before youve always paid someone to do it or just bought it already assembled.