They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this picture tells the whole story, but for the sake of those doing a text search the thousand words are below.

I have the original torque arm from my '82 Camaro. I am in the middle of installing a UMI torque arm relocating transmission cross member. I like the cross member by the way.

Everything was going fine until I tried to mount their "universal" torque arm bushing (UMI part # 3004). There is no way it will fit. I might be able to force it on with a vise and a big hammer, but it isn't something I could do under the car. Even if I did manage to FORCE it on, I would not say that it "FIT", more that with enough effort you CAN put a square peg in a round hole. The picture above shows my original 1982 torque arm, the UMI 3004, and a 1991 torque arm that I had laying around. It fits on the 1991 torque arm without issue. It slides right on like it is made for it.

It does not fit my 1982 Camaro torque arm.

I'm going to install the 1991 torque arm and move on. But others might not be lucky enough to have a spare torque arm laying around, so be warned, the notion of a UNIVERSAL urethane torque arm bushing is a myth.

 

I think its just your torque arm, I upgraded to a UMI adjustable torque arm years ago and still have my original 84 sitting in the corner. Looks to be just like the 92 torque arm you have

 

That is exactly my point. There were at least two different designs, but I think that there was a third for the 82 to 83.5 cars.
In any case the bushing is advertised at fitting 1982 -> 2002 cars and it does not fit my '82 properly.
I've owned the car since it was new so I'm pretty darn sure it is the original torque arm.

BTW, I've heard that the early vs late third gens have a reversed bushing pattern, that they are mirror images. I suspect that the SUPER EARLY third gens (like mine) may have a third pattern. But I have only ever seen the two shown in the picture in person.

 

So another unique early car part. I wonder when it changed?

 

Wow same exact problem I have. I bought the exact same bushing and I’m having the exact same problem. You are correct, absolutely no way that UMI bushing fits. Be warned to those with early 3rd gens…as we say in the south “That ain’t gonna fit”. Who makes bushings that DO fit? My factory bushing was seriously half way to dust

 

I wound up using a '91 Camaro torque arm in my '82 because it worked with more cross-members (and bushings). It might be worth a trip to a junk yard for a newer torque arm, just to be able to use the parts that are still on the market.

 

Far fetched here but could one cut some extra off the UMI bushing to make it work? Guess it wouldn’t hurt since it doesn’t fit anyway

 

I suppose you could but then that would more than likely leave to many gaps for the TA to eventually move around as the bushing is meant to totally encapsulate the TA end. Cutting Poly isn't exactly the funnest thing to do, If you are in a pinch and have got to get it up and running well whittle away, If you have access to a waterjet that could cut it out accurately.

 

Off to ye old junk yard to see what treasure awaits…always little things cause the biggest problems. But look at this, side by side comparison. Sooo clearly UMI is way to big to use without a ton of brute strength and lots of bad words. Picture below is NOT mine

 

The picture is deceiving. The part inside the clamshell looks to be about the same, but the UMI has an extra "flange" on the face that extends out of the casing. You can see the cutouts on the sides to let the parts of the metal bracket extend past. Looking behind that face and you can see that the busing itself looks to be the pretty close to the same size.

 

Well you learn by trial and error sometimes. Hopefully ordering the correct bushing so the lips face the correct direction help. Never thought to it before, just saw bushing and ordered it. I’ll let ya know if it really works

 

If you look at my first post, those two torque arms are both facing the same way (same orientation).
My original torque arm would not fit either of those bushings, but would be (IIRC) closest to 3.1112.
3.1111 must be for the third type of torque arm.

 

🤷‍♂️ I’m not sure what to do with my arms…

 

I have an 82 TA and years ago used a t5 out of an 83 parts car. The 82/83 cars have one style of bushing and torque arm. 84 is a mix and 85 and up are all the same. 82/83 also have different slightly different torque arm mounts. The frames also only have 2 crossmember bolt holes on each side vs the 3 that 84 and up have. The fire wall is also different around where the clutch linkage/hydros would be. The speedo cable also passes through a different spot on the fire wall. The front wonder bar mounts are a little different on 82s and some 83s.

I ditched the factory torque arm years ago and have a spohn. When I did the t56 swap I drilled additional frame holes to mount the x member.

there's a few other things different in the 82/3 cars but nothing you can't work around.

 

I remember doing a little research when I replaced mine ('83) there was a difference between - 82-83 had a different design.
this is the one I purchased:
Torque Arm Bushings - Chevrolet Camaro - 3.1110 (energysuspensionparts.com)