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So, long story short, I bought some new UMI goodies. A trans crossmember and torque arm, pan hard bar etc. I bought the driveshaft safety loop version. It appears it was welded cockeyed and would cause driveshaft fitment issues. I contacted UMI and they promptly sent out a non loop version. I got it today and installed it. Without changing anything else, the top of their bushing is hitting the transmission and binding. New rubber motor mounts, trans mount is used but appears to be good. Motor mount clamshells are on correct side. The car is sitting on the tires, on wheel cribs. Has anyone else experienced this?
yes... what i ended up doing in a lot of my swaps is use the holley transmission cross member with the UMI torque arm that has the round tube end (ie like how it originally could mount on the trans but now mounted to the holley cross member). i have then also had to trim the mount point on the transmission and also cut a little off the end of the umi torque arm... i think i have posted some pics in some of my build threads on this
I'm just lost on this and UMI says their products aren't incorrect and that my car is messed up or something is off. I have loosened motor mounts and tried moving the trans around etc. I have loosened bolts on crossmember, I have tried everything and I just can't get more clearance. I put new AC Delco 22188497 engine mounts and I bought a new trans mount as well.
I have 1/4" clearance between the nub of the transmission and the top of the UMI shackle. UMI just told me to swap back to the OEM motor mounts and try it. Haha no.
At first, "customer service" told me I had to move the crossmember over, I can't, your bolt holes are maxed out. Oh you don't have the trans mount centered in the middle hole of the x-member. Yes I do as pics show.
I guess I will pull all this crap and sell it and just run stock parts on this car at this point.
I bought a couple different things from UMI over the years and never kept any of them.
I doubt you would have liked that set up anyway. Shackle mounts are clunky. And the crossmember is not exhaust friendly for an LS engine where the pipes go down the tunnel.
This doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside...I was going to be installing my cross member and adjustable torque arm I bought used over 5 years ago while I have the car apart this winter. Hoping I don't have any issues like these.
If it makes you feel better, I had to do some work to my Spohn unit to get it to work too. If anyone ever makes a good xmember with exhaust provisions and an upgraded torque arm that actually fits nicely, I'd but it in a heartbeat.
I went to a local speed shop and had them make a custom trans crossmember and custom length torque arm for me. Didn't cost any more than buying a kit.
My torque arm is a little shorter than normal. It was too much of a traffic jam up in stock location. It is tied in near the front of my Heidts (Alston) inner subframe connectors
I had a similar issue when I did my t56 swap. The torque arm was really close w the rear end hanging. As I put weight on the rear and it moved into the normal position at ride height there was a bit more clearance. I adjusted all the heim joints in and I have 1 inch of clearance.
I just installed this kit in mine a couple of months ago. Have you tried using the second hole in those two brackets that connect the round bushings at the cross member (with the two-hole side down towards the cross member)? That will lower everything away from that boss on the tailshaft. When I installed mine (in a T5 car as well), I was not anywhere near hitting that part on the trans. Maybe the engine and trans aren't straight in the car?
If you love this, you'll also love how the top corner of the bracket above the pinion on the diff will slam into the trans tunnel unless you BFH mod the above area. Only took me a few minutes, but I had to drop the TA mount on the rear to do so. Easiest to do it before you final install everything. I GUARANTEE it will hit if you don't clearance the above area when the suspension is compressed. Despite this being a documented problem on this forum, there is NOTHING in the instructions that mention this at all. My only other complaint about this kit was that the parts in mine were covered with waterjet garnet/AlOx blasting media. Looks like little brown gritty sand. I had to disassemble and clean every bushing to get it all out.
Once you get everything installed right, you will love how it feels. The pinion angle is EASY to adjust, ride quality is great, and the rear end feels very well planted. No complaints on mine after an autoX event and some misc. driving around.
My UMI heavy-duty torque arm bracket (attached to axle housing) dented my floor pan. Problem was the shop sent me home with pinion angle set wrong (pinion pointing too far up). It has never hit again after adjusting pinion angle correctly. The UMI heavy-duty bracket is actually quite good. I re-used it when making the custom torque arm. You can buy the bracket separately from UMI if you want to use it for a custom build.
