Billy Shope;GM F body torque arm?

[Ed-vancedEngines]

Your instant tire plant is a mile too much.

I do not understnad how you have the factory length torque arm mounted to a crossmember becuase it comes to the side of the tranny where it it is mounted. Maybe your crossmember is lower ofr higher than the tranny? BY the looks of that launch I will guess it is higher.

For some reason you have the car ht pretty high front and rear with the rear even higher? That rear ride ht so high is a part of why you are hitting the tires so hard. With the rear so high you changed all the effects of the suspension geometry of not only the torque arm but also the bottom control arms in the rear.

Your car is impressive. When you get the bugs out of it, it will be more impresive.

Ed

[car_fixer]

the torque arm is attached to a cross member where the rear of the original trans would be, it has a turbo 350 in it now, it is just slightly lower than original the way it is attached, the front of the arm is a tube, thats has a polyurathane bushing around it.it is not an original torque arm , it is a random tech. arm. the rear lower contol arms are parallel with the rockers, i made bracket extensions on the rear axle, i have several holes in it at different hights, unfortuneatly lowering the rear increases leverage, but moving the front up is such a project i might as well put a 4 link in., the front is lower than stock actually, and the rear is stock hight, possibly looks strange from the camera angle, there isnt alot of room above the tire so i cant lower the rear that much, i have made new limiters for the front, right now they are set a 1/4 inch extension, but i can adjust them to 2 or more inches i might have a picture of the torque arm i have to check, if not i can probably take several while it is on the lift (good to work at a shop sometimes)

[FASTFATBOY]

Thanks Ed, I'm flattered by your response. I do this kinda stuff on a daily basis at work depending on what needs to get done. I'm fortunate to have the ability and apply it to what I love.

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. Keep in mind this is just a concept and not a final design. The tabs, links, crossmember can , and probably will, change.



I can reduce the spacing between the links to clear some more room between the driveshaft.

Billy

I've got through your website, lots of great info and lots of calculators. On the chassis dyno, how exactly do you set it up? Do you have any pictures?

I found a local shop that has scales, hell they might even have the capability to set it up.

My wife bought the front suspension for my birthday . Definitely wasn't expecting that. Now I'll have adjustable coilovers up front so I can adjust weight distribution. I am now in a position to start adjusting this kind of stuff.

I also bought a plumb bob yesterday, some levels etc to start measuring stuff. Hopefully today I'll have all the rear suspension components that need to be welded up done. I want to start making the car tracks true on the first pass but not sure what to use as a reference.

Really, if you install this in the car...the very top hole is really almost exactly where the hole is from Spohn on their crossmember. SO where is the advantage? Moving the front mount down really serves no purpose. Moving it up helps at times.


David

[BillyShope]

Billy

Now I'll have adjustable coilovers up front so I can adjust weight distribution.

Not only do the adjustable coilovers allow you to adjust weight distribution, they also make it very easy to use different RATE springs up front. That is, you can use a higher rate right front spring than left front. This can provide cancellation of driveshaft torque effects and provide equal rear tire loading on launch. See Page 16 of my site. Again, verify results with the traction dyno.

[Ed-vancedEngines]

Really, if you install this in the car...the very top hole is really almost exactly where the hole is from Spohn on their crossmember. SO where is the advantage? Moving the front mount down really serves no purpose. Moving it up helps at times

Actually it does help quite a bit to have capability of moving it up or down. There is a reason to move it down. That reason is the opposite of why you move it up.

His design here is some different than the crossmember sold by Steve Spohn. This one reaches lower and still alows the top adjusting hole ht to be as high as the floor board allows it to be. I like it.

Ed

[car_fixer]

this is the torque arm i have and the bracket in the rear can be seen somewhat, its a weird rear, its a nine inch housing but doesnt use a 9 in ceter section, i think its a gm 12 bolt gear set. the front mount is on the cross member that you can see, its where a 700 would clamp on length wise

and makina, thats a good looking cross member you have there, should be a really good starting place.

[Ed-vancedEngines]

Car Fixer,
I love your rear Torque Arm Bracket.

I strongly suggest to turn your exhaust toward the side and better to run them out to the side. The fumes of what you have can be tough on you when car is sitting still.

Not sure about your fuel lines either. Looks good the way you have it routed and bent, but it needs protection from the driveline and tranny in case of problems. Maybe you have this farther forward.

Can't see if you have sub-frame connectors but when I do one of those I run fuel lines through sub-frame connectors.

Again,
Good craftsmanship on that rear bracket. I am pretty sure I would have rounded the corners for looks though.

Ed

[car_fixer]

it does have subframe connectors, you can make them out if you look at the end of the crossmember, they are junk ones but they were in there, and the -10 hard line will not fit inside them. i kinda figured there was this big torque arm to protect the fuel line, and i was trying to get it as high as possible, i was more worried about damadge from a lift or pulling on the trailer (floor gets pretty close lol) and as far as the exhaust, i havent smelled exhaust in the car yet, and never have had tire smoke in the car either so its sealed up pretty well, and i also made that exhaust between test and tune on a tuesday, and a race on friday working on it after hours, when i stood it up on the bumper i just scrubbed those mufflers at the front, didnt hurt them any, i may add extensions out the side but im afraid it might be a little loud that way if i go to a track where mufflers and noise control police are needed. I think i am going to put a spacer under the front mount and change the pinion angle to compinsate for the change, if noti may need to try and shorten the arm some

[Ed-vancedEngines]

Shorter Torque Arm at same ht will hit the tires harder.

You can change angles of the bottom bars though. Pick up the rear of bottom bar some or lower the front some. That will take some of the instant hit away. That and stiffer extension settings on shocks should help some.

Ed

[car_fixer]

Shorter Torque Arm at same ht will hit the tires harder.

You can change angles of the bottom bars though. Pick up the rear of bottom bar some or lower the front some. That will take some of the instant hit away. That and stiffer extension settings on shocks should help some.

Ed

If i went to the trouble of building a shorter torque arm it would be more ajustable hight wise, and im also looking at ways to make the length adjustable, right now the arm mount is in front of the guesstimated cg, i am going to talk to the circle track guys down the street to see if i can scale the car and check the cg correctly. i am not shure if you mean front or rear shocks but both are as stiff as they will go (koni spa1's) I am hoping to get to the track on the 18th to try a few more things, i made extensions on the brackets for the lower control arms so i can raise them or lower them on the rear axle, i really dont want to lower them on the body as that will increase leverage on the arms, making it easier to push the front up, and it goes up just fine already lol. i do have drag bags in the rear that are tee'd together, and they dont have any pressure in them (well a little to maintain shape actually about 1 psi) so i can probably limit squat after raiseing the lower arms if needed, hopefully the day doesnt get cut short from lack of fuel again...damn fuel pump

[Ed-vancedEngines]

The big Aeromotive for EFI works really good. That is if you have efi. If not the Aeromotive 2,000 works good too. We are using that to supply all fuel for carbs and nitrous in some hard hitters.

I think I already mentioned that engine sounds real good. I will say it again.

I used the Kenny Browne Connecters and with much effort ran a AN 12 through it. I also ran an AN 12 line back in it for a return.

Ed

[car_fixer]

i put an aeromotive 2k in last week, still need to finish wiring, just being lazy i guess, plus my soldering iron crapped out...pos.

-12 return, how much are you bypassing, seems like over kill? I mean you didnt say what powerplant was in it but mmost return regulators for instance have small tiny orifice's in them for retun outlets, i am just a little confused there. i have a pic of my anti roll bar, really helped going straight with a torque arm

1.25 cr-mo 250 wall with a 1 inch 250 wall cr-mo tube inside welded on the ends and roseette welded in 4 places on each end 2 pairs 90 degrees apart @ 3inch spread

[car_fixer]

hey check this out, sunday at the track i roll up to the tree, hit the trans brake button.....nothing just keeps rolling, so i foot brake it

hows that for a drastic change lol

[ST7317]

That was pretty. 5.20 @ 146? That car goes right down through there What was the short time?

We are running a shorter torque arm (Jeg's) with 1.35 short times but only 6.40's. I wish we could get our car to leave like yours on that pass. BTW, I saw your other pic of the wheels stand, we don't want that

[car_fixer]

actually it was a 9.29 @146.38 mph, 1/8 was 5.95 @ 117.71, 60 ft was 1.36
I actually have the same torque arm i had before, I started with no extension on the fronts, i loosened it up to about 1 inch extension, I have no idea if it would have held more power off the line, i was going to add more nitrous at the start, but it started to drizzle, so i wanted to get loaded incase it started raining, turns out it never seemed to rain lol, I really was lookin for that 8.xx time slip this year, but nothing else to run down here.