torque arm flex?

[Sirshredalot]

I am planning on running the torque arm set up on my 80' spyder but was wanting to know how I can stiffen the back f the car to get as much bite as i can.
The rear end is going to be a toyota rear end (similar design to a ford 9").
IM not planning on running a tire wider than 10".

IM already planning frame ties and an 8 point cage.

I was thinking of running a B&M torue arm mount on the back of the tranny but I understand this is hard on the tranny.
Is there a better way of mounting it?

Can the torque arm be boxed for strength?
How strong is the back of these chassis'?

God bless
-Shred

[NixVegaGT]

I think it is likely that you are going to have to fab your own torque arm because you will need a way to anchor it to the Toyota housing. Here's a link to a prior thread that talks a bit about fabricated torque arms...

http://forums.h-body.org/viewtopic.php?t=18853

There was another forum with pix of a torque arm made for RX-7s. Does anyone else have a link to that one?

[stage169]

RX7 TA's http://forums.h-body.org/viewtopic.php?t=19080

These are old pic's but this is my car. I haven't done much more to it except painting bare metal and the front moter plate.

I'm no expert but I think my setup should be good to 600hp. I just went with the six point bar in mine. Yours is right there but I know nothing about your rearend. Brian

[monzamess]

Nice how the front mount is hinged. The stock Monza mount is a single point and relies on bushing flex to absorb movement. The Camaro-style mount allows the arm to slide in and out between two bushings but could still bind. The one you pictured shouldn't bind.

[mrj52]

Well back in the day {1985 or so} my first H body had a 377 small block that made 467 rear wheel horse power and I bent the torque arm up real good. I did a simple but effective fix by welding 2 torque arms together. Simple-effective-cheap. Never had another problem after that.

[acstestinc]

Isn't the purpose of the front torque arm mount to securely fix the arm's position as much as possible and the bushing is just a concession to minimize vibration transfer (noise) to the body (just like all the other rubber bushing in the suspension? Sold mounts are the best solution but end up being to rough and noisy for practical street use.

Givin that these rearends are a 3 link design wouldn't any movement at the front mount result in a rotation of the rearend which in counter-productive ?

Paul

[NixVegaGT]

The bushing allows for typical suspension travel without binding... They allow for a bit of dampening as well.

[stage169]

Paul, I won't pretend to know exactly all the details of a torque arm but maybe I can explain some of what I think I know. When the rear suspension travels up and down there is a little forward and back movement of the ta. The stock front bushing allows this movement also. A lot of aftermarket companies have adopted this same front mount (my arm is a S&W race car product). Although my front mount is upside down compared to all the rest it is angled forward and would need for a complete rearend mounting failure to flip up. While we were building this mount we made the rear travel its full range and noted the position of the front mount. I hope that makes sense. Here are some pic's. Brian

[acstestinc]

Learn something new everyday.

I knew that GM liked the H-body torque arm rear suspension so much that they used it the 3rd gen F-bodies. But I just realized that the 4th gen F-bodies also used it as well.

That probably validates this design as arguably the best setup for solid axle rear ends.

A "Claim To Fame" for H-Bodies !!!!
LOL

Paul

PS: I like the pinion angle ajustablity that the aftermarket 4th gen F-body torque arms have.

[stinkybutt]

Remember the lower arms are short and the torque arm is long. Two diferent arcs. The front of the torque arm has to float forward and back to prevent binding.
Aleck

[10secvega]

It's hard to see in the pics,but this is how i made mine.