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Here is pics of my freshly made torque arm.I'll try to explain as best i can.
I put a 200-4r in the car over winter,to make that fit i took a Hooker style crossmember and lengthened it,2 pieces of 1 1/2 and and a piece if 1 1/2 square tubing.
I run a chrsler 8 3/4 rear,in wich i welded tabs to the top and bottom of the housing.
I then built my torque arm out of 1 1/4 mild steel tubing with 3 3/4 inch heim joints and an ladder link.To be able to set pinion angle.
The front bracket will weld to the tranny crossmember.
I'll add more pics when it's in the car tuesday.





[/img]http://www.knights-rule.com/cgi/gallery/d/5347-2/100_0711.jpg

Kevin your ta looks good! This point has come up several times so don't take me wrong. Its my understanding that the ta will move forward and back some during the rear suspension travel. The stock bushing allows this and many after market arms do also. Your front mount point looks to me like its going to be very solid and I just thought if you weren't aware of the ta going forward and back that you might before you install it. Brian

I like the idea of going with the 8 3/4. Have you got any pix of the install? What kind of little v6 are we talking about here LOL.

Darn picture didn't show up for the front mount let me try to repost it,it's solid but has a slot just like the factory one.
P.S.It's got a Turbo Buick V-6

But it doesn't have a bushing like the stock one. I'm guessing you are not going to leave the bolt loose at the front mount? I like Aleck's explanation.

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

stage169 wrote:But it doesn't have a bushing like the stock one. I'm guessing you are not going to leave the bolt loose at the front mount? I like Aleck's explanation.

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

Yes you leave that bolt loose.Just use a lock nut.This setup was in my car already but with the stock metal mount bolted to my trans.
it works very well,1.51 60 foot and tons of street miles with out any problems.
This is a picture of how it was with the TH350

I'm slow but trainable I wondered but went the other direction thinking the slot was there so when you had the car sitting at ride height you tightened it up where it was. Sorry for the waste of time. I'm looking forward to more pictures of your car. Brian

stage169 wrote:I'm slow but trainable I wondered but went the other direction thinking the slot was there so when you had the car sitting at ride height you tightened it up where it was. Sorry for the waste of time. I'm looking forward to more pictures of your car. Brian

Not a problem!!I have a hard time putiing my thoughts into words to describe something.Good thing i take lots of pictures.

You are all absolutely correct about the swing arm lengths. Something has to give a little. I installed a poly mount in the front of my arm but I am still using rubber mounts in the rear control arms, so they can give a little. If everything was solid it would be more of a problem. Mine has been like this for years, no problems or noise.

That 8 3/4 looks cool under there. Is it heavy? It's got to be lighter than the 9" Ford... I kept the old fashioned rubber mount on my torque arm... Thanks for the post, Kevin.

cjbiagi wrote:You are all absolutely correct about the swing arm lengths. Something has to give a little. I installed a poly mount in the front of my arm but I am still using rubber mounts in the rear control arms, so they can give a little. If everything was solid it would be more of a problem. Mine has been like this for years, no problems or noise.

I have polyurathane(SP?) bushings in my lower control arms also,plus they are boxed.

NixVegaGT wrote:That 8 3/4 looks cool under there. Is it heavy? It's got to be lighter than the 9" Ford... I kept the old fashioned rubber mount on my torque arm... Thanks for the post, Kevin.

I'm not really sure how heavy it is?But it's a stock width out of an "A" body.

¿¿ OK that seems like it would have been really wide. right?? I can do the research myself too. I know you are trying to get specific info in this post. Just interested.
THanks man

OK with a little quick research I found that the 8 3/4 is about 52 1/2" wide. I guess that's only ≈ 2 3/4" too wide about 1 1/4" per side. I suppose you could take up with rim backspacing... Is that how you did it?

COOL.

NixVegaGT wrote:OK with a little quick research I found that the 8 3/4 is about 52 1/2" wide. I guess that's only ≈ 2 3/4" too wide about 1 1/4" per side. I suppose you could take up with rim backspacing... Is that how you did it?

COOL.

I'll measure the housing for you,i run a 15x8 wheel with 5.5 in back spacing.