First Pass on new combo & BOOM

Thank god it was not the engine or tranny. First pass ever on the 383 and my torque arm decides it is not up to the task. Ofcourse the TQ arm can not die alone and must take my drive shaft with it http://web.camaross.com/bb/mad.gif I did not even make it to the 60' to at least get a time for that.

This sucks

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95Z M6
383


and a few other mods

Did you have a driveshaft loop? Did you hook up and then break the torque arm right away? Where did it break at? The stock torque arms are weak, they are just sheet metal, go with a tubular one from like LGmotorsports or something, sometims that $500 in the beginning is worth it not to break a driveshaft. Good luck on your next run after you replace it, you must have a lot of power from that 383 cuz I have seen people run with the stock torque arm and get in the high 11's. Good luck and post your times here after you get a good pass.

You must have a lot of power....

I still have the stock torque arm and cur 1.5-1.6 sixty foot times. Lots of passes on my car.

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'94 Black Z28, 383, 700R4
1/8 ET: 7.49
1/4 ET: 11.86
1/4 MPH: 112
http://www.downtime.cz28.com.index.html (http://www.downtime.cz28.com/index.html)

Yeah. I did have a loop. It was a Spohn TQ arm with a solid mount and loop. I should clairify that it most likely was not the TQ arm's that caused the problem. It looks like the top two bolts either broke or pulled the threads out of the rear end housing. Not sure which since I have not pulled the rear out of the car. The top plate is in tact but the bottom plate, that is still bolted to the rear, is bent at about a 75 deg angle.

That allowed the rear to rotate, wast the rear u-joint, and bend the snot out of the rear joint ears on my Lingenfelter shaft.

All in all a total mess and the last chain of events I thought would ever happen to the car.

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95Z M6
383


and a few other mods

are you running a moser 12 bolt? a buddy of mine had the same problem with his. the bolts loosened and ripped the torque arm up.

Yes I am running the Moser. I am hoping that they just backed out and did not pull threads. I don't feeling like drilling broken bolts or putting a helicoil in the hole.

I torqued the bolts to about 100 Ft lbs when I installed the TQ arm last year. I would not have imagined they would have backed out. I guess I learned my lesson the expensive way. This time they get a big gob of loctite.

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95Z M6
383


and a few other mods

that is about the only thing I am not happy about my Moser. I have been looking to see if I can drill at least one of the holes ALL the way through http://web.camaross.com/bb/wink.gif

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Ellis
Team Captain
Team North West F-Body
www.teamnwfbody.org (http://www.teamnwfbody.org)

I spun my rear up under my car a couple weeks ago.What a mess.Mine was torque arm related not the mount.

My mount on my 9 inch has 3, 3/4 fine thread bolts that are threaded for 5 inches holding the plate in.I got not see it pulling apart.

ED

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95 Formula Solid Roller 9 Inch 4.10 H.D. Locker,6 speed
Best 1/4 12.074 Best MPH 115.56 on STOCK HEADS


94 Hardtop Heads up Drag car


94 Formula A4 Stock
120,000 miles 13.82

Tow Rig 84 suburban 3/4 4wheel drive 388 small block

You guys are not making me feel good about my rear end combo. http://web.camaross.com/bb/frown.gif I have a sphon Torque Arm and Mosher 12 bold. I'll have to make sure the bolts are tight before I race the car. Man I'd have to say I would be REALLY mad if on my first pass at the track w/ this combo if the Torque Arm broke and destroyed my drive shaft.

How strong is the mounting point for the front of the Sphon Torque Arms? I guess there may not be a lot of stress there, but those 4 bolts are kinda small.

Jason

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Plates: "Stock 95"
1995 Firebird Formula
O'ring/4bolt 383, GTP Race Ported AFR 210s, Yank TH400, Yank 3800 Stall, Trans Break, Moser 12 Bolt w/ 3.73s, and the usual stuff like Hooker Long Tubes, 58mm TB, Sphon Torque Arm, etc....

i've been woundering that also. hey is your sphon torque arm really clunky. i hear mine clunk on launches...

Not sure what comes with the 12 Bolt, but all I can say is 4 words:

Grade 8 use Loctite

http://web.camaross.com/bb/smile.gif



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Kurtis Tamez
LT4-396.com (http://www.lt4-396.com)
97 Z28 LT4-396
94 Firehawk LT1-396
Team NW F-Body (http://www.teamnwfbody.org)

I haven't gotten a chance to race my set up yet. http://web.camaross.com/bb/frown.gif I am hopping to sometime next month though lol...

Yeah I plan on using locktite now. I wasn't going to but given what everyone has said, I can't see not doing it.

Jason

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Plates: "Stock 95"
1995 Firebird Formula
O'ring/4bolt 383, GTP Race Ported AFR 210s, Yank TH400, Yank 3800 Stall, Trans Break, Moser 12 Bolt w/ 3.73s, and the usual stuff like Hooker Long Tubes, 58mm TB, Sphon Torque Arm, etc....

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by KTamez:


Grade 8 use Loctite

http://web.camaross.com/bb/smile.gif

</font>


Oh sure...now you tell me http://web.camaross.com/bb/wink.gif



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95Z M6
383


and a few other mods

Sorry to hear that, but as they say, **** happens

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hchap63@hotmail.com

01/SS, Black A4, TR224/112, ARE stage 2 heads, lid, FTRA, PMAF, PTB, Grott LT, true duals, NGK, ASP pulley, Vig 3200, LCA, poly TAB, Convo pros, ET Streets, 3300 raceweight. Little bit of juice..

Best ET: (All bolt ons) 11.496@116.42 (1.52)

Current best after Head & cam & nitrous:
10.88@124 (1.60)

Motown Muscle King of The Hill winner 6-8-02. Want some? Get some!!:)

RIP #3 Dirty Dale!!!

I know your pain. Last year I installed a Street Twin, a Moser 12 bolt, a new Denny's driveshaft and a brand new set of ET Streets all at once. First pass -- BOOM -- same as you. Ripped the torque arm off the top of the Moser, slammed the DS into the underside of the car (although it was steel, so it survived and just needed rebalancing), made the Moser about 20X louder, damaged my e-brake cables, etc...Of course I was stupid enough to put on another stock torque arm from a salvage yard and do it again within 5 passes!

I suspect that the problem was pinion angle created by the Moser. I had to do quite a bit of adjustment with my new BMR arm to get it within spec. Did you check your pinion angle with the Moser? My car only makes about 350-360 rwhp so it wasn't a power thing.

Rich

Rich

Now theres 2 different scenarios.

Is the Torque Arm ripping or are the bolts being sheared off? A friend up here had the same incident last year, but I can't remember which it was on his.

Anyone notice what Grade of Fasteners are used for the Torque Arm mount? If they're just cheapies then a Grade 8 should do the trick. If they're supplying Grade 8 with the Rear, then maybe we should start looking into some $5+ apiece NAS bolts. http://web.camaross.com/bb/smile.gif

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Kurtis Tamez
LT4-396.com (http://www.lt4-396.com)
97 Z28 LT4-396
94 Firehawk LT1-396
Team NW F-Body (http://www.teamnwfbody.org)

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Rich Johnston:

I suspect that the problem was pinion angle created by the Moser. I had to do quite a bit of adjustment with my new BMR arm to get it within spec. Did you check your pinion angle with the Moser? My car only makes about 350-360 rwhp so it wasn't a power thing.

Rich

Rich</font>

Sure did. I set the pinion the day before to -3 deg. Unfortunatly I did not check the mounting bolts. If that thought crossed my mind I would probably have saved myself alot of money and hassel.

BTW - I still have not recieved my new TQ arm from Spohn. I ordered it Monday with Next Day air. I called and left a message Wed and Thurs and have not been called back. I also send a email with no response. Now there is a message on there order line saying they are on vacay until Tuesday http://web.camaross.com/bb/eek.gif

Just another thing to piss me off. They better not charge me for overnight shipping if it does arrive before Tuesday.



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95Z M6
383


and a few other mods

Mine was not caused by loose bolts, at least not the second time around. I had them really tight right before I went to the strip (because I thought loose bolts were probably to blame the first time). The torque arm did shear off the bolts, although one of the bolts was bent slightly as well. The Moser comes with Grade 8s. I replaced them after I broke one arm with new Grade 8s and the second TA broke the same way.

I'm not happy to hear about bolts stripping the threads out of the Moser housing. Even my new stronger torque arm would sold that. In fact, since the mounting plate is thicker I probably have fewer threads engaged...greatttt....

Rich


<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by red:

Oh sure...now you tell me http://web.camaross.com/bb/wink.gif

</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Rich Johnston:


I'm not happy to hear about bolts stripping the threads out of the Moser housing. Even my new stronger torque arm would sold that. In fact, since the mounting plate is thicker I probably have fewer threads engaged...greatttt....

Rich
</font>

A Longer bolt would fix the Thread count I'd assume.....

If you want to take the bolt strength to the next level contact RJ Race Cars or their Mail order division at www.quartermax.com (http://www.quartermax.com) and look into getting some NAS Hardware. If you're still have problems.... well theres gotta be more serious issues causing it.... http://web.camaross.com/bb/wink.gif In actuallity, shouldn't even need to go this far, LOL.

http://www.quartermax.com/catalogpages/Hardware-NAS.php

Good luck!



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Kurtis Tamez
LT4-396.com (http://www.lt4-396.com)
97 Z28 LT4-396
94 Firehawk LT1-396
Team NW F-Body (http://www.teamnwfbody.org)

My Moser liked to back the the bolts out. Nothing to do w/ a weak bolt...the bolts just didn't like to stay tight.

I ended up cleaning everything up, drenching them in Loctite, and tightening the living piss out of them.

I had a stock torque arm until I destroyed it....luckily, I didn't tear it off. Just bent it and cracked it in a couple of places. My Spohn has held up much better.

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94 Firebird Formula (http://www.nitrousbird.cz28.com) Ram-Air, M6, T-tops, N2O, 12-Bolt, Bolt-Ons; was running 11's internally stock.432.8 RWHP / 588.4 RWTQ (http://www.nitrousbird.cz28.com/id110.htm)
No new times or dyno numbers with new top end (CC306, 1.6RR's, ported heads, etc.)

I am about to be using a Spohn Torque Arm and Moser 12 Bolt. Whats the way to not have this happen? Lot's of Loctite and tighten the bolts really good or is it a different problem? I would prefer the LS1 Driveshaft to be the weak link in the drivetrain and not a expensive torque arm and rearend! http://web.camaross.com/bb/smile.gif

I tore the stocker off myself, broke the driveshaft, ebrake lines got severed, pinion yoke went bye bye as well
Oh the fun
Make sure you got the longest bolts in there and tighten the piss out of them. If you are running a stock ta weld a plate on top and bottom of the ta where the bolt holes go through and reinforce that area some.

Steven

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383 Inches of stroked turbocharged fun.
If one is good shouldnt 2 be great????? :D:D:D
TURBO=TORQUE
TORQUE=FUN

My Car (http://groups.msn.com/Zturbo)