me and a guy from the local speed shop were thinking of trying to run ladder bars on my 93z this winter with a junkyard 12bolt housing and good internal parts. I can get all welding done for free. Now the question is will i end up out more than $2000 done and said for parts? I am not worried about streetablitly at all. Would it just take the ladder bout mounting rail to go from frame rail to frame rail then losse the lca's and the torque arm? I am trying to get the jist of everything before we tear into it.

 

Why would you want to screw with one of the best set ups for racing that you can get? Just look at what the stockers do with it.

I get a wheel standing 1.31 60ft on a 9" tire with my 96 TA with the stock style set up. it is all BMR made but everthing is in the stock location but just stronger made.

 

The reason is cost and just something different. Figure $2500 for rear end. then probrably about $500-600 for torque arm and control arms. there is $3000.
Ladder bars/hardware/mounting crossmember $350. 12bolt $500-1500, labor is unknown at this point. This is just an idea right now not something i am sure i am going to do. I can always go back to the stock style if this doesn't work out, but i was just looking at a 73 camaro with a 632bbc and a fogger kit on it that was in the mid 8's running ladderbars so they cant be that bad of a set up.

 

The junkyard 12 bolt might not be an easy thing to find. You don't want a truck diff and finding a car 12 bolt narrow enough to fit won't be easy. If you do manage to find a diff, it will probably need a rebuild. It probably won't have a posi or gears that you need. The factory 30 spline axles are tapered so new axles are needed. If you get into the 11's, it will need c-clip eliminators. By the time you're done, it could be cheaper to just buy an aftermarket diff that has everything done.

The next problem is the ladder bars. 3rd and 4th gens have the diff high up inside the body lines. To install ladder bars, the floor will have to be sectioned since they won't sit below the floor pan. I have some pics on my web site of how I sectioned my floor. Since I have a full drag car, I wasn't worried about interior.

 

It looks like you sections you cut out have a good amount of extra room. Is it possible to have the stick up only a couple inches into the car? I am not to worried about the interior of the car either. I am going to find out all of the costs for this project and compare that price to the price of a 12bolt made for the car and a new torque arm and lower control arms. Thank you for the advice.

 

LT1,

I think you might be close to your price as long as you have a good rearend to use assuming the internals of the rear are OK. One good think is if you have someone that has good welding skills and can center everythink up in the car for ya will save you alot of money. You might want to checkout www.appliedracing.com they have great deals on suspension items and seem to be about the cheapest I have seen that sell complete rear sections for cars. They offer a complete rear package for $964.95 and this includes everything for the rear except rearend.

You save big money also by going with mild steel vs chromoly. My car is just finishing up but I ended up going with a crazy amount of chassis work. This is a picture of my car when my chassis guy started it back in March of 03 and this was just the begining. The car now certifies SFI 25.1D

http://www.gofastzone.com/members/Th...NG/012_21a.jpg


Good Luck!

 

Now that is a whole rear section. Wouldn't i have to cut out basically the whole back of the car??? How in the world does that weld in? Who did all of your chassis work?

 

My setup is a bit more than what I think your looking for but if you check out the ART web page they have a complete welded rear section that with welding you can get this to do what you need. You would have to remove the rear floor somewhat but maybe not to the degree of my setup. The picture of my setup was in the very start of the chassis, my whole floor was removed up to the fire wall and tubed from the firewall back and then the car was treated to alumn sheetmetal interior. My car was tig welded and chromoly tubing was used from the firewall back.

Gun Lake Performance Engineering is doing the work. Check out the pic. below you can see in the background a Pro Mod Viper that has a 632ci motor.

http://www.gofastzone.com/members/Th...NG/008_17a.jpg

 

I like your car Jim. That is eventually what I want to do with my Firebird.

 

How steep is the pricing at the shop you are having the work done at?