I can post pics later if anyone wants regarding the girdle and arms from Jegs. We are having to do some modification to some parts in order to make it work. The cover is designed for the 10 bolt rear but obviously not for an F-Body. When the strap is attached at the rear with the heim spacers it sits exactly where the pan hard bar wants to be so it doesn't work. I took a bunch of pictures but didn't bring my camera to work. We came up with a solution last night around 12:30am that will work so I'll take pictures of that as well. I just needed to get new bolts to make it actually work. We installed the covers on two cars last night and did the arms before realizing the pan hard rod didn't fit. Wasn't even close to fitting. Just FYI for people considering this mod.

 

what is the point of lca's and torque arms then...

i thought they kept your rearend from twisting and turning?

 

They do. This is just a little added strength, like why you put guy wires on two sides of a post to keep it from swaying. There is enough play in the whole rear end setup that there is some movement. When people blow up their rear end it's usually from the axle tube flexing allowing some bind in the gear which causes a tooth to snap off and get lodged and cause the rest to let loose. That's why it's such a nasty scary noise when one lets lose (been there with a Dana 44 twice). This is just preloading the rear of the tubes a little to help keep them on center with the carrier. It would be completely useless without having the lca's and torque arm though. It all works together to imobilize the axle tubes.

We noticed too when our car was on the dyno that the torque arm moves quite a bit. Probably worn bushing but it's getting replaced with something tubular to go with the lca's.

To me it was cheap and easy fix. On our Jeeps we would gusset the entire axle tube to the differential because even with a four link suspension there is still some movement. Basically the same idea only this isn't welded the entire length.

In my opinion it's not comparable to a 12 bolt but I have an automatic so the 10 bolt is pretty decent since my tranny is somewhat easy on it. Going up to 450 hp like we plan is going to put extra strain on it so every little bit helps.

 

Great piece of work here! Remember the very essence of Hot Rodding lies in taking various OEM pieces, and making them stronger/better for little money. Keep me "in the loop" regarding that 4th gen 400rwhp test mule you're trying this mod on.

 

So all the bracket on the test 10 bolt 4th gen are done. The gears are still MIA from the Micronite treatment.

 

is the posi unit a Auburn?

 

I'd like to see the pics if you would post them.

 

I'll have the car back up on the lift tomorrow morning so I'll take pics and show what we changed.

 

Glad you posted this, I was about 10 minutes from placing an order and decided to check the thread one more time. Looking forward to your solution.

Also, are you using the standard or "deep brace kit"? I assume the deep kit just has longer brackets for the outboard ends, and that shorter is preferred for better triangulation.

From Jegs "Deep brace kit provides additional clearance for coil-over shocks mounted behind the rear housing."

 

what type of posi are you using? Eaton

 

Ok here are the pics of it fixed .. the problem is posted previously in this thread ..

Here is overall length changed by only using the one spacer and the countersunk bolt. There is still full range of motion for the heim end. Went from a 3" overall bolt length to a 2" overall bolt length.


Here is the bracket modified.


And with the bolt in it.


And mounted with 1/2" clearance from the panhard bar.


You can see more pics with the arms and stuff here...
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aro/RearCover/

Works like a charm now.

PS - We realized we had the spacers on backwards whem we took the pictures so my brother-in-law is changing them now while I'm posting this up.

 

good luck with the rear, i will take my chances with a little hp loss. its not worth investing in a 7 1/2 inch rear IMO

 

You're right, it's probably not, but I'm getting into the car performance stuff after 10 years of fabricating for Jeeps and trucks so for me it's all about the fun factor of fabricating and making something work. If it doesn't work out, oh well, it was fun to do it and learn along the way. Definitely not for everyone but for anyone who did buy this kit, here was a quick and easy work around to make it work on our cars.

 

Worth it or not, that is some beautiful work you've done. Sucks you have to weld the bracks on and its not a straight bolt part so that us weldingly challanged guys can play too.

 

PW: Bolt solution looks good, thanks for the update. Is the tubular panhard a necessary part of the solution, or did the stock one still fit?