just changed the rear in my car, and i've been thinking of fabing the trailing arms, panhard, sfc's, is there any good ways to replace the torque arm with something more solid?

i don't mean another torque arm either, thinking outside of the box here, pinion stub is kinda tight quarters, someone at work suggested ladder bars.

whats your take? how can i make the rear solid as can be?

 

instead of the standard torque arm, why not fab up somehting more like this bmr arm:

pic 1
pic 2

 

well i thought about it but i was wondering if there was maybe something better i could do.

 

Torque arm "stock" style suspensions have pushed heavy 4th Gens to 1/4-miles as quick as 9.04-seconds, and I believe in the case of a more recent LS1 and a Gen 1 motored ex-LT1 car, maybe into the high 8's. I know of one person who feels he can be competetive with the TA style suspension in his 30th SS Convert, in the PRO/Edelbrock Extreme Street Series, where it will take sub 8.5-second ET's to win. These guys are pulling 1.2X 60-fts.

I'd be hard pressed to switch to "ladder bars" or something else "outside the box", when there are thousands of 4th Gens working just fine with a TA. You might also need to review the class rules under which you might race such a car, because there are often limits on what can be done to the rear suspension.

I know there are successful 3rd Gen cars, essentially the same basic construction, that use ladder bars, but not generally used in 4th Gens. Maybe a post on the "3rd Gen Tech" board, or on "Drag Racing" would uncover more info.