1970 Firebird - Pro Touring Project

[PonchoJohn]

WOW!! That's a solid car!
400 stroker? You know you wanna.... Forged rods, crank, pistons, HR cam.... 8,000 rpm! WHAT??!!!

[jtwoods4]

Well after countless hours researching rear end suspension designs and reading several chassis and suspension books I have decided to go with the Speedtech Torque Arm setup on the rear of this car and the Track Time package.

http://www.speedtechperformance.com/...prod/prd50.htm

Wilwood Aero 6 Big Brakes

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/Bra...%20Brake%20Kit

Speedway Mod Lite Ford 9 Inch Floater

http://www.1speedway.com/Floater_Rear_Ends.htm

[Vince@Meanstreets]

If you order direct from Strange (recommended) they will have all the information that you will need for your brakes ( mounting flange and offset) and floater as not all are created equal. The pro- touring kit looks good.

[jtwoods4]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

If you order direct from Strange (recommended) they will have all the information that you will need for your brakes ( mounting flange and offset) and floater as not all are created equal. The pro- touring kit looks good.

Yeah good idea. I can just have it shipped to BMR so they can weld on the brackets for the Torque arm setup.

[carbuff]

Just one thing to consider before you finalize this plan (from someone who has one). Make a plan for your exhaust routing before you commit. I run dual 3" pipes under the car and all the way out to the back. The Torque Arm prevents you from tucking the pipes into the driveshaft tunnel. For clearance on mine, about 1/2 of the intermediate pipes was re-made from oval tubing to add clearance.

Note that I don't have the BMR setup, but I don't think it will offer a lot more clearance in the tunnel. I also have a Watt's Link which added to the complexity. You will have to deal with some of that with any coilover setup as compared to the original leafs though...

This said, I like my Torque Arm setup. It just adds to the complexity of exhaust routing and ever having to remove the driveshaft...

[jtwoods4]

Originally Posted by carbuff

Just one thing to consider before you finalize this plan (from someone who has one). Make a plan for your exhaust routing before you commit. I run dual 3" pipes under the car and all the way out to the back. The Torque Arm prevents you from tucking the pipes into the driveshaft tunnel. For clearance on mine, about 1/2 of the intermediate pipes was re-made from oval tubing to add clearance.

Note that I don't have the BMR setup, but I don't think it will offer a lot more clearance in the tunnel. I also have a Watt's Link which added to the complexity. You will have to deal with some of that with any coilover setup as compared to the original leafs though...

This said, I like my Torque Arm setup. It just adds to the complexity of exhaust routing and ever having to remove the driveshaft...

Yeah I hear you. The main reason I chose the Torque arm setup is because all the other 3 and 4 link setups require significant fabrication and modification to the rear frame rails / trunk pan. The torque arm setup supposedly provides awesome handling compared to leaf springs but does not require custom fabrication to install.

What setup did you uses and what rear end?

[carbuff]

I have the JRS Apex torque arm setup. Eric did some work on the front mount to allow it to do double duty as my transmission mount also. This TA is a heavy sucker, and the Watt's Link creates some nice challenges for exhaust routing. Here is one example: you can see most of the welds in this one tube, although I think there are 2 others behind the axle (at least 1 for sure).



Somewhere I have a bunch of recent pictures of the entire underside of the car. I'll try to dig those up if you're interested... They must be on my phone.

[jtwoods4]

That would be great. Other than exhaust routing, which can be overcome with a custom exhaust pipe install, what other issues did you encounter with the torque arm setup? Were you able to run a 3.5 inch driveshaft?

[Trans am sim]

Hi I seen your build your doing looks like a great starting point I might have something you may be interested in a matching # formula 400 engine and pedigree give me a call if you're interested my name is sim 727-851-2787 thanks

[jp455]

Looks good! Hows that suspension working out for you? Im thinking of getting the same exact one...