I'm building a drag car 98 twin turbo firebird. We are trying to figure out what to do with the rear suspension. We want to remove the torque arm. What is the best setup to run on these cars? laddre bars, 4 link? What kind of 60's are being had with these setups? Thanks for info

 

I think most people just upgrade the TQ arm, if your drag racing get the HUGE BMR rear sway bar. If you can hook you can get down there 1.40's 60 foot.

 

Moving to the drag section.

 

If you were really serious you could have the car back-halved and install a 4-link. Much can ben done however with a "stock" style suspension if you have the time and money for a custom setup.

 

1. how quick/fast do you want to go?
2. building the car to run in any heads up classes?

need more info.

 

The car is being built as we speak. It has a 9inch being installed and a cage. The car is being built for drag racing only. I'm not trying to stick huge tires on it or anything but needs to be able to achieve 1.2-1.3 60fts. A 4 link was what I was thinking of going with but didn't know if it was necessary. I really don't care for the torque arm but didn't know if it was necessary to have it on there. I'm looking to get 8's -low 9's.

 

8-9 Second runs I'd just stick to the stock style syspension replaced with aftermarket products.

 

There's alot of guys running in that speed range with stock style suspension, ther's lots of aftermarket options out for tq arms, control arms, drag sway bars, all that stuff.

bmr, spohn, wolfe all make proven stuff, umi also makes some nice looking products.

 

So is the torque arm required or will the ladder bars or 4 link take it's place?

 

The car I'm building is gunning for 8.50's with and will be using a custom torque arm. Depending on the transmission you plan on using, you can have a custom arm made longer than stock for use on a Powerglide for example.

 

the torque arm is an awesome set-up. you can definitely achieve some 1.2 60's with a torque arm. i went 1.30 with a cheap torque arm and not even mini-tubbed with a 28x10.5 tire on an 8" rim. when set up right they work great. the worst part of doing the 4 link is all the damnsheet metal work that needs to be done after you cut everything up. if you do decide to do the 4 link, i could send you pics of the way i did mine but it is not completely necessary. also if you have a ladder bar or 4 link, you will not have the torque arm anymore.

 

I'm using a 400 turbo trans

 

Thank you, that's what I was needing to know. What kind of 60's are you getting with the 4 link? I'd love to see some pics.

 

Th400 trans can be used, there's crossmembers that relocate the tq arm off the tranny tailshaft, BMR sells one, I'm using it on my m6 to th400 conversion.

I don't expect to see any times like you are planning, but I'm sure it's beefy and adjustable enough to get you where you want to be.