Lakewood driveshaft loop for Camaros
#1
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From: Kingwood, Texas
Lakewood driveshaft loop for Camaros
I purchased the Lakewood driveshaft loop for Camaros.
The instructions said (in short) to jack up the front of the car remove the tunnel brace and bolt it in. HAH...what BS.
The loop is in two pieces. One piece ties into the existing tunnel brace bolt holes and angles over the Y pipe. The other piece goes around the drive shaft and bolts the the pice that passes over the Y-pipe.
First I tried putting the piece that goes over the y-pipe as per instructions. There was no way in hell this thing can be put in with the y pipe in the way. So I say to myself...no big deal I will just drop the Y- pipe and let is hang down.
Next it was time for the piece that goes around the drive shaft......NOT... There is no way that thing would go around the drive shaft because the tabs on it that bolt to the other piece interfere with the torque arm. By this time I am very frustrated...I tried and tried again to get this thing to go in. Finally I had to jack up the rear of the car and drop the drive shaft...Say goodbye to the advantage of having a multiple piece loop.
Now for the fun part...I bolt everthing back together and guess what? The POS was touching my y-pipe. Even with slotted holes I could not make it clear. After all this work I told my self this would be alright....NOT... The exaust of the car resonated so loud that is sounded like I had a tailpipe pointed in my ear.
Day Two:
I jack the car up again take the POS out and bang the **** out of it trying to get it to clear the Y pipe. I have no vice or torch to heat it up so basically all I did was distort the shape so badly that it would not fit up right.
After much cursing I finally decided this thing is a POS and got under there dropped the shaft and y pipe, AGAIN ,took the thing out and throw it where it belongs..IN THE TRASH CAN
Your results may vary
Thanks
The instructions said (in short) to jack up the front of the car remove the tunnel brace and bolt it in. HAH...what BS.
The loop is in two pieces. One piece ties into the existing tunnel brace bolt holes and angles over the Y pipe. The other piece goes around the drive shaft and bolts the the pice that passes over the Y-pipe.
First I tried putting the piece that goes over the y-pipe as per instructions. There was no way in hell this thing can be put in with the y pipe in the way. So I say to myself...no big deal I will just drop the Y- pipe and let is hang down.
Next it was time for the piece that goes around the drive shaft......NOT... There is no way that thing would go around the drive shaft because the tabs on it that bolt to the other piece interfere with the torque arm. By this time I am very frustrated...I tried and tried again to get this thing to go in. Finally I had to jack up the rear of the car and drop the drive shaft...Say goodbye to the advantage of having a multiple piece loop.
Now for the fun part...I bolt everthing back together and guess what? The POS was touching my y-pipe. Even with slotted holes I could not make it clear. After all this work I told my self this would be alright....NOT... The exaust of the car resonated so loud that is sounded like I had a tailpipe pointed in my ear.
Day Two:
I jack the car up again take the POS out and bang the **** out of it trying to get it to clear the Y pipe. I have no vice or torch to heat it up so basically all I did was distort the shape so badly that it would not fit up right.
After much cursing I finally decided this thing is a POS and got under there dropped the shaft and y pipe, AGAIN ,took the thing out and throw it where it belongs..IN THE TRASH CAN
Your results may vary
Thanks
#2
Re: Lakewood driveshaft loop for Camaros
Wow man, I'm sorry to hear. I just put one in a week ago when I was doing a header install. So fortunately the y-pipe was already dropped - I don't see how you could put in a loop with the y pipe in. But it really only took me like 10 min to get it bolted in. The top piece of the loop I slid in near the tail shaft of the tranny, there was enough room there to squeeze it around the shaft and torque arm. Or you can have a buddy pry on the torque arm with a tire iron to shift it out of the way a little while you wrap it around. Clearance with my TTS y pipe is fine, but if you have a stock exhaust, some people have said it might not clear, since header y's tend to hang a bit lower.
#3
Re: Lakewood driveshaft loop for Camaros
Are you talking about Lakewood part # 18022 ?
https://ls1tech.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...=003202#000000
Fit absolutely perfect on my car. Took a total of 15 mins to install.
Moving to Drivetrain Section.
https://ls1tech.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...=003202#000000
Fit absolutely perfect on my car. Took a total of 15 mins to install.
Moving to Drivetrain Section.
#4
Re: Lakewood driveshaft loop for Camaros
Well, first off, you might've had better luck if you did a search for the lakewood first. I've seen it mentioned (and mentioned it myself) that they really don't fit with stock exhaust. It's really for the guys who have aftermarket headers, because the BMR/SLP/blah blah ones don't fit with headers. Stock exhaust, you should use the SLP or Metco or BMR or whoever else makes them. Sucks that you had to find out the hard way, I know I've done that a time or two (sigh).
I'm not really sure why you had so much trouble getting it on though. I did it on my car with the y-pipe on (FLP y-pipe though) and the driveshaft in. It's even a larger 3.5" diameter driveshaft. It was tight but it went on. I think I had to push over the torque arm or torque arm bracket a little with my hand, since the driveshaft is bigger than stock, but that was it. It fit 10000000000x better than my Metco POS which I threw away much like you did the Lakewood. It clears my 3.5" driveshaft great too. Couldn't be happier with it.
Dope
I'm not really sure why you had so much trouble getting it on though. I did it on my car with the y-pipe on (FLP y-pipe though) and the driveshaft in. It's even a larger 3.5" diameter driveshaft. It was tight but it went on. I think I had to push over the torque arm or torque arm bracket a little with my hand, since the driveshaft is bigger than stock, but that was it. It fit 10000000000x better than my Metco POS which I threw away much like you did the Lakewood. It clears my 3.5" driveshaft great too. Couldn't be happier with it.
Dope