Red12secZ28

iTrader: (2)

Currently my car is at the exhaust shop to get true duals put on. The guy doing the exhaust said he would have to remove the upper panhard rod for the driver side over the axle pipe to clear. Will removing the upper panhard have an adverse effect on my handling. Take in mind I have subframe connectors, bmr lower panhard rod, bmr lca's, poly sway bar links, and better than stock coil springs.

ta12sec

iTrader: (3)

I did it on my 3rd gen and never had anyproblems . Theres a guy on this site i belive his screen name is cyseven who welded a bracket on and lowered the bracket 1 inch on the lower phb.
http://www.angelfire.com/on2/Vinnie/truedual.html

Pro Stock John

iTrader: (34)

If you had a drag car I'd so remove it.

But maybe you might want to look into lowering it since I don't know how the car would take corners without it at normal driving speeds.

I have had mine out for a few years but my car has not had radials on it for about three years.

Inspector12

iTrader: (29)

I had one break on me and caused it to rub the tires on the inner fender wells and was kinda squeirly on the high way.

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

For a street car I'd want it connected and checking into lowering it.

Black Sunshine/ 00SS

iTrader: (1)

FWIW, mine has been off for 2 years now, and no problems.

Screamin_Z

iTrader: (2)

here is the link with good pics so u can see what we are talking about, it does not have to be removed.

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/Vinnie/truedual.html

CySevans

Yeah, I haven't had any clearence problems (2 1/2" over the axle) since lowering the PHB. Worked like a charm!

01 SS Jay

I asked Brett from BMR about this, he said it wasnt a very good idea - the lower PHB needs it to support the area it bolts to. If you look at that bracket the lower PHB bolts to, its not all that beefy looking.

Reckless

iTrader: (9)

True, but with a welder and some gussets, you can make it plenty "beefy"

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

I bent one on a 3rd gen. If it didn't do anything, it shouldn't bend. I never ran that car on race tires, it was just an aggressive handling street car.

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

I would really be inclined to leave it on. Although I don't have a real good idea of how much load the PHR can see, the brace - along with the clevis on the pass. side - approximates a triangulated support (like you'd see in a truss system). When you build a structure like this with pinned joints (not really true in this case, but close) you tend to find only tensile or compressive stresses in each of the members. By removing the triangulating brace, you are inducing much more severe bending loads into the PHR attachment than with the brace installed.

Maybe it will hold during normal driving, but if a race condition can bend the support as in trackbird's case, then it could certainly damage or fail the pass. side attach point were the support not in place. At this point you would really have nothing locating your axle for side loads and could break the LCA's, torque arm, etc., - not a pretty picture.

Sure seems to be an opportunity for a good aftermarket version here. Actually I'm surprised that after all these years (isn't this part used on the 3rd gen's too?) there's nothing else out there (or at least not beyond the GMS, which is just a boxed OEM piece). After spending a few minutes under the car staring at it, it appears that if the brace just extended horizontally another 5-6 inches toward the drivers side before curving upward, it could open up a good deal more room for a pair of pipes to come over. Box or tube would probably not provide enough clearance to the PHR throughout its arc of travel, but a hat-section like the factory uses or a C-section should both work - although thicker gage would likely be in order due to the steeper bend angle. Seems like someone with some decent fab skills could whoop something up as a prototype...

amsterdamn

iTrader: (3)

My exhaust hits the upper panhard bar now. It's annoying. I thought about taking it out today. I drive the car on the street about once a week on average. But, I think I'll just work on the exhaust again instead and keep the upper brace.

HavATampa

iTrader: (49)

Tell your exhaust guy we don't have an upper and lower panhard bar, just 1 bar. The top piece is the panhard brace. Sounds like he just needs to get a little more creative with his skills and do it right. What size pipes are you trying to run?

Louie83

iTrader: (3)

I talked about this with Sam Strano, and he is very against it.

He said to put the car up on jacks and push on the side of it. Then take off the UPHB and do the same thing. Apparently you'll notice a big difference. Taking off a part of the car that has to do with "turning" and "safety" probably isn't the best idea if you planning on using your steering wheel.