Adjustable Torque arm and Control arms needed ?
 

I have a 94Z that i plan on keeping the stock height. i might get new springs and shocks at a later time but i dont ever plan on lowering it. do i really need adjustable control arms or a torque arm ? is it really worth the extra mula for that ? would i need them to be adjustable if i were to get a 9" or an S60 one day to get the pinion angle right ? i wanna get them soon but need to know if its really necessary or not. Thanks!

If you go to the track/DragStrip alot id say yes

its a street car but when its solid enough to take to the track ill be making frequent trips there. thanks!

No to the adjustable control arms. Yes to the adjustable torque arm.

Yes to adjustable everything...If you want the car to work as it should at the track having a fully adjustable suspension is key. You'd be amazed at how out of square the rears on these cars are from the factory. Having adjustable lcas help with centering the tire in the wheel well and for squaring the rear under the car. Imho if you are going to get new lcas its foolish not to go with the adjustables...

--Alan

As Alan said, there's no fine tuning the suspension unless you have the appropriate parts. I still need to replace my non adj. control arms.

thanks for the advice guys. i dont wanna spend money for the same parts twice. im trying to get my car working just right and wanna help save my 10 bolt for aslong as possible. and i hear that adjusting the rear will help. Thanks

Well I guess that the fact that my old Camaro ran a best 1.26 sixty foot on 9" tires this year was a fluke. Same goes for my current Firebird running low 1.3's. I could probably give you a list of 100 F-Bodies that sixty foot in the 1.3's that are not allowed to run adjustable lower control arms.

Don't believe everything that you read in GM High Tech Performance. Lot's of people out there will sell you stuff that you just don't need.

FWIW I was running low 1.4 sixty foot times with the stock torque arm.

Good Luck,

Daren

I say just buy the non adjustable unless your super serious about getting every last bit of power to the ground and like dicking around with it alot, wich is kinda a pain in the ass.
I took off my tunnel mount adj TA and went with a Standard lenght NON Adj Ta and couldnt be happier. Couldnt stand it for a DD

IMHO do it once do it right.... buy adjustable chromemoly

Thanks for all the input with this. ill probably get the non adjustable chromemoly control arms and an ajustable torque arm. its my street/dd car and will see the track once in a blue moon. i dont think i need to spend much more money on that when i can put it towards a cam swap :D

No need to get all bent outta shape...If that set up works well for you and im sure it does for others then thats great. I had non adjustable stuff for years and ran in the 1.50s-1.70s but it was very inconsistent and not nearly as much fun as my consistent 1.50s-1.52s leaving straight everytime and the car damn near drives itself...To each his own. I have just seen, especially with my own car, how out of kilter everything under there is from the factory...

--Alan

I'm not at all bent out of shape, but adjustable rear control arms just aren't needed to run even a 1.2 sixty foot time. I can see the bearings helping, but I've only ever used poly bushings in my cars.


If you really believe that your car is out of square, what did you measure to figure it out? How do you know that the wheel opennings are in the right place? Did you check the brackets on your rear housing? Who says that the front end of the car is any better?

We'll just agree to disagree...I'm not going to tie up this post with how I know my car was out of square, and how much better the car leaves now. Many measurements were taken at different chassis points from the front to the rear by myself and Performance Auto Fab, who does my suspension set up, and sets up 1000rwhp 8 second turbo cars, and it was out almost 3/4"...Like I said before, if it works for you then that's great. Ever since we changed over to having a fully adjustable set up I've been dead consistent. From the looks of your 60's your cars must be pretty badass and I'm glad it all works for you...

--Alan

Soxpuppet: Adjustable everything. As you said, spend the money once. Go UMI or BMR. Englishtown?

1.2 60ft? must have some serious power

Just a little over 400 RWHP at a raceweight of approx. 3000 lbs N/A.

adjustable everything. Its the best/smartest way to go.

ok must have some crazy gears in that thing or something because from what i've seen (not an expert) i've seen much more powerful cars with very good suspensions going only 1.3ish

Gizmo knows how to set up a car. He knows how to squeeze out the best in the car.