Lets here some opinions guys.. this happened right before I left..

I'm currently using a Tunnel-Brace Mounted Adjustable UMI Performance Torque Arm. I'm not bashing that product, that's a fine piece and I'm very happy with it, so no one get that idea..

What happened was I was loading the Car on a Trailer and an edge of the Tralier caught the Cross Member that has the Drive Shaft Loop, and ripped that with the mounts off the bottom of the Car. WTF ya know..

This is my plan..
I'm going to pull the Interior out of the Car, get in there with some 3/16" plate steel about 4" wide by however long it needs to be, cut out the body sheet metal in the area where the mounts were, weld the plate steel inbetween the Seat Frame Rails, and then use that to weld the Brackets to it on the underside. If need be, I'll make some shims if it's not low enough, but it should be close, the body sheet metal is really thin. Then seal it up to where nothing will get in..

This is how I'm going to do it..
I'm goin to un-bolt the Cross Member from the Torque Arm, take the Brackets off, clean/straighten them up to weld, then bolt them back to the Cross Member. Then I'm goin into the Car and cutting out the body in the mounting spots, and welding in the Steel Plate.
Then I'm going back under it, bolt the Cross Member up to the Torque Arm, then let it place itself on the body where I put the Steel Plates and weld it in place. The Car will be on a Drive-on Lift, so it will be sitting like it will be on the Street, all weight on the suspension. After it's all on, paint everything so nothing will rust. No need for measurements..

What you guys think?

Anyone done anything of this nature before?
Thanks.

 

Sounds like it would be strong.

I'm using slp double diamond SFC, I've had the crossmember hit, sometimes hard, I don't notice any damage under there though. Seems the SFC's are doing a great job in that area.

 

You know I was suprised when I installed my chassis TA that the mount holes were surrounded by sheetmetal basically. Frankly Im surpised we dont hear of hard launches ripping these mounts apart. Mine is holding up but not completely surpised what happened in your case. I think its more the OEM design that prolly caused that rather than the product mounted to it. Sucks either way!

Sounds like a pretty good approach to the fix, although alot of work.

 

The UMI product is very good quality, I have no complaints there at all.

The reason that none of these ever rip off is cause the Car on a hard launch is going to drop all the wieght on the *** end, and the Torque Arm is going to push up into the Car, so basically the factory points work perfectly for this. They fail when it takes a hard hit to the face of it..

 

ok so i dont have an f-body so this may not be right but i was thinking it might be a little stronger, and propbably a little faster.


id just drill bolt holes in the body and the plate just blt the crossmember to the plate, sandwiching the body metal in there. rather than cutting and welding. because if you think the metal is that weak, what is to make you say the metal around the plate wont tear out..?

hope it works out well either way. i just like to share my input when it makes sense lol

 

Or maybe just be more careful when loading the car onto the trailer?

 

problem is the floorboard is already weak...welding on it or heating it will make it weaker...luckily the tq arm is pushing up on it...but next time gota be careful so it dont get caught up on it...

 

^^^^^Sounds like a great Idea!!!!^^^^^

I had the same UMI TA 2203 I took it out and went with a standard length TA and Im 10x happier with it.
The construction was great on the 2203 but I experienced way to many negitives with it and they outweighed the positives.
The spot it bolts up is just not meant to take those loads. 3 point SFC or some heavy reinforcing is a must if you go with a tunnel mount TA.

 

It's not just the Trailer, usually it's **** in the road that I don't see at the last second that will catch it, or pull into someone's driveway and it scrapes.
The Trailer is what catches it the hardest though.

I plan on welding to the main braces that come across the floor that the Seats bolt to. The floor metal itself is shitty, the Welder at the shop blows through it on the lowest setting. I figure that the 3/16" steel should be good enough to work with.

He's got a good idea, the way I figure you would have to still pull the Interior out to do that, so it's pretty much the same for both ways, just a little bit stronger with the way that I want to do it IMO..

 

How many people here have Drive Shaft Loops bolted to this spot and have experienced any of the same problems..just wonderin..

 

Drive the thing, then the trailer wont be able to hurt it.

 

Kinda hard to drive it when there is no Tranny in it..

I'm in the middle of my T56 swap, so before I left for this trip here I got the order started for my Built T56, and I figured that while I was over here in the desert for the 4 months not being able to do anything with it that would be the best time to have that done, and get everything else ordered so I have it all when I come back. I got the car setup to where all I got to do is put it back together, change out the Gears, and get it Tuned for the T56.
Pretty much right now it's a roller in a way..lol

 

I only scraped 1 huge speed bump with mine but I have a stock height car.

 

Yea.. mine'll ground out on a Squirrel..I got a good story about bouncing one off of the K-member at 100mph..lol

 

I would suggest that if you decide to go ahead with your original plans that you add support on both ends as well. Welding it into the jamb areas will greatly strengthen the piece and allow for more twist along the seems of the body metal. I have seen them open up the floor pans like a pack of sardines.

 

i have a ds loop but have never experienced this!! DAMN IT I WANT TO THOUGH!!! hahaha...NOT!! your plan is excellent man.. if this happened to me i would do it!!

FYI guys welds are stronger than bolts so if you can have it welded why the F**K bolt it up....doesnt make a whole lot of sense but thats just my opinion!!

GOOD LUCK MERV

 

haha i almost hit a opussum last night!! i was like hell yeah a opussum then i was like hell no, im in my car! DAMN IT!!! lol...so i hit the brakes and and downshifted and swerved lol...missed the thing!! i was so pissed though, i wanted to hit it!!! why didnt i drive my damn truck!! our world needs rid of these damn things... lol...so now tell your squirrel story...

 

This exact thing happened to my trans am.. i'll have to find some pic's what i did was bent it all back plumb, straightened it as best i could, and used roll bar tubing and triangulated it on each side of the crossmember.. Been fine for long long time... sucks' that it's welded on now.. but i'll worry about that when i backhalf the car in the year 2050

 

my SLP driveshaft loop got caught on the trailer and bent everything up. I was able to rebend the loop and use some bolts in the cross brace area to pull it back down. I am running the stock torque arm for now so I don't know how much of a diff. that is.

As far as the sheet metal in the floor. A 140amp or smaller mig should not be blowing throught that area. Put the 3 phase unit down! We had a roll around Miller 220v we could put on the low setting and it would weld the crack of dawn.

do you have sfc's on the car? if so I would trianglate a brace to the G-load brace. how about a cage? you could put some tubing right on top of the area from your bars and stich weld it in. You can also do both if you are that worried about it. But there is already a considerable amount of sheet metal in that area already. Art

 

Thanks for the imputs guys. There are no SFC's under the car yet, I do see that in the future though.
I'm going to go with the route that I'm planning, I don't see wht it wouldn't work. I've had the Interior out of it a few times, and those Seat Braces in the Chassis look like the best place to me to use as a weling point.

Just cruising down one of the backroads and got onto one of the flat streches, decided to open it up a little bit and I was doin about 120 when I see a Squirrel up ahead. so I moved over a little to try and avoid it, but he decided to run right unfront of me so I centered it and I heard the metallic ping on the front suspension. I looked under it when I got home, and there was a bit of fur and some blood remaning. He pretty much splattered..lol

I don't swerve for anything that the Car can kill, if it's big and I can stop, I'll slow down and stop, but if it's small enough I keep on my merry way..