Originally Posted by Tranzor_Z28

On Sunday I installed an Edelbrock Torque Arm, and Prothane poly trans mount (along with a Thunder Racing ported TB and BMR driveshaft loop), and I must say both those items make a big difference in the car feeling more 'solid' on acceleration. Hard to describe, but the best way to explain it is the car doesn't have as much lateral 'flex' as before when punching it... feels a ton better.

Also, the stock torque arm bushing was all chewed up, which to my best guess is like that because of lots of hard launches. So this makes at least a bushing replacement a must-do mod, and while you're taking the bushing off, you might as well do the whole torque arm.

And while I can hear more exhaust/road noise through the poly trans mount, I'm not getting much if any increase in vibration. I recommend both these mods...

Tips for the install:

1. Make use of a dremel to cut the rivet heads off the old torque arm bushing & bracket. I couldn't imagine doing this with anything else... also if you can't punch the rivets out after chopping the heads, a good drill with titanium tips chews the rest of the rivet right out of the hole. It is also much, much easier to do this with the bracket off the car, so definitely take it off.

2. If you have a choice of bushings, go with Energy Suspension... that way you don't have to mess with backing plates on the bushing ever again. Also, the Energy Suspension bushing is one solid piece, unlike the Prothane or stocker, which is two pieces.

3. Taking off the transmission support makes things so much easier when it comes to taking the torque arm bushing bracket off the car. And since you'll expose the tranny mount when taking the support off, you might as well change that mount while you're there, which is why I went with the Prothane mount.

4. Last but probably most important, keep the rear suspended with a jack or jackstands at all times when pulling off the torque arm! I forgot about this when I moved the jack and the rear end rotated on me... and it was a major PITA to get it back to center again. So if you've gotta move the jack, remember to support it with an extra set of jackstands!

Overall, doing all these mods took about 4 hours (with a 1 hour lunch break thrown in and lots of BSing). After doing it the first timeI could probably do all these mods in less than half that time working straight through.

Here are a couple of pics:

Edelbrock Torque Arm compared to stock piece:



Prothane Poly Transmission Mount Installed: