Torque Arm with Swap
 

Hi. Im working on a swap.. Im making my own mounts/etc.

What do you do with the torque arm (the frame bolted to the diff and trans, to keep the drive train aligned and prevent flex..)

Do you solid mount it to the new trans ?, or use a mount system and mount it to the new cross member Im making ?

Newbie questions :-)

1 What do you want to do with the car when it is done? - Road Race, not street legal
2 How do you plan to build the car? - workshop I have
3 What is your skill level? - mechanic and basic fabrication
4 What is the current condition of the car - rough, already raced with stock engine.
5 What is your budget? - Low :-)

thanks !!!!!

Throw the torque arm in the trash. The transmission will be supported by a cross member, & the differential will require a mount to attach it to the rear sub-frame.

What rear end are you planning to use?

What he ^ said. I have seen in person and read build threads for probably 100 V8 Miatas and never seen one with the torque arm still in it.

Sure would like to see a build thread on your car!

Im just in the planning stage. my powerplants not quite the v8 swap.. it's the EcoTec swap, trans is a pontiac solstice / saturn sky.

Im not planning on going over 200hp, and no extra weight, I was trying to keep the stock rear end, just needed a solution for the torque arm. Options are

- use a V8 rear end conversion - can someone point me to something inexpensive and reliable
- mount the torque arm to the gearbox with some type of adaptor plate.

We may attempt this swap in just a 3 week window, we are running a new racing series called Lucky Dog, our stock Miata's will get killed, there's LS1 Supra's, etc there.. I have all the Ecotec drivetrain already.. Next step is to work out how to adopt it.

The guys in Canada Just did one here, ( https://www.facebook.com/MTMotorsport.ca )but they adapted the Mazda Trans to the EcoTec, that's expensive and complex.. I think the trans swap is easier..

Cheers

So no big deal you just need to mount your stock diff the way the V8 guys do. There really is nothing too it. Best mount I have ever seen is here. MiataV8 Conversion: Rear subframe That diff by the way is a Ford 8.8 from a mid 90s thunderbird and are quite cheap. Anyway instead of the 2 ears there to mount you just build off the bolt holes for the arm.

My hunch is building the diff mount would be easier than adapting the arm to the trans but neither would be terribly hard.

I think I can speak for pretty much all the been there done that crowd and suggest you back off on your 3 week goal. Even if you took 3 weeks vacation to work round the clock you can't possibly anticipate every issue that will set you back or leave you waiting for parts. Most first time builds are 2 steps forward and 1 back for every process and it will be very frustrating for you to maintain such an aggressive time table.

thanks for the link on the rear sub-frame, so nobody's ever stuck with the torque arm approach and adapted it to the trans.. I hope to sit the engine/trans and torque arm into a car in the next day or so and get a perspective on how this all looks..

I hear you on the 3 week goal, I do have all parts, and a couple of us, but it's probably too aggressive, we have a backup car for this race, :-) so setting goals with my team mates creates motivation :-) ha ha.. if we can be 1/2 way there in 3 weeks that's pretty amazing progress...

Cheers !

There is a couple of reasons no one uses the torque arm and the primary one being no one uses the stock rear end. You might want to check what the rotary guys do, that might be more in line with what you are doing back there.

Sounds like a well thought out plan and I do hope you post up some photos and progress here for us. So what kind of racing are you doing? Got any video?

Look what I dug up PPF (power plant frame) with engine swap - MX-5 Miata Forum

Ahh did you read through that thread? Yes the last couple posts in it are useful but for the most part it's a pissing match because Dutchy asked the question and didn't like the answer.

Guys - I want to respect the forum, given my swaps not a V8 (but is GM ha ha) should I log the build on v8miata.net or some other forum

cheers

That's up to you!

Yes there are good swap sections on Mnet and clubroadster you could post on. What I like about this forum is no one here will accuse you of ruining your car (mnet) or ridicule you for your choice of anything (clubroadster). Since swaps are not just a subsection everyone here has faced the same sort of problems that you will in your build. We won't know exact been there done that details of your engine but we know how to solve swap problems and I'd put the engineering chops of this group up against anyone's any day. We enjoy creative builds and real fabricators around here and I think your build would be followed closely by a lot of people.

So speaking as 1 of 2 administrators, I would love to see your build thread here!

i was going to put up a post aboput the PPf, but since its here Ill ask...ford my 302 ford build, ist it OK to remove PPF? seems like that is the easy way to go. Im thinking about trying to run my original torsen for a bit to see how it goes. I am also building a ford 7.5, but thought it would be interesting to see what happens with the original diff...

Yes Rabitz Ford builds don't use a PPF