torque arm stock chassis A-body or aftermarket

[72poncho]

Hey all,
first time posting on Lateral G, have been a long time lurker for years. I also have some posts on Protouring.
I have been building my 1972 LeMans for the last few years and have finally gotten done with body/metal and around to chassis work/suspension building. The car has a GMPP LSA/4l75e and will be used for autoX and some road racing.

I have been looking at options to insall a torque arm in the car from Ron SUtton, as well as interested in purchasing an entire chassis from speedtech or the likes.. I understand there is quite a few companies offering a full chassis for GM A-bodies and there is quite a bit of price difference between ordering a 1x,xxx$ chassis and perhaps 5-7,000 for adding a Ron Sutton rear solution.
I am interested in the different types of rear ends offered by these companies such as speedway engineering, dutchman, currie, FAB9 and the likes.
I would like to hear your opinions on ordering a full chassis from speedtech/art morrison/roadster shop vs. building up a stock chassis. I realize there is a big difference in money for these options, though there are also a big difference in time as well.

[BMR Sales]

Number of Things!

Ron Sutton hasn't been around for quite awhile for good reason! Too long of a story to start again here, but Trust me he is Gone Gone Gone!

No need for a Torque Arm in a car that already has a 4 Link

If you are looking for a Full Frame, you need to follow that Manufacturers advice on Suspension pieces so they line up properly & work!

[SSLance]

Your A Body chassis is not a whole lot different than my G Body chassis, they share mostly the same architecture. It is my opinion that with a smart package of bolt on parts and some fine tuning, you can make your OEM chassis do 90% of what a high end after market chassis can do...for a WHOLE lot less money. I have beat many aftermarket chassis cars on track with my car and it doesn't have one piece of frame stiffening done to it.

I'm not saying those chassis kits aren't nice, they are...and most of them work very well. You just pay a premium price for them that most of us don't really need.

My build is fully documented both here and on PT and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about what works, what doesn't, what gave the most bang for the buck and stuff I'd never do again. Personally, my favorite handling mod that I've done so far was going to a 1500# front sway bar. I wish I had tried that route 5 years ago, it would have saved me a ton of hard work, preservation, and money spent on band aid parts that I am now undoing because I fixed the root problem.

And yes, I've chase the torque arm, 3 link route several times but I just can't bring myself to go through all of the work and expense it'll take to install for the little bit of improvement I think it'll net. There are a lot of fast cars out there on 4 links, you just have to tune and drive around their weaknesses is all.