Just wanted to express my gratitude to ZFDoc and the others that have made their own c beam plates. I have been battling movement at the trans end ever since I bought my LS swap car with TKO trans. I spent Thursday afternoon making a cheap set with some channel bar I bought at Home Depot. The bottom plate was easy, just drilled two holes. For the top plate I welded in some bracing to keep the nuts from turning. The job took about 3 hours and the channel bar cost ~$16. Sorry, no pictures of the completed pieces but wanted to report it was a success! No more movement. I skipped out on doing the rear plates for now as the holes and surface are in great shape and have been at the correct torque spec since I installed it.

Well, here is a picture of the type of channel bar I used.

 

Made some plates for the d44 end today. 1.5" c channel bar on the top with a nut stop tacked in between. 2" inch c channel bar on the bottom. Not ZFDoc type quality but will certainly help.

 

I'm cheap when I can be but for this I wanted to support ZFdoc, so I have real ones. Just sayin.

 

He makes a really nice set of plates. Definitely worth the money for the pristine type cars and twisty track guys. My car however is a piece of junk so I try not to spend money where I don't have to. With the second piece of channel bar I am in it for about $35.

I have some time and a small budget for my car. I am just not willing to dump money into a single seat stripped out heap. The ~$165 saved is going into a cam upgrade for the LS here shortly. I seriously doubt these work anywhere near as good as the real thing but the ones at the trans end made a tremendous difference. Now that I have all new bushing for the batwing and rear suspension I am hoping she will be sured up pretty good now.

 

Im sure ZFDoc will be happy with you . You showed the corvette fans how to take money out of ZF's pocket then you flaunted it.

 

I have the ones a forum member makes and are much better than the ZF ones.

 

any reason you used channel beam material ? what is the depth of that channel aka height of the channel wall?

 

1st rule of capitalism: If somebody else can do what you do for less, they will.

 

Rigidity and I am a terrible welder and own a sub par 110v flux wire feed welder. I have some 1/4"x1.5" flat bar I used to make a battery tie down but it bends/flexes some when tightened down. So I figured I wouldn't use that or try to weld braces on it. It is all just mild cold rolled steel. The channel bar is so much stronger in that aspect and I believe (well actually pretty certain) that it helps broaden the clamping force because it doesn't bend (or nearly as much) with the added support of the perpendicular/vertical walls. It was a night and day difference after I did the ones at the trans adapter. I also don't think I was able to properly torque those bolts while holding a wrench on the nuts. It was pretty obvious to me once I torqued them down with the plates that it was actually tightened to the proper spec.

The depth from the top edge to the inside floor of the channel bar is ~3/8" with a total height of ~9/16" for both types used. I used the wider channel bar for the bottom of the d44 end so a socket will fit all the way over the bolt head. The larger bolt head of the d44 bolts on the 1.5" channel bar wouldn't allow the socket to fit flush. It was just easier and less time consuming to buy the 2" channel bar instead of clearancing the 1.5" stuff. The 1.5" is definitely the most rigid of the two types though.

 

Thats fine but dont rub it in ZF's face if you are going to do it. Better yet , i wouldn't have mentioned his name at all. It is a great idea until it happens to you and then its not

 

Look, these things aren't rocket surgery. It's a couple of plates.

Cripes, I installed mine by jamming the nuts with a wrench. Nobody cured cancer here.

 

I used 3/16 flat stock 10 years ago. The torque value is not super high on these. If I am not mistaken 55ft lbs. any more and you risk crushing the trans tail. I still have not done anything at the rear because the bolts are larger and and load is more spread out. The flat plates I am using have been on and off a few times. they have not deformed even the slightest amount.

 

here is a pic from last year. they are not in line with the beam like they used to be because I wasn't paying attention and didn't flip them over the right way this time but you can pretty much tell that they haven't deformed any. they have been on and off and re-torqued numerous times.

 

Whose nuts ? yours ot his?

 

Those ZFDoc Beam plates are definitely nice pieces of work. You sure cant go wrong with those.

 

For what it's worth, I just made a set of these for my car. It was about 2 hours of work with lots of back and forth. You just gotta ask yourself if it is worth the time to make it yourself or pay to have someone do it. There are lots of rich guys who own Corvettes who simply won't spend the time to learn how to do this stuff. But as these cars get older, us not so rich guys will come in and DIY the heck out of a part as simple as this. Changing of the guard in my view.

 

I was talking to Bill about this a few years ago when we were driving up to the mountain to go skiing. History of the C Beam Plates is that the top section was originally made to provide an easier way to install the bolts, and the side benefit being possibly reducing the fretting and movement, as some have mentioned that the bolts are not torques that tight. Most people may not use any adhesive between the C Beam and Trans/diff that's supposed to be there, so that's another part of it. Bill noticed upon driving the car afterwards that the car behaved much better, and didn't have the movement on and off the gas... so he made a full set, manufacturing the small pieces and dropped it off at his Tig welder. Nice parts, capture the nut so you don't drop it, and made from stainless. Van Steel copied them also. I think the bare steel ones might rust on an ordinary car, but nobody drives a Corvette in the rain :-)

If you have an aftermarket transmission with a steel C Beam adapter, you can torque that end much higher, as the tq limit is to protect the weak casting webs from failing.

 

Mine will rust!!!

I think the practicality alone makes it worth it. This is the first time I have put a C-beam on the car (it was a basket case), so I definitely saw the utility in the plate. With big *** hands, it makes it miserable to work on there. I am discovering the difficulty of installing the drive shaft currently. Yikes, it's tight!

 

I disagree with your negative feedback and even that it takes away from the ZFDoc's sales. TO THE CONTRARY, people who can't weld themselves would have just learned about this option. To pick on another member for a DIY approach to something is just mean. If someone makes a 383 crate motor you like and you attempt to duplicate it because of any number of reasons, does that make you "bad".

NO!!

Bad post dude.

 

Yeah, I had this tab open on my browser for weeks and had the same feelings as you. Its ok though; the world is filled with haters. Hate the game (you know, welding skills, basic fab, being able to look at a picture and then utilize those same skills). LOL