What are torque boxes on the fox body?

ShortThrow50 said:

torque boxes are where the control arms go from the axle housing to the body of the car. Sometimes guys reinforce them to make them more durable. Unless your doing really hard launches with slicks I wouldnt worry about them. You should be ok with street tires. Once you plan on doing clutch dumps with slicks then i would recommend reinforcing them.

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I agree, you dont really need them unless you are HOOKING, otherwise your okay. Its very cheap insurance though, when the torque boxes tear, you might as well junk the car.

I got my reinforcements for $65 shipped on ebay and had a local fabrication shop weld them in.
Just a little extra insurance because I do drag race the car and drive it hard and Ive got aftermarket control arms in the rear.

Aliate X said:

I agree, you dont really need them unless you are HOOKING, otherwise your okay. Its very cheap insurance though, when the torque boxes tear, you might as well junk the car.

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Naaah....once they tear, it's time to mini tub it and back-half it

heres some pics that may help ya. i made my own but they are pretty cheap to buy

iwishiknew said:

who sells good torque box reinforcements? Where can I buy them?

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MY SMR's are pretty good and I got them on ebay for $65 shipped.

88_GT_5_oh said:

heres some pics that may help ya. i made my own but they are pretty cheap to buy

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nice welds.

thoose pics are awsome...I was never really clear on where the TB's were. I knew kinda but I didn't think they would be so easy to acess

thanks, i made those after i made the cold side piping for my turbo.... at that point i could use the MIG welder in my sleep lol. those pics were just mock up pics, i actually painted them so its not all rusty

I wouldn't call them EASY, per se. You've still gotta fight with getting the LCA's busted loose so you can bolt them up - heard many horror stories of guys who can't bust that front bolt/nut loose sometimes when it's really rusted, even with air tools. But if you're putting in new LCA's, anyway, then you might as well do it all at once. I'll be bolting up a set of 'em, too, whenever I can afford a good set of upper/lower arms ... which is probably going to be quite awhile, being that I need to start saving up for a cheap-o beater car, first. (Gas prices are starting to kick my arse at $3.05/gallon and 800 miles every 2 weeks.)

Good reference pics, though.

Shakerhood said:

I would consider beefing them up as a Stock Mustang can tear them out!

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+1 My car had never seen drag radials or slicks, car was about 98% stock, and i had about 1/2" tears in mine.