Drive Shaft Tunnel Bridge

[Halo2]

Starting to see some products that replace the factory drive shaft tunnel support brace. Anyone have any idea of the need or effectiveness of these?

Factory brace.



ADM Performance (BMR Fabrication)

http://www.admperformance.com/index....mart&Itemid=38

MBRP

[Sack Rat 2SS]

Very excellent way to acquire clearance for a very reasonable price.

[Halo2]

Originally Posted by Sack Rat 2SS

Very excellent way to acquire clearance for a very reasonable price.

Sorry, I don't get it.

[JJ#48Racing]

Well I don't know about the 5th gen, but I bought a similar one for my 4th gen and it seems to like it. Whatever that's worth to you.

[kdoske]

Originally Posted by Sack Rat 2SS

Very excellent way to acquire clearance for a very reasonable price.

???

[MTron]

Originally Posted by kdoske

???

The stocker is flat, the MBRP unit is slightly "curved" if you could call it that...w/e it has two bends in it so the center portion is slightly lower then the 2 sides, and compared to the stocker, this allows you to fit larger pipes that would normally either rest against or have potential to contact the cross brace, which could cause some unwanted noise, especially over bumbs

as for why its there/is it needed....well, its there to add rigidity and prevent body flex...and think of it this way...if the aftermarket is almost always not happy with the stiffness of the chassis, or finds ways to improve it....... then the OEM..in this case GM....only designs in a certain amount of rigidity to allow some flex for comfort....which suggests GM put that there because they thought it would have too much flex without....and since i said they always design in some flex, obvously removing it would introduce more flex then GM wants, which is likely WAY more then the aftermarket/performance driver wants

whew

[Sack Rat 2SS]

Originally Posted by Halo2

Sorry, I don't get it.

Halo2 Bottom line is that if you want to run a true 3 inch exhaust, or larger, then you need more room thru this area of the body. This retains the rigidity as MTron explains above. You might be able to sqeeze 3 inch pipes without this brace but for the money and peace of mind I will use it. I do not want rattles and pipes banging on framework over bumps.

[Halo2]

Understand about the 3"pipes and didn't originally think of that with the MBRP. If you look at the one from ADM it does not provide any additional room and is marketed to add strength to the area. It has been covered in other posts that the subframe connectors and such are not necessary on the 5th gen. So I guess the question should be....are there issues with the factory stamped metal plate and is there a noticeable improvement in handling with adding one of these?

[UsedTaHaveA68]

I'm going to guess no. If you look at the stock piece, you will notice the edges are folded at a 90 degree angle to the rest of it, forming a very shallow C-channel. The MBRP piece, with its \_/ shaped bends and flat surface is probably actually weaker than the stock piece. It's only effective in adding clearance for 3" exhuast.

[MTron]

Originally Posted by UsedTaHaveA68

I'm going to guess no. If you look at the stock piece, you will notice the edges are folded at a 90 degree angle to the rest of it, forming a very shallow C-channel. The MBRP piece, with its \_/ shaped bends and flat surface is probably actually weaker than the stock piece. It's only effective in adding clearance for 3" exhuast.

Its possible, but lets not discount the fact that the stock piece is much thinner stamped steel, while the MBRP piece looks to be much thicker

All in all i would guess the MBRP piece is at least as good....likely heavier though, which is a minus

[The Leaf]

I'm actually lookin to purchase that tunnel brace from MBRP, i emailed them like a month ago, but they never got back to me, I'm gonna give them a call tommorrow, it looks like a quality piece...

[BOBSS]

I have the ARH setup and I have had contact issues with this cross member.
In fact, I need yet another adjustment (slapping on hard bumps), the added clearance would solve this for me. thanks for showing me this product.

[markssylver]

Originally Posted by BOBSS

I have the ARH setup and I have had contact issues with this cross member.
In fact, I need yet another adjustment (slapping on hard bumps), the added clearance would solve this for me. thanks for showing me this product.

did you use the spacers that came with your arh headers they were 4 1/2 square looking spacers

[BOBSS]

The spacers are there. The first adjustment (flex joint) worked for a few weeks now, but over big bumps it's still an issue. The heavy mufflers and soft hangers result in more movement than is available. I've also got the QTP kit weighing the assembly down.

Besides, you know how many people lay on the ground to see what's going on under there? One a day, easy. The crossmember is so cheesy looking. It's got to go for that reason alone. It looks so out of place under there.



The stock mufflers sound so good, I can't get rid of them. 5000 rpm is great and it creeps so quietly. Maybe there's a stiffer hanger available...