One wire lock-up, 4 spd automatic w overdrive into A-body.

[jbc426]

Test fit the engine/trans and as Treblic predicted, the cut is in the exact spot his was. What a pleasure to lower the car onto the engine/trans rather than stuff it in through the hood opening. Way faster too.

Now I have to decide if I want to cut out the corner and flip it around using it to fill in the hole, or (Plan B) cut the entire corner off and weld a flat plate back on it to cover the hole plus weld another flat plat on the inside of the floor extending a few inches past the newly cutaway section of the car to create a layered effect.

I guess I will see how well the part I cut off fits back into the hole in the crossmember. If it doesn't come out fitting well, I will go to plan B. I way weld a plate inside the car just as an extra strengthening attempt. I f done right, it should be stronger than it was when I started.

I am going to move one of the crossmember bolt holes over about an inch, as it is right inside the area that has to be cut. I want to re-use the inner tube, so I'll drill and cut carefully.

 

[Treblig]

Test fit the engine/trans and as Treblic predicted, the cut is in the exact spot his was. What a pleasure to lower the car onto the engine/trans rather than stuff it in through the hood opening. Way faster too.

Now I have to decide if I want to cut out the corner and flip it around using it to fill in the hole, or (Plan B) cut the entire corner off and weld a flat plate back on it to cover the hole plus weld another flat plat on the inside of the floor extending a few inches past the newly cutaway section of the car to create a layered effect.

I guess I will see how well the part I cut off fits back into the hole in the crossmember. If it doesn't come out fitting well, I will go to plan B. I way weld a plate inside the car just as an extra strengthening attempt. I f done right, it should be stronger than it was when I started.

I am going to move one of the crossmember bolt holes over about an inch, as it is right inside the area that has to be cut. I want to re-use the inner tube, so I'll drill and cut carefully.

I don't think you'll be able to simply flip the section that you cut out because it is not symmetrical. You would need the mirror image of the one you cut out for it to fit properly. There is very little left (to weld onto) on the front edge of the cross member after you cut out the section. That's why I welded the plates in between the cross member and the body. Although you could get one larger piece of 1/8" steel plate, shape it to fit into the void between the cross member and the body. let's say a piece 8" X 8" or whatever will fit. Then you could weld it (1/8" plate) to the cross member then weld the plate to the floor. You would get tremendous reinforcement that way and spread the stress over a larger area. The larger the area that you spread the stress over the stronger the result.
I'm just making suggestions, if I had build a high horsepower motor I would have shaped a larger 1/8" plate to fit in between the floor and the cross member to better handle the stresses on the torque shaft support.

PS - remember that the hollow piece of pipe inside the cross member is attached to the other hollow pipe. It's basically one long 10" piece of 1 1/2" wide strap with the end curled up into cylinders. Like the end of a leaf spring except it's curled on each end and welded into the cross member. It makes it very difficult to remove because it pretty heavy metal strap and it's surrounded by the cross member.
Have Fun!!!

Treblig

 

[jbc426]

I cut the whole side off from just behind the first bolt hole. I was able to get the anti-pinch rube out, and will duplicate something after I move the bolt hole over to the closest available spot.

I closed off the cut opening with 1/8" plate using 3 pieces. The longest piece fit in the opening very tightly and overlapped the lower plate. I welded as much as I could to the floor. I still have to grind some of the welds as they ended up with some drips in them. Obviously, I'm not a professional welder, but it has good penetration and will look a lot better once I burn up a grinding disc on it. Overall, it seems pretty strong already, but I am going to weld a plate on the inside of the car from the driver's side over the hump to the passenger side to finish it off. I'll have to hammer down part of the sheet metal on the floor and weld up the seam that has the big gap by the old shifter handle base.

I should have plenty of room now! A 518 would still not fit, but a 200R4 sure will! It wasn't that hard or time consuming either. I could finish it up today if I didn't have to go back into the ol' salt mines.

Once I get this cleaned up, I'll start thinking about how to fabricate a bolt-on rear crossmember/transmission mount bracket.

 

[Treblig]

I cut the whole side off from just behind the first bolt hole. I was able to get the anti-pinch rube out, and will duplicate something after I move the bolt hole over to the closest available spot.

I closed off the cut opening with 1/8" plate using 3 pieces. The longest piece fit in the opening very tightly and overlapped the lower plate. I welded as much as I could to the floor. I still have to grind some of the welds as they ended up with some drips in them. Obviously, I'm not a professional welder, but it has good penetration and will look a lot better once I burn up a grinding disc on it. Overall, it seems pretty strong already, but I am going to weld a plate on the inside of the car from the driver's side over the hump to the passenger side to finish it off. I'll have to hammer down part of the sheet metal on the floor and weld up the seam that has the big gap by the old shifter handle base.

I should have plenty of room now! A 518 would still not fit, but a 200R4 sure will! It wasn't that hard or time consuming either. I could finish it up today if I didn't have to go back into the ol' salt mines.

Once I get this cleaned up, I'll start thinking about how to fabricate a bolt-on rear crossmember/transmission mount bracket.

Not bad, not bad at all. One thing my boss told me over 30 years ago (one of my first jobs). I was just learning how to weld. After I had welded something and ground it smooth he came and looked at it and said, " A good grinder (person doing the grinding) can make a bad welder look good". He was right!!! LOL.
I think it will be pretty strong after you're finished.

treblig

 

[jbc426]

There's an inch or two here and there that look pretty good before the old grinder comes out. LOL.

I picked up a 3 inch wide 2 & 1/2 foot long 1/8" steel to finish off the center section on the inside of the car floor, and I'll weld up that last un-welded segment after I close up that gap where the stock shifter goes.

The next stage will be to make a bolt on crossmember that will not only double as the rear transmission mount, but also strengthen the crossmember. I'll be sure to weld in the anti-pinch tube.

 

[jbc426]

"PS - remember that the hollow piece of pipe inside the cross member is attached to the other hollow pipe. It's basically one long 10" piece of 1 1/2" wide strap with the end curled up into cylinders. Like the end of a leaf spring except it's curled on each end and welded into the cross member. It makes it very difficult to remove because it pretty heavy metal strap and it's surrounded by the cross member.
Have Fun!!!"

Mine came right out. I used a sawzall to cut straight up just to the outside of the bolt hole. It was not welded, rather just held in place by the crimped shape of the crossmember. It may have a tack weld in the bottom, but the round end and a small amount of the strap is all that remained once I made the cut. I used a drill to enlarge the hole and pried the metal back to pull it out.

When I make the new one, I'll just drill one side large enough to slid it into place then tack weld it.....and grind it a little.

 

[Treblig]

"PS - remember that the hollow piece of pipe inside the cross member is attached to the other hollow pipe. It's basically one long 10" piece of 1 1/2" wide strap with the end curled up into cylinders. Like the end of a leaf spring except it's curled on each end and welded into the cross member. It makes it very difficult to remove because it pretty heavy metal strap and it's surrounded by the cross member.
Have Fun!!!"

Mine came right out. I used a sawzall to cut straight up just to the outside of the bolt hole. It was not welded, rather just held in place by the crimped shape of the crossmember. It may have a tack weld in the bottom, but the round end and a small amount of the strap is all that remained once I made the cut. I used a drill to enlarge the hole and pried the metal back to pull it out.

When I make the new one, I'll just drill one side large enough to slid it into place then tack weld it.....and grind it a little.

Once you get the tranny all the way up in there you should also find that it just hits on the opposite side (passenger) where that flat ear sticks out of the tranny. But you won't know how bad it is until you get the tranny up high enough. I posted some pics here so you can hopefully see what I'm talking about. The first pic shows the ear that I cut off. This ear doesn't seem to have a purpose but it will probably interfere if you raise your tranny to the stock height. In the first pic the ear that was removed is just to the right of the upper cross member, you can actually see the saw marks in it.

treblig

 

[jbc426]

Thanks Treblig! I saw that part cut off the transmission on your post early on in the project and cut mine off too. I spent a few hours this morning grinding down some welds, re-welding some that weren't good enough and welding some additional areas. under the car. I have to stich weld when I weld upside down to get decent results. Even then, contamination between the parts doesn't help. I wire wheeled and ground the areas to clean them, but it can't get everything. I'm lucky my car is so rust free. I'm also fighting some wind outside, so I turned up my gas pressure, which helps a little.

I did pound closed the factory gap near the stock shifter hole and welded it too.

I added the 1/8" plate over the hump in the inside of the car. it was just narrow enough to line up in the middle of the flanges of the crossmember. Because the hump is not symmetrical, I had to cut the plate and re-line the passenger side. It's a lot easier welding when your not on your back under the car. The sunlight shining into the back of the helmet makes it almost impossible to see what your welding. I wish I was doing this in my garage with better lighting. I tried using a towel to block the light, but the heat in the leather welding gear is brutal as it is.

I still have to get some thinner steel and fill the stock shifter hole and some holes where the stock shifter bracket tor the sheet metal when I removed it.

Over all though, with most of the crossmember welded to the floor, the reinforcements under and above the notch for the transmission and having subframe connectors and the factory torsion plates for the convertibles, I think it is pretty strong.

The real test will be to see how the bolt on cross member turns out. It can add a lot of rigidity to the structure if done right, as well as hold the rear transmission mount.

I'm calling this phase of the operation finished. I'll test fit the engine and trans tomorrow and pick up some 1/4" steel to make up the bolt on crossmember. I'll make templates for it and re-drill and mount the anti-pinch tube on the driver's side.

Treblig, what angle did you set-up your engine and transmission at in relation to the cars door sills?

 

[Treblig]

If I remember correctly (don't quote me), with the angle finder on the back face of the tranny housing (vertical), it was 1 1/2 degrees down. But that's if I remember correctly?? The easy way is to put a level on the surface that your air filter housing sits on. The top of the carb should be level for the carb to function optimally. If I remember correctly the bottom of the tranny pan should be horizontal as well. But in the case of my 2004R installation I wasn't able to get the tranny quite as high as the 904. It was very close to the factory height (angle) but I would have had to cut more to get it higher and besides, if you remember my 2004R posts, I had a rod end and mount above the tranny to support the shifter torque shaft. Maybe somebody else can chime in. If the car frame is level I believe the tranny pan (or pan rail) should also be level but one degree down doesn't seem to bother my car.
If your tranny angle changes from what it was before you'll have to adjust your differential angle!!!
treblig

 

[jbc426]

Good job on welding the entire crossmember to the floor. Add a lot of strength which you really need.

My Dart has 1" torsionbars and a 518 for which I removed the top half of the crossmember in the tunnel.

I hadn't found the time yet to install a reinforcing bar on the outside of the tunnel in the driverscompartment.

I posted this image on Moparts yesterday aswell;
Below is what happens when the crossmember is 'weakened' on top and the floorboards aren't welded to the crossmember...




After I noticed this happening on both sides of the crossmember I also decided to weld the crossmember to floor as good as possible.

I would consider welding 3 inch wide, 1/8" plate under the car to cap the open torsion bar member and follow the floor contour. Then add another 1/8" 3 inch wide plate on the top of the floor to follow the one you've installed on the bottom, but be sure to line both ends of the torsion bar member back to their original positions first. If they are dropping down, maybe using some of the weight of the car to push them back up using jackstands underneath it would do the trick. If they are pointing up, you may have to disconnect your torsion bars and use a block of wood and a big hammer to get them back lined up before welding?

You could drill a few small holes along the area you want them to line up, so you could see that they are lined up. If you could cut 1/4" off the upper plate, it would make it much easier to weld the top plate through the floor to the bottom plate. Just a thought.

Using multiple layers of flat steel to strengthen a curved surface, while not ideal, does add a lot of strength to that area.

 

[jbc426]

It's amazing what a 4 inch angle grinder and a few cans of satin black paint will do for fabrication work. I stuffed the engine/trans combo under the car again, and jacked the back of the trans up until it started to lift the car slightly, then let it back down a half an inch. There is plenty of clearance for the rear of the transmission now. I can actually lift the rear of the trans too high and at to much of a forward angle.

There is one little corner at the very top of my modification towards the front of the car that could stand to be trimmed off another 1/2 inch. If you look in the second to last picture, you can see it is the first thing that the trans hits when it is lifted up too high. I'm going to trim it back slightly to give the engine room to plenty of room to torque over. I have the interlocking Shumacher mounts, but they still allow for some engine movement.

Tomorrow, Ill pull the engine/trans back out, modify that little corner and drill my new bolt hole for the driver's side.(recall, I cut that off earlier) re-install the engine/trans and begin making templates for the bolt on crossmember. My exhaust is relatively close to where the new mount goes, plus I installed a crossover tube there. If you look closely at the last picture, you can see there's not a lot of room to build a large rear mount, so it will have to be lean and mean.

After seeing everything in place under the car, it looks like I could use some 1/4" or slightly thicker steel plate and reinforce it with some strategically placed gussets to fabricate a simple yet strong rear mount that bolt solidly to the original location. I'll make a trip to the local metal scrapyard to source the steel. They have much better prices there. I think I will pick-up a 1' by 2' 1/4" or thicker steel plate, cut it out to match my template and heat it up cherry red to make the bends needed to get it in the shape I need it to clear the exhaust and line up with the torsion crossmember.

Once I have that part made, I'll make the four side plates that the bolts go through and weld them to the longer and reshaped transmission mount plate. It will be easier to visualize once the templates are made.

Man I love installing the engine/trans/k-member through the bottom. it is so much faster and easier.

 

[Treblig]

Make sure the tranny is centered in the tunnel before you grind or cut any more. You'll be surprised how much you can move the tail end of the tranny. When I installed mine I measured from inner frame rail on each side to fine the center of the car but as it turns out the tunnel wasn't in the center. So I had to eye ball it as best I could. Also, if the engine is up or down from where it was originally it will tend to cause some interference when you go to hook up the exhaust pipes (if you're using the old exhaust system). Mine was a little off and I have to cut and re-weld my exhaust pipes to realign the exhaust flanges with the down pipes flanges. I have a 340 driver manifold which has a flat flange, it has to be exactly flush to seal. The passenger side has a 360 mag with the bell. But even with the bell I still had to re-align so it would seal properly.

Have fun!!

treblig

 

[jbc426]

Good advice! I tried to position the engine as evenly as I could using the Schumacher mounts. I understand the engine is offset to the passenger side a bit to offset the torque or some other reason, but I tried to bet the mounts equal on both sides before I tightened them up.

I did notice that exhaust was about an inch or less farther back than it was before, especially on the driver's side. In other words the headers seemed to be more towards the front of the car than when I started. I thought that was odd, as I never removed the exhaust system and has something to do with the built-in play in motor mounts and K-member. I have the exact same headers and exhaust pipes. They will bolt up, but only if I use slightly longer bolts to get them started. When I do tighten them up, it will put significant stress on the pipes & headers, so I will leave the K-member and the engine mounts a little loose so it can slide back as far as it can if it has the clearance to, so that stress will be minimized. I assume that the K-member doesn't really move around on the 4 bolts that much, so it is likely the motor mounts that will slide rearward a bit.

I will try and keep the transmission centered in the tunnel too. I had to pick up some metric bolts to attach the poly-lock rear trans mount for when I make my template for the rear bolt-on crossmember.

 

[jbc426]

I went to the TTI website and got the measurements for the crank centerline in relation to the frame for an '68 A-body. They say the crank is 5 1/4" from the K-member and offset to the passenger side 2 1/2 " from between the frame rails.

I rented a plasma cutter for yesterday for $41 a day, and they gave me until Tuesday to return it and only charged me for 2 days. Who ever invented that thing is a life saver!

I made some cardboard templates for the rear transmission mount, and bought a 1 foot by 2 foot piece of 1/4 inch steel plate for $22. I transferred the patterns onto the plate and had them cut out in 1/2 and hour. I love that thing! I would have spent a couple days cutting and shaping the parts with a sawzall and a 4" angle grinder. I'll still have to do some more grinding to get them cleaned up and ready for welding, but It was so easy to use and saved me a lot of time.

I added some pictures of my cardboard templates and the rough cut metal parts that will become my crossmember.

I also put a picture of the stock cross member/ rear transmission mount next to the 1/4" plate so the difference in thickness of materials can be compared. I will have to make some bends in the boomerang shaped part to clear my exhaust and line up the mounting pad with the bottom of the rear transmission mount, but once hot bent, welded and gusseted it should add some considerable rigidity to the entire torsion bar crossmember.

I think I'll pop the motor/trans back out and remove that one corner at the top of my notch in the crossmember, so I have more adjustability of the crank centerline in relation to the rear pinion angle by being able to raise and lower the back of the transmission through a wider range by adding or removing shims from under the rear motor mount. As it is right now that top of the notch is the limiting factor for how far the transmission can go up toward the floor. I can gain about another inch of travel upward if I modify that top part.(last pic)

Treblig, It does look like the transmission needs to go over towards the passenger side to get it centered a bit doesn't it? I guess I can us a motorcycle tie down to get it pulled over once I verify the front of the engine is in the right spot.

 

[Treblig]

1/4" steel should be plenty!! If you pull on the tail of the transmission without first loosening the motor mount bolts you'll be putting tremendous stress on the mounts and K frame. I would suggest loosening everything up front then get the tail where you want it, then retighten the front. If the tail springs back (out of center) it means that there will be some lateral stress on the mounts when you're driving down the road. the transmission should sit in the correct position naturally without a lot of pulling after you get everything positioned properly. The distance from the motor mounts to the tail of the transmission is probably 4-5 feet. That's gives you tremendous leverage on the tail. 30 lbs of lateral pull on the tail probably put 300 lbs of stress on the mount area.
Why does that 1/4" plate cut out look so familiar???


treblig

 

[jbc426]

It looks so familiar, because it looks like a happy face we have when the 200R4 shifts into overdrive. LOL. or a boomerang.

Thanks for the reminder about the front mounts needing to be loosened. I will loosen them up when the motor is out of the car to trim that top part of the notched area that the transmission hits when its jacked all the way up.

You can see in this first picture where the center casting line is about a 1/2" towards the driver's side compared to the center of the transmission tunnel. I'll loosen up the two big nuts on the Schumacher motor mounts and pull the trans over with a motorcycle tie down and take a picture of it. I'll also measure the notched side to see how much room I have to reinforce it further there. I'll also use the TTI measurements for crankshaft placement at the front of the motor.

Once the transmission and engine are "centered" in the right place, i'm toying with the idea of adding two more (long and thin and curved in the middle to join the ends of the notched areas with more material) plates of metal mounted on their sides, and run from the top of the notch to the bottom to gusset the notched area. Then I'll weld another 1/4" plate between them to cap two pieces at the notch to further strengthen the cut out area .

The purpose being to replace the sides of the notched area that I cut out with shorter, thicker metal. But, that is likely overkill at this point, as it is probably already stronger in that area than it was ever originally. Heck, the entire loop wasn't even spot welded to the floor.

Having this plasma cutter makes cutting out little custom shapes of metal a 90 psi breeze.

On an unrelated note: with this bellhousing system, I didn't have to touch the pinch welded lip at the bottom of the firewall at all to fit the bellhousing in and it still has plenty of clearance there.

 

[Treblig]

It looks so familiar, because it looks like a happy face we have when the 200R4 shifts into overdrive. LOL. or a boomerang.

Thanks for the reminder about the front mounts needing to be loosened. I will loosen them up when the motor is out of the car to trim that top part of the notched area that the transmission hits when its jacked all the way up.

You can see in this first picture where the center casting line is about a 1/2" towards the driver's side compared to the center of the transmission tunnel. I'll loosen up the two big nuts on the Schumacher motor mounts and pull the trans over with a motorcycle tie down and take a picture of it. I'll also measure the notched side to see how much room I have to reinforce it further there. I'll also use the TTI measurements for crankshaft placement at the front of the motor.

Once the transmission and engine are "centered" in the right place, i'm toying with the idea of adding two more (long and thin and curved in the middle to join the ends of the notched areas with more material) plates of metal mounted on their sides, and run from the top of the notch to the bottom to gusset the notched area. Then I'll weld another 1/4" plate between them to cap two pieces at the notch to further strengthen the cut out area .

The purpose being to replace the sides of the notched area that I cut out with shorter, thicker metal. But, that is likely overkill at this point, as it is probably already stronger in that area than it was ever originally. Heck, the entire loop wasn't even spot welded to the floor.

Having this plasma cutter makes cutting out little custom shapes of metal a 90 psi breeze.

On an unrelated note: with this bellhousing system, I didn't have to touch the pinch welded lip at the bottom of the firewall at all to fit the bellhousing in and it still has plenty of clearance there.

In this case LOL = Labor of Love!!!

Treblig

 

[jbc426]

I adjusted my motor mounts by loosening both bolts on both sides of them and used a prybar to shift the motor into the position called for in the TTI instructions for positioning the motor.

It did lower the motor about a half inch and lined up the transmission in the center of the transmission tunnel. I spent the rest of the day trying to shape the boomerang shaped part that makes up my rear motor or transmission mount.

That 1/4" plate won't bend unless it is red hot. Then it takes about 20 minutes to cool down enough to touch it and see if it is going to fit. It was a challenge to get the many bends right and have it line up over the plates that will hold it to the cross member in place of the stock one. I had it in and out a dozen times until I finally could get four spot welds on it, so I could remove it and weld it up completely. I just finished welding it up a few minutes ago.

I still need to drill an additional hole or two on the driver's side, as I only have one of the factory ones left after cutting the notch. It is one stout piece! I am still going to add some gussets to it, since I have that plasma cutter and mig.

I never did get around to pulling the motor out to change the top of the notch, but I might get to that tomorrow before work. I also have to grind some of the welds and paint the crossmember. It looks like I will have to shim the rear mount to get the proper engine/trans angle in relation to the pinion angle, but it will be easy to do with this new mount. All it will take is a small plate with two holes drilled in it so it fits between the transmission mount and the crossmember.

There are still a lot of small things that need to get done before the car is on the road. I have to install the B&M Shifter and wire it up, swap out the dash to the Rallye Dash I picked up at a swap meet, throw on the front suspension, install the vintage Air, order a drive shaft with 1350 U-joints, install new carpet, bolt the new seats in and re-flash my computer with an upgraded tune.

 

[Treblig]

For future reference...when you heat metal to red hot it's always best not to cool it off too fast like you wrote in your post. But it is OK to run cool water, as far from the "red hot" are as possible, this will draw the heat away from the red hot section and cool the whole thing down a lot faster. I'm always temped to run the water all over the whole thing but you'd be surprised hot fast the heat will travel to the cooled area thereby cooling the whole part!! This method will save tons of time and you can get much more done a lot faster.

Same goes for a welded area.

treblig

 

[jbc426]

For future reference...when you heat metal to red hot it's always best not to cool it off too fast like you wrote in your post. But it is OK to run cool water, as far from the "red hot" are as possible, this will draw the heat away from the red hot section and cool the whole thing down a lot faster. I'm always temped to run the water all over the whole thing but you'd be surprised hot fast the heat will travel to the cooled area thereby cooling the whole part!! This method will save tons of time and you can get much more done a lot faster.

Same goes for a welded area.

treblig

Sounds good. I ended up using my welding gloves a few times to get the still-hot part up under the car to see how far off it still was. It slipped and I almost branded myself once. This 1/4" plate won't even budge unless its red hot. I tried to make a small bend at one end with a big maul while the part was clamped in the vise. It would not yield.

The motor settled down nicely into its sweet-spot, once I got both bolts on the motor mount loose and pried the mounts upward from the wheel well. I put the level on the car and on the motor and the bubble landed in the same spot, so I tightened the motor mounts back up.

I'm going to pop the engine and trans back out after I make some templates to gusset the rear mount, so I can clearance the top of my notch a touch.

I still need to trouble shoot the brake lights, same thing on one side of my electric exhaust cutouts, and clean and possibly wax my 1970 'Cuda for a show this coming Sunday at the Blackhawk Museum. It's an early show first come first served for parking etc, but they are featuring Mopars that weekend.

 

[BigBlockMopar]

May I just remind you of a 'bold' statement you made in your first post in this topic?

Ok, this will work for big blocks, small blocks, Magnum 5.9's AND all modern hemi's, just order the right bellhousing. It uses no computer, fits with minimal massaging of the cross member ...

:happy1:

 

[Treblig]

May I just remind you of a 'bold' statement you made in your first post in this topic?



:happy1:

I think jbc meant ""relative" to using a mopar overdrive which requires the complete removal of the upper cross member and also cutting the tunnel (in some cases). It's all RELATIVE.


treblig

 

[jbc426]

May I just remind you of a 'bold' statement you made in your first post in this topic?



:happy1:

I understand what you're saying and agree that cutting, fabricating and welding anything is not for everyone, but I still have to stand behind that statement that this was only minimal massaging to the crossmember. The man who buit his entire car including making his own trunk floor and almost every part on his car due to rust did some major artistic surgery. I forget his name, but he is the one who inspired Treblig to go for the automatic overdrive swap. Treblig, what's that guys name again?

All I did was cut a simple notch in one side of the crossmember loop. I knew going in that there was going to be some cutting and welding involved. I will admit, I did expect to be able to leave the back half of the area I ended up cutting off to be able to remain in place, but once under the car, it was just easier and faster to make a few straight cuts to notch the driver's side of the crossmember loop. None of this was extreme surgery and very well could be considered more than minor massaging by many and hacking up a car to fit in an overdrive by others who think nothing of running fenderwell headers out the inner fenders or like beating on the transmission tunnel with a BFH and then putting up with driveline vibration and a really shallow overdrive (Gear Vendors). It did involve the removal of some metal. I included a picture of it to show how little was actually removed.

I saw the cuts that Treblig made before I started and considered his cuts minor going in compared to the complete removal of the center loop of the crossmember (Pic 3). I agree about what is minimal to one man may be major to another. Fitting and welding in subframe connectors is about an equal amount of work. Welding a four point bar in my car took longer but the bars didn't require me to cut up my interior. All of these "upgrades" required some minimal massaging to get them in. Some people would say its major, but like Treblig said, It's all relative.

After welding the crossmember to the floor, boxing in the notch and adding 1/8" plate to the top of the transmission hump, It is still minimal compared to what guys have to do to fit the 518's. I also leaned towards a bit of overkill, as I think I made the crossmember stronger than it was when I started. When I look under the car today, it looks like it has been minimally massaged. It definitely doesn't look like any major surgery has occurred there.

It took less than 15 minutes to make the notch to the driver's side and a about an hour to fabricate the metal parts and weld them in to box it up. That's pretty minimal compared to what I watched for years about removing the entire center of the crossmember loop and then building something to replace it.

That part was easy compared to designing, heating and shaping the new bolt-on rear engine mount which also strengthens the crossmember. I still need to weld on a few gussets and drill one new hole in the crossmember and lower mount, as I cut a hole off when I notched the driver's side. I will be able to raise and lower the rear of the transmission almost 3 inches to get the engine's crank and output shaft centerline set in the correct relation to my driveshaft pinion by stacking some simple shims on the crossmember.

Once the car is all back together and running, it won't look that much different underneath than it before I started to 99% of the worlds population. The big difference will be that it has a 4 speed automatic transmission with overdrive and lock-up torque converter that's controlled with one 12V wire. The lock-up only engages in 4th, so it unlocks automatically when it downshifts if you forget to flip the switch off.

It will be powered by a minorly massaged EFI'd 5.9 Magnum that displaces 408" and puts out around 500 hp and the same amount of torque all with the comfort of a Vintage Air Gen V A/C heater defrost system. It's just a simple low maintenance stroked smallblock that runs on pump gas.

The car will basically look like it came the way it is from the factory with just a few minor upgrades from stock. None of updating this car was major surgery as it was a rust free California car that lived in a garage most of it's life. My hat is off to the guys who fix up the rusted cars that most people would scrap. Now, some of those guys do major surgery and work miracles.

While this project is a lot of time, money and hard work, it is still pretty basic automotive hot rodding stuff, and in my opinion, a much better alternative to the 500 or 518 swap for many reasons.

 

[jbc426]

The new, replacement bolt-on crossmember is finished and painted. It's made out of 1/4" steel plate and is easy to put on and take off, as long as the exhaust is unbolted from the collectors and the transmission lifted up with a floor jack. So, it's essentially the same thing I had to do to do to R &R the stock crossmember.

It is extremely ridged, well-gusseted and should add considerable strength to the torsion bar crossmember once bolted on. I still have to drill the two holes for the rear transmission mount. I also made up some shims to be able to alter the angle of the engine and transmission. I have to find my magnetic angle indicator and get the car sitting at it's normal rake.

I gave Dr Diff a call this morning to verify what angle I want the engine/transmission to sit at. He said to match the crankshaft & transmission centerline to the pinion angle centerline and then add 2 degrees of upward tilt to the back of the transmission. That will leave me with the equivalent of a 2 degree downward pinion angle.

 

[Treblig]

Came out pretty nice!! It should work great. Now the hard part is done.

Treblig