Tale of two cross members

[67/6barracuda]

I have two transmission cross members. My original slant six/904 crossmember that worked fine for the 360/727 I swapped in there. I’m just curious why the one that came out a 340 car has a little tab added to it? Im almost ready to get my transmission back in. Both would work fine I’m sure. I think that tab is probably to provide a little stability for the transmission mount bushing. What do you guys think? Which one would you use?

 

[kursplat]

sell the 340 one for $$ to someone who needs it for a uber-correct restore

 

[moparmat2000]

67 had a lot of one year only stuff. They prob realized that the tab wasnt needed and only added another step to the manufacturing process so they eliminated it. My 67 had the tab on there when I dissassembled it. Maybe your car had a later model crossmember in there from a previous owner. This stuff being 50+ years old so much has been swapped around over the years. Or I could be wrong and they added that into the manufacturing. I look at the differences between my 67 and my sons 69 barracuda. Similar cars yes, but they did what they could with everything between 67 and 69 to make the car cheaper to produce. For instance my wiper linkages on the 67 use bronse bushings brazed into the linkage arms, felt washers and metal clips. This is an awesome setup that will last forever. My sons 69 uses black nylon plastic bushings that double as a retaining clip to keep the linkages attached. Faster assembly, and cheaper. My 67 coupe has window ledge wide stainless strips. My sons 69 coupe does not. In 69 those trims were relegated to fastbacks only. 69 the fold down rear seat was optional. Question is , why would you buy a fastback back then if not to get the fold down rear seat to take advantage of the cargo room. Other small things like the ignition key bezel trim. Chromed diecast on my 67, cheap plastic on my sons 69. Carmakers all do this. After the first year run of a new model, the beanies get ahold of it and start analyzing it for what $$$$ can be removed to make it cheaper to produce and still sell. I have a complete spare set of the bronse bushed 67 wiper linkages and pivots that will go in my sons car because that is a better design. Clean em up add some aeroshell 22 to the bushings. Good as new. I guess new and improved doesnt apply there.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

From the looks I believe you have two different year cross members. One is for an earlier car that uses 1/2 inch bolts. The other is from a later car that uses 3/8 bolts. Check what your hole size is through your torsion bar cross member.

That is the one you will use. Using the larger hole cross member on a small hole car lets the back of the motor drop a little. Makes it tight for a large diameter after market distributor to clear the fire wall. Not really a big deal just some info you may want to consider. We just put a 72 torsion cross in a 68 Barracuda He now has to use a 72 cross member.

Dave I am sure you watching I will be going to the garage in a 1/2 hour. I want to try and fire the car today. See you in a bit.

 

[67/6barracuda]

From the looks I believe you have two different year cross members. One is for an earlier car that uses 1/2 inch bolts. The other is from a later car that uses 3/8 bolts. Check what your hole size is through your torsion bar cross member.

That is the one you will use. Using the larger hole cross member on a small hole car lets the back of the motor drop a little. Makes it tight for a large diameter after market distributor to clear the fire wall. Not really a big deal just some info you may want to consider. We just put a 72 torsion cross in a 68 Barracuda He now has to use a 72 cross member.

Dave I am sure you watching I will be going to the garage in a 1/2 hour. I want to try and fire the car today. See you in a bit.

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Yup that’s it...the one with the tab used the smaller bolts, my original had the larger. So they went to a smaller bolt after 67 wouldn't had noticed the holes, look so close in size until you try putting a bolt in there. Thanks

 

[moparmat2000]

Maybe the smaller bolts were less expensive, and strong enough, and that's why they went that route. It seems like such a little thing such as maybe .10 cents cheaper per bolt and per nut, but times that by 4 bolts and 4 nuts and that's almost $1 per car savings times how many A bodys built that year? That's the type of **** bean counters do to shave off costs. A little here and there it all adds up over time.

 

[MoparMike1974]

Probably more like 1/2 a cent cheaper but when your building thousands of cars every .5 cent adds up to profit.

 

[Mattax]

To add to what @Oldmanmopar wrote.
The tab is not mentioned in either the '67 or '68 Plymouth Service Manual.
It is mentioned in the '69 Dodge Service Manual.

1967-68
Cross member bolts are only torqued 75 ft lbs.
Transmission mount to extension housing 35 ft-lbs.

My guess is the top cross member is '68 as the one on my '67 Barracuda is slightly different.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

I like the info. Its always good to learn and have pictures. Steve

 

[67/6barracuda]

I like the info. Its always good to learn and have pictures. Steve

That tab is a nice upgrade. I like that it shows to bend the tab over the mount to stabilize it.