Transmission Crossmember - Part 5

With the bracket tacked together on the bench (in part four of our transmission cross-member mini-series) it was time to tack-weld the bracket to the cross member.

Bolted to the trans and held in place against the curved pipe of the cross-member with a trusty occy strap...




A few spot welds and the bracket was located.

Removing the cross member - with the bracket attached - became problematic... much pushing and shoving and cutting-down the mounting studs didn't help. The go is to unbolt the mount from the trans and bingo! Job done.

Out of the car...






Welds were run (no fashion awards, but it ain't going anywhere) and hit with primer...






Then a couple of coats of satin black...



J

Transmission Crossmember - Part 4

More arts n' crafts this weekend as the mocking-up of the modified transmission cross member continues.

Template complete...






I soon discovered (after the photos above) that the transmission mount studs are offset across the car... a couple of punches with a scribe and new holes in the correct location were added.

Cardboard was substituted for steel, with the template profiles traced onto 5 mm thick plate for the base and UA 40 x 20 for the uprights.

Then it was cut, grind, test-fit, rinse and repeat.

The curves in the uprights were offset by a few mm, spotted with a punch ever 5 mm or so and drilled out like Swiss cheese to the point were vice clamps could bend the scrap off, leaving behind a rough curve to be smoothed out by grinder/file.

Test fitting the curved sections:

Not quite there...




Much better...






Each upright was vice clamped to the base in its final position and brought out from under the car for tacking on the bench.

Result (note the offset mount holes)...




Finally, the mount holes were slotted to allow the cross member to be removed from the car without the holes fouling the studs...




Next: tack the mount into position onto the cross member.

J

Transmission Crossmember - Part 3

JtC headed North with the mission to weld new transmission cross member saddles to the chassis rails.

First: dummy-up where the cross member is to sit; axle stands everywhere...




With the final location decided upon, the welding could start...







With nice clean shiny metal, more weld, bigger welds and thicker gauge steel than Chev ever used in the 60's, the result was very tidy indeed!






The cross member was soon bolted in place so the mocking-up of the mounting bracket could start in earnest...




More to follow...

J

Ancillary Drive Belt

1960 mm long, un-tensioned with the idler pulley in the "short belt" configuration.


Now need to subtract 28 mm as per Holley's instructions (extract below)...

However, a trial fit with the existing VZ Commodore belt has the tensioner wound all the way over to maximum tension and the belt juuuust fits on... where the belt length is 1995 mm (6PK1995).

Hmmm...

J