Transmission Crossmember - Part 1

Buzzed the trans mount tongue off the tubular cross member last night at 9:30 PM (sorry neighbours).

Unbolted the weird 90 degree bracket from the transmission mount, so now we have clear access behind the trans mount (attached is a photo).

The cross member can sit up under the snout of the trans, right where the axle stand is in the photo...

This would mean relocating the chassis saddles rearward to the tune of 200 mm.

We will need to lift the end of the trans 13 mm to get the tubular cross member under the snout. If my calcs are correct, it means reducing the angle of the engine/trans by one degree.

Should be fine. Now it is a case of checking the trans and diff angles, plus whether raising the end 13 mm fouls the transmission tunnel anywhere.

J

We may be able to reuse the existing crossmember, but would need to remove the black bracket off the trans engine mount.

It would be close re. exhaust.

What I might do is trim off the existing Powerglide mounting bracket on the crossmember because we need to change/relocate that anyway. Then I can lift the tube into place to see how it looks.

J

On Wed, May 18, 2016 at 10:51 AM, JtC wrote:

I am very keen to retain the x-member as-is, no mods if possible. Factory is always best & it's a nice looking thing.

Will the new gearbox mount drop into the old crossmember without any of it fouling on the curves of the xmember?

Will the dips for the exhaust still provide clearance in the correct places also?

Can we get the driveline angle right with the old Commodore mount arrangement? I think it's in two parts, we may just need to remove one part.

Sort out new handbrake cable situation. We actually needed to do that anyway.

I honestly think we will be able to simply relocate the old xmember forward/rearward as needed and then fiddle around with the mount height as needed with a little chopping and maybe a spacer or whatever.

From: John

The easiest method will be to relocate the existing chassis rail mounting saddles.

J