gearhead67

For those that have fabricated their own trans crossmember to put a T56 in an older car (first gen Camaro for me), what size tubing (OD and wall thickness) did you use? I'm thinking I will use 2" angle for the mount to the subframe, then a 2" tube bent between them and a 1/4" plate for the trans mount. Just trying to decide what thickness I want to use for the tubing....

hybridstang

iTrader: (8)

You can use 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 .120 wall that would be more than suitable. I ended up using
1 5/8 schedule 40 just because my neighbor got it for me for free. Free is good!

gearhead67

Wow, 1 1/4" huh? I thought my idea of 2" was on the low side. I've seen some pretty beefy ones from the aftermarket, but the stock one isn't much. I was thinking about an 1/8" wall too. Thanks for the feedback. Free is always good!!

hybridstang

iTrader: (8)

yea the trans crossmember aje sells is like 1 1/4 if not smaller and i doubt it is even .120 wall. but anyway good luck!

rollingmuscle

Keep in mind when fabricating one you leave enough room for that 3 in. exhaust. You can always notch into what you fab and plate your notched area back in.

gearhead67

Yeah I'm gonna try bending the pipe as close to the floor pan as possible to make clearance for the exhaust (probably not 3" tho LOL). Thanks! We'll see how good my bending skills are. If not good, I'll be shelling out a few hundy on an aftermarket one. Thanks!

orange88ls1s-dime

1 1/4" (0.065" wall) Moly will do exactly what you want

bczee

iTrader: (12)

For my 71' Nova, I didn't make mine from scratch. i used a TH400 and cut it up.. I used some 1/4" plate steel and a 2x4 tube to complete the cross tube for the Trans Mount.

Not a T56, but the idea should work for one.




BC

gearhead67

Thanks! Good to know I can go smaller diameter than I planned. Will enable more clearance. Steel shop was closed yesterday, so I won't be able to start on this today like I hoped. I thought about modifying the stock crossmember similar to what you did, BC. Nice and clean. I want to try tubing first though to try getting as much exhaust clearance as possible. I'll post what I come up with.

gobaltss

I used 1x2 hollow structural tubing with .120 wall.. Havent finished my build yet tho, still need to test.

89gmcs15

iTrader: (7)

1 1/2 .250 wall square tube for the trans mount. Then i took 1" heavy wall square tubing and tied the trans brace into the rear leaf spring perch on the frame to help with frame twist. Overkill for the trans but it didn't hurt the chassis strength lol.

soundengineer

iTrader: (16)

I took my Yank 4l80 Crossmember from my Camaro and chopped it up to use it for my mount...
stuck with square tubing since it was already using square tubing on the one from Yank.
I used some scraps that were laying around from another project...
its all thick wall tubing, couldnt tell you anything other than that.



This is the Yank Crossmember




This is what I ended up with for my Foxbody

LS1 pwrd NOVA

iTrader: (2)

What ya decide to do?

ijimmy

this is what I used puting a t56 in my 68 camaro

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trans-Dapt-4549-Transmission-Crossmember-Kit-Universal-26-To-36-Framerail-Width-/141243100119?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20e2beabd7&vxp=mtr