Stingxray

Ive been waiting & today finally arrived. Bullshark - Bob referred me to Ray Dowling owner of Montgomery Machine Tech LLC. who has the Water Jet Cad program to produce these plates (brackets). Charged me $50 for the set of 4. They fit 63-70's with welded in 4 speed x member (non removable). I cut my crossmember leaving 1/8th" gap on each side IE: abrasive wheel. These plates slide over the outside and allows the welding on the inside. This keeps everything square and centered. Also the ability to slide center section straight back over the exhaust pipes without removal is a nice benefit. If anyone interested in purchase E-mail me and Ill forwarded Ray's info. He has made multiple sets.

pauldana

one word.... 8¡tchen¡¡¡¡



going to have my boys fab me one next time i remove the trans! love it!

rehirsch8

Can this be done with the body on the car?

Stingxray

Why bother fabbing them up ... Ray's are only $12.5 a piece and they fit perfect.

Eddie 70

I like this. That would make trans removal much easier than what it currently is. $50 is a pretty good deal. Seeing as I now have a welder in the basement, this could be done even easier. Thanks for posting this up.

Stingxray

Rays Contact information is the following :
Tell him Grant sent you ..


Ray Dowling. He is owner of
Montgomery Machine Tech LLC
(636) 488-5656
mmt.info@yahoo.com
311 Lions Estates Dr, Jonesburg, MO 63351

pauldana

$12 for all that??? are you sure??? thats like a crazy deal!!!

well worth $100

Priya

Looks like a great deal, but my car is a 79, isn't the frame the same for all 68-79's? Will these fit my 79?

Sully1882

did the crossmembers change? I thought for sure they were the same through 72?

Sully

Stingxray

Sorry ....Clarify :

$12.5 X 4 = $50

Materials + Hand fabricating X duration time X 4 = easier to Call Ray and order

Stingxray

80-82 was the change for the C3 cross-member (without the 2 exhaust port holes) . 79 and earlier should all be the same. But might want to check me that.

tracdogg2

You are correct.
Mike

Bullshark

Yes, I did mine on RamJet a number of years ago now. Used a Sawzall to cut the crossmember being very careful not to cut into the floorboard. Welding the inner member is easy. You can do that while off the car. The outside brackets are a little more challenging. I did mine while on a lift. You can bolt everything up and then weld the outer brackets. You will not be able to reach the outer seam under the fiberglass floorboard, but welding innner side is easy once you remove the center section. Plenty strong. Also, you may have to grind the outer rounded edge of the bracket to clear the floorboard, depending on how low your body sits on the frame. My 70 was pretty low with those hard mounts so I ground the flange on that side to ~ 1/2 inch.

Bullshark

Ibanez540r

Can someone confirm FOR SURE if the trans. crossmember is the same through the 70's? I was about to tackle this project real soon, and planned to fab my own brackets. If these will work with my 74 frame, I'm buying them!

OR Stingxray - can you provide dimensions? Maybe measure the inside of one of the brackets and enter them on the image on like Microsoft paint?

Kind of excited, timing couldn't be better (frame off resto in the garage with new welder getting here tuesday)

Aflac

if someone needs one, I have mine from my 77. make me an offer. if you're local to North Texas, come get it. if you aren't, we can work shipping.

69 Convertible

I cut my crossmember after getting the information from Bullshark
But I did it differently. I cut the plate without the hole. So it's like a
Flat plate. Reason, it would have been hard for me to cut the hole. And
I did it with the car on 4 jack stands. Talk about no elbow room. Just a
Word of advise, make sure before you cut your crossmember, take
A measurement from the driver's frame to the trans crossmember and
Do the same from the passenger side frame to the trans mount. You
Want to have the trans sitting in it's right posistion. From my memory
I think one side is 18" and something and the other is 19" and something. The trans sits off set. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Ibanez540r

I ordered the same brackets as the OP from the guy he mentioned. Charged $50 and $10 for S&H. I cut my crossmember on Sunday with a sawzall (frame off) and got around to welding the inner brackets yesterday. On my 74 chassis, they had a little more room then the picture he posted. They were pretty good fitment wise, but mostly around the "rounded" portion I had at least an 1/8" gap. I tried to even out the gaps as best as possible prior to welding. As we all know these cars varied from one to the next, so I assume everyone's experience will be a bit different.

This weekend I plan on tackling the frame sides. Will be much more difficult maneuvering around rather then the easiness of the center removable portion.

71scgc

I thought at some point (79 perhaps), that all crossmembers went removable.

rehirsch8

I recently ordered a set for my '72. How far a part are the brackets?

aussiejohn

G'day,

The brackets and the price are great, but I don't think that this is the best solution for a removable cross member. Now, no-one with an NCRS car is going to cut their cross member, but for the rest of us, I can think of a better idea.

What I would like to see is a removable "inner" cross member that sat ABOVE the exhaust pipes, made from a piece of say, 2x3 or 2x4 RHS laid on its side. Sure, it would need to have a step down in the middle for the trans mount, but a X member like this would sit high enough on either side of the transmission for the exhaust pipes to go UNDER IT.

This would allow a straight through pipe from the header rather than the kink inwards to pass through the X member, then out again to go to the mufflers. Also, you could remove the transmission without having to disconnect the whole exhaust system, if designed correctly. The X member, once unbolted, would just slide back over the exhaust pipes, allowing the trans to drop out.

The factory welded in X member could be cut about 6 inches in from each side but not in one vertical cut. It would have a horizontal "step" a few inches long about half way through, on top of which a flat plate would be welded, and the 2x3 "inner" X member would rest on it, obviously bolted to it as well.

Anyone agree with me? Come to think of it, I have a spare auto X member in the garage, I can use it to make a jig and from that I can fabricate an "inner" X member to mount the trans and hand brake. I have two manual '74 Vettes and although the clutches and trans are in good nick, who knows what the future holds?

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn