Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Crossmembers

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Crossmembers

    Is there any formula to figuring out correct angle of the engine and transmission when fabbing a new crossmember? We finally installed the engine and built 700 R4trans in the 67 Camaro, stock crossmember hits the pan and is three inches forward. Fabbed up a crossmember making sure I am putting enough clearance in for the exhaust by putting the humps in the floor indents, but it seems to be too low. The stock camaro crossmember pretty much has the trans mount about the same height of the subframe but putting mine in looks like its too low. Looks like I am gonna be starting over again unless someone has suggestions. I see the G force one out there, but it looks straight without that angle back. Chassisworks has a kit but it looks more like a race setup without much consideration for exhaust pipes.

  • #2
    my rule of thumb is to make the transmission pan parallel to the rocker panel. The trans pan surface (and carb flange on the intake) are machined at the "proper" angle, so they'll both be level when the car's frame is level, and then engine is at the proper nose up angle of about 4 degrees.
    Last edited by squirrel; November 24, 2014, 09:29 AM.
    My fabulous web page

    "If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurk

    Comment


    • #4
      I was looking at that, but that will not use the stock cross member bolts in the subframe and also will not go into the humps in the floor. Maybe its just a stock picture and the real one has the bottom 3" behind the subframe bolts.

      Comment


      • #5
        i thought this thread had interesting info that might apply?


        can't see why you could'nt add some shims under the tranny mount or something if needed?

        a good spot to pick up the engine angle, if accesable, is the balancer.

        Comment


        • #6
          On the S-10 I set the trans angle and pinion angle each to 4* with the pinion nose down 4 and the trans up 4. After a lot of searching that seemed to be the hot setup. The big thing is not to have the driveshaft U-joints in a straight line at each other - the U-joints will beat each other to death. My setup is more or less how we did our dyno driveshatfs and it worked well.

          The driveshaft shop phased the joints properly so that's not an issue.

          Dan
          Last edited by DanStokes; November 25, 2014, 04:56 PM.

          Comment


          • #7
            Thats a tough one. Because most cars were not designed for such large transmissions you may find that the trans will have to angle down. My '71 does fairly significantly, but the lowest point should still be the bottom of the bellhousing shield with a stock pan on it. You're on your own setting up pinion geometery

            Comment


            • #8
              look at bow-tie overdrives. I bought their crossmember for my '66 Bel Air, which I put a 700r4 in over the summer. It was a few bucks but worth the money, bolted into the stock frame mounts
              Hellinor- 2005 Mustang GT-Bolt ons, in need of a turbo

              War Wagon- 1966 Bel Air Wagon-355 Crate motor, 700r4, flies pretty good for a brick...

              Comment


              • #9
                I believe this to be correct , at least I hope so because that's the set up I'm going with

                Comment


                • #10
                  Originally posted by langleylad View Post
                  I believe this to be correct , at least I hope so because that's the set up I'm going with
                  if you are talking about the BTO crossmember, its a great piece. comes with all the hardware and a new trans mount. make my trans install go smoothly
                  Hellinor- 2005 Mustang GT-Bolt ons, in need of a turbo

                  War Wagon- 1966 Bel Air Wagon-355 Crate motor, 700r4, flies pretty good for a brick...

                  Comment


                  • #11
                    Originally posted by Shelty View Post

                    if you are talking about the BTO crossmember, its a great piece. comes with all the hardware and a new trans mount. make my trans install go smoothly
                    Sorry , Actually I was replying to Dan's quote . I built my own crossmember for the Cougar but I'll end up modifying it when I install headers and pipes .

                    Comment


                    • #12
                      Originally posted by langleylad View Post

                      Sorry , Actually I was replying to Dan's quote . I built my own crossmember for the Cougar but I'll end up modifying it when I install headers and pipes .
                      its all good man, I didnt have the skill or the resources at the time to build my own crossmember. more than one way to skin a cat
                      Hellinor- 2005 Mustang GT-Bolt ons, in need of a turbo

                      War Wagon- 1966 Bel Air Wagon-355 Crate motor, 700r4, flies pretty good for a brick...

                      Comment


                      • #13
                        Originally posted by redneckjoe69 View Post
                        i thought this thread had interesting info that might apply?
                        http://jniolon.clubfte.com/driveline...nephasing.html

                        can't see why you could'nt add some shims under the tranny mount or something if needed?

                        a good spot to pick up the engine angle, if accesable, is the balancer.

                        Thanks, this helps alot. We really are starting to get a mess on our hands.

                        got reproduction springs, changing from mono to multi leaff and to go staggered. Ended up welding blocks tothe new lower spring mounts to make up the difference and not ruin the pinion angle if I cut off the rear end mounts and weld them on wrong. Got a disc brake conversion kit from great stuff three or so years ago, ends up they wont work with 14 inch rims. Found a set of IROC rims on craigslist for 100 bucks. They were definitely restorable, had 70's in the front and 275/60/15 in the back. Didnt want the height really, wanted the muscle car footprint. Put them on and the front of the drivers tire was 1/2 inch away from the front of the wheel well, front of the passenger side was about 7/8ths from the front wheel well. Definitely not centered in the opening. Choice was trying to drill the springs or drill the pads. Chose to drill the pads. Centered the tire, moving the holes between 1.875 and 1.5 inches from center, now the pinion is pointing down, making a bigger mess. Dowels in springs are not in the right location, moving the plates tipped the pinion.

                        All I am worried about is the crossmember now, nope, shit has hit the fan.

                        Not to mention, the upper pan needs to be recut and modified to get the 68 shock location in the trunk, which completely blows up my great cross brace I made to fit under the shock mounts, strengthen the frame rails and hopefully not make the shocks decide to come thru the floor when they inevitably rust out.

                        I will get that angle finder today and see if my pinion is down more than 4 degrees.

                        Did I mention how much I enjoy building this car with my son?
                        Last edited by anotheridiot; November 26, 2014, 09:44 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #14
                          You're learning stuff, which is the idea after all. I think it's great for your boy to see that Dad can figure stuff out and if a mistake is made one can back up, fix it, and move on.

                          As an aside - I ran a string line fore and aft that I left in place for weeks. This was my measurement point to keep the driveline straight from back to front (crank nose to tailshaft) so that was one fairly easy angle to leave out of the equation. Remember that all of this exists in 3 planes and keeping that dimension fixed allowed me to think of just the two remaining planes (basically, up and down).

                          Dan
                          Last edited by DanStokes; November 26, 2014, 02:11 PM.

                          Comment


                          • #15
                            IMO, it's good to have the pinion pointing down a degree or two because under hard acceleration it's gonna twist upward.
                            they do make pinion angle shims; http://www.summitracing.com/search/P...n-Angle-Shims/
                            so being off a few degrees is no big deal. it's easily adjustable.

                            i bought my camaro years ago for me and my 3 sons to have fun building. they basically have no interest, especially in helping.


                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X