276 stroker from 35 years of parts

[GB SISSON]

Thanks Pete! My shoulders hurt this morning, but I'll head back down to the shop to fight the good fight. Not looking forward to sawing out that crossmember, but I'm committed at this point and coming up with a sturdy replacement is good exercise for the brain.

[cadillac512]

Nice pics. Standing on the front is classic! One thing different when I put the later engine in the '41...the carb mount pad on the manifold is at a different angle than the early engine's and the carb sat at an angle. I angle milled the carb mount on the manifold to make it sit "right". It would have run fine...just looked odd to me.

Yeah, I have to be fixing things all the time for some reason. It's a blessing and curse all in one!

[GB SISSON]

Woke up early so I went down and pulled the 221 out before lunch. On Wednesdays I tutor an 11 year old boy on practical mechanics, fixing stuff that breaks and building stuff from metal and wood. He's already a decent welder and he loves sanding old stuff and painting it. So that's my afternoon. After dinner I went down to take one of my 8ba blocks off of it's engine storage stand as I wanted that stand with it's exhaust manifold connection so I can mount clutch, flywheel etc to my new engine. While taking it off the stand I got the idea to mount my 10 dollar swap meet water pumps on it and a cast truck bellhousing and then the T5 off the tail so I can use that lightweight and streamlined assembly for mocking up my crossmember and all the inevitable trial and error fitting that this kind of swap entails. I have studied that 'counterbalance affair that hangs off the transmission's tailshaft and don't get it at all. Can a T5 guy let me know any essential do's and don'ts with the new crossmember. Maybe I should revive mine of some elses T5 thread. Oh and my locking rod nuts came today so pan install soon.

[petehoovie]

[51504bat]

Don't know about a T-5 but the 302/AOD combo that's going in my '54 Ranch Wagon had a similar counter balance tab. it was in the way of the cross member I made. I asked about it over on the HAMB and the consensus from those much smarter than said OK to grind it off.

[Bored&Stroked]

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There is no reason to leave that protrusion on the case. You might consider making a tubular cross-member to pick up the rear transmission mount of the T5. You can design/build/weld this up outside the car and then bolt it in.

My guess is that the T5 mount it behind the original transmission mounting location (though I've not worked on this year frame).

Maybe post some pictures of the cross-member as it now sits - might help us understand the next "phase" of the work.

[GB SISSON]

Ok thanks guys, and Pete for the pictures. I'm running to town for stnls water pump bolts and engine paint and transmission mounting bolts. There's a ragged bunch of odd length bolts in the mockup. I just re-watched a 2 part video about a T5 into a '46 jailbar pickup. He sawzalls out the center of the crossmember and installs a fairly light looking tubular one that bolts in behind the original.. I have some 3/16" wall square tubing that I plan to use for my crossmember. Funny though, it sure looks like I can save the crossmember or at least half of it. Since the brake master bolts to it, I will reinforce the stub of the crossmember on the drivers side. Maybe he cuts it out because of future transmission removal, and in reality 2 sawzall cuts laying on my back is much easier than alterations to the crossmember. I'll put up a pic of the stock crossmember before I head to town .

[GB SISSON]

There is a joint in between main transmission and the tailshaft. That joint is 40 1/2" behind the front mounts. That is the center of factory crossmember. If I have the height I could make a mount at that joint shaped sorta like a horse shoe and use longer tailshaft bolts through the web of the horse shoe. Something tells me I don't have the height needed, but I can figure that out when I get home.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

There is a joint in between main transmission and the tailshaft. That joint is 40 1/2" behind the front mounts. That is the center of factory crossmember. If I have the height I could make a mount at that joint shaped sorta like a horse shoe and use longer tailshaft bolts through the web of the horse shoe. Something tells me I don't have the height needed, but I can figure that out when I get home.

[Als48]

GB, I agree with your thinking on leaving the existing crossmember, and adapting to it if possible. You need the structural strength of that member for the brake master mounting.
I had a T5 in my 48 for a while, of course my car had an X frame with torque tube and clam shell mounting. I used a mount I bought from Drake, I believe, which mounted at each end to the frame rails. It also provided mounts for the split-wishbone which you dont need. Your suggestion of a u shaped adapter sounds workable.

[Bored&Stroked]

I imagine the current cross-member is riveted or welded into the frame? Is it possible to remove it and then rework it outside the vehicle, then bolt it back in when done?

If it is too tall in the center area, sure would be nice to remove the whole cross-member and then modify the center section of it to give you the room and the mount you need. You don't want to be hard-mounted to the cross-member, so you'll need a rubber pad of some sort.

Another option (if you can remove/rework it) - is to cut and lower the middle section and then fabricate an "extension" to mount to the stock T5 location (going backwards to where the mount needs to be) - using the stock style rubber mounting for a T5.

[GB SISSON]

Working under there and grinding off rivet heads and driving them out is a daunting task. I remember how difficult it was to remove some running board brackets off a bare chassis. Those rivets are exceedingly tight and don't give up without a fight. Let's just say if I were to take the easy route and cut out the center of the crossmember, the 'engineer' in me will strive to build a new heavy duty crossmember that replaces the lost strength and contains an element to brace the master cylinder's stubby mount. I'm feeling like this is not a rare or valuable truck I am chopping into and nobody will ever look underneath, and lastly I really, really need to get back into the woodshop and satisfy my furniture customers. In retrospect I should not have even mentioned saving the old crossmember because I can see several days of under car misery dealing with that option. Stay tuned, and I will go get a good look and maybe a test fit before I do any chopping.

[flatford8]

You’re right in the “test fit” idea. You need to know where the T5 mount is going to land, length wise, and the height you need.......I know my crossmember is different but this might give you an idea. It’s made from 3/16” rectangular tubing........Mark

[GB SISSON]

OH! The HUMANITY!. I did have to cut it all the way out. Easiest task ever. sitting upright on the front crossmember, I made 2 vertical cuts with a brand new 12" sawzall blade like a hot knife through buttah. The engine is sitting on it's mounts up front and precisely 18.5 U.S. from the block's milled intake surface to the horizontal stiffening rib across the top of the firewall as was the original engine yesterday. You can see I made up a quick pattern, deeper than needed so I could measure up to the base on the transmission mount. You can also see that the crossmember had to go. Hopefully I can fab up something good and strong that will help to replenish some of the rigitidy of the frame that I have so blatantly 'torn asunder'. Ok, back down to my happy place.....

[cadillac512]

I see a bolt-in crossmember/mount section in your future. You've got this.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by flatford8

You’re right in the “test fit” idea. You need to know where the T5 mount is going to land, length wise, and the height you need.......I know my crossmember is different but this might give you an idea. It’s made from 3/16” rectangular tubing........Mark

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

OH! The HUMANITY!. I did have to cut it all the way out. Easiest task ever. sitting upright on the front crossmember, I made 2 vertical cuts with a brand new 12" sawzall blade like a hot knife through buttah. The engine is sitting on it's mounts up front and precisely 18.5 U.S. from the block's milled intake surface to the horizontal stiffening rib across the top of the firewall as was the original engine yesterday. You can see I made up a quick pattern, deeper than needed so I could measure up to the base on the transmission mount. You can also see that the crossmember had to go. Hopefully I can fab up something good and strong that will help to replenish some of the rigitidy of the frame that I have so blatantly 'torn asunder'. Ok, back down to my happy place.....

[Bored&Stroked]

If you've got a MIG welder, should not be too difficult. I'd strengthen the original with some rectangular .120 or .187 wall tubing. Something around 1.5" square or so. You can complete the two 'U' pieces outside the truck (doing the welding, etc) - then at the end, weld them into your original cross member.

If you can, create both a top and bottom reinforcement. Once you have that done, then you can work on either an "extension" to go back and pickup the trans mount, or build a tubular cross-member and bolt it into your frame.

[GB SISSON]

Thanks again Pete, Mark and Dale, by the time you posted I was about half done with my crossmember. I worry if I weld pieces above and below the stubs of the old crossmember, they will interfere with future trans removal. I do think that I need to capture the top chord of the frame rails so they cant flex towards each other. My thought is another piece similar to what you see here, but just one tube as it doesn't need to bear weight and mounted somewhere above the front u joint. As far as bracing the stub to secure the master cyl, I have a piece of 1/4 x 2" flat bar to bolt in there. Those stub ends are held in by a mess of tight rivets and without looking, the MC is only a couple inches out(if that) from the frame rail and it is heavily gusseted against fore and aft movement. All that said, I'm still gonna brace it because working in there is easy right now with no front metal or driveshaft etc. I think the kits sold just have a tubular cross member welded to some plate or angle and the conversion parts and you supply the sawzall, and done. Here's my crossmember. It will have a plate with 2 holes welded flush between the two square tubes to accept a rubber mount of 3/4" thickness or more if I weld the 2 hole plate further down. I will post some pics in a half hour.

[GB SISSON]

Couple of pics from today. My cardiologist had some warnings about welding with my pacemaker, like stay as far as possible from the welder and the arc and use low settings, none of which were really possible, but I made attempts. I used high settings and burned in deep but it ain't too pretty. but its strong. it will bolt in.