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I would like to build a tubular trans crossmember for the '67 Malibu. What material should I use?
Here's why I wanna do this: I have the wrong floors in the car. I picked them up at Super Chevy from the Ausley's booth, and didn't realize I had the wrong ones until they were all cut up already, and it was too late to return them. We actually had them partially welded in already, and couldn't figure out why they fit so poorly. Figgered it was just notoriously ill-fitting aftermarket sheet metal, then realized that they are 68-72 floors. Anyway, so the car gets a 700R-4. The tranny fits ok (after a couple of well-placed smacks with a 3-lb hammer), but the first floor crossmember is about 1/4" from the driveshaft. I can't clearance that any more, not without major cutting. I'm thinking that a dropped crossmember will be easier to do. I need to clear the exhaust, and drop the trans mount by 1/2" or so. Then my driveshaft won't rub every time I hit a bump. I'm thinking a tube member will be relatively easy to fabricate up.
So, anybody else ever run into something like this? I'm sure lots of guys have tubular cross members, what are they typically built out of?
Here's why I wanna do this: I have the wrong floors in the car. I picked them up at Super Chevy from the Ausley's booth, and didn't realize I had the wrong ones until they were all cut up already, and it was too late to return them. We actually had them partially welded in already, and couldn't figure out why they fit so poorly. Figgered it was just notoriously ill-fitting aftermarket sheet metal, then realized that they are 68-72 floors. Anyway, so the car gets a 700R-4. The tranny fits ok (after a couple of well-placed smacks with a 3-lb hammer), but the first floor crossmember is about 1/4" from the driveshaft. I can't clearance that any more, not without major cutting. I'm thinking that a dropped crossmember will be easier to do. I need to clear the exhaust, and drop the trans mount by 1/2" or so. Then my driveshaft won't rub every time I hit a bump. I'm thinking a tube member will be relatively easy to fabricate up.
So, anybody else ever run into something like this? I'm sure lots of guys have tubular cross members, what are they typically built out of?
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