Notching the crossmember for exhaust clearance

heres is what i did on my 66 barracuda,,,

notch the cross member,,,but keeping in mind ,,not to destroy the piece you are cutting out,,,cut it out in a half circular cut ,,in one piece take that piece you just cut out,,turn in up-side down,re-insert it in the area you removed it from weld it back in,,, now you havre a notch for the pipe and a complete uncut cross member,,,
hold a piece of pipe up against the cross member,,make the cut a little bigger then the pipe is round,,