Would you trust this?

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magnumdust

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The remote hosting photo failed for me but it looks like he cut the t-bar cross member completely, welded in some really thin subframe connectors, and welded a crossmember to those?

If that's the case, I hope he's not driving on a road within 1000 miles of me or anyone I care about. Those T-bar crossmember ends are just cantilevered out there, getting twisted on, and metal fatigue is a b!tch.

And I wonder how long his started will hold up with no support on the nose.
 
I'm no engineer but I think the T-bar sockets need to exert force to somewhere. The floor pan sheetmetal alone doesn't seem strong enough in my opinion.
Maybe he will here strange sounds coming from there and fab up some additional support before major damage occurs.
 
The pictures don't show me enough. There has been lots of discussion about how to get OD transmissions to fit and what to do with the center part of the crossmember. I would certainly weld what's left of the memebr to the floor for added strength, but it's probably fine.
 
Tying in the 2x3" .125" wall frame connectors right next to the torsion bar sockets goes a long way to strengthen the crossmember. Welding in that tubular transmission mount should do a pretty good job of tying everything together, although I still think I'd be inclined to connect the ends of the crossmember to each other and the floor over the transmission with something, even if it was just flat plate in an "A" type configuration (think I saw that on an a518 swap thread). It's hard to tell from those pictures, but it does look like he boxed the ends of the crossmember.

Big problem I see with that Duster thread is- How in the hell is he supposed to remove the torsion bars? His transmission mount is welded to the frame connectors behind the torsion bar sockets. The bars won't slide out the way he's got it. Also, if the transmission mount is welded in solid (as it looks to be) it will make it a PITA to pull the engine/transmission later.

I think the best way to do this is to modify the bolt in section of the crossmember so that it still forms the lower transmission mount, and then box the ends of the crossmember and tie them together over the top and to the floor with some kind of plate.

This thread here is the way to go. It's an a500 swap, but its the same idea.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=178459

You could also use a 200r4, there's a thread on that as well, and I believe someone is making the adaptor. Very little cutting on that one, but you need to spend a little money on the transmission so it will hold up.

200r4 swap thread. Gets interesting around page 4
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=174333
 
72bluNblu said:
Tying in the 2x3" .125" wall frame connectors right next to the torsion bar sockets goes a long way to strengthen the crossmember. Welding in that tubular transmission mount should do a pretty good job of tying everything together, although I still think I'd be inclined to connect the ends of the crossmember to each other and the floor over the transmission with something, even if it was just flat plate in an "A" type configuration (think I saw that on an a518 swap thread). It's hard to tell from those pictures, but it does look like he boxed the ends of the crossmember.

Big problem I see with that Duster thread is- How in the hell is he supposed to remove the torsion bars? His transmission mount is welded to the frame connectors behind the torsion bar sockets. The bars won't slide out the way he's got it. Also, if the transmission mount is welded in solid (as it looks to be) it will make it a PITA to pull the engine/transmission later.

I think the best way to do this is to modify the bolt in section of the crossmember so that it still forms the lower transmission mount, and then box the ends of the crossmember and tie them together over the top and to the floor with some kind of plate.

This thread here is the way to go. It's an a500 swap, but its the same idea.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=178459

You could also use a 200r4, there's a thread on that as well, and I believe someone is making the adaptor. Very little cutting on that one, but you need to spend a little money on the transmission so it will hold up.
Click to expand...

Its not a great picture, but zoomed in(ctrl+shift+ +) on google chrome you can see its not welded in place. there are bolts.

Thats where i'm stuck, either way i go its expensive. The 200r4 is more costly w/ needing a beefed up tranny, expensive torque converter and adapter. The the 700r4 seems like i'll need to do a coilover conversion, making it cost nearly the same as the 200r4(if i go the cheapest quality route ie: dilinger)

I was considering the a500, but the lack of aftermarket bothers me. Say i turbo my car(which i'd like to do), then its guessing if it will hold and/or hacking into the tunnel more to fit the a518 which if anything like the 727, will be less efficient than the other overdrive options.
 
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