49-54 chevy 350 tranny swap question?

The 3spd in My chevy is gettin pretty tired, I wanted to do the 350 ****** to the 235 with adapter conversion. My question is can I use one of the crossmembers from TCI or Walton fabrication for this and will the ****** and ****** crossmember be in the same spot with the 235 as it will be when I do Mustang II and V8 swap, Or will it have to be different? Any help or info is greatly appreciated

 

53-54 have a removeable crossmember. I "clearanced the front with a grinder, welded a piece of angle iron to the back and drilled a hole, use s10 t5 mount, 1 stud sticking down, done. the kit still requires you remove the factory one, so why not improvise and save your money for that adapter.

 

thats pretty much exactly what I did...took all of about an hour to do...come to think of it, I didnt even remove the crossmember.

 

I did something similar, except I cut a section out of the original crossmember and made a new piece out of sqaure stock and welded in a plate for the mount, (the angle iron idea is probably easier). Then I just drilled two 3\8" in holes for the bolts and drop 'em out if I need to remove the ******.

If you decide to remove the rivets from the original crossmember (there are a ton), I was told a torch works well 'cause the rivets are are softer than the crossmember and they'll practically fall out. Others may be able to comment on the validity of this technique since my rivets had been removed by the PO.





Bryan

 

nice work brian

phil make your own you can fab and youll be happyer; put your componants were you want them not where some after market company wants you to put them..................................

 

If you are using the stock 235 the watson will NOT work without modification, it's made for a SBC which is shorter. it will work if you 'relocate' it a little, i did that and it's fine, but it was money spent that didn't need to be if it would have modified the stock one.

FYI, unless you got a th350, why not a 700r4. that's what i did and that extra gear it great, really happy with it

 

Hey thanks for all the input, I really apreciate it!!

 

Hey there - mild hijack/continuation on the topic. Im looking at swapping out the manual 3 spd in my 48 and the 235 that was put in by the PO for the auto 700-r4 (for the 4th gear and OD) and a hopped up 250. Anyone got any things too look out for - experience to share?