'51 chevy tranny crossmember- to cut or not?

I have a '51 chevy sedan. 350 + powerglide ready to go in (again). I was about to cut the crossmember, but
(a) the transmission ends up right on the crossmember. It's almost in the exact centre of the crossmember.

(b) I'm a little shy of cutting the crossmember. I did fabricate up a drop out of 1/4" plate, but I'm sure that it would be better the original crossmember remained intact rather than cut+welded up.

Also, I had to raise the motor about an inch to clear the steering so I have some room to play with the transmission. Given the choice, I'd rather modify the transmission tunnel than the frame. Am I just being foolish here?

If I leave it as is, there won't be room for a traditional rubber mount- can I just bolt the transmission to the crossmember with a couple of rubber spacers on each end of the bolt and call it done?

Should I cut the factory crossmember, or should I just use it?

I understand it's not a good idea to rigidly mount the transmission unless the motor is also rigid.

Thoughts?

Cheers

David

 

i cut mine . and did a 1 inch drop .

 

make it drop out. otherwise anything you want to do to the transmission means pulling the engine/trans as a unit or pulling it up through the floor somehow

 

I don't mind pulling the motor to do work- in many ways I prefer it - but that's a good point too. Would bolting in a drop mount compromise the crossmember's strength though?

 

Cutting the crossmember would sure make it easier to drop the tranny later on. I was considering doing this swap at one point and had some pics saved, hope this helps. Maybe others that have actually done the swap will chime in with more info.
found it at chevytalk i think

 

I found on a '50 that if you made a crossmember out of 2" box tube, cut one side off a couple pieces and it slips over the stock crossmember stubs nice and tight - drill a couple holes in each side and you have a bolt in. Weld whatever across the middle to hold the trans and you're done.

So I didn't hesitate to cut mine, but for a 700R4 you have to cut it anyways.

 

On my '54 I cut off the rivets and took the whole X member out to modify it, then bolted it in. Some automatic trans cars had the X bolted in anyway.
OK, my mistake. All 1954's had the X bolted in. Guess I didn't cut the rivets on my '54!

 

I notched out the crossmember and welded in a tranny mount I bought from chevies of the 40s... Looks solid enough... The mount comes with a weld on gussett thats thick and strong... i dont foresee any problems with it. Mine is a 49 but same crossmember. Youll have to pull the trans out to do it. i also considered a 3/8 inch rubber pad between trans and crossmember and simply drilling 2 holes through the bottom of the crossmember directly to transmission mount holes... I dont see how it could hurt.... Vibration maybe? Not sure. If and when my tranny needs to be removed I am going to use rusty new yorkers method and cut the old x member out so I can drop tran easier in the future.