I just got my havlir f1 style crossmember in and I welded tabs on the top so I could position it and it would stay so I jacked up the torque tube and it hits the original crossmember before it gets high enough for my trans to slide back, NOW I remember reading that you have to cut the original crossmember to get it all to work but I know I also read that you don't... thoughts?! I know I wanna take out the least amount of metal as I can I just don't wanna screw it up Thanks!
If this were me doing this, and it isn't, I would cut the original crossmember up on both sides like it is marked on front and back of the cross member. Then when I get to the top I would cut straight across and join the 2 side cuts together, side to side not front to back, to remove the curved pieces on the front and back of the crossmember leaving the top intact. In other words you are removing the face and backside of the crossmember but not the top. Then you should be able to raise your torque tube to the needed height. May need to drop the F1 style a little as well but once everything is aligned I would put the cut out pieces back into the position they came out of but up as high as they need to be to clear the torque tube. Mark the amount sticking up above the flat surface of the original crossmember. Cut that off and then put the piece back where it came from and weld it in. Do the same thing front and back. Then make pieces for the flange on the front and back and weld them on to the flange on the sections you just moved up. You have the original structural integrity with more clearance. Hope this is understandable the way its written and that it helps.
Yea absolutely! That is my plan I only continued the sharpie marks over the top to know where to mark it on the opposite side, I've been reading and reading.... the other thing I didn't think of is my floorboard, I don't want everything shoved up so far that I've have created another issue. I stole this pic, this is the direction I'm going.
Thats the general idea. I just like to reuse the stock stuff if I can wherever possible. Also when you put the body back on the frame remember that there are body blocks and welting that raise the subframe up off the chassis so there is about 2" or so between the floor cross braces and the top of that crossmember. The floor panels then drop into the sub frame and lay on a flange. So they usually are not lower than the sub frame unless your doing something different for some reason.
Call Dave at Havlir House of Fab and Ask him. He is a hell of a nice guy and builds some real nice stuff. He has put a bunch of these together into frames and into peoples cars, so I'm sure he can tell you exactly how to do this and retain all the strength of the original cross member if you want to keep it. If it was mine I would take the original cross member out completely and add rear legs to make it more of a K member. Clearance problem solved and chassis much stiffer.
I've built two A V8's and built my own rear cross member but that looks a little high. With the front motor mount level with the top of the frame and the carb base more or less level I've never had to notch the center cross member. I have two stock Model A's and they have 1" to 1 1/2" clearance on the center cross member, there isn't much movement there.
What's the angle on your torque tube? What's the angle on the carb mounting pad on your engine. It's possible that you've got the F1 crossmember in too high...
I would take that crossmember out, and add K legs to F1 crossmember that resemble a 32 K member. A-V8's the most bang for your buck, have fun. Joe
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