Finally ready to dive into my T5 and open driveline conversion in the 54 210. Rebuilt the OG 235 and picked up a 92 S10 t5 and 4x4 rear out of an 93 S10 for pretty cheap over the winter. Have been looking looking and poking around last week or so. Bottom line is, I am a cheap bastard and don't want to drop $250 on the trans crossmember from HRW. Anyone out there know a more affordable route? Any HAMBers have a custom crossmember or how to thread??? I looked it up on the search and could find anything. If yall have any ideas or experience, Id love to hear and see them.
I realize you're talking about a 210, but I did this (T5 on a 235 combination) to my 51 Chevy pickup and modified the original trans cross member. Here is a link to my build thread in case you are interested: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/51-chevy-3100-project.672888/page-3 Also a pic of the modified cross member: I'm not familiar with the 210 cross member so don't know if something similar can be done in your case.
When I did mine on my 50 fleetline . I cut out the original cross member and built a new one out of rectangular metal with a riser and used a stock S-10 rear trans mount the metal was almost free as I got a local fabrication welder that lets me dig through his off cuts. but a stick of metal is cheap and I think the mount was 12 bucks. similar to the pic posted I bolted it to the sides of the frame rails like the pic above .
I cut the center out of the original, welded flanges on both sides so it could be bolted back in. Welded a tab to hold the T5 trans mount.
Shagged from the net this is a stock 54 sedan crossmember. The cut the center out and fab up your own center section that holds the rear mount in the right spot is a pretty viable solution and the make it removable is a solid suggestion. That extra hour on making the pieces to make it removable will probably pay off greatly the first time you need to pull the trans for any reason.
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