I have a 69 buick special race car. I am in the process of installng the engene. I cant get the headers to clear the tranny crossmember anybody have any good tricks to get them to clear. Thanks in advance Glen
Glen: You're not alone in having fitment issues with the collectors and the trans crossmember. On the last couple cars, I made up a custom CM crossmember with the right bends to clear the collectors and follow the floorline and still bolt to the frame in the stock location with the rubber isolators. The end result was a significantly lighter crossmember and lots of room to work around the collector bolts. Always wondered why the collectors were made so close to the crossmember. Depending on which headers (S1 or S2) the ends of the collectors can end up right in the center of the crossmember. If they were made a few inches short of the T350 auto trans or manual trans crossmembers location there would be no problems even with the T400 length, as it sits even further rearward. I wish I had an easy answer to your question, short of making a custom CM crossmember you'll be battling that inteference. For what its worth, the CM tubing bends very nice with an exhaust tubing bender, so if you know somebody at a local muffler shop maybe they can bend it for you and if you can weld they aren't hard to fab up. I think I may still have the template I used for the last two I made up if that helps you. I'm just north of you a couple hours. PM me if interested.
I have had this car for a few months Its mike modinas old car ( srap iron screamer II). I still have the 70 I will probably have it forever Glen
