I must have misplaced the bolts and nuts to attached the transmission cross member to the frame. I am going to keep looking. What is the correct color for the top plates that keep the member from moving (it holds the rubber insulator in place). What is the correct size and length of the bolts? Are they flange head? With any luck, the rear, driveshaft and tranny will be done in the next two weeks. Len
The bolts are 3/8-16 not flange headed and am pretty sure they are 1 1/4 inch in length. Don't have any handy to measure at the moment, but someone else may know for sure. Nuts are used only, no lock washers. Now for the great debate, should they be pointed up or down. My Stage 1 has never had the trans removed and the bolts point down with the nuts on the bottom. Some say the reverse, guess it depends on when and who built the car. The upper brackets should be a natural color as they were not painted. NOS ones I have bought appeared almost silver, but who know if that is correct. They are not cast, so gray would not be correct. Some sort of a natural steel color would be OK. Hope this helps, Mark
On my 72 Stage 1 conv. the nuts are on the top side with no lock washer. The bolts are just a plain hex head and were probably black oxide originally. I can't get a measurement on them, but the bolt sticks out past the nut about 3/8". The nos brackets I have appear to be bare steel. I'm not sure if the originals were bare or had some kind of a coating on them.
Guys; Thanks for the input. I'm sure I'll find them when I get the new ones. I sandblasted them and painted the brackets black, to match the cross member. It will be hard to see them after the body is back on (how many points will it cost me????). Len
Len, You shouldn't have told me that. :shock: I judge concours with Duane. :jd: It will cost you. :ball: Am kidding, not a major issue unless we get several VERY perfect cars. Mark
Mark; I am going for really nice, not perfect. But, I can repaint them silver, I have aluminum cast, natural cast and galvanized paints, which one would be the closest to correct? Len
Len, I was only kidding. We would have to have some really perfect cars to start taking points off for wrong color crossmember brackets. Ideally, you would want them natural color. Wire brush all the rust off and coat them with clear if they are not too badly rusted/pitted. If not, my opinion (don't know if Duane would agree) would be to paint them some type of silver/aluminum that would give it the appearance of steel. Also any type of cast metal gray would work too. Last year we didn't get too crazy on stuff like that. Clean and painted should be ok. Duane can correct me if I am mistaken. Mark
Mark; I painted the brackets a nice silver (its actually a galvanized paint), looks pretty nice. Now I need to know what the correct color for my bellhousing. It looks like the aluminum was painted orange; but there is also a green paint. I am not sure which came first, there is more orange than green. Thanks. Len PS, I did find the bolts and nuts for the cross member brace, and my notes. The bolts went up through the frame with the nuts on top.
Len, Not too sure what the story is with the 4 speed trans. To my knowledge, all should be natural and no paint. Automatics are unpainted and aluminum in color. There may be some dabs of paint, but nothing completely painted. Automatics will have the code of the trans painted on the passenger side of the bell housing in green. Don't know why your bell housing is painted orange. Someone may have done this years ago if the trans was removed. Duane may be able to shed some light on this, or pehaps someone else with a 4 speed has some info. Mark
Mark; It looks like someone painted it sometime or another. The paint comes off pretty easily, I was going to clean the aluminum up and recoat it. Len
Len, Keep on going, you're doing fine. I have seen some original crossmember brackets that had a gray phosphate coating on them, so a bare steel type paint color would be fine. Duane
Duane; Thanks for the input. Any points off for using the gold colored finished bolts and nuts instead of black? The grade 8 bolts in black are flange heads (at my favorite hardware store) or gold colored hex heads, 3/8"-16 x 1" long is what came off. Also, I am going to clean the bellhousing; should I paint it the aluminum cast or leave it natural aluminum? Finally, where is the part number for the driveshaft located? I have to add the purple strip on mine. I believe the outline for the strip is visible after I cleaned (polished) the driveshaft. The strip appears to be about 1" wide at approximately 21" from the end. Len
Len, I would use the non-flange head bolts and paint them black. If you leave them cad they will stick out like a sore thumb and the judges will see they are incorrect. Do what you want with the bellhousing, as far as aluminum cast or leaving it natural aluminum, but if you are going to paint it, make sure it is not too shiny. Some of the aluminum paints are way too bright. I have used argent silver paint on some of my pieces, it looks pretty much like bare aluminum. The driveshaft stripes varied from car to car, you can either look at your assembly manual or follow what was on the car. Duane
Duane; I'll try to find the black ones (the gold ones look so nice and shiny). I cleaned the paint off the bellhousing and it looks nice el-natural. Len
