Dropping the trans

[Sledge]

RWillia4: thank you for the info, I appreciate the help!

Tony and Jay:

I cut the flange off, and unbolted the sidepipes from the headers. I tried dropping the rear of the engine/trans, using the engine mounts as the pivot, but it didn't tip down anywhere near far enough to let me pull the trans off.

The headers on my BDR extend towards the body such that even if I could move the engine forward, I would only be able to move it about an inch. Otherwise I'd have to remove the headers too, which is a real b____h.

So, now I'm thinking of cutting out the crossmember just aft of the trans, that is a bolted-in arrangement on the newer cars. That will give me the room I need to pull the trans out.

Then I was going to get some channel steel, drill holes through the channel and cross-member stubs, and bolt in the channel steel to replace the cut-out section of the cross-member.

Tony or Jay, is this cross-member critical to leave as is, or can I safely perform the above surgery? This cross-member is only a foot or so forward of the rear chassis cross-member, so while I'm sure it won't improve chassis strength, I'm not sure it will degrade it that much either. On the other hand, mounted to the top of this cross-member, outboard of the tunnel area on each side, are round tubes that extend up through the floor into the cabin area. What is/are the function of these tubes?

Jay/Tony/Reg: your advice please

Thanks again for helping me out!