Dud: Jeg's 2004R Crossmember

[ssn696]

So I am sitting here calculating in my head the cost tradeoff. The less-common steel sizes are two hours away in Albuquerque. 3/8" stock - buy it and find a shop that will form it. Design, cut, weld. Cost?
Hold a match to my credit card and the damned thing shows up at my door in about 4 days. $269.
I lose the satisfaction of solving it myself. I get the crossmember off the brick and wagon off the driveway, making my wife happier. If it fits, I'm done and move on to the next problem.
Such are the internal battles of a guy who is still passionate about Malibus, but has a totally different life now. Sigh.

 

[Longroof79]

I agree with you gents. I bought a G Force unit, and after seeing it in person, I decided to build my own with some modifications for my particular application. I went a step further and fabricated a two piece driveshaft loop and welded it to the crossmember as well. The loop is just barely visible through the floor in the last pic.
]

Nicely constructed cross member. Quality level of work overall...thanks for sharing the detailed pics.

 

[Longroof79]

I agree that I could make that as well. Shipping that much steel is also silly. Jack, from your signature line and your story, that crossmember is meant for a TH400/200-4R. How would your conscience feel about tracing out a pattern from your crossmember and sharing it with the Forum? From the picture, I will guess that the (taller) passenger side arch is on the left. I bet there is no more $60 of steel in there. $60 in steel, $60 in design (amortized over X products), and $60 in labor, $80 profit split between the manufacturer and Summit...

Quinn,
Yes indeed, the cross member is for a 200-4R/ TH400 transmission(s). If I'm not mistaken, the taller hoop, or arch is for the passenger side, the shorter one for the driver side.
From what I can see, there's more clearance on the right side floor panel due to the stock single exhaust/ CAT combo.

How would I go about doing a tracing of my cross member? I don't mind doing it. I can provide dimensions, if that will help any.

 

[ssn696]

So I pulled the Jeg's crossmember out and am sketching out the bolt locations in three dimensions. Looking at this thing, I think I can cut it off at the driver's side tube and fab a new, shorter arch from 1/8" plate. Also, the bolt centers on the driver's side are moved back 13-1/2" from the TH350 OEM location (this is why you need the frame extension). I think I can just fab a new driver's end from heavy angle iron and a piece of 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" tube and just skip the frame extension. Watch this space.

 

[ssn696]

Before I hack into this thing, I decided to check the body bushings. For all you folks who have accepted the challenge to repair your frame or, like EME-mack, completely refabricate your lower body (Sorry!), consider buying (and spending three days towing home) an $800 to $2000 survivor from the Southwest. I unbolted 9 of 10 body bolts on my 80 Malibu wagon. I couldn't unbolt the passenger #6 bushing bolt because it appears that it left town ages ago. I took the rocker chrome off. Tomorrow I will try to lift the body and see what I can see. No gloating, I know I'll need to retap at least three of those body plates...

47 steps backwards, 48 steps forwards....

 

[ssn696]

I realize that if I am going to lift the body to do the bushings, when the chassis is unloaded, my brick won't hold the transmission. So I fabbed the frame extension for the Jeg's crossmember from the piece of 1" x 2" square stock I picked up a few weeks ago. Now I can bolt the thing on UNDER the extension and it will hold the transmission up for now. Not elegant, but now I can also move the car to a better position and hand over my wife's parking space that disappeared two months ago...

😉

 

[G-Body_Vet]

I must have been extremely lucky since all of my body mounts came apart without breaking. But anyway, +1 for another G-Force.

 

[DRIVEN]

I just put a Gforce in mine a few weeks ago. Fit great. I did have to relocate my cat a couple inches though. Probably not a problem if you don't have that concern. It was hard to swallow the price since I'm like you guys and feel like I could do it just as well for cheaper. But in the end, time was an issue so I just bought one. Glad I did. It's a nice piece.

 

[Silent viewer]

the way I run all of my go body exhaust is with shorty headers and I wrap the drivers side pipe under the oil pan, allot like the Camaros, and run both pipes side by side down the factory single pipe routing and then it follows standard g body dual exhaust routing. I have done research on using the shorties vs long tube headers and from everything I have read you will loose like 2-3 hp at most. going this route means you can use your stock cross member which will save you a couple hundred+ and if you like a low car, it keeps your exhaust completely tucked up

 

[ssn696]

About 10 years ago I picked up a bunch of 3" pipe and bends from JC Whitney, and plotted out a single big pipe Y'd from shorties, a cat, and a 3" muffler in the stock location with a single 3" tailpipe behind the right rear wheel. Then I moved out of emissions land and opted for the Jegs dual-exhaust kit.