shortbed454 Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 this is probably a real dumb question but i thought i would ask. could i take the crossmember out of a small chevy car with a v8 and put it in z car so i wouldnt have to worry about custom mounts. i was looking at some of the ford swaps and i seen someone puting in a custom crossmember and i just had a brain storm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators BRAAP Posted October 15, 2005 Administrators Share Posted October 15, 2005 Trying to get a Chevy Cross member under the Datsun and attach some sort of suspension and steering system to it could easily be WAY more effort, time, and dollar$ than just fabbing up your own custom cross member from scratch using the Datsun suspension and steering components. Using the Chevy cross member makes no sense from a time, design, engineering, and financial standpoint. The Datsun cross member works pretty darn well, already has provision for the lower control arm, is lightweight, already holds the steering rack, everything is all there and it works really well for 98% of the Chevy V-8 Z conversions. The only mod needed to the stock Datsun cross member is the two motor mount holes need to be slightly enlarged for the Chevy motor mount, that’s it. Takes only 30 seconds with a drill motor. Then to get the engine into the engine bay of the Z car, either purchase the JTR mount brackets from JTR directly or fab them up yourself using the “plans†in the JTR Conversion manual. These brackets are really fairly simple and don’t require much of any mental thought. It has been my experience that the only time when the stock Datsun cross member doesn’t work for a V-8 conversion is when the conversion is going to be a truly wild swap with the engine in a totally different location, completely different steering system being utilized, completely different suspension system being utilized, etc. At that point, the front end may as well be tube framed at least from the firewall forward if not the complete car to meet the needs of that particular project. Good luck and keep us up to date on what your project will be and its progress, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getZ Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 I assume you were talking about the tranmission cross member and not the engine cross member. Not sure using a chevy cross member is any easier. I'm not so sure it will fit the width and the height will more than likely need to be readjusted to get the drive line angle right anyway. My cross member will be a straight stock of 3/8 steel across the bottom with a center section welded on it to raise the end of the trans. Pretty simple and cheap, of course this means the exhaust will run above the cross member as well. When you are sorting out your cross member, the type of exhaust is a considerationl since most people tuck the exhaust down the center. I remember you said you were thinking about running a big block. Do you want to run dual 3 inch exhaust? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortbed454 Posted October 16, 2005 Author Share Posted October 16, 2005 it was just a thought to toss out there didnt think it was a reall good idea but just something to ponder. no i think im goig to go 2 1/2 because i have a set of flowmaster 40 series on the shelf. andpluss i cant bend anything over 2 1/2 with my bender. i tryed but it just crushed the tubing(oops). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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