.....gently massaging the trans tunnel.
Nothing gentle about it, I'm pretty beat from laying on my back underneath the car swinging that big hammer. There was quite a bit of clearancing needed, I probably had the trans in and out about 15 times before I had the clearance I needed. The trans jack made this difficult job much easier to take on.
Driver's side, checking where to start hammering.
Driver's side, after a lot of hammering sessions. Note how much higher the trans now tucks up into the tunnel. There are spots where there is less than 1/4 inch of clearance, both in the areas I clearanced up front and further back over the top of the trans where I didn't need to do any work.
Passenger side before any tunnel mods, the trans cooler line fittings will come close by the time I get further into this. The 90-degree fittings were and absolute must.
Passenger side again, after the onslaught. Note again how much higher the trans tucks into the tunnel. I also ended up hammering for clearance above the cooler fittings and took the corner off the top one with a file.
Banged in the floor pan by about an inch to make clearance here, I'll have to do some patching to repair the thin rusted metal that cracked.
A look inside on the passenger side, I drew a line with a black Sharpie to better show the area that was modified.
Driver's side, more work was needed on this side due to the less open shape of the tunnel.
It was more work than I had expected, but the trans sits up nice and high where it belongs and my modified stock crossmember will work perfectly.
Profile shot, plenty of ground clearance.
Passenger side head clearance to firewall with the trans in place. In order to mate the trans up to the engine I have to let the engine tilt back on the mounts until the bolt on the back of the head comes to within about 1/4" to 3/8" of the firewall.
Driver's side head to firewall clearance.
Looks like there's plenty of room for the trans dipstick tube I still need to buy.
Fitted up the passenger side header from underneath the car. I had to remove my temporary engine support crossmember to get it in there, still a tight squeeze. I also found that I'll need to install my new lower control arms before the headers go in, there's no way to remove the rear control arm bolt with the header in place at least on this side. I made a quick attempt at putting in the driver's side header, but it looks like the steering shaft needs to come out first (this is mentioned in the brief installation instructions from Edelbrock).
I accomplished one of the bigger tasks this weekend, the trans now fits and my crossmember modification won't need anymore tweaks. After I get the crossmember welded I'll fabricate a couple of 3/16" thick reinforcement plates to bolt underneath the tips where the crossmember attaches to the frame.
Happy Father's Day!
