I was searching for an article I read here awhile back and could not find it. So I will ask if anyone remebers. I am working on a 49 and remeber reading that the F-2 trans crossmember would work on a C6 trans with little work. Is that correct? I have a F-2 I am parting out and thought if correct I would pull the trans crossmember. Also someone posted pictures of a beefy trans crossmember they built at home. Does anyone rember who that was?

 

The "wide open" nature of the F-2 crossmember and the fact that the frame rails between the F-1 and F-2 are the same dimensions does make it an attractive swap for running a bulkier transmission. It can be installed without a bunch of fab work and it is of a proper design to maintain the structural integrity of the frame. It attaches to both the top and bottom of the frame and keeps the frame rails from twisting. The catch is the master cylinder. The F-1 ran a smaller master cylinder than all the other Ford trucks. The bolt pattern and pushrod hole in the frame is smaller also. If you intend to run a stock master cylinder or use any standard adpter kit for power brakes or a later model master cylinder, you'll have to do some rework to get it to bolt up.

 

I'm not sure if it was a C6 trnasmission or an overdrive transmission you were remembering.

Honestly, with a C6 in my F1 and knowing how it sits and where it sits, I can't imagine that the F2 crossmember could be that significanlty different as to allow a C6 to fit without being cut. That C6 is pretty "Girthy."

But, I could be wrong.

Here's three pictures of my C6 in the F1. You can see what's left of the transmission crossmember and the Master Cylinder. Note the depth of the new transmission support crossmember:

 

jeff,

you're probably thinkin of Julie's... but here's one I did on a '53

Building A New transmission Cross Member For A 1953 - 1956 F100 .: Articles


C-6 behind a 460

john

 

Definitely worth saving it, if it is the super-scooped out style for the big 4-sp crashbox. It has enough room to clear almost any trans. It is not a trivial amount of work to bust all those rivets!!

I can't find it with Search, but someone on here made an absolutely gorgeous modification to their F-1 crossmember without removing it; it was super-stout, maintained the C-section but put the mount for a T-5 further back and opened up enough room for clearance. I suspect that is the one the OP is referring to?

 

Hmmm I must have missed that one - it would definately have been worth saving for future reference!

Edit Note: I searched through a couple pages of threads - back to 2007 -to see if I could find it. But, frankly I'm not sure what I was looking for.

Here's what I found-an article that John had posted earlier:

Building A New transmission Cross Member For A 1953 - 1956 F100 .: Articles

 

Ross,

Thank you I am not losing my mind. I remeber talk about what a nice fab job they did and still kept it tied on top and bottom of rails. Hopefully some one will have the link. I knew I should have saved it.

 

I hope so too - I'd really like to see it as well.

But finding anything here that folks havn't saved to favorites is almost impossible with the search capabilities [or lack thereof] the site currently has.

 

This was bugging me, so I dug back thru Search again. Here are some good crossmembers, not the specific one I was thinking of (I think the one I was looking for is in this thread, tho):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...-puzzle-7.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...5-install.html

HD74 and 51Ford fan did it right, very stout.

 

I saved the pictures but not the link. Genius was Finnflat.

 

That's it, all right! Thanks MT!

 

that looks awesome. Now how did he do that?

 

Now thats beautifull! I love to see pride and craftsmanship brought to the board like that! I don't know that I would have re sculpted the crossmember like that but it is great workmanship and strong as hell! Who was the builder? I have several C6 transmissions and one of them will be living in my 50 by the end of next year if all goes well.

 

Here's the whole thread where those pics were posted. Lots of good ideas there:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ossmember.html

 

It kind of looks like the trans mount is layed in sideways? Great idea if it is.