302 and AOD corssmember question
 

Anyone have a 302 and AOD combo in the rig? If so, did you reuse the factory crossmember? I don't want to spend hours degreasing 60 yrs worth of road crud if it has to be removed and replaced with something else.

I installed a 302/AOD in my 49 last summer but will be replacing the bad AOD with a C4 this year. I made my own crossmember. There's no way to use the original short of cutting it out, making modifications, and moving it rearward. To me it was easier to make my own.

These pictures aren't very good but maybe you can get an idea from them. My 302 has a two inch offset because of the Volare suspension...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=239499&.jpg

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=239500&.jpg

If you cut it out, you have to decide whether or not you need to leave a part of it for the master cylinder if you plan on running stock brakes. I noticed a couple of very good looking tubular crossmembers in the chassis engineering catalog a few days ago. One of which has a bracket for the master cylinder (but I'm not sure how good that would work with your combo because, as Vern said, you have to move it back. I'm talking about the Chassis Engineering that is in Iowa (there's another company back east that has the same name).

I used a tubular cross member from TCI and mounted my master cylinder in the engine compartment. They also make brackets to mount the master cylinder under the truck.