Seem to me, the last 70 hardtop Cutlass I had, I was able to remove the tranny cross-member. Looking at the 72 'vert, I don't see enough room in the frame to do it. Does the body have to be removed to get it out?
thanks,
Doug

 

No

 

X2 to above. You can remove the crossmember on a 72 vert with the body on frame.

 

You don't need to remove the body to replace the trans, so yes, the crossmember comes out just fine from the bottom. Slide one end forward and one end back until there's enough clearance to remove it. You need to jack the trans up until it hits the floorboard to provide more clearance, and you will likely need to remove the rear trans mount from the trans first.

 

Thanks guys!, ya'll are a wealth of info. I'll look at it again today.

 

After some delay, I got time to get the x-member out today. The 'vert x-member is a lot wider than the coupes. It was 'a bit fiddly' as EddC would say, but the end result is all that matters. Thx again.

 

The convertible crossmember is NARROWER than the one on cars with open channel frames. The boxed convertible frame puts the crossmember mounting points closer to the center of the car.

FYI, the convertible crossmember is about 47.5" from hole-to-hole. The hardtop crossmember is about 53.6".

 

Didn't know that....it looks like the mounting points to frame rails are wider than the coupe ones. I assumed they were the same overall width...oh well!

 

Depends on if you are talking about width between bolts or passenger side to driver side.

 

Pretty sure 47" doesn't apply to the distance between the bolts holes on one end only...

 

It's all good, we're all learning. I'm sure i have other questions in near future.
Doug

 

This is the width I thought he was referring to.