OD cross member bolts.

Okay, so yesterday I spent the day hooking up an OD in my 69GT. Got everything mounted in and hooked up and went to put the cross member back in place. The 4 bolts that attach the cross member to the tranny are difficult at best on a regular trany, but holy $#%&& are they a bear on a OD. The rear 2 bolts are inaccessible due to the OD unit. Right now I have only the 2 forward bolts tightened and unless one of you guys have a magic formula thats what I'll be going with.

Brian, I have never worked on OD transmission mounts but I can say from personal experience that you should use all the bolts not just the front two. Those two transmission mounts are essentially engine mounts too and you really don't want stuff flopping around. It's a good way to destroy u-joints and probably loads the mainshaft bearings in ways that they shouldn't be.

Is there any way you can tilt the rear of the transmission down so that you have better access to the bolts or would that be a waste of time?

Take the X member back down and slot two of the openings fully to the outside edge, one on each side left and right, in the mounting plates. You can then start those two bolts into the transmission and then slip the member back up into position and start the other two with only a huge difficulty factor ( LOL ). Once all are started you can get to them with an open end wrench and/or a thin wall 1/4" drive flex socket.

Oh yea, it does help if you use NEW mounts.

Have a small flex magnet at hand. You will need it when you get one or two of these things back in and then drop the last one down into the crossmember abyss. LOL

How in the heck they put these things together quickly at the factor escapes me!

Jack

I have a set of these short wrenches and they were a great help when doing my x-member refit.



Here is a journal entry for my non-O/D experience: http://www.mgexperience.net/journal/fleshy1/1572

HTH! Try not to cuss too much since the neighbors might hear :P

Damn thats funny, I've already dropped 2 bolts in the cross member. Put new bushings and hardware on. I did drop the crossmember and try that approach but my openings are not slotted, round so theres no room for that. It did allow me to line up the front better though. I'm thinking of just tapping a bolt in so I only need to put a nut on, which would be marginally easier. I've been workin these cars along time and you always expect a tight, ridiculous position but this one is crazy. I've even considered drilling access holes in the cross member to allow a socket in there. I have an extra I think I'll attempt that tonight.

Those tools look awful shiney Eric, no way to get wrench in there, has to be a socket on an extender. Had to go to a 1/4 drive as the 3/8 wouldn't fit (that tight). No wonder they did'nt put OD on more cars, added 15 hours to production costs :)

There is a better description of this somewhere - but basically, you slot the holes in the crossmember where the studs from the mounts go into the X-member - then cut a hole in the bottom of the X-member IN-LINE with the stud so that you can pass a socket on an extension through the hole and tighten the nut on the stud. This way, you can tighten the mounts to the g'box before you attach the X-member.

I have done it on both cars - works like a charm!

AHHHH Yes, the light comes on! Make the slots longer. I apoligize, sometimes I'm abit slow on the take. Thanks guys. Still going to look at making access holes.

I guess I have this to look forward to when converting my 66 to overdrive?

http://www.funkster.org navigate: to Cars -> MGB GTS -> Gearbox 3

Yep - that's it!

Very helpful link, I'll start manufacturing tonight.Thanks! You know , if this forum existed when they were producing MG's we wouldn't be having all these issues.

the brits were well aware of the problems with the cars all the while they were producing them .ninety nine percent were designed for brit driving conditions
also you have consider "resistance to change" and the "not invented here
syndrome" that most us companies have also..thats the primary the original
mini was never suitable for us type driving as malex hated the us and refused to accept recommended mods/changes to make it more suitable for us market .
they never made a profit on the mini in all its years of production.
other reasons for failure of the brit car industry was "absentee" management
and highly militant unions, and numerous other causes..the us car industry
is not far behind ,probably by 2030 solely us owned company will cease to exist.

Brian, I mean to hack saw the openings back to the edge of the metal. Just make an open U out of them so that the thing can be slipped over the bolts as they sit there started in the transmission case. I know that it sounds aboriginal, but life is too short to spend it cussing under a car and it does work. Just make sure that the bolts have both lock AND flat washers on them. When you cinch them up tight all of the loads will be borne by the washers and mount metal and any forward shifting loading will be caught by the other two bolts and of course either the limiter rod or limiter angle bars, whichever your car has in the first place.

Jack

I drilled access holes for the socket to go thru. It worked great. I did that out of frustration back in 2002.