Heres the low down. I got some long tubes from this guy I work with about a year ago. He TOLD me that they were hookers, and they were made for 3rd gen camaros. 1 7/8" primaries, which would have been overkill, but thats besides the point. Well, he said I might have to notch the engine cradle a little. Well before I knew it, I took out a pretty big chunk. I was thinkin about gettin some angle iron and weldin it into the hole to support/brace it. Im puttin in a ~400hp 383, so I wanna make sure itll hold up. It doesnt have to be rock solid, but good enough not to twist. Heres a link to a pic I took this afternoon. (kinda big file too, sorry )



What cha thinik?

BTW: They werent made for a 3rd gen camaro, they were for a 2nd gen . Hence why I had to take out so much.

 

bumpity bump bump, anyone think it can be fixed?

 

Well it depends on your fabrication skills. Anything is possible. If your good.
Personally I would have set the motor in there with the headers attached to that side and attempt to get a mock up and take as little off as possible even if you had to do it 3 or 4 times.

rob

 

Actually, thats what I did. i guess I never stepped back to look at how much I actually took off.

 

Hope you got a mig welder and a pile of scrap. Did Sam the butcher do this, or Alice? Get some sheet metal about the same thickness as the k-member, and be prepared to improvise. Good luck and via con dios!!

 

#1 get some .125 metal and "box" in where ever you cut. Make a new plate for each cut and weld that plate to the bottom piece of the cross member now showing. Boxing it will strengthen it.
#2 If you can't weld with any kind of "decent penetration" or "skill" , disregard #1! You will only make a weak link weaker.

 

Exactly what he said

 

you can box it it in with sheet metal or just give in to the tubular setup and shave some weight at the same time.