i was working on my 88 iroc and was looking at the trany cross member it sure looks like a chep part has anyone ever had trouble with it or does it need to be beeft up ???? it just looks real chep an weak to me

 

I don't know of any one having trouble with it. The only time people usualy change them is for a different tranny (ie Th300, T56) or to move the tourque arm mount off the tranny and onto the crossmember. Not sure about on 88 but on my 91 the tranny crossmember is actually one of the thickest material parts there is on the car.

 

An auto tranny guy that i exchanged some parts from who builds these cars from saving junkers had a real beefy 700R4 put in behind a mild built 305. Hard fast shift, and lots of power delivery, he claimed to have replaced them twice? That was just hearsay, i cant confirm that, i agree they look cheap, but so does everything else on this car.

From a more trusted source, if you have no rust issues and all bolts are strong, and you put some serious torque to the wheels, first your axles will give you probs, then the torque arm, then the tranny mount, then the tranny, and maybe after that the cross member.

But i dont think its anything to worry about, its main job is to support the weight of the tranny, the passenger side bolts take the beating of the torque and the torque arm takes the bulk of the beating.