Transmission Crossmember Insulator Flubber

[Dan Szwarc]

Base PN 6a037 and 6a038

I’m guessing the first four digits are C6VY and I doubt there are any NOS left around after 50 years.

[frasern]

I think these were from my '63.

They are soft rubber, the shells are crimped together on the bracket, so they are not easily seperated.

[Lee]

Very clever! Have you managed to give the car a road test, to see how they feel?

Tony, I really couldn't hear or feel any difference, it drives fine. The only stress on them should be whatever rotational torque the motor mounts don't restrict. As far as I know, the tailshaft has no natural inclination to move left/right or up/down under acceleration.

That reminds me of something I can laugh about now, but sure wasn't funny when it happened: I was probably all of 19, and I'd just dropped the latest of a long line of hot rodded small blocks into the Cougar. So my brother and I thought it might be fun to drive up to Woodward and see if we could get in some trouble. We didn't, but the next day, after sleeping in the car, we decided to cross the border, and see if we could find and tour the Windsor engine plant.

Anyway, the headers on this thing hung really low, and I'd already cut a coil or two out of the front springs. So the next day we were driving along the Ontario side of the river when I managed to miss a turn, and while making a course adjustment, I dropped into the granddaddy of all pot holes. And then I heard a horrible thrashing of metal. The fan had gone about an inch deep into the radiator. I had forgotten to tighten the nuts on the transmission mount! When the headers hit the pavement, it pushed the tailshaft up to the top of the tunnel...and there we were 200 miles from home, dead car, and not even a hundred dollars between us.

The story did (eventually) have a happy ending, due to a Canadian family who were far more kind and generous than they had any right to be. They even had a friend who operated a nearby junkyard (and even opened it special on a Sunday!), and that's how I returned with a cross flow big block radiator and some very funny looking pieced-together radiator hoses to make it all work.

[TonyC]

Nice story! At least you got help when you needed help.

Good that the new pillows seem as firm as they're meant to be, and no side-effects.

---Tony