Looking underneath my car, here are two pics of the transmission crossmember:

http://www.C3VR.com/member_uploads/4601_4700/4691/crossmembe r2.jpg 

http://www.C3VR.com/member_uploads/4601_4700/4691/crossmembe r1.jpg 

My car is a 4-speed, but this looks like a bolt-on crossmember. Am I correct? So along with fibbing about the condition of the engine, has he now also lied about the orginal transmission? The frustration is now starting to set in...

jgoglick38893.7512384259

 It depends on the year. I understand toward the end of the C-3's that all were bolt in crossmembers. I think it was in the 80's. Someone else maybe able to nail it down to exact year.Kiltime38893.7828935185

A 1971 4spd car would have been a welded cross member. If you're going to go 5spd this will make the job much easier.   Ray

I have a '73 that had a TH400 auto tranny and the pictures above look exactly like my old stock crossmember. It bolted just as shown in the pictures (2 bolts underneath and 1 long bolt crossways).

 

Thanks guys! I'm more mad about this than I am about dropping the valve! Oh well, I knew it wasn't completely original when I got it (the batwing differential), so I'm not losing any sleep over it. Actually, I'm glad I can drop the crossmember - can't complain about making it easier to take the trans out . So now that my is not a numbers matching car for sure, I've got to decide if I want to even have the original engine shipped down here. I'll puzzle on that for a little bit while I shell out megabucks for the engine, new radiator, trans rebuild, etc...

When I had to replace the chassis in my 73, I looked for an auto frame. Glad I used it the tremec 5spd would have been a PIA to put in. 

I am converting mine to a bolted in cross member to make it easier to install a 5 spd.

its possible but not likely that your guy did the same at some point..

ie converted the cross to make it easier to work on

 

 

cthulhu38894.5590856482

Ben - that might be a possibility. The car did have the body off in the 80's, so maybe the original owner cut out the welded in cross memebr and put in the current bolt in one and didn't mention it to the guy I bought it from. I'm learning quickly that working on these old cars is like walking into a forest for the first time - not sure what the heck you're going to find .

 You maybe able to retrieve the vin number off the frame to verify. It is located on top of the frame bythe left rear wheel.

[QUOTE=Kiltime] You maybe able to retrieve the vin number off the frame to verify. It is located on top of the frame bythe left rear wheel.[/QUOTE]

thats not going to tell him if the car originally had a MT or AT though..

in theory if your engine VIN matched your body/frame VIN then you could use engine codes to determine the type of trans it had originally.  This of course assumes that the transmission VIN doesnt match the car.