thats up for debate...... if you look, the part number is often the same... most people can do the swap perfectly using the old one.. i wasnt so lucky. the trans and bell i used were both for my year car (94), but for whatever reason, even after flipping the exhaust hanger plate 180º to giver me a little more room, it is still a stretch. i am running it this way right now, but some say its at the risk of a wrong pinion angle, i guess we'll see in time to come (so far 7,000 miles and no problems or noise) I also have no idea why some run into this problem and others dont, it SHOULD fit exactly the same. I would say dont bother trying to find another crossmember because chances are it will fit perfectly, and 99/100 times you will otherwise be able to make the old one work. GOOD LUCK!... its a pretty easy job considering
thats up for debate...... if you look, the part number is often the same... most people can do the swap perfectly using the old one.. i wasnt so lucky. the trans and bell i used were both for my year car (94), but for whatever reason, even after flipping the exhaust hanger plate 180º to giver me a little more room, it is still a stretch. i am running it this way right now, but some say its at the risk of a wrong pinion angle, i guess we'll see in time to come (so far 7,000 miles and no problems or noise) I also have no idea why some run into this problem and others dont, it SHOULD fit exactly the same. I would say dont bother trying to find another crossmember because chances are it will fit perfectly, and 99/100 times you will otherwise be able to make the old one work. GOOD LUCK!... its a pretty easy job considering
Wow, that's weird?? I was able to use the same crossmember and I didn't have to modify anything on the exhaust?? It all bolted upperfectly...almost too perfect.
If you can get the exhaust plate from the T5 it will make the alignment a lot easier. The T5 sits forward a little more than the AODE. The T5 exhaust plate has two sets of holes where the AODE plate has only 1. If you use the right plate with the right transmission, everything should line up perfectly. If you use the AODE plate with a T5 you might need to turn the crossmember around. I ended up drilling out a second set of holes in my AODE plate and that worked pretty well.
Here's a picture of the T5 Plate:
As you can see, everyone seems to have different results with the same mod and the same parts.
Yea that is weird. I didn't have to modify that plate at all. I just used the same aode crossmember and it all lined up perfect. It must have been my luck day....lol
when i was doing my swap, everyone said i needed a new crossmember, so i bought one from a 5spd. ill be damned if i could see a difference between the two.