If you have ever heard a dual exhaust system without a cross over tube, that is reason enough to run out to your car to install one. For some reason that simple piece of tubing makes the sound soooo much better That is the main reason I decided to install one on my '64 Galaxie. The sound without the tube just does not sound right to me. The tube would have to bolt in because if I ever wanted to pull the tranny out the tube would be right in the way. An added plus of a bolt in installation was that removing the tube would instantly un-cap the exhaust if I ever wanted to.
A quick visual showed me that there was only one place that the tube could go with the header collector on one side, and the parking brake mechanism on the other side as well as the tranny crossmember. The tube would go right smack in the middle, and would interfere with the transmission itself. A straight pipe would be out of the question, so the tube would have to have a bend in it to clear the bottom of the tranny. The transmission in this car is a Borg Warner Super T-10 with a custom cross member, so a stock Galaxie would no doubt be different.
Here is a shot from the bottom, the tranny has been removed, and the cross over tube will go about 6" from the header collector:
A mark is made in the center of the tube, and a 3/16" pilot hole is drilled:
The cross over tube would be 2 1/2", so a 2 1/4" hole is made with a hole saw:
Four 2 1/2" header collector reducers are needed to make the tube bolt in, as well as four collector rings. These are the reducers and rings that come with a set of headers, but are available separately at auto parts stores:
Two of them will need to be notched for welding to the 3" exhaust pipe. The easiest way to do this is to mark the area to be cut with a Sharpie, and cut it out with a pair of tin snips. A little trial and error produces nice results:
The notched pieces are welded in place:
The two other collector reducers are bolted to the reducers on the exhaust pipe. A piece of 2 1/2" exhaust tube is slightly bent to clear the tranny, and the ends are angle cut to fit against the two straight pieces. There is no way three bends could be made in the tube to make the cross over fit:
After welding, we now have a bolt in piece that clears the transmission nicely:
A couple of copper collector gaskets will keep it leak free:
The assembled cross over pipe clears everything:
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