1964 Galaxie Former Drag Car

Recently I purchased a 64 Galaxie with a 460/C6, that was a former drag car out of Vegas. I really have no idea of it's long term history, but it is a tubbed and spooled car with all the driveline hoops and whatnot you would expect in a car that had been used on the track. It has been civilized to a point, and is back on the street.

However, when changing the oil this weekend, I noticed the crossmember under the motor had been sliced cleanly through. This is the crossmember that the motor mounts attach to. At first I thought it was broken, but the slice is too clean and straight. From the front of the car looking rearward, the slice is at about the 5 o'clock position, before the crossmember make the 'U' under the oilpan.

Is this some sort of super secret mod for drag racing? I cannot for the life of my figure out why someone would do that. I have come up with a couple ideas just how to fix it, but I was wondering if any of you had seen something like this. I am new to the whole thing.

I believe I have seen that car on the internet some where before. That is a good looking Galaxie

Without seeing a picture of it, we can only guess why it was cut. Maybe clearance for a different set of headers??

Does the crossmember have a single slice through it that could be easily welded back together? Or is a section of the crossmember missing?

I'm kinda surprised it doesn't have a roll bar or roll cage since it was a tubbed drag car.

69F100 wrote:I believe I have seen that car on the internet some where before. That is a good looking Galaxie

It is on Youtube, surch for 64 pro street Galaxie, by Roger Lon... he is the guy who brought it back to the street.

Here is the offending crossmember



It did have a cage at one time, I found where it was cut out.

The headers are Crites Performance units, and made for the galaxie with the 460. They don't clear by much, but they do clear. I just had the tranny pulled, and the guy was not happy, there is no room in there. This car has some serious issues, the first I found was this:

WLD_OTZ wrote:

69F100 wrote:I believe I have seen that car on the internet some where before. That is a good looking Galaxie

It is on Youtube, surch for 64 pro street Galaxie, by Roger Lon... he is the guy who brought it back to the street.

Here is the offending crossmember



It did have a cage at one time, I found where it was cut out.

The headers are Crites Performance units, and made for the galaxie with the 460. They don't clear by much, but they do clear. I just had the tranny pulled, and the guy was not happy, there is no room in there. This car has some serious issues, the first I found was this:

It for sure isn't running right with the rocker arms off of the pushrods!!! It looks like it has that old Crane Adjustable rocker arm conversion kit on it,i never did care for that conversion when I used it!!

I'm just guessing here, but it looks like perhaps the crossmember was sliced in order for them to get more curvature for oil pan clearance.

Maybe they were originally going to make the crossmember removable, they sliced one side, and then decided it was going to be too much work to make it removable and stopped.

What rear suspension does it have (factory, or ladder bar, or 4-link, or ???).

If they put in bigger wheel tubs to fit bigger tires (but didn't cut-narrow the frame as well), the removal of the roll bar/roll cage might make the frame/chassis flex a bit more (and you can only go so fast at the track without a bar/cage).

But if it was actually a cut-narrowed rear frame/back half deal they cut out the bar/cage then it might flex a bunch more depending on how the frame was narrowed.

It also looks to me that they had second thoughts about cutting the crossmember. I would just weld it back up, there is plenty of room without hacking it up.

It also looks like the front header tubes are gently rubbing on the tie rod end. Could be a nice car with a bit of work.

It turns out that appears to be factory... as in, the cross member is made in three pieces, then machine welded and sanded smooth. There is the evidence on the opposite side. I took it to a shop, and they put it on a lift, raised the center of the crossmember, and it eased almost together, about 1/16" equal gap all the way around. Using pretty good heat, the welder started tacking it together, going all the way around. That drew the sides very close together, and he ran a triple bead around the whole thing. getting good penetration.

From the looks of it, the original machine weld just didn't have good penetration.

Warranty?

rmk57 wrote:
It also looks like the front header tubes are gently rubbing on the tie rod end. Could be a nice car with a bit of work.

No rub, just bad camera angle, and some spilled oil on the headers.

Thank you! I do love this car, the stance, and the bits and pieces, but it is rather uncivilized. Slowly but surely I am bringing her back. I finally got the lock rods and new locks installed so I can actually lock the doors, and remade my bulging inner door panels. I need to pull the interior and add some sound deadening under the carpet and fix little things. I don't want a fully restored beauty, but I like nice, and I hate making excuses for why something ins't right.

that a nice galaxie, very beautiful car. i’m working on 63 1/2 an hope it looks that good when sitting in front of me.