I did my ls2 conversion last august, I had an idea of what to expect, and with a few months of research under my belt I went for it. Got my motor and 6 speed out of a 2006 gto. I contacted BRP for the swap kit. The headers fit awesome, no issues at all. Motor mounts once again fit was perfect. And after stretching my transmission tunnel to fit the 6 speed,(not in the instructions) I was ready to install the crossmember. With everything in place I ran into a few problems. The crossmember would not clear the floor pan on the driver side. Out comes the hammer, clearance the floor pan and just barely get the crossmember in only to find that the exhaust humps are not even close to being were they need to be. At this point everything is in including the headers, I positioned the motor so that the headers cleared everything, marked the motor mounts and attached them to the car. So knowing that the engine has to be in the correct place simply because if I was to move the engine slightly any other direction the headers would hit. So I called BRP and spoke with Phil Brewer there to make sure I had the correct crossmember and not one for a car other than a 1978 Malibu. I was told that yes the crossmember I had was the correct one. I proceeded to try positioning that crossmember every which way I could in hopes that I could get it to fit. I tried under the frame rails, over top, and upside down (I knew that wasn't going to work). Side to side the width was correct, so at this point I am at a loss. the driver side header exited about 2 inches away from the center of the hump, and the passenger side about 1 inch away both in the same direction. So back on the phone with BRP, I explain everything to them and was told that the crossmember was made from specs that someone had given them and that they had not yet done an ls swap in one of those cars (which if they had they would have figured out that like the A body the transmission tunnel needed to be stretch to fit the 6 speed) Ok now im a little upset, and rightly so I have been sold a swap kit by a company that stated on their web site "At BRP we are so sure our kits will fit the first time they all come with a lifetime free replacement/repair warranty." Ladies and gentlemen this aint my first rodeo I am a full time mechanic, and have built many cars, often substituting parts from one car and making them fit another. I spoke with Phil again and told him that his crossmember simply did not fit. Considering I used everything from their kit, the crossmember should have fit their headers. I said that I had an old Chevelle dual exhaust crossmember in my parts pile and that I was going to cut and weld it to fit my car with this swap and if he wanted when I was done I would give him the measurements so he could see that indeed the piece he sent me was wrong. I packaged up his crossmember and sent it back for a refund. My crossmember came out perfect, and I awaited my refund. 2 weeks go by from the date I shipped the crossmember back, and still no refund. After trying to reach Phil 2 times I got him on the phone and asked about my refund. Phil had told me that I was going to be charged a restocking fee, because the powdercoat was scratched, and it would need to be recoated. Needless to say I did not offer the measurements of my modified A body crossmember :evil: . The whole reason I chose to do this little write up is because I was on this site and noticed that BRP is a sponsor. I clicked their link and went to the Malibu swap page. Guess what, the kit has a completely different crossmember, and although everything else they sent me fit like a glove, getting burned for a restocking fee on something they sold me that obviously didn't fit is not what I call good customer service. [-X FYI if anyone would like to see pictures of what the old crossmember looked like and how it didn't fit my car pm me I have several color photos for your viewing pleasure.
BRP Crossmember
- Thread starter tripdagoat
- Start date
That sucks, and its unfortunate, thanks for the heads up. Maybe thats why the guy over at RetroLSx left BRP!
