I have a 70 cuda. I think it has the wrong crossmember. the steering shaft is at a steep angle where it goes into the coupling. the crossmember part number is: 23l9 1 or maybe 28l9 1. hard to tell. it also has a coin shaped tag with 12 stamped on it.

is this the right crossmember for the car? I have an other crossmember part number 2709 1. would that one work also?

Do you mean K member, not cross member. Car does not have a Borgeson steering box installed does it?

yes I mean K member and no it has the stock steering box

I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head but I do know that a Bbody K member in an Ebody will be as you described.

http://www.engine-swaps.com/Pages/ProductsType/K-Frames.html

K-FRAME seems to be the same.

Check this thread https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=6009734
A 12 coin would apparently be for an early 1970 E body 318, 340 or 383.

Yours could be bent or have the wrong coin on it. (wouldn't be the first)

If it turns out you have a 70 b-body unit, want to trade? I picked up an e-body unit at the Spring Fling in Van Nuys to have as a back up unit for my 65 Coronet thats getting a 70 unit put in. I knew that there was a difference but brain farted on what it was when I got it. The box mount is at a different angle but could still be used if you grabbed the center link too, which I did. They can be interchanged between e and b other than the mount angle change.

I changed the k members out. there was a big difference in the steering bow angle. before I had to dent the hell out of my tti headers to clear the box. I knew something was not right because I didn't need to do it on the other cuda. I thought it was the headers.
the k member that came out, had the box about 3" from the shock tower. now it is about 1". a big difference, with headers.

now I need to fix the caved in tubes and recoat them

you guys were a lot of help with this, thanks