Front crossmember rot

I think mine may take the prize for closest to collapsing in a puff of rust, it was a shock to see how far it had gone under previous botched repairs! I took it to clee who fixed it properly

[The Saint]

Yep.... you win....

Christ thats scary....

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[The Saint]

MMMMMmmmm now that is one of the books I must have missed when I was at school??? Janet & John always seemed to happy for the real world.....

Well it was a Catholic run school..... ( Lets not go there!)

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Now Baldrick, if I have one pile of cross member rust here and another pile of cross member rust there, how many piles of cross
member rust do I have?

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Well on my 610 started with a rack change, then saw the rust colour spots on the frunt of the box section on the under seal, gave them a scrape
The top all looked good but knowing the sweating that happens between the fibreglass and steel.

So rip it out and start again but In s/s plus all the cils and the previous frunt wheel arch repairs and floor.

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So it sounds like the chances are all these cars cross members are going to be at some stage of rotting.

Is it tank out job to inspect correctly or can you tell from underside with tray off? - Lee, I'm 180 miles away from you place, if I was closer I'd be booking it in

You'll save on costs as we know what we're dealing with from the start and do it properly Tom's car above was sold with the note that the all important crossmember had been repaired ....I've seen the bill for the work that was done in his history file ...lot of money for two little sheets of steel, epxoy glue and a large dose of underseal

Tank out,dividing panel out,fan/blower unit out,bat tray out ,then the plastic cover under all that .You will then be able to see the top back of the crossmember but not the top as this has fibreglass bonded to it .You also need to look underneath but top side view will reveal the most .Steering rack mounts,brake servo and top arm bolts also need inspection .
Just talked Cedric through this and he's got it all out and can see the result on his project thread .

[The Saint]

Like I have been saying.... " Keep to Alpine specialists...." It pays in the long run...

Unless you are a good welder, have access to a lift and an array of metal cutting and fabricating equipment ,I would not attempt it. This is a totally different job to do than cils turrets etc. You can bodge it by cutting out and welding in new sections, but it pays to cut the hole thing out because when you do ,you will find that the front tunnel has rotted out underneath the flaps where the box has been welded to the tunnel ,as the water sits there, or it will be paper thin. The 610 and Gta showed no sign of rust inside the tunnel but when I cut it out, the metal was like paper which will need repairing, as this area must take a lot of twisting motion on cornering. This is why if there were laser cut front sections, made its not to bad a job. The hardest bit is cutting the old box out. Plus you will know when you offer up the new lazer cut plate that nothing has warped out of true.

Hmmm... Looks like I will be booking my car in to see Clee at some point! Scary to think there's so much potential for completely invisible corrosion!

This is how it looks after the RATS treatment, not cheep but the crossmember is back in the black lol. Rear subframe next year.