I am working on 356C coupe with damaged cross member. The car is currently on rotisserie. It looks like the cross member was used to hook the car for towing. It is ripped (but not all the way through) at both front attachment points. The driver side probably can be fixed by some welding, passenger side has too much damage. I already have the replacement part.
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So what be a better approach:
Replace the entire cross member or just cut out the damaged sections and replace them with new pieces?
Do I need to brace the body before cutting cross member out? the car is otherwise solid.
replace the whole crossmember, why create extra work in just replacing half of it. If the car is on a rack/jig then you should not have to build other bracing
Mike dejonge
Restoration Design Inc.
52 Pre A Body Bumper X2
53 Pre A coupe
54 Pre A speedster
56 Speedster
60 D'letern Roadster
67 911
05 997
I already have the part, they are available at all the usual places for under $100. I was just concerned about any structural issues when the cross member comes out. The cross member is pretty structurally solid but with some damage at the corners.
The car is on a rotisserie, it is a coupe. There are no other structural issues except for the cross member.
Thanks
The rear central attachment for the diagonal member is the front floor. Is yours severly rusty there?
The front side attachments for the diagonal member are the antiroll bar mounts. Are they all rusted out?
(If not, why not? How did yours escape the rust?)
Your photo shows the tear. But the photos don't show any rust damage (holes through) at the antiroll bar mounts.
I'd just patch the tear. Then you don't have to mess up the existing nice diagonal member to floor joint.
Sometimes mud packs into the diagonal to floor joint area.
Thank you for the feedback.
Once I am done with this problem, then scraping undercoating and painting the bottom - your transmission will go back in.
Will I see you at the Roundtop on Sept 15?
Hope to ask more questions.
Thanks,
Andrei
Andrei,
We will be at Mike's Ski Roundtop event. Been going every year since the first one. Assuming Mike hasn't changed anything, we will be in the four spots at the far corner on the wooded side near the general parking lot. See you then.
There is no rust on the cross member or any attachment points. Some work has been done (not by me) on the floors and the passenger side fender had been fixed and partially replaced to fix a nasty fender-bender. There are a couple of rust-through places I have found along the left side member (under the door. Nothing structural and can be fixed with 2" by 4" flat patches. The only remaining big items are the cross member and fixing the right side door. The door is solid but somebody tried to re-skin it and did not do a very good job, so it looks flat not curved to follow the body lines. But my welding skills are not good enough to repair the door so I will have to find a pro to fix it.
I am leaning towards cutting out the most damaged part on the right side and fitting in a patch made out of the replacement part. If this does not work I can always cut the whole thing out and buy another replacement part. My exposure is about $90 plus time.
