Crossmember Woes

[seabeelt]

I have a spare. Pm me if interested
R/

[azruss]

better take a close look at the unibody in front of the firewall, particularly on the bad side. I don't think that doubler was just for strength but was compensating for twist in the unibody. before you put a new crossmember in and find out it doesn't fit, you better take it to a frame shop and have it corrected.

[baltobernie]

The guy that I bought it from presumably didn't know about it, and said that he had been driving it, but parked it a year ago because it was "running rough".

... or he DID know about it, and sold you a lump of scrap metal.

You might want to have a person with knowledge of these cars do a thorough inspection before you put more money into this project. You didn't post photos of the rest of the car, but your line, "the oil pan was mangled and patched" raises my eyebrows. The oil pickup is very close to the bottom of the pan, and bottoming-out with enough force to tear the pan most likely broke the oil pickup. If the car was driven aggressively in that condition, oil starvation is certain to have occurred, so you're looking at a new engine on top of everything else. You can check for a broken pickup by draining the oil, and feeling around for casting chunks.

The 1979 M/Y Spider was the highest-production year, but unfortunately the least-desirable as well. With only two-thirds the horsepower of the FI cars of the 80's, you can plan on spending a lot of money clawing back some of those smog ponies.

These are bewitching and beguiling little beauties, but the wrong car can break your heart. A Search thru the archives of this forum will reveal many abandoned restorations.

[Exit98]

+1

It's been said before: Nothing's more expensive than a free Fiat Spider.

There are so many decent ones around for $3 - $6K pouring money into a dog is a losing proposition.

[DieselSpider]

That almost looks like salvage title material there.

I agree that he hit something hard enough to twist the frame and then cobbled it back together. How much rust was there before you cleaned it up? It does not look like much from the photos indicating the repairs may be more recent than the seller is indicating.

A good frame shop would need to look at it to see if it can be straightened enough to align it and not have it crab walking down the road. If it can't be made to drive straight then you will always have a car prone to spinning out during heavy braking.

[fiatfactory]

.

[ScoopMan]

One can fix anything, with enough will and enough money. How much of each do you have?

These cars are so cheap and so plentiful, if it was me I would cut my losses, run like hell and look for another one that is structurally sound and relatively unmolested. Then again if the mechanicals in this one are pretty good, you could look for one with a nice body and a blown motor, and swap parts as needed.

I have learned the hard way, pay more in the beginning for a better example, and it will pay for itself many times over later. Especially for cars that are so cheap in the first place, even for nice ones. This is not some rare barn find vintage Ferrari basket case we are talking about here, which WOULD be worth doing major surgery on to bring back to glory.

Then again, that is just me. If you are an ace welder and can set up the frame geometry properly, then maybe you want to take up the challenge and give it a go. But then you would definitely be a braver man than me.

[spider2081]

If you can weld then I would fix the car. I think because the cars are still very inexpensive for what they are folks are quick to throw the towel in and part them out. Post her under parts wanted for a used cross member. You might do some additional welding and beefing to the the replacement cross member before installing it. There are posts her and on www.mirafiori.com on this repair.

Good Luck

[TimpanogosSlim]

+1

It's been said before: Nothing's more expensive than a free Fiat Spider.

There are so many decent ones around for $3 - $6K pouring money into a dog is a losing proposition.

Sailors have an old saying - "The most expensive boat in the world is the one you can get for free"