Front crossmember

[azygoustoyou]

I got all the nuts off the front cross member. One on the drivers side came off but the bolts seems loose. The other one on the drivers side won't come off. Should I cut it off? I can't see any other way to get it off. Should I cut open the frame and weld a new bolt in. Or should I drill through the frame and add a bolt the whole way through. If I was to add the bolt through the frame. How do I get the bolt that's in the frame out of there?

[manoa matt]

You will have to cut the bolt out with a dremel tool and a reinforced metal cutoff wheel. Try and get the wheel to cut thru the washer, or between the washer and the nut. It will take all day with a deremel to cut thru the nut. I had to do the same thing to three of the bolts on mine.

See this post about what you will find in there, and how to fix it. http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 07dad3779c

Welding upside down on you back is never fun, but at least you have the engine out.

[azygoustoyou]

Thanks Matt,
I don't think I'll be welding on my back anytime soon.

[manoa matt]

Some old cylinder head bolts are the perfect length, thread pitch, and are plenty strong. I used the big thick washers from the head bolts on the top of the rail and below the crossmember when I assembled it to help spread the loads.

Before you go hacking away at your frame rails. Check the forum and on Mirafiori about others's ideas for crossmember and frame rail fixes. It seams everyone has their own design and they probably all work well. Some guys add extra plates to the sides, tops, and bottoms of the frame rails, but usually that requires modification of the crossmember to get it to fit between the frame rails with the extra side plates.

The hardest part is comming up with a design/fix that improves the strength, but is not too noticeable. I did not want to re-create the original design of the captive bolts. It just depends upon if you plan on entering it in a concourse event where they would scoff or demote you for a fix like mine that is visible with the hood open. Although once everything is painted it is less noticeable, and with Fiat stamped on the head of the bolts, all the better.

I can't tell you the difference it made in the ride and feel of the car. From night to day. The car is so much more solid now. Mine is a daily driver and I've probably put 700 miles on it since the fix (plenty of bumps, potholes and hard stops)and have not had any issues or seen any cracks or weld failures.

From the looks of that shop, your setup, and all those tools, you got it made. Turn that spider on its back and tickle its belly!

[azygoustoyou]

I got the front cross member off the car. It took about five minutes using my air cutter. But boy did it take awhile to get the motor mounts off. I ended up using a oil filter removal tool to hold the rubber. It just fit.

[azygoustoyou]

I made a box to try to help catch some blast media. It did help and I was able to reuse the media that it caught. Here's some pic's of the cross member before and after. Tomorrow I'm going to weld it to make it stronger.

[azygoustoyou]

I got the cross member reinforced and ready for paint.
Also cleaned up the trailing arms.

[mdrburchette]

Everything's looking good, Brady!

[azygoustoyou]

Thanks,
I'm getting the pleasure of working on the car. I always wanted this car. I really never got to drive it yet. I had a 69 Alfa and boy it was fun. I know this ones going to be fun. I'm trying to do this right. With every ones help with info., I'll get there.

[pope]

Brady, looks like your doing all the right things. Any more popping sounds from the rotisserie yet. LOL

[azygoustoyou]

No, I bought an arc welder.I took off the other framing that hooked to the car. I bought new metal and welded it. It's strong now. LOL I also redesigned the stands so I can lower the car in stages. Before I had to use cinder blocks to get the car at the right height just to put it on the rotisserie.