Front cross member replacement tips

[lanciamad]

Having taken the car to the garage to have a mot, what I was hoping was going to be a patch repair on closer inspection with the help of a ramp, the cross member is pretty rotten and cracked at one end with no access for any potential repairs.
I luckily have a much better replacement but of course now face the job of having to separate the body from the subframe.
I'm planning on trying to do the work myself on the drive, and was going to drop the subframe and lift the front up with the use of an engine crane most probably.
Any tips of what you can get away with left connected and any handy hints would be most appreciated before i go mad and remove stuff i didn't need to. I think once the exhaust is off then things shouldn't be too bad. I don't have much room so am hoping that I can lift the body up in place and that will give me enough room to get the grinder and welder in there with front valance, bonnet and radiator off.

[rossocorsa]

Are you planning to take the subframe etc out completely? It's a good idea to lift the body over but you will need quite a high lift to do it. My engine/subframe has been out so long that unfortunately I can't remember exactly what needs to be disconnected but quite a few items think about stuff like brakes, fuel lines, power steering, heater hoses, electrics .....are you sure you need to go this far or can you work with units such as radiator etc that crowd the front out of the way? One bonus if you take the whole assembly out is of course easy access to many other hard to get at components, worth planning what else to do at the same time. Sorry that I can't be more help, no doubt someone else will be along with more detail.

[WestonE]

Marcus

I would remove the Engine/ Gearbox assembly from the top and the gear linkage and then disconnect the hubs at the wishbones before dropping the subframe from the car jacked up and supported on axle stands. You can then strip off what you will re-use then re-fit the subframe before the Engine and Box. I own an Engine crane so it is slightly easier for me. No need to remove the brakes and the radiator can stay where it is unless removing just makes life easier which it does.

Cheers

Eric 

[lanciamad]

Having taken the front of the car off, its looking more likely that alot of things can stay put thankfully. With the subframe and chassis both supported independently I should be able to cut out the old cross member and fit the replacement with enough room to comfortably weld it in, pics to follow.
Very surprised at how weak and thin the metal is for a piece that carries such weight, I plan to do a few strengthening mods to the cross member before it goes in and once fitted will weld in much more substantial tabs than how it originally was fitted.