Thanks Everyone,

[redwine300]

Well, I'm back after what has been a arduous time for me to say the least for many reasons.
What with serious health issues, (heart problems) salvaging my marriage of 30 years, (hopefully) and a 16 year old daughter with serious mental health issues, hopefully soon to be resolved.
Firstly, let me apologise for my previous outburst, I was having a bad day, hopefully we can move on?

Anyway, out of the blue in readiness for a jaunt out in the sun, I decided to check things like the break lines, exhaust fixing etc', you get the idea.
To my horror, I discovered that the front cross member had corroded to such a degree, it had buckled beyond repair.
The only option available to me was to cut it out and replace with new.
The journey begins....

 

[the snooper]

Well, I'm back after what has been a arduous time for me to say the least for many reasons.
What with serious health issues, (heart problems) salvaging my marriage of 30 years, (hopefully) and a 16 year old daughter with serious mental health issues, hopefully soon to be resolved.
Firstly, let me apologise for my previous outburst, I was having a bad day, hopefully we can move on?

Anyway, out of the blue in readiness for a jaunt out in the sun, I decided to check things like the break lines, exhaust fixing etc', you get the idea.
To my horror, I discovered that the front cross member had corroded to such a degree, it had buckled beyond repair.
The only option available to me was to cut it out and replace with new.
The journey begins....

View attachment 85656 View attachment 85657 View attachment 85658

welcome back, hope your health and other issues get sorted, nothing worse then that sort of pressure

 

[jinjahbiscuit]

Bugger. I'm gonna have go back and read this from the start.

Yep, welcome back, and I'll second snooper, hope things improve.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

What with serious health issues, (heart problems) salvaging my marriage of 30 years, (hopefully) and a 16 year old daughter with serious mental health issues, hopefully soon to be resolved.

Jeez, life can deal you some rough cards sometimes, but it's nice to see the "hopefully" aspect of your various situations.

Good luck with the repair(s) and keep the updates coming......

 

[redwine300]

Guys, thank you for your kind words and understanding, hopefully I am passed the worst.

Right, back to welding.
I will gladly post stage pictures as I go as I will probably need some input along the way.
First picture is from the inside of the engine bay, the second is from the wheel arch side.

 

[redwine300]

Just a couple of more pictures showing some of the spot welds I will need to drill out.

 

[redwine300]

Well, I think I have tracked down all of the relevant spot welds, hopefully, so have now prepared and positioned a support brace ready for welding in.
Once in place, I can then start the fun part of cutting the crossmember out.

 

[redwine300]

Tacked the support brace into position today, then started to drill out the many spot welds.
ps Is it possible for me to alter the order of my pictures?
They seem to have posted out of sequence. doh

 

[redwine300]

Well, after what seemed like days of drilling and chiseling, I finally removed the rotten crossmember. phew.

 

[redwine300]

Just a little update, my new crossmember has arrived. OEM Nissan.
Can I just key the black paint? or should I strip it and add acid etch?

 

[the snooper]

i would remove it and use epoxy it usually fails sooner or later

 

[redwine300]

i would remove it and use epoxy it usually fails sooner or later

What make could/would you recommend?

 

[the snooper]

What make could/would you recommend?

there are loads of makes, lechler, sika, jotun and so on, never used jotun but seen it mentioned on here loads of times, ive used lechler, dont know what others are using or the results they are getting

 

[redwine300]

Thanks Snooper, would it be a major compromise if I were to key it and then spray with 90% Zinc primer?
Or is it a matter of the fact that the OEM black is just a inadequate base coat, probably just for production storage purposes?

 

[the snooper]

Thanks Snooper, would it be a major compromise if I were to key it and then spray with 90% Zinc primer?
Or is it a matter of the fact that the OEM black is just a inadequate base coat, probably just for production storage purposes?

ive known it to fail on more then one occasion and is really a temp measure, also standard primer is porous, with the work you have put into that car i wouldnt take the chance

 

[redwine300]

So be it, I will set about stripping the original primer off shortly.
In the meantime, I will continue to prep the exposed chassis areas ready for some rust killer.
Slow going or what.

 

[redwine300]

Well all stripped back and treated with rust killer and Zinc primer, even managed to get some top coat on one side.
Sorry about the over spray.
Also managed to make a start on stripping off the original OEM primer, I hope to get it shot blasted tomorrow ready for priming etc'

 

[redwine300]

Off to shot blasting tomorrow.

 

[redwine300]

i would remove it and use epoxy it usually fails sooner or later

Took your advice and spent a couple of hours grit blasting today, felt like I had spent the day in the Sahara Desert.

 

[redwine300]

Thought I better get the primer on followed by two coats of 90% Zinc paint.
Didn't want to leave the grit blasted finish exposed for too long.