77 back on road as D.D

[brad131a4]

Bought the car for $75 minus the engine, tranny and drive shaft. Not to worry I have a few extras lying around. Started by cleaning off the road gunk off the engine bay and crossmember.
That is when I noticed some welding on the crossmember. Oh it wasn't just on the crossmember they welded the crossmember to the frame. After the few dirty words and the head in hands head shake I started to remove the running gear to get at the crossmember.
Plus side is someone had just installed all new front brake hardware, calipers, lines and pads on the front.
Bad is I had to cut the upper pivot bolt on both sides to get the upper control arms out.
Just a little FYI I always keep all my extra nuts and bolts from repair jobs.
This came in handy as I was able to locate two pivot bolts out of the bolt bin.
After butchering the living daylights out of the crossmember and frame rails I finally got the thing out.
Then spent the next two hours welding up the areas on the crossmember that I had to cut into and to repair broken parts on the mounts.
I welded the nuts back on the vertical sides that go up the side of the frame rails as these were just sitting there attached to nothing.
Going to clean the crossmember up and paint it today then start on repairing the frame rails and repairing the damage done by the ****** that did this abortion in the first place.
Will be adding some metal to the top of the rails and running new bolts down threw the frame.
Going to be taking some pics along the way and will post them later. Just didn't feel like taking some at the time I found out about what I had to do at this time.

[thechadzone]

Solid work, I look forward to pics of the job. I really love the time spent on these cars, despite the situations you've described. I guess you "gotta love it" or its just a sh!t job that insures that you'll make it to work on Monday. Speaking of, are you actually depending on your Spider as your Daily Driver? I don't take mine outside the city limits without a well fortified AAA membership, and a well stocked tool box.

Did you put another 1.8 in it?

[dmwhiteoak]

Hey, for 75 bucks you didn't do bad at all if the rest of the car is in pretty good shape. I must be more trusting than you Chad because mine stays on country roads more than inside city limits. I guess after I get stranded a couple of times my thoughts on this will change.

[brad131a4]

Not to worried about D.D the car once it's together. I learned long ago what are the major problems and fix them so they aren't a problem. First 10 years driving I D.D fiats and was only stuck once and had to tow it.

[124JOE]

good job brad

[brad131a4]

Thanks for the compliment. I have some pics of my repair progress and of the one side I have left to do. Now I just need to get a photobucket or something else account and load them up.
One of the bolts for the front swaybar broke when I was taking it off. So I'll try and document how I go about fixing it.
Not to sure just yet but I have an idea. It involves a $10 hooker some bailing wire and a can of mace. Should work out just fine.

[124JOE]

hey thats funny
cut it flush and drill it out
replace it with a simalar bolt

[brad131a4]

http://imgcash1.imageshack.us/img217/50 ... 058.th.jpg Here is the passenger side repair.
Once I have both sides done. I will bolt the crossmember up and then drill a hole threw the bottom holes threw the frame rails bottom and top plates. Then I will source some grade 8 bolts and drop them down the holes. I will then tack weld the bolts on top and threw some access holes I drilled on the side to the bottom rail.

[brad131a4]

Ok I guess I'll give this another try. First time using a hosting site going to be a learning curve.[/URL]
Hopefully this comes out a little bigger. This is the bottom of the frame rail passenger side. I've cut out the bad area and made a repair patch to weld in.

[dmwhiteoak]

when you say back on the road as D.D , what do you mean ? D.D ?

[124JOE]

daily driver

[dmwhiteoak]

thanks joe, now dont I feel stupid.

[jimmycakes401]

What are you using for your welds? I have five problem areas that I need to take care of before I put gas in my tank. Lukily one part is flat and the two others are under the rockers.

[brad131a4]

I'm using a Lincoln 135t welder with gas. Works good when it's feeding correctly. I had at cross threaded on a big roll of wire and it caused problems. Now I've had to work at getting the settings working correct again. It's getting better but still not as good as I'd like.
Got the drivers side frame cut out and repaired today. Found out the crossmemeber came from a late model car with the 2ltr. When I put it up and bolted it on from the sides there was a 5mm gap under the frame to the top plate of where it rests on the crossmember.
Not to much of a problem just need to dig threw my pile of metal to find the right thickness to make a couple of spacers.
Will take a few pics of the repaired frames and new bolts when installed.

[jimmycakes401]

I have a lincoln too. Not sure on the number. I have also had feed issues. Need to practicen