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Uh-oh (cracks in front crossmember)...



My weekend ended on a sad note. My front motor mount (the cup part) broke
Saturday evening. Actually, I'll pretty sure it broke a while back but it
didn't make any noises until Saturday evening. After crawling under there
Sunday morning and moving the broken bracket out of the way, I see that the
bolt on the left side was pulled so hard after the right side of the bracket
broke off, that it pulled the spot where it bolts through the cross-member
out about 5mm. There are several small (10-15mm long at most) cracks
originating from this pulled area. 

After much fishing and mumbling under my breath I managed to get the
threaded nob/whatchamacallit lined up behind the hole and get the
replacement bracket bolted back on. But now I have a dilemma. 

My car already needs quite a bit of minor body work before it gets painted
(lots of dings and a few minor dents). But the shell is rust free. 

Would I be better off trying to fix and reinforce the cross-member and still
get my bodywork done this summer? Or should I just find a good shell,
reinforce it, and swap all my stuff over to it?

As far as reinforcing, it will all have to be done by myself or a friend, as
there is no way I will be able to spend the $1K+ spent by other listers to
correct/prevent this. Any tips on doing this?

Thanks.



Joshua Hignight
Student Services/IT Services Coordinator
(505) 821-4800 ext. 2116