Front Crossmember

[TonySLX]

Well I decided as it was sunny to change the front cross member on the 1.0l K11 yesterday as it was listed as dangerous on last years MOT.
Just wanted to comment on a few things that may help others.

I bought a cheap replacement crossmember on ebay for about £25.00

You will need ..... socket set, angle grinder, 2 spot weld drillbits 8mm, hammer and chisel, stubby screwdriver and flat blade screwdriver.......underseal ..... seam sealant.

I just undid the front of the inner wing liners to gain access, did not remove wheels and did not jack the car up..... doing so would have made it a tiny bit easier but not much.

The main thing once the bumpers off is having complete commitment .... because you have to drill about 20 spot welds .........once you decide "its coming off" its quite an easy job...........

I had to drop the windscreen water bottle to access some spot welds on that side.
You may also have to hit the old crossmemeber about a bit to get to some of spot welds ... ie behind the bumper mount bracket.

Do NOT consider this job without proper spot welding drill bits .... and an angle grinder to remove rusty broken bolts........ ones on the radiator mounting brackets etc ....

Also before refitting the bumper . take a little time lining up the bumper mounting holes in the crossmember with the subframe.......................manipulate the new crossmember with a screwdriver etc to get it as close as possible ....... If your spotwelding no problem as you will clamp and line these up ....... but i relied on just bolts to refit as there are plenty ... but forgot to line up the bumper holes by bending into the correct alignment..... so was then kicking the bumper for 10 minutes trying to get the bolts In the holes .... grrrrrrrr .... and double grrrrr because i had undersealed it all and was thus black .......... lol

All back together now ... reckon it took me about 4 hours.

 

[SIRAZ]

Hi Tony,
Good information there so you just changed a new complete crossmember and you do not need to weld. Just take the bolts off and old crossmember just comes off.

Did you take pictures, if so would you able to upload them .

 

[TonySLX]

In my humble opinion there are plenty of bolts holding the cross member on ... 3 on each end of the bumper and another two either end of the section

......and its a flimsy piece of metal anyway with little strength to it .... and once you have coated it in under seal .... who would know ... and if it rusts out quick, all the easier to replace next time.....

As for removing .. as i said before drillling out the spot welds is the pain........ and thats not really a pain with good drill bits on hand

I didnt take pics because i had to get it back together for the evening ...... I do however have a pic of the old one i removed .....

Gives an idea of how many spot welds need to be drilled out.... I reckon about 40 total .....

 

[Magpie42]

This is really useful stuff Tony....and yes, that crossmember is a weeee bit rusty....!!

 

[TonySLX]

The car is a bit of a wreck ... but solid (apart from that cross member) and runs sweet .... and only cost me £165 with a years MOT on it ..... had to replace CV joint, remove the choke waxstat, fix the squeaking windscreen wipers and it runs sweet as a nut ...... so a years motoring for £177.00 aint bad .. and should get another few years out of it now for that £25 cross member

Happy days

 

[SIRAZ]

Hi Tony,
Thank you for the picture of the crossmember . Where did you buy the crossmember from eBay, as I will need one soon, as my mot will come up soon.

When you said 8mm drill bit is this special drill bit or can I use my diy metal drill bit 8mm. If they are special where they buy them from.

which underseal did you use, as my last garage used something like fibreglass. Where did you buy the underseal from ?

Do you have to spot weld the new crossmember or you only need to bolt it up ?

Thanks again for the advice and pictures.

 

[TonySLX]

This was the cross member I bought ...... Its not the highest quality .... but they rot so didnt see any point in buying anything really expensive and once on its solid.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-MI...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item1c2ff21b12

Spot weld drill ... I got mine for free from mate at a body shop ... but these are what you are looking for ..... have a shop about on prices.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8mm-COBAL..._Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item19bc45048c

I only ever use Waxoyl because it doesnt set hard ... problem with the hard setting ones is they crack and then hold water causing worse rot .... i think i got it off ebay again but just shop about for the best deal ... you wont need much ... i just got the black tin ..........BUT any wax or soft under seal is fine ....
If you do get it .. its worth washing out the rear arches and doing the insides of them ... also the rest of the underbody .... but be warned its a dirty job

As for spot welding .... my thoughts are if you have a spot welder ... spot weld it in a few places .... BUT i didnt have one so bolted it on and to be honest its solid as a rock .... (when i say bolted it on ..... these are the original bolts holding it on ... you dont add more) and apart from that its a flimsy piece of metal anyway ... AND finally if it does fail the MOT .... Although i cant see how as it will be coated with waxoyl and it does not move ..... all that is required in 8 bolts off .. bumper off ... couple of spot welds and bumper back on ... so its still cost saving over getting a garage to do it ...... even if it ends up with the garage putting a few spot welds on ....

That said some garages will replace it for £100 so i am told ...... so that may be a good option ? I am just tight

 

[SIRAZ]

Hi Tony,
Thank you for your reply.

Last time my garage wanted over £300 and he said he welded and then fibreglass and charged me over £60 and I don't think he did any welding, as he just applied fibreglass to cover the rusty crossmember to pass my mot. However this mechanic no longer owns the business, as this garage is owned by another new owners, so I do not know how they are.

Thanks for the information it will help me if need to buy new crossmember and speaking to mechanic for the labour cost.

 

[TonySLX]

I did read your thread about that .... not good ...
If you think about it .... I did mine on the driveway in 4 hours ....
So a decent Mech should be able to do it in 3 hours or less .... @ £35 per hour .... plus the crossmember ... £130.00 ... couple of spot welds take about 5 seconds

I have heard of some being quoted £800 for this ..... but it is rip off Britain eh !

 

[SIRAZ]

There are lot of mechanic try to charge you too much, which puts you off and makes you wonder why and then you are doing it yourself to save the cost, as the car is not worth the labour cost of the mechanic charge.

Like you said about 3-4 hours and tells you the charge and you don't mind giving it to garage all the time.

Better than the dealers ,as there prices are quite expensive.

Thanks for the information.

 

[SIRAZ]

Hi Tony,
Do you need to support other area when taking the crossmember out, as this crossmember may be like a structural part which is holding the front radiator and may be other parts.

 

[Magpie42]

I did read your thread about that .... not good ...
If you think about it .... I did mine on the driveway in 4 hours ....
So a decent Mech should be able to do it in 3 hours or less .... @ £35 per hour .... plus the crossmember ... £130.00 ... couple of spot welds take about 5 seconds

I have heard of some being quoted £800 for this ..... but it is rip off Britain eh !

£800!!

Plus, what do you gain?

At least, by giving stuff a go, you get to learn things and get to see how your Micra fits together (plus, it's always a good excuse to buy shiny new tools....mmmmm shiny)...





Sent from the Magpie's magical nest using Tapatalk

 

[TonySLX]

Siraz.

Nothing needs to be supported when you take this off ... Just leave it all in place except for the drivers light and washer bottle.
The radiator just hangs on the top and bottom hose .. no issues at all.
I undid the top support (small panel next to rad cap running across grill with 4 bolts) to fit the radiator back in as it was easier than getting the rad support on the cross member in the right place while laying on my back blah blah ....

Magpie .... agree

I did a CV joint for the first time not so long ago and was amazed at how easy it is. Cost me £12.00 and i got to see the lovely pretty shiny CV joint before i covered it in the black stuff

 

[SIRAZ]

Thanks Tony and Magpie for your reply.

 

[TonySLX]

MOT day today....... gulp

This was a car i bought for £165 a year ago with the advisory about the cross member so i wasnt expecting good news.......
Had to change a CV joint which cost £12 and the cross member of course........ Also got a replacement front headlight and two Avon tyres on the rims which cost me about £30 from memory

I had gone over the car with under seal .... taken some surface rust off the brake hose connections and wax oyled them, checked brakes, springs, pads etc, changed a few bulbs and checked the wipers.

Passed ... No advisories


Not bad for a £165 shed .... or £245 with the parts i have replaced for 2 years motoring.

Moral of the story... a rusty cross member might turn out to be a bargain buy as long as the rest of the bodywork etc is good

Just chucked a new stereo in ... which is probably worth more than the motor .... but got that for a tenner on fleabay as well ..... reckon im a fully paid up member of the womble society now

 

[SIRAZ]

Good news your mot passed, mine is in April.