ALFA ROMEO METAL WORK
Center cross member replacement on a 101 series Giulia
As she arrived to our shop with just a little staining of
road mud. This reminds me of the favorite seller's statement, "no visible rust".
Close-up of the affected area (driver's side cross member). Still looks pretty
good.
When shot from the rear forward, just a small bit of a rust hole is revealed.
As one might imagine, with a void at the top and no drain hole at the bottom,
this component might collect moisture.
Stripping the undercoating off reveals a perforated bottom section.
Starting to cut out the affected panel (view is from front to back).
View from the back forward shows more perforations
Packed nearly solid with debris
As predicted, over the years mud filled the hollow section.
After this step it was deemed prudent to cut away the whole member back to solid
metal.
After fabrication the new piece is test fit.
Initially tack welded in place
Notice above that we added a bottom drain hole. Also, we did not duplicate the
design flaw of the hole at top.
All of the seams were sealed before applying the undercoat to blend the look of
the new piece with the original floorboard.