SteveRK Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 The Solihull Corrosion Engineers 'Piste de Resistance' for many years has been the rotting rear crossmember - their hidden trump card can now finally be revealed. Think about it - what part of the chassis could be cunningly designed to rot prematurely, involve the most labour to put right yet not arouse undue suspicions from concerned owners as to why they rotted. The answer is so simple and yet devastating: fit a rubber tube to each of the rear louvre panels and pipe them into the rear cross member! Ah, but dont forget to seal the ends of the cross member to prevent water from escaping. Heres the clever bit - the more the vehicle is washed and lavished - the quicker it rots! Every time a proud owner washed their pride and joy retired engineers wryly lifted their glasses in a toast to the quest of repeat sales of new Rangies. Not convinced - Exhibits 1 & 2 below: not so obvious drain tube: not so obvious capping off the end of the crossmember: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveRK Posted March 24, 2008 Author Share Posted March 24, 2008 RETRACTION - THE DRAIN TUBES DO NOT DRAIN INTO TO CROSSMEMBER They fit behind the crossmember between the crossmember and rear wing inner panel and drain into this area However, this area is not readily drained although there are gaps these likely tend to fill up with road and especially with off-road crud so the principle remains! Rear crossmember fitted today being as the weather was not reliable enough for me to cut the grass etc' Welding was a problem though with the mig, even on the lowest setting it still burnt through the panels even though i was concentrating heat on the much thicker crossmember section Will revisit this coming weekend. Have to say the fit of the new crossmemebr is very, very accurate. The lower tailgate hing brackets are exactly central and the ends do not protrude the orignal inner wing panels as [er the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway_Star Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I did mine a few months back, a few observations. The ends of the replacement cross member were wide open, this is no good as it will let all the carp of the day in there, besides it'#s hardly a true box section, I welded 2mm plate across the ends. The new cross member hadn't been fully seam welded, so I sorted that out too before fitting. Other than that it was a good accurate fit, Steve I know the nooks and crannies you're referring to, after blasting everything with primer then Schutz, I filled them in with expanding foam filler. I used the holes in the cross member for the number plate lamp wiring to get the lance from my Schutz gun in to coat the insides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveRK Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 Good idea Highway I will look into options for blanking off the ends although i will keep it suitably 'vented' to stop condensation build up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101nut Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Good idea HighwayI will look into options for blanking off the ends although i will keep it suitably 'vented' to stop condensation build up. Personally I splattered mine with waxoyl and left the ends open with the theory that anything that gets in can get out and it'll dry out pretty quickly ... no drain holes to clog with mud etc etc AndyG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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