Hi All
Anyone had to face replacing the front crossmember behind the bumper? (This part)
I’ve discovered today that mine has been damaged by previous owner. It’s spot welded on in dozens of places, I’m guessing it won’t be much fun to remove…?
Cheers,
Jamp
You guess right mate—
The crossmember carries all the suspension and also the engine mounts. The car would have to be lifted a fair way from the ground and well supported, and you would need an engine crane to support the engine. I wouldn’t fancy doing it outside of a well equipped garage. You say there are spot welds all over the place, what are they hiding, and what problems is the C/m causing at the moment?
Hi Geoff, thanks for the reply. I don’t mean the cross member as in the sub frame. The part I mean I’ve seen called a bumper beam for other cars. (see the link in my post above, I have take my own pics but am trying to find my camera cable…) I don’t mean the bumper hanger that bolts down at the front between the headlights, but the part lower down facing forwards, that bends to accommodate a frontal impact. That pretty much explains what has happened to mine… I wasn’t aware of it until removing the bumper (mine came withe a fibreglass bomex bumper (and now I know why!) and I’m putting the car back to standard having found a Mazda bumper on ebay. This crossmember/bumper beam is spot welded on in the factory so I don’t anticipate it hiding anything too nasty, but it doesnt look like it will be terribly easy to access some of the spot welds to drill them out to enable removal, so I was wonderinig if anyone else had faced the same project and could comment.
Hello mate,
Im in sort of same situation, although i knew my car is damaged as i bought it that way. Im just not happy with how they cheaply fixed it in garage when car was being fixed… so Im thinking of fixing it all over again and properly... although mine is MK2.5 as Im looking at it it shouldnt be much of a problem, just fiddle with stripping down front end, drilling out and spot welding.
Although there is another thing… as I dont know how to check if chasis was shifted(bent) during accident there might be an issue with fitting new front end due to extensive damage and bent main side beams…
I’d be interested in how this goes; mine has rusted through in a couple of places. Its a pretty thin bit of metal. It might be easier to have mine patched, rather than replaced. At the moment, I’ve just treated it to halt any further perforation, and see what the best option is. I was kind of hoping a mobile welder could weld the new part in place for me, since I can do all the bumper removal etc myself, and save on bodhyshop labour.
Actually mate,
i dont think it is feasable to patch it on places where its rusted, because eventually over time it will rust somewhere else. I would go for replacing whole part and You at least will know its spanking brand new and properly done 
I will be doing it i suppose as just am not happy with mine how its done and i think due to that, my headlights and bonnet does not flush properly and paind from front bumper flaked off as it was stretched fit on car… awww bloody slacking cheap garages! lol 
Me being on Your place i would go for replacing and when fitted on, treated it for rust to prevent come back very soon.