March 28, 1998
Glenn, you said [on the BrickBoard]: "The stock crossmember on my '63 has served me well since I had tubes welded in to hold the lower A-frame fixing bolts."
Turns out that I decided to keep the earlier x-member and suspension, but I am curious about the modification you refer to. It sounds like you've reinforced the mounting bolts -- can you describe this for me?
Thanks,
John Feingold
John - When I first got the car, the front end would not hold alignment because the long bolts that hold the lower A-frames to the crossmember had chewed out (elongated) the holes in the crossmember.
I decided to fix this by enlarging the holes and installing a tube in the crossmember to hold each bolt. I removed one of the bolts, and with the bushings installed on it, measured the length that the tube would need to be. I sketched a picture of one of the tubes, took it and the bolt to a machine shop, and asked them to make a pair of tubes out of steel.
When the tubes were finished, I removed the crossmember from the car and used a round file to enlarge the holes. I knew that minor variations in the position of the A-frame bolts would not affect the front end geometry critically, but I was careful to file more toward the center of the crossmember to preserve the alignment adjustment capability.
As soon as the holes were big enough, I tapped the tubes in. Then I brought the crossmember to a welder and had the tubes welded securely into place. On reassembly, I used plenty of chassis grease on the bolts and installed IPD's Delrin plastic bushings.
Later I discovered that this is much the same modification that Volvo made in later model 1800s, although they added press-in bushings at the same time. Also, the tubes made by my machine shop are quite a bit beefier than the sheet metal pipes used by Volvo. -Glenn.