And There's More.....

 Having welded the upper tube in whthout setting fire to anything, I se about the lower tube. This one does have some structural significance as the drag links from the front suspension connect to the front of it. Gete it wrong & the car will have more castor one side than the other, get it BADLY wrong & the front subframe will crumple under braking. Best think about this then.

The instructions I'd seen said cut out the 40 x 40 tube & replace it with two stacked & welded 25 x 25 tubes. In the end, I cut the 40 x 40 tube down into a 25 x 25 angle, flared out to 40 x 40 at each end, then cut the stacked & welded 25 x 25 tubes so the nestled into it. I managed to get the cut pretty good, less than a mm gap all the way along & nicely cut around the other tubes at the end.

 

 

 

This was obvously a LOT more work, but has significant advantages:-

1/ the remains of the original tube is probably strong enough

2/ most or the original weldng is retained.

3/ the drag ling mounting is untouched.

4/ the brake pipe mounting is untouched

5/ the holes for mounting the inner wing are still in place.

^^ This is a view from inside the enging bay showing the new double tube in place inside the remains of the old tube, you can see how it swellsat either end to keep the original welding

In fact the only thing my new fabricatio is doing is stabilising the angle which makes me comfortable.

>> This is a view from outside & behind showing the new tube let into the original structure.

There's more welding to do as this way of doing it needs welding at both ends and along two sides, but it should be stronger & less reliant on the quality of my weling - though I was pleasantly surprised when I cut the pre-welded double tube to length, my welding had proper penetration & everything.

So a little more welding & a little more grinding, some paint & the new engine can go in.

Gosh!