I need to move a chassis member in my engine bay in order to clear the sump.

I know that ideally it would be best to replace the whole length, as in the green photo.


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But would I get away with replacing it as in the red photo?


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That would add a bend to the bar but it would save a lot of work in keeping the suspension mount in the right place.

Add some small triangles of plate at both joints and that will be ok

as above its not ideal but get some 5-8 mm steal top and bottom in a triangle and your ok. i had a fabricator repair my avon after a "oppps" and he did the same. he was happy with the repair on 1 of the rails he replaced. that said its not ideal. so in the end i cut it all out and spent hours grinding it for him to come back and weld the new full piece in. and i also now have the triangles too. any joint where it meets at the unusual angle.

In your photo above you are neglecting to show the other diagonal that abuts at the same join, ideally if you reduce one you will need to cut and extend the other so when viewed from all you see are triangles.

Regards Mark

I cut the rail out and put the engine in with the new sump. It turns out the red photo above still doesn't give enough room. So I've done it as in this photo:


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I'll add some triangle plates across the corners and tidy it all up tomorrow.