'02 WRX Front Crossmember Rusted Through

[fuzzy]

Posting this to get the wisdom of the forum:

Was changing the oil a week or so ago and decide to take a look underneath (was there anyway...) and noticed that on the front drivers side where the stabilizer link mounts to the front crossmember is rusted through pretty good in 2 locations.

From what I can tell, only the portion where the stabilizer mounts is rusted, where the control arms attach are fine and the rest of the crossmember looks okay.
How difficult is it to change the front crossmember? I have to go through service manual & see what it says, but is this something I should be attempting myself or have a mechanic do it?

Does anyone know whether Subaru Canada has a recall on this?

Thanks,
Goni.

[JoeT]

Front cross member is a major component. But realistically it can be done in an afternoon pretty easilly. 4 Big bolts to the frame, 2 bolts for engine mount, bolts for lower control arm, etc.

[LaszloT]

There are lots of surplus front cross members at Japan Direct, and likely any JDM importer, which I expect you'd be able get at a nominal price, since many customers who buy complete JDM front clips don't need the cross member.

Here's an excerpt from the '04 WRX service manual:

[JoeT]

Japanese Front Crossmembers will NOT work on USDM cars. Japanese are Right Hand Drive, and have clearances around the crossmembers for the steering column. There's a reason they have lots, it's because its scrap metal.

[fuzzy]

Thought I'd post un update on this and thanks for all your replies.

I managed to get through winter with some luck without anything really bad happening, till late April when the passengers side A-arm mounting point broke off
Ended up taking it to Can-Jam to repair as I didn't want to spend several weekends lying on the driveway doing it myself. Good thing I did because when they put it on the hoist a few more issues were discovered
Gotta love the over use of road salt in Ontario...

Needless to say after a longer than expected period without my car it is now almost good as new (it's still 14 years old).