So back when I hit that truck my rad support got bent decently had. Enough to where I can't get it to bend out, not for lack of trying. So since I want to use every bit of my parts car I can while I still have it, IV been thinking about possibly cutting out the good one and bad one from both cars and welding in the good one to my car. I know how to weld just fine to pull it off but I'm wondering how hard it could be.
Any thoughts?
Never welded anything before, but sounds like a no-brainer job to me.
What I'm thinking is the trick will be cutting in the right sections. And getting it lined up just right for welding.
I wouldn't do it but then again i can't weld lol
The trick with welding it will be not having it turned up to high as to burn through and blow out the metal.
Cut both of the supports the same, keep a little error margin.
Mount the support on the radiator, have a friend to hold it right in place.
Make sure the parts you're welding are totally free from dust, rust, paint etc ... use an axle grinder with sandpaper discs juste like these :
They're really good when it comes to remove shit and smoothen eventual "oops" welds
Weld a tiny spot, verify alignment, weld another spot, and if it's good to you, just go for it and weld the contour.
If the alignment is wrong, on the first 2 spots, grind them off and repeat.
When welding the contour, proceed spot by spot, so you avoid the metal heating too much and twisting.
Once you're done, don't forget to protect your welds from rust (Loctite 7503 worked fine for me)
Never thought about the loctite thing. Thanks man.
I replaced the core support in my S12 when it was silverton's car. There is only one right way to do it and I will explain it here. Just FYI: I took a year of professional auto body repair classes and was trained how to do it right. You will not be able to replace the entire panel as the lower 3" or so is sandwitched into the front frame rail cross-beam. Plan on replacing the corner gussets that go from the core support to the inner fenders (at the top) with the core support. I'm going to assume you'll be using a MIG welder to attach the new core support as it's the right tool for this job.
I suggest cutting up the parts car first. But before you do that, accurately measure the width of the nose just behind the corner gussets and write it down where you cannot lose it! The inner fenders are pretty flimsy with the core support removed so you need to be able to get the width correct at the top before welding the new one on. First make a lateral cut with a saw through the core support near the bottom of the radiator, where it's only about 1/2" wide on each side. These will be the only 'panel splice' points in this repair. You need to be able to duplicate this cut on your car. Next drill through each spot weld on the donor core support with a 1/4" drill bit. Also drill through the spot welds on the corner gussets that attach them to the inner fenders but leave them attached to the core support. Once you have the core support off the donor car de-burr the backside of the drilled holes and paint the back to help prevent rust between the inner fender flanges and core support.
Next it's time to cut on your car. Make the two cuts at the bottom of the core support first so the car is still solid and the panel doesn't bend. Then take a grinder of some form (I use a 3" pneumatic cutoff tool) and grind through all the same spot welds that you drilled on the donor car. The trick here is you only want to grind through the core support, and not into the inner fender flanges any more than you have to. I find it's easier to grab a Sawzall and chop most of the core support away so you're dealing with several small pieces that have to be broken loose from the car rather than one big awkward one. Once you get the panel off clean up any hairy shit left from the spot welds, straighten the inner fender flanges if they need it, and paint all the surfaces the core support welds to.
Next fit the new panel to the car. Check the width you wrote down earlier and tweak as required so your car comes out square when you're done. Clamp the panel in place in between the drilled holes that will be your plug welds. Triple check the fitment everywhere and the width before you weld anything! Take a scribe, awl, or nail and scratch the paint pretty good inside each of your plug weld holes so welds will start clean. Plug weld all the holes. I recommend using a C-clamp Vise Grip within an inch or so of each weld to be sure the two panels are sandwitched flat at the weld. After plug welding you can grind the welds flush if you want it to look like it was never crashed. I did this on my car. You'll also need to stitch weld the two cuts near the bottom. A copper backer held behind these seams makes life a whole lot easier. After you've ground and prettied up whatever you're going to paint it and put the car back together.
There's a bunch of pics from when I did my car here:
http://s284.photobucket.com/user/Mister510/library/S12%20-%20200SX/silverton%20S12/Front%20End%20Repair
The outer flange on the 'new' core support was bent pretty bad, there are some pics of straightening it with some big clamps and pieces of flat bar in that folder, in case you're wondering WTF I've got going there. lol
I took a ton of pics because I figured I'd write a detailed how-to at some point but have not gotten around to doing that. Core support replacement on virtually all unibody cars is done pretty much the same way.
Wow thanks man. That's gonna come in really handy!
Thata a good right up! if the pics were combined with the text this should be stickied
I agree^^ hell I say sticky it anyway