re037

just changed my battery and realized a nice huge rust spot (the entire tray and the metal panel under it connecting to the suspension tower. s13 btw) seems like my radiator over flow tank had a small crack and been spewing water down there for many years long before i bought it. the tank ahs been repaired with fiber glass but how should i go about the batt tray? its welded on. my friend says dremel it off and seal it up and weld ona new tray but i dont have a welding "gizmo" lying around, nor the skills to use one. any suggestions? should i be worried about structural integrity see as how its directly connecting to the suspension tower?? would a custom brace of some sort help??

Amolao

You have problems......You need to do a lot of cut and rebuilding. Pretty quick my friend, thats a very critical area (suspension,etc) Your friend is right, You need to take the tray out and cut and clean, if you have enough metal left then rebuild and repaint (buying a new tray is a good idea), make sure to get under and reinspect,theres probably more rust in there that you are missing. If the rust is on the surface, maybe you have a chance to save the car, if it already had gone thru the metal, then you are talking major repairs as already explained.

TWAN

I think most 240's overflow canisters crack, thus spewing water all around that general area. Mine has done the same thing. If you dont want to go through all the trouble of all that cutting and welding you might want to do this:

1. Grind as much of the rusted areas down to remove the rust.

2. Next you want to sand the area with a 400 grit fine sandpaper
smooth the area down so that a decent surface for paint
is created

3. Then you want to get some type of rust remover like a naval
jelly or something in that line. Just something to stop the
rust. And to get any areas you might have messed. or
could'nt reach with the grinder or sand paper.

4. Wet-sand area with 400 grit sandpaper again. This will get it
ready to pain.

5. Paint that ****. If you dont want to have it done professionally
I would suggest use something like a rustoleum high heat
spray paint and just do the whole engine bay flat black. Plus
flat black is real easy to touch up because the color always
matches.

Like i said this is just a suggestion. This is what i did. I have had the car for a few months now and have had no signs of the rusted areas pitting or the paint starting to lift. I was not worried about going as far as doing any type of restorations which are way to time consuming and on a 240 just not worth it unless its nothing but a show car. Or your pockets full of $$$$. But on a daily driven toy its your cheapest fix. I think it cost me a total of $30 for all the paint and sand paper. Whatever you do good luck.