Lower Radiator Support pics and helpful hints
Lower Radiator Support pics and helpful hints
My son and I just changed the water pump, chain tensioner, idler pulley and lower radiator support on his 96 SE 5-speed. There are a couple of posts on radiator support that were very helpful. A couple of things that we learned that others might find helpful are as follows:
· The spot weld cutter we preferred was the type which drilled a “plug” as shown on the top in the picture below. We used the type that drill a hole, as shown in the bottom picture, but the plug type performed better for us.
· Locate the spot weld, and mark it good with a center punch. Then use a 1/8 drill and drill a good starter hole. Then use the spotweld cutter to drill through the first layer of metal to release the weld. The extra steps with the punch and drill, keeps the cutter from wandering. Here are both sides of the support and welds we removed.
· We bought an OEM radiator support on-line from a dealer in Arizona for $140. Horror stories in the org of failed aftermarket supports had us worried, so we popped for the extra 75 bucks or so.
· Prior to installation, we sprayed the outrside and inside with an internal frame protective coating from Eastwood. It comes with a special nozzle and hose that worked well.
· We waited until the new one came in before we completely removed the old one to make sure we didn’t do any more de-construction than we really needed to do.
Here a couple of pics, as you can see it was really bad. We have more if anyone is interested. We ended up with these two plastic covers leftover, from all the work (idler pulley, water pump, and radiator support replacement). If anyone can tell us where they go, please let us know.
Thanks.
The Forgotten (Unknown) plugs.
· The spot weld cutter we preferred was the type which drilled a “plug” as shown on the top in the picture below. We used the type that drill a hole, as shown in the bottom picture, but the plug type performed better for us.
· Locate the spot weld, and mark it good with a center punch. Then use a 1/8 drill and drill a good starter hole. Then use the spotweld cutter to drill through the first layer of metal to release the weld. The extra steps with the punch and drill, keeps the cutter from wandering. Here are both sides of the support and welds we removed.
· We bought an OEM radiator support on-line from a dealer in Arizona for $140. Horror stories in the org of failed aftermarket supports had us worried, so we popped for the extra 75 bucks or so.
· Prior to installation, we sprayed the outrside and inside with an internal frame protective coating from Eastwood. It comes with a special nozzle and hose that worked well.
· We waited until the new one came in before we completely removed the old one to make sure we didn’t do any more de-construction than we really needed to do.
Here a couple of pics, as you can see it was really bad. We have more if anyone is interested. We ended up with these two plastic covers leftover, from all the work (idler pulley, water pump, and radiator support replacement). If anyone can tell us where they go, please let us know.
Thanks.The Forgotten (Unknown) plugs.
Last edited by valveguy; Dec 31, 2011 at 12:24 PM.
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