heres what i did...

said "f**k"

mesausred the rot + 6" on each side.

went into my shed and found a piece of 1/8"x3" piece of steel and cut it to 24".

lined up the steel in between the cross member and the bottonm of the lower radiator support and marked where the holes needed to be so the steel would cover everything plus 6" on each side. ( i already cut the old bolts out of the crossmember)

drilled 1/2" holes in the steel

jacked up the car on the crossmember sandwhiching the steel between the crossmember and the lower rad. support ( prob not the safest thing ever).

drilled holes into the top of the radiator support .


took 1/2" threaded rod and cut two 3.5" pieces off the end.


stuck the rods through all the holes i drilled and the crossmember then, screwed the nut on the top of the rod. (theres not alot of room on the top kindof a pain)

put 2 washers and then a nut on the buttom and tightened it a bunch (the rubber bushings were still on the crossmember so i jsut tightened the nuts untill the washers were squshed into the rubber.)

sprayed everything with undercoating.


heres some pics:

http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/w...r/SSPX0015.jpg

http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/w...r/SSPX0014.jpg

 

wow nice job dude

 

How much did it cost you including that piece of steel you had ?

 

Damn..I wasn't aware this was an issue on the max's, as I just got mine, and am learning. Thanks for the thread, I need to inspect mine now. Good job!

 

well i had the steel and the rod so it cost me like 3.25 for 4 nuts 4 washers and a sawzall blade. Plus i picked up 5 gallons of diesel for my kerosene heater so thats another $15 but will prob last me the rest of the winter.

before i found the steel i called up a local steel shop and they told me it would be about $30 for the piece i needed.

 

well, on the good side, your at least concerned about the safety issue with the lower rad support. thats temporary at best, lower rad support holds our engine up as you know and should be replaced or at least a piece of solid steel tach welded on, i used a 1/4 inch piece and had it welded solid on there with at least 7 coats of paint over it.

 

Good job if it lasts. It cost me $700 to get mine replaced.
Seems everybody coats their supports to prevent rust but I believe they rust due to moisture getting inside of them and not being able to get out. This would explain why those in areas that don't get snow or use salt also have this problem.

 

9i need that done to mine bad but dont have a welder and cant find someone to do it that way, anyone willing near boston let me know.

 

yea its a temp fix untill i can get it done for real, just figured ide share the knowledge if someone was in the same situation as me and needed a quick fix.

 

i usually weld an angle iron in place, angle iron will not sag over time as flat stock will, having alot of the weight from the engine resting on that lower radiator support.

 

yea angle iron wouldve been good.. i just kinda used what i had.

 

That'll rust out in time, much like everything else underneath the car that gets exposed to salt/slush/rain/whatever.

 

If it's real bad and you need a temp fix you can always just bolt a new LRCS on without the welds. When the weather warms up take it to a local body shop or welder and have them tack some welds around the perimeter. It shouldn't take the body shop long to do it since you will have done the nasty work for them (drilling out the spot welds, cutting off corroded bolts, etc).

 

Nice fix. As far as rotting goes, I put a new OEM lower on my 99 and filled it with expansion foam (the stuff used when installing doors and windows) and it has survived two Northern Canadian winters without getting a spec of rust. The foam doesn't allow moisture to even get in, and if it did, it heats up and would make it evaporate. Best 7 bucks I've spent on my car.

 

When i finally do mine when spring rolls around, im planning on angle iron and foam expansion with an *** ton of rust proofing.