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1980 Radiator Support Bottom Rust

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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 12:42 PM
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Default 1980 Radiator Support Bottom Rust

My 1980 is a good Alabama car with very little heavy rust anywhere underneath except for the thick sheetmetal crossmember under the radiator. It has a fairly..almost but not quite terminal...case of rust cancer. I have failed miserably in finding a source for it. If it's not a structural member I probably can live with POR-15ing or bonding some fiberglass to it it since the holes for the under the front end whateveritscalled plastic cover are okay and not stripped out.

Any recommendations? I'm truely stumped. What is a fair price for it?

Thanks
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 12:45 PM
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you talking about the radiator support or the frame cross member?
Docrebuild has the rad support
http://www.docrebuild.com/dr-r-web/AIR-DAM2.PDF

Last edited by SIXFOOTER; Oct 10, 2006 at 12:48 PM.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 12:52 PM
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I replaced my rad support in my '80 L48 with one from Zip. Approx $350 if I recall correctly but that was several years ago. Not a big deal really to replace; other than radiator removal to facilitate. Easily a One-man job.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 01:18 PM
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Does the radiator support have screw holes in it for the bottom body fascia? If so that's the part. It seems very pricey for a piece of stamped sheet metal with zero corrosion resistance.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 01:22 PM
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Ahh, but its TWO pieces of stamped steel precicely precision spot welded together with Zero corrosion resistance!

How bad is yours? Maybe a lil precision sheet metal spot welding after some trimming. Maybe get it acid dipped somewhere to clean it up and then the POR15 thing?
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 01:34 PM
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If it is not to badly rusted, and you have access to a welder you can probably repair it. I did mine for about $30.00, and 3 hours worth of work. It was so rotted the rod that supports the headlights was just hanging in the air.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 06:29 PM
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Dewitt radiator has rad. core supports for $295, although the one I need is on back order, hoping to have it in a couple weeks.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 06:34 PM
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....when I did my '80 four years ago, I found an NOS one at a swap meet for $200, and it was an NOS GM part, not a repro, although I do hear the repro's are identical.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 06:35 PM
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Originally Posted by SIXFOOTER
Is anybody else getting a Font error when visiting DR Rebuild's site?
I am getting it on both of my laptops
Win XP Pro and Mozilla Firefox
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 09:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Bob Onit
Is anybody else getting a Font error when visiting DR Rebuild's site?
I am getting it on both of my laptops
Win XP Pro and Mozilla Firefox
Yea I got it too with firefox and XP.
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 11:22 PM
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yea, I get it on all 3 of my xp machines
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Old Oct 11, 2006 | 07:57 AM
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Originally Posted by dinodon51
Does the radiator support have screw holes in it for the bottom body fascia? If so that's the part. It seems very pricey for a piece of stamped sheet metal with zero corrosion resistance.
My rad support did not attach to the bottom body fascia at all. Sounds like a separate item.
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Old Oct 11, 2006 | 11:09 PM
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I don't know what the part is...it may not be the radiator support but just runs right underneath it. Its very flimsy metal I may be lazy, but I wanted to avoid pulling the radiator to check exactly which piece it is.
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