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During rebuilding I put in a new radiator support. The original was toast on the bottom, as most are. Just working through some of the surrounding issues, had a thought.
Has anyone preemptively coated the brand new support? I am not suggesting the entire support, but thinking at least the lower horizontal area of the pan top and bottom with POR15?
Or does the rust in that area usually start inside that closed off area of the support, from the inside out, so you can’t really coat where the problem begins?
if its going to see a lot of outdoor and humid weather not a bad idea to coat the inside with the eastwood primer with the long hose for internal coating.. a lot of people use it to prevent vw bug heater channels from rotting from the inside as well. I never coated my replacement in 2012 and it still looks new but I dont drive in winter.
It matters the quality of the steel and pretreatment and paint.
if electrocoated epoxy i would leave it.
if paint easily removed with brakeleen i would spray it with some epoxy.
assume the part was submerged for painting.
watch areas where metal comes together and weld areas as that is where the corrosion starts not the open surface.
adding excessive paint can cause areas that trap moisture that would normally drain
I also have a 1980 and I replaced my support during a front suspension rebuild last year.
Recognizing how the raked back angle turns the bottom rail into a V shaped trough, and the two layers of steel will naturally fill and trap water, I drilled 4 small holes along the lowest point. Then I sprayed paint into the holes to coat between the two layers. Probably overkill and may not help prolong it's life, but it made sense at the time.
I painted mine inside and out and drilled drain holes in the bottom so that if any water got in, then it would have place to drain away. I did the same with the front crossmember when I replaced it.... when I bought that new front crossmember it was actually raw steel inside so I threw some primer in there, swirled it around, and then after it dried a few days I swirled some paint around in there. Can't hurt nuffin'..... that was ages ago.
I have used Eastwood internal frame coating inside my frame in several spots since then... you could spray some of that in there but it's rather expensive..... and it is a part you can remove and do things with instead of that expensive internal frame spray coating.
Originally Posted by pmsjr
1980 L48
During rebuilding I put in a new radiator support. The original was toast on the bottom, as most are. Just working through some of the surrounding issues, had a thought.
Has anyone preemptively coated the brand new support? I am not suggesting the entire support, but thinking at least the lower horizontal area of the pan top and bottom with POR15?
Or does the rust in that area usually start inside that closed off area of the support, from the inside out, so you can’t really coat where the problem begins?
No telling where this part was made. Honestly, I sourced it so long ago, just got around to dealing with it, I am not even sure what vendor I purchased it from.
I ended up putting a coat of POR15 on it. As stated, I don't think it will hurt, and aesthetically not an eyesore. It doesn't sound like the larger group has taken any particularly specific steps to prevent further issues in this area, so I feel good having at least done something to hopefully delay corrosion. Just didn't want to close up work in that area, it's certainly not the easiest to access, and then regret missing something obvious later. And all are correct to point out at this point in this car's life it will most likely be dealing with more favorable driving and storage conditions, to further delay.
Plenty of other bits on this car still to sort out....like where all the foam radiator seals get placed!
Thanks for all the conversation. Appreciate the suggestions. Sometimes it's tough to connect with "car guys (girls included)" these days to run ideas past and learn from.
Coat New Radiator Support
