Battery Tray

[PanthaVS]

Hey everyone,

Lifted the bonnet today, and the battery looked like it had slipped out of it's mount...

Turns out (after looking from underneath too) the metal tray has rusted through...

Has this happened to anyone else before? if so, how did you fix it?

I've heard you can buy a replacement tray that you can weld (or rivet) back in after you cut the old one out. if this is so... does anyone know where i can get one? I'm located in melb cbd.

cheers!

[EDGE3]

check your nearest wreckers

[PanthaVS]

check your nearest wreckers

Just got back from a wreckers... they said they don't have anything... and all the cars in their yard are "welded" in from factory... (no aftermarket versions)...

am i going to have to resort to cut the living crap out of a wreck and "carefully" cut mine out and .... well... yeah... its a complicated shape to say the least...

another resort is to ask what a smash repairer can do... but i assume that would cost $$$$$$... i can just guess how they will go on about the labour involved in stripping the whole front end off just to get at it and such... at (im guessing) around $90/hr... a whole days work would cost a fortune...???

any help... anyone???

[EDGE3]

Sorry about that mate you think that there would be an easy solution and I dont understand why they were welded on didnt the manufacturers realise that it would eventually rust away?

[dzach23]

sound's like it would almost be easier to relocate it to the boot.

[Kioes]

Just buy some sheet metal, cut and weld.

[VrWagz1]

As above, usually just some galvanised sheet metal bent up and rivited pretty much straight over the top of the existing setup. Measure it and draw it up(yeah that'll be fun getting the angles and curves right) so it just sits flat back inside again, and have a large lip bent up along the side that goes across the front of the car(note how its got a light angle to, like 70 degrees, its not 90 degrees). As long as theres enough meat around the edges to hold it, then that would be it. Pop 1 or 2 rivits around it just to hold it and thats it, after all a clamped down battery sits ontop of it.

A roofing supplier should be able to have your drawing cut bent and madeup (even if they send the dimesions off to have it cut elsewhere). Would cost less than $50 i would think from past encounters.

[cander24]

I've done one before. To remove from your vs I just drilled out all the original spot welds and then the same procedure with the 'donor' battery tray from a wreck. Weld back in by filling the spot welds I drilled out. Not too hard to access once you remove the wheel, plastic wheel arch trim and front bar. Depends on how bad and where the rust is. Maybe able to get away with a less involved solution?

[PanthaVS]

thanks for all the input guys, ive got full access to sheetmetal forming equipment at work so making something wouldnt be hard for me... just thought, if there's an easier way, i want that.

perhaps ... and it depends if i remember to take photos as i go... i could do a write up on how i do it (Based on Cander24's description) and have the mods "sticky" it in a how to?

will keep you all posted... once again. cheers!