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Severe battery acid damage

crustycurmudgeon

crustycurmudgeon

Well-Known Member
So I knew my battery tray was in bad shape and I went out to replace it. I knew there'd be other damage to tackle later, but I wasn't prepared for THIS:

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This tool was under the battery tray. The end is for a 1/4" drive socket:

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I guess the short-term solution is to move the battery to the trunk so I can drive it until I get the apron and radiator support replaced.

Frank
 

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Yep....typical...... Lucky the battery didn't fall thru. I think that 1/4" breaker bar has seen it's better days too.

You could just do a temp. patch and not have to move the battery....unless you plan on that mod anyway.
 
Pfffft. A little bondo, a little :gs and everything will be as good as new.
 
"AzPete" said:
You could just do a temp. patch and not have to move the battery
Click to expand...

Yeah, after thinking about it some more and mocking things up, I think I'll do that. I can't get the lower battery tray bolts out, so I broke off the remaining piece of the tray and I'll drill two new holes in the new tray and the apron and bolt it on top of the old flange, then get two pieces of steel bar to span and sandwich the rotted hole and attach the top of the tray to those. That should work til summer.

Frank
 
Why do you feel the radiator support needs to be replaced? Frank, you remove the old battery apron (under my directions), get a new one and I'll come over with my welder, assuming you have a 220v dryer outlet and we'll weld in the new one. Yes not as easy as I'm painting it but it's
not that tough to do.

Or yes, call Abe, he'd love to practice welding on someone else's car.
 
Thanks, Craig. Maybe we can arrange something in the spring or summer. As you know, my biggest issue is not having anyplace to work on my car. I can't do much here at my apartment, and I'm pushing it trying to do anything really involved at my parents' house.

The radiator support may not be as bad as it looks, we can determine that later.

Frank
 
I wonder if that 1/4" drive breaker bar was left there by a Ford employee on the assembly line. I've never replaced the battery tray and there's a good chance that no one else has either.

Frank
 
Frank, OMG my friend :hide, and yes, that will be the last time I will use that acronym.

By all means, bring it over to the house and I would be more than happy to help out. We can roll it right into the garage next to Fred and get to work.

Don't necessarily have to wait for better weather when we can have our cars cuddling out of the elements.
 
No need to rush it, Abe. I think my temporary fix will hold up for a while. I got some 1/8" X 1 1/2" iron bar to cut a few pieces from to serve as support for the battery tray. I don't want to risk not being able to take it to Knotts. I've already got the T5 and rear end swap to do, and maybe even the exhaust if there's time.

After Knotts, though, your plan sounds good. Thanks for the offer.

Frank
 
"crustycurmudgeon" said:
No need to rush it, Abe. I think my temporary fix will hold up for a while. I got some 1/8" X 1 1/2" iron bar to cut a few pieces from to serve as support for the battery tray. I don't want to risk not being able to take it to Knotts. I've already got the T5 and rear end swap to do, and maybe even the exhaust if there's time.

After Knotts, though, your plan sounds good. Thanks for the offer.

Frank
Click to expand...

Sounds good, we are here for ya brother for whatever whenever.
 
I would check the offset of the voltage regulator.It shouldn't be more then 14.4 volts
Maybe the voltage goes beyond the 14.4 volts so the battery "cook over " most of the time.
IMHO :confu
 
Yes, there were definitely battery problems in the past, but I've had an Optima battery for several years now so no more leakage. :thu

Frank
 
Truly this is not bad if the frame rail is damage free. I just made this repair myself and it make a big difference in the look of the engine bay when you are done. Good luck and have fun.
 

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Frank, concur with Craig that you do not need to replace the radiator support. Definitely not as major of a repair as you may be thinking.

I had to replace my apron too, and did have some rust on the radiator support where the apron was tied to it. You can see a little bit of it here. in fact, the battery apron had been replaced about 15 years ago and the radiator not repaired at that time, which is why the apron looks fine in this pick but you can see the rot on the left side of the radiator support.

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What I did was just take some flat stock sheet metal and replace about a 4 or 6" area of the radiator support near the battery apron. Much easier than replacing the entire support because of 3" or so of rust.
 
Frank,
Put that breaker bar on ebay and labeled it as the infamous missing wrench from the last assembly shift at the San Jose plant. You might be able to retire next week.
 
"sigtauenus" said:
What I did was just take some flat stock sheet metal and replace about a 4 or 6" area of the radiator support near the battery apron. Much easier than replacing the entire support because of 3" or so of rust.
Click to expand...

Super neat, I ended up cutting up a piece from the front RS floor pan that I was using for welding practice and was able to patch the radiator support.
 
"abrahamfh" said:
Super neat, I ended up cutting up a piece from the front RS floor pan that I was using for welding practice and was able to patch the radiator support.
Click to expand...

That's exactly where my patch material came from too!
 
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