shadow

[shelby zed]

ok, so im looking at a car, its got a broken rad support at the mount, and he said at the unibody as well. he wants 1500 for it, and it has an engine with about 100000k on it apparently. mitsu turbo, 2.5l non ic. how hard is it to fix that, is there any way to make it better?

[shelby zed]

anyone? imk gonna take some pics of it in a bit and ill post them

[BadAssPerformance]

post up pics.... I would say if it is rust free car then it is worth fixing but maybe not worth $1k due to the labor required to fix it.

[20w/ashelby]

I would avoid structural damage unless you can do the work yourself. The rad support is not really a big deal, but unibody damage is a PITA to fix.

[shelby zed]

i have a car i can cut it out of, and i can weld. is it just spot welded to the
unibody? i didnt take any pics of the rad support cause i didnt have time.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c60/mxracer69/P7240138.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c60/mxracer69/P7240141-1.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c60/mxracer69/P7240142.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c60/mxracer69/P7240139.jpg
it is cracked right beside the motor mount, it doesnt look that hard to fix, but id rather replace the whole peice. the car has new koni adjustable suspension,
new ball joints, new steering rack, tons of new stuff. it was owned by a mechanic i know

[20w/ashelby]

Well you failed to mention that on the first go around. I assumed it to be a major project car. Go for it.

[shelby zed]

haha sorry man, the guy has had it since i was like 8 and ive known him since i was born and hes always taken care of it, i just need to know if the rad support is spot welded on or it i have to splice a peice in there

[shelby zed]

oh, and im giving him a 500 dollar deposit tommorow

[t2_85_lebaron]

looks like a nice little car.. lotta potential, theres one on cardomain a little like it www.cardomain.com/id/tight_shadow its sick as hell, be sure to watch the vid. as for the rad support there easy to fix we had to move mine because of the intercooler i put in, we just moved it to the na radiator mount on the pass side but the other one needed to be moved over a couple inches.. there easy to get off and a couple welds should do nicely

[shelby zed]

awesome, thanks man, ill go cut mine out soon

[t2_85_lebaron]

how did it get cracked? its not like its a common failure area, or something that has to hold a whole lotta weight

[Mopar_Nutz]

Rad supports can and will crack if the front mount is loose and allowing movement. The CLUNKing back and forth will weaken them and crack them. Also if you get a little excited in reverse it can damage them.

[inmyshadow]

It is a very common problem with Pbodies up to 90.

I bought my red turbo shadow with the core support broken loose from the unibody. The core support was being supported by some angle iron bolted to the support and kframe. I was sold the car under false pretenses. The used car lot told me it was a home made tow bracket for a mobile home.

It was Cliff R that told me how common broken core supports are. He had seen it tons of times. Its usually a good sign that a shadow was driven very hard.

I took the car over to my friend's exhaust shop. We removed the added brace. Then cleaned up the spot welds. Then re-spot welded the core support along with some seam welding.

A year later, I had to redo the core support spot welds because they popped out. This time it was done by a different welder. That lasted.

After a few years of autocross, I noticed the tear right next to the front motor mount. It was nearly through the core support. We ended up welding the crack as much as possible. Then two plates were welded over the crack and around the front motor mount to reinforce that area.

If I had replaced the core support on that car. I would have welded two plates tying in the unibody. Then weld a plate per side from the unibody to the core support. Then some seam welding in critical places along the unibody/core support.

But I ended up stripping the car do to rust in bad places. My 91 Shadow's core support is completely different then 90 older cars. Its thicker and wider.

later



how did it get cracked? its not like its a common failure area, or something that has to hold a whole lotta weight

[shelby zed]

mine would point the headlights up everytime i accelerate. i put a solid rear mount in and its soooo much better. im going to replace it with angle iron later