Strut Tower Issues & Fixes?

[goofycarp]

Hi,

 

I just bought this shell and discovered this on the passenger, driver's side is less severe, strut bearing mount and thinking this is not such a great situation, given the stress and potential for unwanted movement during hard driving or even normal driving; prior owner says washer and bolts, alignment & all good...any ideas to fix this? I am no welder so looks like some body shop work or ??

 

Thanks, Cort

[2002iii]

That looks bad! I would suggest having that fixed by a professional.

[goofycarp]

I am thinking that I should have someone fabricate a plate to go over the inner fender mount and have it welded in ?

[2002iii]

38 minutes ago, goofycarp said:

I am thinking that I should have someone fabricate a plate to go over the inner fender mount and have it welded in ?

I was thinking a steel plate welded under the inner fender to keep it hidden and then add a strut tower brace on top to cover up the nasty original holes.

 

To do it right you would have to replace the whole inner fender panel, which would be hard and expensive.

[goofycarp]

That sounds like a better solution. I surely don't want to replace the fender panel, it'll never be right and I doubt any body shop in Oshkosh has seen an '02 in quite some time.  The strut brace should locate the bolt holes fairly closely...Thanks for that input...now I just need to find someone to fabricate an appropriate plate. Any ideas on that person or outfit? Cort

[Arizona02]

On my car  I slotted the 3 holes in  parallel for more negative camber  adjustment for the driving events at the race track. Car is a 1976 model and I installed the ride height strut spacer plate on top of tower. When adjusting the strut inward I realized it moved about 1/2 inch when strut mount stops against the inner fender.

[Son of Marty]

Badly done job of adding camber jez just buy the plates, I think you could get by just sandwiching that between the strut bearing plate and a good solid strut brace there would be plenty of metal between them to hold and you'd cover that ugliness.

[2002iii]

54 minutes ago, goofycarp said:

That sounds like a better solution. I surely don't want to replace the fender panel, it'll never be right and I doubt any body shop in Oshkosh has seen an '02 in quite some time.  The strut brace should locate the bolt holes fairly closely...Thanks for that input...now I just need to find someone to fabricate an appropriate plate. Any ideas on that person or outfit? Cort

Your going to need to get measurements from a straight car to figure out the correct bolt hole location, most strut tower braces are adjustable.

 

For the reinforcement plate I would use the aluminum strut spacer as a template to make the reinforcement piece for the bottom. You should be able to find a body shop or metal fabrication shop that could make and weld the reinforcement plate in.

[goofycarp]

Ah, good idea on the spacer as a templet, just need to find one of those and have someone fab-up two plates; all good !!, not feeling so despondent after seeing the horror. Thanks all for the great ideas, genius !! 

 

Anyone have a spacer I could buy for a templet?

 

Thanks, Cort

[2002iii]

32 minutes ago, goofycarp said:

Ah, good idea on the spacer as a templet, just need to find one of those and have someone fab-up two plates; all good !!, not feeling so despondent after seeing the horror. Thanks all for the great ideas, genius !! 

 

Anyone have a spacer I could buy for a templet?

 

Thanks, Cort

Rather than buy a useless spacer, I would buy the strut tower brace and use it as a template 

[goofycarp]

Thank-you for that one and I will go that route. I believe a solution is at hand. 

 

Thanks for all the good input, saved me from doing something idiotic on several fronts.

 

Cort

[TobyB]

Ah, shit, just center the thing in the hole,

punch the bolts out to use the old strut perch as a template.

drill new holes 15 degrees off the old ones, and

call it a day.  That's not an E46 ya got there.

Well, that and replace those poor strut tops.

 

Was someone trying to autocross that thing?

 

If that seems too practical and ooky- looking,

(and I guess I could see it being a bit of an eyesore at the beach)

 grab your copper backing plate and stitch up the holes slowly

and gently with a MIG.  (welder, not fighter, Elliott.) 

Then grind it back- in fact, a bit of 

grinding as you go might be in order, just to keep the thickness appropriate.

 

Once those studs are snugged up properly, there's almost

no load on any of that- the weight of the car does 78% of the work.

 

 

t

slapdash miggy Broody

 

 

[goofycarp]

Hey Toby, Thanks for the input.  Unfortunately my MIG skills are non-existent and I'd prefer not to drill anymore holes but I will use those manky, "pantina" strut bearings as a template for the fabrication of the plate underneath. I'll just have a mental shop make a couple up and when I finally get the car to a b/s, I'll have them weld it in. This shell needs a little bit more paint work to be done with the body.

 

Thanks all for the input !! Cort

[TobyB]

Oh, yeah, if that's going in for body work, that's an easy fix.  The strut towers are 

plenty thick for building back up.  A true craftsman might use small metal pieces to 

speed the filling process and keep heat down.  A true bodyshop metalworker would fill it

with welding wire!

 

No sweat, then.

 

t

 

[Mike Self]

I'm sure some kind soul on the FAQ has an old spacer kicking around who could trace its outline and send it to 

Cort.  I'd do it but mine are currently inaccessible.

 

Most any metal shop could take the template and make up four duplicates for you from 1/8" or even 3/16" steel plate.  Since you're gonna replace the strut bearings anyway, just place one of those plates under the fender, and the other atop the fender.  Most strut bearings come with long studs anyway so you'll have plenty of threads to accommodate those two plates.  With a plate on each side of the sheet metal the load will be equally spread so you shouldn't need to weld 'em in.  

 

No mickey mouse fixes here--you really don't want your front suspension to part company from the rest of the car.

 

mike