Nose Repair or Replace

[kstrause]

After thoroughly going over the car this is the worst spot of rust. Anything else is pretty easy. The only other spot is a small hole in the floor pan. But I'm sort of vexed over what to do here. The rest of the nose is straight and without rust, but along the bottom, where the radiator frame meets the front its pretty bad, especially where the PO cut a hole to check the extent of damage. So I'm wondering about my options:

1.Should the whole nose be replaced as a unit?

2. Can I cut off the whole bottom of nose, say along the crease a few inches below the grill and weld in a replacement?

3. Can I spray,roll,brush as much rust-proofing as possible in the offending area and weld in a patch where the hole is shown in the picture (after cutting back to something solid, without too much regards for asthetics) and put a poly/fiberglass airdam over it?

I appreciate reading the collective wisdom on the board. It gives me inspiration that no challenge is too great as long as there are others to give good advice.

[jerry]

what you're showing is exactly what i had to deal with. save the nose. it's much easier to weld new metal in place and can be done with a bit of patience.

i took a couple of photos of my repair and included them in my project blog on this forum. typically resides near the bottom of the 2nd page.

while you're there make sure and tap/vacuum/scrape by whatever means possible any residual crap hiding in the recess. you may even consider opening up a drainage hole on the inside for easier flow of debris.

before you weld it up shut, consider spraying some underbody protection in there.

good luck.

[dubois]

it is not too bad. Two things: it is not structural and it is not highly visible once the bumper is installed, so you can get away with a less than perfect repair.

[TobyB]

I'd fix it too-

but first, I'd take out the back seat,

and take out the back side panels,

and make sure the inner rear rockers are ok.

Then I'd take a hammer and whack the shock towers hard

along the spring perch seam

to see how they are. If all those places looked good,

I'd break out the welder and zip the nose back up.

If you can find a spare nose to use for patch panels

(maybe a slightly hit one that got replaced)

it'd be even easier.

I would try to make it look really good, though-

I cheated on Jenn's, and now regret it...

t

[DukeRimmer]

I hope Jerry and dubois are correct, but I'd say the decision should be based on the points where the front panel is welded to the frame rails. Not visible in your pics.

Frame rail to front panel is structural and hard to repair. Pic shows need for cosmetic valence repair.

[Mike Self]

cut a piece from a nearly new but thoroughly bashed nose panel (thanks, George!). The area that low down on the nose is sparayed by the factory with "schutz" so you don't have to do a perfect finishing job on the seam; just good.

Two suggestions after you repair:

1. On the back side, open out the drain holes along the bottom of the radiator support panel. There's one at each edge and one in the middle. They're too small to pass stones that can fly thru the grille, and it only takes one small stone to block the holes. Then the whole area can fill up with dirt--more rust! Once you've opened out the holes

2. Throroughly clean out that pocket where the outer nose meets the radiator support panel and rustproof it, using Rustoleum primer or the like. Make it a part of your maintenance to clean that area out when you wash the car--squirt your hose down in thru the grille to flush out any crud that's accumulated in the pocket. The enlarteed drain holes will allow the water to drain quickly.

cheers

mike

PS--the driver's side usually rusts first due to battery acid...

[Noel]

You might want to try looking at this Craigslist (Portland, Oregon) listing:

'74 bmw 2002 front and rear clips, no rust, no damage $150 each

Reply to: see below

Date: 2007-01-12, 6:10PM PST

$150 each. call for more details at 971-222-7748

* Location: clackamas

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Posting ID: 261813137

The pics didn't copy, but the nose clip looks pretty good.

[chrome68]

I agree with the repair methods above rather than replace, but I wanted to note that this happens so very often because of the radiators overflow tube. after repair and rust prevention, you should install an overflow or catch can to collect your water/antifreeze like most cars have. if you put the tube all the way to the bottom of it, the radiator will siphon back the excess as it cools back down. And your car wont develop any more valance rust.