I forgot to mention it. ALWAYS use respiratory protection at work with paint, solvent and sanding. It is often the small jobs that are dangerous, " I'll just spray this small piece, don´t need a mask" and next day only two small pieces, and so on... I found that out today when I was prepp...

Finally! After a week of delays and headaches, I got my rad support from the wreckers patched up and I found a body man through a friend of mine who is gonna weld it back in place today. :bounce: I am sooo looking forward to putting this back together and finally being able to get to drive it. \:D/

Well up here in Ontario there can be no perforation of any critical body support panel on a vehicle and the radiator support panel is considered a major structural component, if it's swiss cheese then the vehicle fails safety. This defect wasn't noted on the safety inspection list, I only noticed it...

That's a new one on me.. never heard about mechanics getting sued for using a screwdriver to check for holes.. I do remember years ago my mechanic used to do that to any car I thought about buying. Thanks for the info though!

Thanks rlsllc!! :cheers: Why the hell didn't I think of that? I used the spray foam trick on a Buick I had to pass safety.. mechanic told me as long there was no holes on the body that was his main concern. I'm in Ontario Canada.. the shipping to get that new panel up here would be just about as muc...

I'm somewhat regretting taking a look under Grover 2 weeks ago and discovering the rad support was shot. :-s Turns out the donor support has a bit more rust holes than I saw in the bone yard... the guy I hired to weld it back in place did the best he could with the equipment he had, he was able to p...

heh when I used to work as a parts guy at a local GM dealersip I used to think the very same thing.. salt is my friend!

Went to my local GM dealer and got the exploded parts schematic for the project I'm working on. I was told that there is a welded nut inside the radiator support panel. All you do is take the bolt out from underneath and that should be it. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/GMC9812/Safari%20repa...

Nope I didn't do that.. I didn't do that with my Dodge Van either that I had.. I did pretty well much the same repair and then I took a can of roofing tar and applied it from behind and I will be applying a thick layer of the stuff in the inner wheel well. The plan is to apply rocker guard on the ex...

Hehe talk about ingenuity.. wasn't gonna pay ridicolous prices and welding for new rocker panels, so I went to Home Hardware and picked up a couple of pieces of flexible galvanized sheet metal and some rivets and voila.. problem solved. The job took a couple of hours and 2 snapped drill bits. For th...

Well seeing as I never owned a Safari before I didn't know what to expect.. I knew about the usual rusty brake lines and shot rocker panels. Had no idea the rad support is a common problem with these things. Went to the wrecking yard today.. I looked at every Safari/Astro I could see.. with the exce...

Hi all I figured I would take some photos and share with you my project of installing the donor rad support. Any comments ideas suggestions are welcome especially with getting out the seized up frame support bolts and bushings. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/GMC9812/Safari%20repair%20photos/...

I am in Southern Ontario Canada where it's cold 8 months of the year. Salt is used on the roads up here when it snows.. I went to the local boneyard today picking up some headlight pots and for the hell of it I looked in all the Astro/Safari vans they had... every single one of them except for a 200...

Thought I would tell you about my adventure yesterday while working on my "new" van. I tell ya when GM says their trucks are built tough, they aren't just whistling dixie. If all I was doing was just replacing the bumper bar, I would have been 80% done getting this thing on the road. I had...

Thanks.. I guess I should have clarified.. the entire bottom of the rad support was completely rotted. Ended up taking a grinder to cut a big hole in the rad support to expose the nut. Tried grinding it off. If I had a decent torch this would be a breeze. My question is when I get the donor support ...