Fiberglass repair on a rad support?

[Grover]

I'm somewhat regretting taking a look under Grover 2 weeks ago and discovering the rad support was shot.

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 patch most of the holes up but I guess the bottom of the support was too weak for his heavy duty welder.. so I had to take the support to another welder who has more equipment and can do the job better.

Which leads me to a question.. the holes that are there will not be easily seen when everything is put back together, I wanna do this right the first time while it's out.. welder #2 made the suggestion doing a fiberglass repair on the bottom.. would that be feasible?

Thanks!

[Smiliesafari]

If the metal work is done correctly there should be no need to do any fiberglass. I'd coat everything with POR 15 before I put it back together.

[rlsllc]

If you're worried about strength, welding in steel is the way to go. I don't think the fiberglass would add much integrity unless several layers are used. If you just want to pass inspection, filling the core with spray foam, trimming the edges smooth and spraying with undercoating works to hide problems and may be just as strong as a thin layer of fiberglass. I've seen rockers fixed this way for inspection. I've also seen duct tape sprayed with undercoating too, but thats really crumby.
Did you know that a brand new core support is only $138.79 at Rock Auto? SHERMAN Part # 99953 {#15027159, GM1225251}

[Grover]

Thanks rlsllc!! 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 much as a brand new one here at the GM dealership... the used one cost me $100.

The donor part is gonna get sprayed with flat black anti rust paint along the bottom.

[potskie]

Easy to get around the body holes in ON. Mechanics used to poke at heavy rust with a screw driver till a few got sued. So now it's a visual inspection. Duct tape and spray paint will make body work pass 99% of the time. Unless it's a huge obvious duct tape job then it will still fail.

[Grover]

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!

[1Gary]

Might be a dumb question......what does the rad support have to do with safety checks???.Don't know living in the U.S.

[Grover]

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 because it was on the hoist and I happened to see it, asked my mechanic about it, he said it's gotta be fixed before he'll issue the certificate.

If the frame is rotted out, if the rad support is gone, if the floors are rotted out the car fails. Heck up here the engine and tranny don't need to work but by gawd if there is one tiny hole in the body it fails.