Radiator support replacement

[peterpeter]

I damaged my radiator support in a crash a couple years ago, does anyone know exactly what I need to do to get this fixed the right way? I know I need to remove my support and weld in one that I can grab from a junkyard, but what's the best way to do this without screwing up? Where do I cut the donor, partway up the fenders? Also, do I need to get the support from a same year car, or would an earlier model work? Any help appreciated.

[jeffnhiscars]

They are all the same. Just cut through the fenders (inner and outer) just behind where the rad support is welded to them. That way you can trim as needed. Not really a DIY if you don't have some body work experience

[peterpeter]

Okay. I know how to weld pretty decently, I'm sure it wouldn't be super difficult.

[AndrewBird]

Buy a spot weld cutter and cut the welds. Do the same on yours and then fit the new panel to your car.

[dewme5]

Welding is not body work.

Go slow, get all the measurements correct, or everything else will need adjustments.

[peterpeter]

Buy a spot weld cutter and cut the welds. Do the same on yours and then fit the new panel to your car.

Will I be able to easily find the area that was spot welded? And for the spot weld cutter, that's just a drill bit that bores a hole where the welds are? Probably a lot easier than sawing/cutting lol.

[Sykohtic]

Will I be able to easily find the area that was spot welded? And for the spot weld cutter, that's just a drill bit that bores a hole where the welds are? Probably a lot easier than sawing/cutting lol.

Not sure about your question myself, but only do this project yourself it youre 100% sure of it. Otherwise, at the very least get a professional to help you. You want this part of your car perfectly at the proper measurements, or as perfect as humanly possible. If its off, you're talking about a piece that connects the whole front end of your car. Your handling will be off and your structural integrity will be screwed if its wrong lol. You really ought to have someone with a frame machine check it over too.

Good luck if you do it yourself. It'll be awesome to say that you accomplished that with your own hands, but don't aim for potential glory if you aren't totally certain and could really mess it up. I' not trying to discourage you, just being real :)

[profbooty]

I finally finished getting mine out a few weeks back and I'm waiting from a friend to return from europe to weld it back in.

Get the following:
a drill
spot weld cutter
wire wheel
a chisel
mallet
a die grinder or grinding bit for your drill

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=2823578&postcount=11

The first two pictures above post will give you some idea of what you need to do. You only need to remove the spot welds on the radiator support itself, not the other piece in the upper right as shown in that photo.

The wire wheel will help you find some of the welds. You will need it later on to take paint off the new radiator support. The welds look like eraser sized depressions. Put you spot weld cutter over them and drill down a bit, but not so far that you go into the other piece. The metal will kind of pop apart once you get the weld out.

On my car I had on each side: 5 spot welds on top, one perpendicular to the top on the front of the car, and 5 on the passenger or driver side. There were two on each side where the bottom of the radiator support attaches to the frame rail.

I had 2 seam welds along the inner radiator support and frame rail. I used a combination of the chisel/grinder to get those.

Use the chisel to break some of the welds if you didn't quite align your spot weld cutter right. They can sometimes help you with the seam welds.

Use your grinder to grind off the material left over from the welds. You want the metal to be flush for when you put the new radiator support on top of it.

[AndrewBird]

It helps a lot when using the spot weld cutter to use a center punch and make a dimple in the center of the spot weld that the cutter can locate on. Keep it from wandering off where you want to cut. Harbor Freight sells cutters for cheap that work very well. Buy 2 in case you wear the first one out.

[peterpeter]

Alright so I went to the junkyard today, ran out of time before I could make much progress. What exactly are the pieces I'm cutting off? I can see where it's welded to the fenders but the other welds are hard to find. I also found a great condition oil cooler so I'll grab that too since mines messed up. I just don't want to mess up this donor radiator support and have to start over. And then when I go to weld it on my car, will a mig welder be okay? Or will I need something better? Thanks again.

[AndrewBird]

Basically just cut/drill wherever is needed to remove the panel.

And a mig welder is what you would use.

[peterpeter]

Alright, so I went back to the junkyard today with my dad and we still weren't able to get it off. The main area I'm having trouble with is the shock mount areas. I don't know where to cut or what to use to cut it. We got most of the spot welds drilled out, but near the shock mount there are some hidden ones that aren't reachable. I'll put pics up to show what I'm talking about.

You can see where I drilled out the spot welds but it's still not free yet.


In this one I'm not sure of the exact place to cut.


And here, do I take the tow hook part with the core support, or does that stay behind?

[illest318i]

Why don't you just buy a new one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Radiator-Support-Core-325-3-Series-318-E30-BMW-325i-M3-BM1225103-41131971102-/231161680121?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ABMW&hash=item35d24f50f9&vxp=mtr

[peterpeter]

Why don't you just buy a new one?

haha. Didn't even think of that. I'm sure that'd be a lot easier than what I'm doing, although this way is a lot cheaper. I guess if I can't get it off easily I'll order one. The good thing is that the car I'm working on at the junkyard had a great condition oil cooler that I picked up for $12.

[marshallnoise]

I have that one from ebay and it is serviceable. Since bodywork hangs off of it, the way it looks doesn't matter so much. But it is not a pretty part.

If you want OEM, get a cordless sawzall and just cut the front end off the donor car and do the spot weld drilling at home. That is what I did when I had to get some other body parts off a donor car in the junk yard.

Here are some pics in my build thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...1&postcount=11