Rotten battery tray replacement part one

 

 

 

 

Ok removal of the tray is quite simple, a couple of 12mm bolts and a few spot welds secure it in place,

however this tray was in such bad condition it needed to be removed in bits, the air grinder helped but it could be done by hand with a combination of metal shears and and small saw.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the tray is fully removed the lower inner wing section is revealed, even this needs some work.

 

 

The inner wing section is shown cleaned down with a wire brush in the air drill, however a hand wire brush would do it to

 

 

Here is what was left of the old tray.

 

Rotten battery tray replacement part two

 

So now that is done we need to get a donor part, here is the donor part a little bit of surface rust but nothing bad.

 

 

Bolts removed

 

 

 

 

After the bolts are undone the spot welds can be split apart, here I used an air chisel for speed but a cold chisel and hammer would work also.

 

 

 

 

Finally the tray is free to pull up and remove from the donor car.

 

Rotten battery tray replacement part three

 

 

So now a bit of preparation of the new tray, here a wire brush in a grinder was used but a hand wire brush would work also.

 

 

 

 

Here the tray is all clean and ready to be painted.

 

 

The undertray / inner wing section needed a coat of protection paint

 

 

Fitting the tray is straight forward, bolt in the two main bolts and with it sitting in place drill two further fixings and fit using two 10 mm self tapers using half penny washers, we tacked the tray also as we had the equipement to hand however an extra two drilled fixings would be more than adaquate as the tray is not structural and sits on an elevated parts of the inner wings.

 

 

 

Just as a reminder to what it looked like with out scrolling back here is again

 

 

 

Have seen a few of these now and its NOT just a UK zed thing, in fact the deep corrossion is due to battery ACID corrosion and this can happen any time.

 

My advise would be to check your battery tray, many will be in perfect order no doubt but then so many seem to have had similar issue its got to be worth checking.

 

Jeff TT

Edited August 11, 200916 yr by JeffTT

:bow:

Good job there Jeff. I've also noticed that a cracked scuttle or the gap in the rubber at the end of the scuttle allows water in which then drips onto the batt tray. Fixed mine in much the same way, thankfully I only had some surface rust, so didn't need a replacement.

nice one bud, top work mate

:bow:

 

 

 

Thanks son:D

Good job there Jeff. I've also noticed that a cracked scuttle or the gap in the rubber at the end of the scuttle allows water in which then drips onto the batt tray. Fixed mine in much the same way, thankfully I only had some surface rust, so didn't need a replacement.

 

 

Yes very good point, the rain water can wash over the battery and this then drips down as weak acid, in fact could be a potential cause of failing batteries if the cell caps are not water tight.

 

Jeff TT

Nice thread Jeff......

 

.....Helpful as ever :bow:

 

Richard:cool:

No problem! Always good to see some quality workmanship. :)

very good, always top quality

Sorry for the high jack, i put my old clocks on jeff, glued the face plate and all is fine. I will bring you your set back mate around 12:30 if ok.