My battery tray is failing in the front. I've never had it apart; is this an easy (bolt-up, for example) replacement, or do I have to weld in a new tray?

Alternatively, is there an aftermarket drop-in solution?

L8R

Skip

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Fiero store sells replacements, I haven't had the fun of doing one yet but I will soon since the one in my SE is gone. I'm thinking of getting one of Archies battery relocator kits and putting it in the front.

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Jeff
AOL IM : Only2xsess

See more pics here
http://home.earthlink.net/~jkresge1975/index.html

I've done on two cars. Make sure you get the battery tray and the battery support. They look like one piece on the car, but they come as seperate parts. The original battery mount is welded, but when I changed mine I drilled out the spotwelds and assembled everything with bolts and nuts. You'll need to pull the rear wheel well liner and the interior trim piece that runs under the window behind the seats.

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Rod Schneider, Woodstock, Ga.
White 88 GT :)

I've fixed battery trays on three cars.

On two, the supports were still good, but the tie downs were corroded and useless. I was able to the supports to attach a generic plastic battery box(ala AutoZone) by using sheet metal screws in addition to the original supports to hold the box in position. No hold downs were used since the battery box keeps the battery from moving around, and the vent cover secures it from the top.

On the third car the supports, tie downs, everything was corroded beyond use. We got a replacement 2 piece battery support bracket from GM and bolted it to the firewall and sheet metal on the side. This was the most difficult fix, but it was very secure, and looked like factory original when done.

Good Luck.

FYI:

the tray and support are both still available from GM (I just ordered myself one of each so I have them when mine finally do need replacing). The part number for the support is 20489129 and the tray's part number is 10071787. GMPartsDirect.com has both.

Rodrv6 and g2, do either of you have pics of your non-weld installs of the battery trays? Would you mind posting them if you do? I would be very interested in seeing them.

Many thanks.

I don't have much to add to the above except I used Pop rivets instead of nuts and bolts to attach my support. Not hard work and lots less rust on my driveway. Having the battery out made me give serious thought to relocating the battery up front. There is a lot more room on the front of the engine with it gone.

Hey Skip.

Don't think this was mentioned above. I bought a new tray from GM. Came in the two pieces. My old tray was rusted to hell, but the rear support was still solid. I cut out the old one, leaving the rear support still on (one on firewall), and cut off the old tray leaving about 1 inch on all ends. Then, pop riveted and/or bolted the new tray tightly to the old "supports", and painted it all to match. I only bolted the areas you don't see, and pop riveted the areas you do see. Looks good and was a hell of a lot less work then removing the back insulation, or even welding. It's holding fine for me, and looks great. Think Ed Parks even mentions it somewhere on his site.

I cut off the heat insulation (which you should porbably remove anyways cause water gets trapped behind and promotes corrosion). Then I used sheet metal shears to cut off as much as possible of the rotted tray. Then I used an cutting disc to get at parts that were hard to cut with the shears. Than I grinded it all down with an angle grinder. I painted the newly bare metal, and then I pop riveted it all in with RTV to help reduce rust on the inside.