924Board.org

[Mkol]

Hey folks, ive just finished the welding on my very rusty battery tray.

(Anyone who has done this with beautiful neat welds i salute you, this has to be the hardest most awkward weld job ive done!)

Im torn between several options for the next step on top of the steel to fully achive water tightness.

1. seam sealer.
2. fibreglass
3. rubberised tape / flashband stuff

I had initially been planning on using seam sealer but I have been reading this site https://924s944.com/2021/07/06/the-battery-box/
where they suggest using the rubber tape etc...

Could anyone who has done this let me know what they did and if they think it was successful?

many thanks.

Untitled by Martin Kolarides, on Flickr

Untitled by Martin Kolarides, on Flickr

Untitled by Martin Kolarides, on Flickr

[scm924s]

Before doing anything else, you need to weld in a bolt/stud for the battery clamp, and fabricate and weld in a bracket to locate the base of the battery to stop it sliding about.
_________________
1984 n/a Ruby Red Metallic
1988 924S Guards red- sold
1986 924S Guards Red - sold
1984 n/a Black - sold
1980 n/a Le Mans#1 - sold
1980 n/a Le Mans#2- sold
1977 Martini - sold

[Mkol]

Thanks for the reminder!

I’m seriously considering relocating the battery however, probably to the spare wheel well, I’ve always thought the design of the battery tray functionality as a rain gulley is flawed, I’m also not sure I will have enough height for a battery now given I’ve raised the level somewhat.

[924RACR]

I repaired mine a couple of times; well, one steel repair, and then a re-seal from improperly sealing it the first time.

I used POR15 brand seam sealer, with POR15 coating over the top of both the seam sealer and the bare metal.
https://www.eastwood.com/por15-por-patch-black-seam-sealer.html

It's worked very well, and in fact just went through a monsoon yesterday with my Turbo; the part that's sealed with this POR15 is working great.

Unfortunately, there's still a bit above my foot that isn't! Gotta get back in there and do more...
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Mkol]

has anyone else got any thoughts on this...i must admit with the 924 tendency to rot out here i thought there would be no shortage of suggestions!

[barnwerks]

Since you are asking;
The repair pictured has too much welding and not enough cutting.
The enclosed area between the battery tray and the inner fender wall should be included in the repair as it shares the floor with the battery tray. This area can be inspected and accessed by cutting a window thru the inner fender wall.
The overlap of steel panels should be kept to a minimum and be spot, plug (rosette) or tack welded only. Continuous weld beads introduce too much heat and are not necessary. Professional grade auto body seam sealer creates the water tight seam, not the welding.
The referenced article promoting hardware store tape and goop, while well written, is not a proper repair.
Note that a weld zone pretreatment (immediately preceding welding) with muriatic acid helps to reduce the weld contamination from a (zinc) galvanized substrate.

[ChrisMadge]

Raptor bed liner or some other thick epoxy based coating with give you a durable and waterproof layer over your repair.
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1984 MY 924 2.0 NA
1975 MG Midget