Radiator core support / frame

[supertruck]

Car is a 73 Dart 340 Sport. Adding a Champion 26" radiator with the Contour electric fans. The radiator frame on the body, along the sides of the radiator, has a slight bend on each side. How it got there I don't know, but I want to straighten it out before mounting the new radiator. The bends are just above where the radiator frame attaches to the front frame rails. I can't see any welds from the frame rails to the radiator support, but I also cannot straighten the support sides with them connected to the frame. How does the radiator support frame attach to the frame rails? I'll have to cut them loose, straighten the supports, then weld them back to the frame. I'd like to know if they're already welded from the factory, or just pressed together somehow.

 

[sireland67]

Welded to the front frame, and to the inner fenders, I suggest do not take it off, just hammer and dolly in place.

 

[72bluNblu]

A picture of what you’re describing would go a long way...

 

[supertruck]

Will get pics tomorrow. Hard to describe clearly.

 

[supertruck]

Here's the pics. Not a terrible bend, but right above the frame rail attachment. Trying to get it straightened out so the new radiator will fit tight to the frame.

 

[72bluNblu]

Minor front end collision. It bent right above the strongest attachment because that’s the point that moves the least. The frame rails take the most to move, so the hit travelled through the support to where it was attached to the rails and bent there because the rails didn’t move as much as the support did.

It doesn’t look bad, you can probably just knock it back into square and go with it. It’s totally overkill but if it were my car I’d probably pull the diagonal measurements on the front rails and compare them to the frame specs in the manual. But I’m kind of overly cautious about stuff like that, engineer thing.

 

[supertruck]

If it was from a collision the damage was fixed before I got the car. I've been over the front end with the rebuild and everything except this is good. I will take some measurements while everything is easy to get to. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[72bluNblu]

If it was from a collision the damage was fixed before I got the car. I've been over the front end with the rebuild and everything except this is good. I will take some measurements while everything is easy to get to. Thanks for the suggestion.

Yeah, with that amount of damage I wouldn't really expect to find anything else out of whack. But I know I would check just for piece of mind, even if I didn't expect to find anything.

So once you don't find anything , you could just use a dead blow hammer and a wooden block to straighten it back up. Shouldn't be a big deal.