All right, most of us with older GP's, especially the further north you go, have had plenty of salt on our cars. That shows in rust - rusty rocker panels, rusty lower doors, rusty pinch welds, etc... but especially rusty strut towers. The last one of those is a true death sentence for our cars unless you want to weld in a new strut tower (I have yet to see anyone who has done it).
Me, I live in Ohio and my car's previous owner lived in Grand Rapids... with predictable results.
Sometimes they can get pretty grody in there. Here's a perfect example:
(Image courtesy of RegalGS.com)
Sometimes they punch all the way through, and then your car's pretty well done for. Well, I've got that problem, and set out to find a cheap solution, and would like to share it with everyone.
Materials Needed:
- 2x2 pressure treated plywood
- 2x1 pressure treated plywood
- Gorilla Tape
- Hammer
Total cost less than $10.
1) Cut the pressure treated wood into six inch strips. Home Depot did this for me for free.
2) Wrap the wood strips in gorilla tape. Especially the 2x2's. This is so the wood is less likely to split under pressure.
3) Wedge as many as you can in near and around the strut tower.
4) Use the 2x1's to fill any gaps remaining. Hammer them in.
Enjoy putting off a busted strut tower for months, hopefully years. Eventually as the strut tower rusts away the pressure will be put on the wood instead.
You won't be replacing that strut ever again, though.
The wood as bought.
Wedging them in. A 2x2 works best, it's just about the right height.
Hammered a 2x1 in there as an afterthought.
Happy Motoring.
Originally Posted by Russosaur
