Hey guys, well the battery tray in my 91 Trans Am is rotted to hell. The PO left a leaky battery sitting in it and it left an awful mess. I brought the car to a few shops today to get quotes, ranging from $200 to $1800 (wtf?!). The car also has a few small rust holes on the driver's side rocker panel. One shop wanted $200 to spot weld the holes in the rocker plus welding in a new battery tray. Another shop wanted $1800, except they were gonna cut out and replace the WHOLE wheel well along with the strut tower (that 1 big piece that's connected to the battery tray) and they were gonna cut out the entire rocker panel and weld in a new one. I personally think that's unnecessary, especially for the money involved. Here are a few pictures of what's getting fixed:







What do you guys think? I personally don't see a reason why the WHOLE wheel well/strut tower piece has to be replaced. I think that just cutting out the rusty battery tray and welding in a new one is just fine. The cheaper shops said that they can fabricate a new piece with sheetmetal and then coat it so it doesn't rot out again. Same deal with the rocker panels. And if anybody knows a person (or if YOU are one) that does good auto welding at a good price in Central Connecticut, let me know! Either through private message or this thread, doesn't matter. Thanks guys!

EDIT: This car is a convertible, that's why the rocker panels may look different than on a regular hardtop car.

 

Yep, just cut out the old one and weld a piece of sheet metal in there.

I wouldn't have the whole wheel well cut out. That's ridiculous.

Whoever you have install a new battery tray, maybe suggest to weld in a thicker gauge of sheet metal why they are at it. I don't know, maybe 14 gauge, look at what they got or see what they think of that suggestion.

 

The battery tray is part of the wheel well support and from the pictures, I will have to agree with the body shops opinions. Looks like the battery could of dropped on the tire and that would been fun.
I went though that same situation and said "it is just a battery tray", but in the end I had it done right with everything welded in with a new tray and metal for the wheel well.

 

Yeah but that doesn't explain why I'd need a whole new freakin' wheel well. Just cut the rust out and weld in a piece to cover up the hole. It just seems natural. The rest is perfectly fine; its just that the battery tray and only a small part of the wheel well is eaten up.

 

I didn't mean to sound rude by the way, thanks for the opinion. It's just that I'm on a really tight budget.

 

the tray is a separate piece from the wheel well and strut tower, its spot welded on to the frame, the fender support, the core support and the wheel well. The piece can be removed by drilling all the spot welds. I took mine out that way. They you can get a good one, if you can find one, from the junkyard, cut it out and transfer it. Or get a aftermarket battery tray and graft that in.




like so, worked very well.

now your batteryis obviously on the other side of the car, but its the same amount of work.

 

thats how i did mine I just fabed the stock look after a little seam sealer and pain it looks factory.I also like that after market tray.The tray is just spott welded in connecting to the frame and wheel well no need to replace the wheel well.The tray joins the are but is not very structural.I did mine with minimal fabricating exp.Drill out the old piece and make a carboard template.

 

I actually really like the way yours looks. But my battery is on the driver's side. Is it still spot-welded to the unibody like yours?

 

It looks to me like you could cut out the battery tray and replace with a new one, I would try to keep the original style battery hold down block if it were me doing it. Also the brace next to it looks to be broken off. The other issue that I see looks like the subframe rail is getting rusted out, I think that it is a separate project and needs new metal welded in as well.

 

What brace? And the subframe rail is solid, it just seems to be surface rust. I'll sand that down and paint it down nice and good. And where is the hold-down block supposed to be anyway? It's so rusted I think it just disappeared lol.

 

The brace shows in your second photo. Between the tire and the vacuum ball. It looks like it broke off to me.

The subframe rail shows in the third photo, and looks to be rusted through, aren't those rust holes in it?

The battery hold down bolt hole will be visable to you if you remove the battery. There is a hold down block that screws into it, and that keeps the battery from moving around.

 

Oh yeah! I was assuming you were talking about the frame rail at the front end of the car by the battery tray. Yeah that's the rocker panel I was talking about. That's right underneath the driver's door. I mentioned that and how the body shop guys are gonna spot-weld those holes (the expensive shops wanted to cut out and replace the whole thing!!). And the brace? I think its fine, I don't remember seeing anything broken off when I took that fender off for the picture.

 

I think that the thing you are calling a rocker panel is actually the subframe rail and is a very important structure. If it were me I'd cut out the entire rusted area and weld in new metal there. I suspect that it is rusted on the inside too and will keep rotting if you just have the holes welded and then paint it.

 

Oh gotcha, sorry I thought that was its name lol. Yeah for now I'll have those holes welded up. I'll keep an eye on them, but it's no big deal for now since if they do start rotting again, they're covered by the gfx, so the car won't have to be repainted if I have that panel replaced if need be. But you have a good point.