does anyone make a replacement tray for a rusted out battery tray? Or do I have to fab something?

 

When I got my TA the battery tray was just a bent up thin piece of steel that was help in place my sheetmetal screws...the batteries own weight would pop the screw out...I never found a replacment, made my own. You could always go to a JY and look for a good one.

 

They make them.. I remeber seeing them in some restoration magazine..

 

My firebird seems to have a generic one, its metal housed in a rubbery plastic, so it wont rust, and has a million holes and cross things, so you could bolt it on any way you want. I was too lazy to find the right bolts, so its held in place with 4 zip ties, also no rust issues there.

I can wrestle with it all i like, theres no play in it.

 

For your info. on the uni-body Camaro the battery tray is part of the front fender support.

 

Yeah that uni-body battery tray was not one of GM's better
design decisions. I'm looking at the same problem, and the
probable solution will be to remove what's left, clean & prep
the remaining structure, then attach a generic aftermarket
unit, with stainless fasteners.

 

The only route to go is to weld the new tray in like the old one. Been there and done this repair.

 

like I said before. When I got my 84 the battery tray was just a piece of thin bent steel held in place with screws...sucked. I welding in a nice piece. For that extra strength I had the local machine shop bead roll some lines in it.

 

this is what i did, its a piece from summit it fit really well actually...

 

I like that tray from summit. I need to replace my stocker soon.

The only performance gain to be had would be less weight, right? If we found a lightweight yet similar strength alternative, is there any reason we couldn't do the other front corner to save even more weight?

Yes, uni-body, crashworthy, yada. The factory design is akin to layered beer cans. There is a reason it's designed that way, but firming up the very front corners will be negligable in my opinion. Any weaker and the battery will fall through the car.