Bongo Fury

Just noticed lower brackets which support radiator have rotted away, leaving radiator fixed at top only. This is 2000W reg bongo, anyone else have this, if so how did go about repair.
Thanks.

Interesting. Mike at Wheelquick mentioned they were a weak spot when I was with him (he put a bit of treatment on mine for safety). I'd not spotted a problem so guess it's well hidden?

Are they permanently attached to the rad/bodywork? or could replacements from a scrapper be bolted on? if not I guess it's a matter of finding a friendly welder or replacing the rad.

Thanks for replys, brackets or whats left of them are are welded to body under radiator, made of very thin steel, don't know how radiator attached to them as there very little left of them.

A good welder should have no problem sorting this out. When I lived in Essex I knew a chap who had a sideline in restoring cars, he was a brilliant welder. I ran a Saab 900 for twenty years and the last five years or so were down to his patching up all the holes when the Mot came round.

May be able to cut off the residue & fabricate something to replace them, bolted in place on the body? Shouldn't be too hard.
Have to check mine when I get a chance & it stops raining & blowing a gale

splitpin wrote:Just noticed lower brackets which support radiator have rotted away, leaving radiator fixed at top only. This is 2000W reg bongo, anyone else have this, if so how did go about repair.
Thanks.

Hi Splitpin,
what model do you have,checked parts list for 2.5TD,shows only top brackets, and lower rubber mountings,no lower brackets shown.

Cheers Mal..

I guess they wouldn't be shown on parts list if it's part of the bodywork? The fact that there are lower rubber mountings suggest they have to sit on/in something?

This might help, "front panel" in "bodywork" section on lushprojects- http://www.lushprojects.com/bongopartsm ... mgno=.html - Part 53-160B looks like the support bar that goes under the rad, with 2 mounting points on it that look about right for lower rad mountings.

Thanks for all replys, think your right missfixit 53-160B looks same, now have to figure how to remove bumper etc to get access for repair. Am thinking of using two solid rubber blocks glued to cross member instead of metal brackets.

You can get replacement front cross members, for example this one that recently sold on ebay for £55: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... TQ:GB:1123

There is another supplier who has 10 in stock, but to change the whole thing requires some serious spot welding to hold it in place as it's part of the chassis.

Is the air-con rad or the main one? These is what the air-con ones look like & even though they had some surface rust, there was still loads of life left in them:







This pic shows the rad mounting point on the rear of the cross member:



Once you get it fixed up, ensure its treated properly & waxoyled inside & out:

Kin hell Simon , I know you said you'd had a lot to do, top job

teenmal wrote:

splitpin wrote:Just noticed lower brackets which support radiator have rotted away, leaving radiator fixed at top only. This is 2000W reg bongo, anyone else have this, if so how did go about repair.
Thanks.

Hi Splitpin,
what model do you have,checked parts list for 2.5TD,shows only top brackets, and lower rubber mountings,no lower brackets shown.

Cheers Mal..

Hi Splitpin,
Sorry for the info,thought you meant the cooling system radiator.

Malc..

Thanks teenmal and Simon, yes is air con radiator and those are the supports that have rotted away, cross member looks good though so wouldn be thinking of replacing that, once can get access should be able to sort some sort of replacement supports without too much hassle.

If you remove the bumper then its quite easy to get to the brackets. Unbolt the top brackets & then you can lift the rad out the way just enough to access them. I dont think it would be too tricky to fabricate some new ones - they could just be riveted in place over the existing ones.

The front bumper is not too bad to remove once you've located the two main nuts at the front of the chassis rails. There are another 2 bolts (either side of the number plate). Then there are 2 small screws into plastic inserts in the wings & 2 bolts for the brackets inside the wheel arch that stops the bottom corners flopping around. Finally, there are some 'scrivets' that pass thru holes on the front cross-member. These may unscrew, or can be drilled out.