my battery tray and hell hole, advice? Options

[pt_700]

given the caliber of 914 stewardship here, i kind of already know...

i'm in the midst of installing a "new to me" 1.7. not intended to be the "end all, be all" powertrain, this is more of a "tide me over" until i do my long intended small block conversion. as expected, i'm doing a lot of "while i'm in there..." work.

after taking a wire wheel to my battery tray and hell hole, there's more of "less" in the former, while the later is still solid. battery tray support is also still solid. tray itself feels solid, i've been using it as a step to get in and out of the engine bay to do things like body to motor mount bar brackest, upgrade firewall shifter bushing, fuel lines (while i'm in there stuff) etc...

is replacing the battery tray an "i can't believe you haven't done this already?!", or can i put it off a few more years (until the engine upgrade) with rust treatment? the car will almost never see rain, will be driven very occasionally and lives in a garage. anybody have a battery go "walkabout" while driving due to such a tray?

if i'm convinced i should replaced the battery tray now, what's a ballpark figure for that welding job? i have a few friends that weld but, it's a bit more of a favor than i'm comfortable asking, unless my favor balance was well into the black... these particular friends have already helped me way more than i've been able to help them, my conscience dictates monetary payment.

[Superhawk996]

Glad to see you're getting after it and that the metal is pretty solid in Hell Hole. You're really lucky on that account.

Hard to tell from pictures but it seems like you still have quite a bit of corrosion there. I've found that when I apply Ospho or Metal Prep it helps to let it turn black and dry. Then go back and wire wheel it again. Wear a respirator. That digs out more of the rust that Ospho neutralized, and then reapply again. Sometimes I do this 2 -3 times if the rust and pitting was deep.

Eventually you'll find that when you appply the rust neuatralizer that you're not getting nearly as much blackening (rust conversion) meaning there is very little active rust actually left down in the pitting that is getting neutralized.

[Tdskip]

Glad to see you're getting after it and that the metal is pretty solid in Hell Hole. You're really lucky on that account.

Hard to tell from pictures but it seems like you still have quite a bit of corrosion there. I've found that when I apply Ospho or Metal Prep it helps to let it turn black and dry. Then go back and wire wheel it again. Wear a respirator. That digs out more of the rust that Ospho neutralized, and then reapply again. Sometimes I do this 2 -3 times if the rust and pitting was deep.

Eventually you'll find that when you appply the rust neuatralizer that you're not getting nearly as much blackening (rust conversion) meaning there is very little active rust actually left down in the pitting that is getting neutralized.

Exactly how I do it - takes some time but you need to do 3 or 4 cycles like that to make sure the metal is clean. There will always be more rust under the black spots on the first couple passes.

@pt_700 thanks for the update and no need to afford anything! You are getting it done.