Rad support question

[Mitchum]

The previous owner replaced the rad support on my S14 and ive come to realize that the support is not straight. I'm curious as to if I need to redo the support before I push on and install the rad?

It is un even towards the passenger side If that matters.

Thanks

[Buck01]

It depends if the support is not that badly bent then i say go for the radiator install...but you might want to redo if it is bent up to avoid problems in the future.

[Mitchum]

I suppose I should claryfy. It's not bent. It got replaced with a brand new oem support after a crash. It's installed properly. Just not lined up correctly with the rest of the car. It's a few centimeters off towards the passenger side. It's lop-sided I suppose.

[Hijacker]

What you can do is check to see if the metal around the support is what's off center. Get a service manual from http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM Inside the manual will be a section for the body and it will have measurements from corner to corner for every possible angle in the engine bay. More than likely, if the car saw a front end collision, the support was bent as well as the fender liners. The suspension was straight, so nothing more than replacing the damaged support was done. You can use the manual to try and wrestle the support and its surrounding sheet metal back into the proper places.

There's also a really good thread on here about rust restoration. In it, the poster shows step by step one of the best methods for replacing the supports both upper and lower. You might want to take a look at it and compare it to the job the previous owner did.

[Mitchum]

thanks for that link, Ive been looking to get a hold of a service manual. I guess tomorrow ill take out the old tape measure and pray for the best.