Hi all,

Was wondering if anyone has replaced their front bulkhead and if any welding was required? The front bulkhead has the headlights in it.

Mine has some damage from hitting a deer years ago.

Thanks,
Jamie

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That's technically called a core support and it's not that hard to change. It's fastened with spot welds along a few seams, some of which need to be drilled out, other seams can simply be cut as long as you can mig the replacement into place. If welding isn't an option then you'll have to retain some amount of the existing flanges to allow you to rivet the new core support to the chassis. I chose to cut the areas in the red circles and will weld those seams closed but I drilled and chiseled the spot welds along the lower edge. I will likely weld that back together as well however cutting that area was more difficult. There's also a small ear at the leading edge of the inner fender that I chiseled free and bent up out of the way.

Both sides are essentially the same however another potential hurdle will be the AC. The small line that goes to the drier passes through the core support so if you have working AC you'll need to have the system evacuated so you can undo the line. You should replace the drier in this instance, they're not expensive. Otherwise, no fluids need to be drained for the process and this truck runs and drives as shown in the pic. Then you undo the two large bolts at the front edge, disconnect the hood release cable and out comes the core support. A pre-facelift truck may be slightly different but the concept should be the same. This is an 04 in the pic below.

Edit: I guess it's worth mentioning that I will use the same process to harvest a replacement core support. If you were to buy new then there may be some interference with the various tabs at seams that were cut since a new one will come with all the tabs in tact to spot weld it back in.

 

Standard body two part epoxy can be used to replace panels that were formerly spot welded. Structurally is as strong if not stronger than spot welds.

 

Thanks for the replies! Exactly what I needed to know. I'll see what I can do with the next d2 that shows up at the junk yard. My problem is my d2 is kent green and parts are impossible to find. Took me 3 years to find a decent hood.