Cut beam under dash?

[Jbbishop2]

I found this horizontal beam cut under my dash, behind the glove box:
1653 1654

Does anybody know why this would have been done, or have any ideas?

Thanks,

John

[Burntboot]

John.
Looks like someone decided to make it "easy" to replace the blower motor.
Sadly that is about one of the worst "mods" there is, (being a structural member).
Hopefully someone around here has a spare.

On the upside, once you get it corrected, I bet a LOT of rattles and noises will go away!
BB

[Jbbishop2]

Thanks, Burntboot. I may try welding it up with some reinforcement behind it.

[Burntboot]

My only worry would be all that plastic and wiring in behind and the difficulty of accessing the area.
Would it be worth considering bolting in a patch until you need to go deeper into the dash for other things?
Would give you time to source a replacement.
BB

[Jbbishop2]

>My only worry would be all that plastic and wiring in behind and the difficulty of accessing the area

I'd worry about that, too! I wouldn't weld anything in place, only if I could take the two parts out and make them one. Bolting in a support is a good idea, though.

[timsrv]

It's bad enough having a frontal crash in a forward control vehicle when all the structural components are intact. I'd certainly not want to be in yours during such an event. I'd rather have a broken heater than have that crash-bar cut. Some people :dizzy:.