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My front nose just arrived from Zip and looks like it's going to fit reasonably well.
Tonight I drilled out a couple of holes in the new cover and loose fitted it to the car. The fit across the top seems nice, but due to some previous damage to the lower corners of the fenders, we'll have to build them up to match the bumper cover.
I'll post a few shots when we start the glass work.
Before you start building glass on the fenders use a heat gun to loosen the bonding between the lower front fenders and the inner fenderwells.
This gives you a lot of movement on the lower fenders to help align the bumper cover. Chances are when prior damage occurred the body shop loosened and re-bonded to make their work fit.
my opinion only
your mileage may vary
Before you start building glass on the fenders use a heat gun to loosen the bonding between the lower front fenders and the inner fenderwells.
This gives you a lot of movement on the lower fenders to help align the bumper cover. Chances are when prior damage occurred the body shop loosened and re-bonded to make their work fit.
my opinion only
your mileage may vary
Thanks for the advice. I think I have to go the other way. My lower fenders are hanging below the low point on the bumber cover. The fender flange is cracked so I'll have to jack the lower fender up to close the crack and re-glass. That's the plan, hopefully it will work.
I am working on mine too, I bought mine from Wilcox. The fit was very close except for the right side top edge. It held the side and front out from the rest of the car. That fender had been replaced a while ago so maybe that was the cause. Anyway, I fit it to the car and then took it off for block sanding and painting. I have it sealed/primed and am waiting for some more 70 degree days before I top coat it.
Here is where I am so far: Bumper replacement
I know you want to get it straight but...as a point of reference, check out how well the factory lined up the bumper on my '82. Note the driver's side. The rear bumper is just as bad.
I am working on mine too, I bought mine from Wilcox. The fit was very close except for the right side top edge. It held the side and front out from the rest of the car. That fender had been replaced a while ago so maybe that was the cause. Anyway, I fit it to the car and then took it off for block sanding and painting. I have it sealed/primed and am waiting for some more 70 degree days before I top coat it.
Here is where I am so far: Bumper replacement
Looks Cool Dude.
I'm worked on it a little tonight and find I have to break the bonding strip loose on the Passenger side to raise the bottom of the fender up.
I'm not sure exactly where your fitment issues are, but I found when putting a new fender on my 81 that unless you have the bond broken back quite a ways, it's really hard to move the fender much. But if you don't have to gain much, maybe it'll work.
Here are a few shots of the new nose fitment. As you can see there is still a lot of work to be done. Hopefully we'll be able to get the bottom corner of the fender raised to meet the bumper.
I am replacing mine now too. It was about 1/4" short on the drivers side. The rest seems to fit pretty well. I've built it up with 3 layers of glass. A skim of bondo-glass and a lot of sanding and I'll be good to go.
If you break the bond to the inner fender from the bottom edge up about 10-12 inches you'll gain a lot of flex to align the front bumper. Then when you're satisfied with the fit, re-bond the inner fender to the outer to maintian the shape.