Ok. I am in the process of replacing a one piece front clip with a correct GM front clip from a donor car and have a few questions.

1. I have to replace the metal support bar that goes under the
surround panel that you bolt the rear of the headlights to and also
the front nose metal bar that the front of the headlights also bolt
to. Placement of the front nose bar is no problem but my plan for the rear
headlight support bar, was to mount the headlights and clamp the
bar in place, check for proper movement of the headlights and then
mark the bar position then bond it in place, is this correct?
Also what adhesive would you recommend?

2. The donor clip has the fender wells still in place. Can I leave them
where they are? or do I have to remove them and follow the
procedure that Ecklers shows in their fiberglass repair book?

3. There are a few repairs that need to be made on the donor clip. One
is a small crack on the top lip of the fender wheel opening about an
1.5" long and also the passenger side drip edge on the surround
panel is cracked about 8 inches long, this will most likely be the
hardest to repair being that its such a thin area.
My question is, should I repair these problems before mounting
the clip or go ahead and install the clip and make the repairs on the
car being that the clip will be firm and stable.

4. Last question (I doubt it) While the clip is off, I thought about
using Captain Lee's Spra Strip on the clip to remove all the paint in
order to make sure there are no other repairs that I cannot see.
The way it sits now, when I look at the under side of the clip all I
can see is the typical gray fiberglass panels with the bonding strips,
so if there have been any repairs they were not cut all the way
through the panels. Would you strip to check for additional repairs?

I know its a long read but I do appreciate all your help.

 

1. No need to install the head lamps. There should be a raised area in the shape of the V for the support bar.
2 I would leave the wells in place they pretty much set the hood height and for and aft. You need to test fit and see where you are at.
3. I would do all the repairs after the clip is set
4 I would strip it before
I have used fusor panel adhesive made by Lord Corp.. They have diffrent setup times. You need a special gun to dispence the adhesive.

 

What he said.

Lord Fusor 147 is what I used for basically the same job you are talking about (header bar). The nose bar is held on by large head pop rivets.

Steve

 

The header bar is not in place, I need to install that as well as the nose bar. My question is how to you get proper alignment without installing the headlights. It's my understanding that the header bar placement is critical for smooth operation of the headlight clearance.

 

Look under the hood surround where the header bar goes. Look for a raised lip along the edge of the hood opening. The header bar will butt up to the lip. Being a V shape it will center itself against the lip.