I'm ready to re-install the front clip on my 78 vette. I had to remove it to fix the birdcage which was rusted through. So, the questions are: What is the procedure for mounting the front clip with regards to alignment?
Should I mount the front first and then align the doors to it, or the doors first and align the front to them?
What parts forward of the radiator mount should be installed prior to the front clip going back on? vacuum tank, bumper mounts, headlights..
What should an approximate value be for the door gaps?

Thanks for any help,

Kipp

 

Putting the clip back on is a pretty involved process, I don't have mine back on yet. But, reading has told me this:
Headlight assemblies on the clip before installation
Align doors to the door sill and rear clip first, then align clip to doors
Depending on how much you removed in the front end, the rad support has to be in place, and the bumper mounts, thats part of the clip alignment
Get the gaps even as possible top to bottom and as close to the same as the rear door gap as you can.

Like I said, I haven't done mine yet, So some other guys will chime in.

 

Pretty good advice above,..especially the part about installing the headlight assemblies to the hood-surround prior front clip install.

You can still shim the front of the doors in and out to help with alignment without altering your gaps in the back of the doors. You will probably have to do this in order to make the hood gaps look good.

What are you using for body adhesive?

 

I did mine about 8 years ago. There's plenty of prep work, and if you take your time checking and re-checking gaps and fit you should come out with a hood that fits well. I did it by myself, but I would recommend you have someone help you. I was younger then, and if I had to do it again, I would get some help.

When I did mine, per Ecklers fiberglass guru (I forgot his name...sorry) the critical alignment is that the front end needs to be aligned to the hood . Not sure why the headlights had to be in (mine weren't), unless there was some weight issue.

Inner fender wells and radiator temporarily installed, then slide the (one piece) front end on, attach the hood hinges and mounts. Align the front end clip to the hood assuring all gaps are correct using shims on the radiator shroud, nose support rod, hood hinges as necessary. Depending on your front end, you will want to rough cut the edges of the front clip to roughly match the front edges of your doors, leaving enough to do final trimming later, assuming the doors are aligned properly on the back edges etc. Be careful as you do not want to damage the front edges of your doors during the process. My clip had about 2" extra in length near the doors. Remember, it's better to leave a little excess and have to trim it back later than to cut off too much (the old measure twice, cut once rule!)

Bond the inner fender wells to the front clip after you are happy with the hood alignment. After it cures, assure you are still happy with the alignment, if not, you will have to rip it all apart and start over again which is a PITA. Slide the front end forward enough to clear the bonding surfaces on the plenum/firewall.

Put the bonding adhesive on the surfaces around the firewall/plenum and slide the front end on. You will want to use clamps as necessary to assure everything stays lined up. You will want to plan out where you put your clamps PRIOR to doing any bonding (same for the fender well to hood bonding).

Check the alignment to the hood after everything has dried, clean up the door edges. While in the process of aligning everything, I had to do some extra fiberglass work on the hood and the front end around the hood to make sure everything lined up properly. I must have put everything on (dry fitted) 4 or 5 times before I was happy with the gaps BEFORE I did any bonding.

I think this pretty well covers it. Like I said, it was 8 years ago when I did this, so someone can add some details/do's and don't's as they feel necessary.

Good luck!!!

 

I did mine last year.

I don't see why the headlights have to be in. If the iron reinforcements of the hood surround haven't been removed.

Mine was reassembled with the inner skirts in place, which makes it somewhat easier I guess.

I first mounted the front horn etc, so that the radiator support could be mounted to it. I mounted it as good as i could, then mounted the doors and tried to make alignment between doors and the front end as good as they could get, making adjustments as I was going on (don't forget to adjust the front horn heigth as this will in or decrease the gap at the doors either on the top or the bottom). When if finally was satisfied with the result I screwed in those selftaping screws at various places on the firewall etc.

Then I removed the screws, put the epoxy glue on it where it bonds to the firewall. Next I had someone help me with lifting the front and putting it back on in a hurry, then really fast, trying to find the holes where the screws went in and ligned everything back up ok. Then went to have a beer for the long hard day of work

 

On my 73, with the big vacuum tank/bumper support assembly installed, it's very difficult to install the headlight assemblies. There's not enough room, and the HL assy's have to be taken apart and reassembled above the big bumper support. And that is hard, especially in your driveway. At least that's my experience with the one car (73) I did.

 

I got SEM SMC adhesive, 60 minute working time.

 

This must have been one of the 1 piece replacement front ends? I'm returning the stock front clip I removed when fixing the birdcage. There shouldn't be any need to trim the clip I hope.. Along with the headlights, should the bumper be installed to the clip before installing the whole thing to the car?

 

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll hopefully be trying this on the weekend.

Kipp

 

do you guys think that assembling individual panels instead of using a one piece clip would be easier? it seems that more adjustments could be made putting the panels on one at a time. on the other hand, the one piece only (!!!???) has adjustments where it attaches to the rest of the car. what do you think? has anyone done it both ways?
jeff

 

I would think you could run into more problems with bumper fit. I just did a front fender replacement because of a bad previous repair on the front where the bumper attaches. I always use the smc panels. They are expensive but always seem to fit right.

 

Mine was a one piece front end. It needed a bit of work prior to and during the whole process in several places to get it right.

Regarding the bumper, I had read somewhere that some restorers mount the bumper and also align the fiberglass to it. I didn't do it that way, and my bumper fits pretty good. It took some shimming, which is normal. I'm sure NCRS would find something wrong with it, but I was not doing an NCRS restoration as I wanted to drive it. 7958 miles so far since September 30 2005...and I have enjoyed every mile.

 

Make sure you put your doors on first. then the front cap.