After finally getting the wiper door to work(a year in progress), now my only problem is the door is hitting the grill. I have the grill adjusted all the ay to the front of the car, and the wiper door i cant seem to fond any adjustments on it? The stop screws are not hitting, is there any other front back adjustment?

 

Hi AC,
The best way to move the door toward the windshield is to put shims between the door hinge mechanism mounting points and the firewall.
GM actually had a small rectagular shim with 2 holes in it for this use.
#3926484, 71 AIM, UPC1, Sheet D3, Item 5.
I made some for my 71.
Regards,
Alan

 

and what about from the grill and the wiper door. I have almost zero clearance there. I have the grill adjusted all the way forward, and the wiper door just barely clears. All i did was put in new bolts and bushing, is there an adjustment here that i have missed?

 

Hi Ace,
I elongated the holes in the wiper grill with a rat-tail file to gain just a little more clearance between the grill and door.
I found that all the nylon bearings on the mechanism need to be in good shape so the door actually moves all the way BACK before it starts it's way DOWN. IT CAN BE A NIGHTMARE!
I had the most problems getting the gaps between the ends of the door and grill even on each side, even with each other, even with the hood and even with the fender. I hope whomever designed those parts isn't laughing at us all and what we're going through.
Regards,
Alan

 

Like Alan said, the wiper door mounting points on the verticle section of the firewall can be spaced reward with shims and the grille holes can be slotted to move it back and forth. If you really want to make a good installtion and are having trouble it helps to have a friend with a machine shop with a 4ft long belt sander and you can lay out your desired gap with pinstriping tape and sand the SNOT out of the wiper door until you have your desired perfect gap like I decided to do on my wife's 70 LT-1 after discarding the old wiper door with broken bolts and drilled out holes (Bubba had been there!.)

 

It should be all adjusted by the slots in the firewall that the linkage is secured by. My door was froze open from lack of use. I took out everything {linkage and door} about 4 days later with every solvent known to man it finally became acceptable to reinstall with the door attached. By manually moving the rack/linkage or 'whatever' with the verticle mounting firewall bolts semi tight so I could move it around with paint stirring sticks to get the gaps straight and matching, it was not too difficult to center everything. I then attached the grill which has minor slots to get it correct between the hood and grill too...I wouldn`t cut/grind on the grill, once gone, you can`t get it back as it will come in .. Heres proof and this is about as good as it gets.

 

Walter, Is'nt your '68 a real L88 car? or is it a clone L88? .. I'm asking that because I was surprised when I noticed a radio in it.

 

looking at your car and comparing it to mine, i have large gap between my hood and the grill. I will post pictures later on, but does anyone else run into this issue?

 

Nice work, Ironcross. Your gaps are a little closer than factory.

 

Hi Ace,
Since you mention the hood to grill gap... what is the gap like at the front of the hood to the front of the surround. Does the hood need to come back a bit?
Regards,
Alan

PS: There's a Checking Dimension in the AIM... 3.08" to 3.12" from front corner of the Access Door to the rear corner of the Hood. What do you have?

 

well i would need to know what the access door is?

 

I'd bet if you looked roughly 3" ahead of the rear corner of the hood you'll know.

 

Hardly no one knew what a L88 was back in 1967-68 outside of racers....and long before the NCRS and the today's matching numbers ...You could order a Vette nearly anyway you wanted except with a L88 engine. That car was produced without a heater,radio, and fan shroud as you now well know. Also at that time no T400`s or air conditioning was available with any solid lifter engine. So, I got together with a dealer ordering a L71 without any horsepower robbing crap, and after a few hundred miles I returned it to the dealer and he installed a new crate L88 engine. Overnight I had a street driven 11 second Vette that no one else had, plus it carried a 5 year 50K warranty.... The car has from day one been referred to as Wallys Yellow 88. Clone hell, it was the best of the best that was offered at that time and had a radio and heater too....Its no different than the Berger, Yanko or whoever Camaro transplants...The numbers dont match on them either....Oh, the dealer kept the OE L71, but I got the tri power....and still have it...

I used several L88`s in drag boats and one in my 68 396 El Camino with T400 and air conditioning after only 700 miles on the speedometer...As far as I know that was never done either. Another unusual use is in the pictures below ...for a pair of them...








By today's standards it would be referred to as a clone, but so are the Bergers and Yenkos and whatever's...and its been one all its being and nearly 28,000 of its 28086 actual miles...I really dont refer to my toys as clones, I prefer originals as GM never did them the same way I did...I tried to order them first and finally did them "My Way"....:

for anyone not familiar, check out the Corvette picture gallery on the left, some more one off interesting things...And that's the story behind the Yellow 88...one bitchen ride....

 

Thank you so much Walter for the very interesting information. Well, I'm %100 agree with what you said, I never seen the "matching numbers" thing so fancy, and now I'm searching for a project chrome-bumper vette just to build it the way "I" want it, and to do things to it that I just can't do with my original, numbers matching LS5 coupe.

 

Hi Ace,
I'm not sure what you're asking. The 'access door' is the 'wiper door'.
Ideally there should be 3 1/8" inches between the front of it and the rear of the hood.
I'd install the wiper grill so it splits the remaining gap between the hood and the wiper door.
I ended up with 3/16" between the front surround and the hood, 1/4" between the rear of the hood and the front of the wiper grill and 3/16" between the rear of the wiper grill and the front of the wiper door. I didn't want to elongate the holes in the grill anymore so I left the difference and it seems to look fine.
I have 3 3/16" from the rear of the hood to the front of the wiper door (the AIM says 3 1/8"). I'd have to move the hood back to get that but I don't want to change the gap at the front of the hood.
My observation is that the size of the gap doesn't matter nearly as much as having the gap be even from side to side. That's what catches your eye.
Regards,
Alan

 

ok thank you, i will measure and try to align it later on