striper

Has anyone ever done this? I need to know how difficult this might be to do. Getting everything stripped down to the bare part is easy. The actual process of removing it and remounting is what I'm curious about the diificulty of. The body shop that repaired mine didn't get it exactly right and it is affecting a couple of concerns of mine that I'd like to correct.

striper

TTT

Has nobody ever done this by themself?

CHJ In Virginia

I am assuming that you are talking about the plastic liner inside the wheel well. This is an easy remove and install. There are 8-10 10mm screws around the perimeter locations and in the middle. Check the FSM for locations if necessary. Remove them, pry the liner loose from under the car body work and remove. Should take you < 30 minutes to get it out and the same amount of time to put it back in. When reinstalling, do not tighten the screws down completely till you have them all started, makes finding all the screw holes much easier.

striper

The part I'm talking about is the entire wheel well assembly. The fender, headlight assembly and front bumper all attach to it. You have to remove all those parts from it and then there are four bolts that attach the well assembly to the frame where the door hinges are attached. The reason I'm concerned is because the next part is that you have to cut it from where it is glued to the frame. Then you'd need to cut away the glue residue and reglue it to the frame. I just wanted to know if anybody has done this and how difficult it might be to do and and get realigned properly. the hood to fender gap is a little wider on the left side compared to the right and the hood latch is slightly off when you close the hood because the well needed to be closer to the frame by about 3/16" when it was glued on. It's a lot of work to correct for what some people might think is aminor issue. It bugs me and sticks out like a sore thumb.

bdhigs

I'd like to understand this, too. Mine is now removed... removal isn't bad at all.

My lingering question is what kind of adhesive and where to purchase. Hopefully my post will help spur on discussion here to aid the OP and myself.

yooper

Might want to post in the Autocross/Roadrace section.

04Dave

I just had to replace the outer portion of the LF (drivers) front wheelhouse . Mine had been in an accident and never repaired correctly. The old glue is easily removed using a heat gun, peel it as you heat it. I had to remove the old glue and re-attach the whole wheel house as well as glue on a replacement outer portion. If you are correcting the panel alignments, you must build shims to keep the whole wheelhouse the correct height (front pad which sits on the frame just below the hood hinge) and the frame to wheelhouse verticals. I used a stack of washers and drill a hole through the wheelhouse (to match a 3/8 hole in a steel riser) at one of the vertical steel plates inboard from the a frame attach point. You can not really go wrong at the door post as the 4 attach bolts hold that correctly. Be sure to put sufficient glue between the wheelhouse and the panel inboard from the 4 bolt attach point as that space is fairly large and very easy to misjudge.

I used the 3M glue available through AutoBody ToolMart. I used the 3M Automix SMC / Fiberglass Panel Adhesive - 08219 and required 2 - 200 ml units of it. You must also buy the automix gun 3M Manual 200 mL Cartridge Applicator Gun - 08571
The frame must still have the 2 part epoxy primer on it or the glue will not stick. I use the 3M stuff as the instructions on use etc are easily downloadable from their website. 3M Adhesives Coatings and Sealants Application Guide
http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawe...6EVs6E666666--

You can download all of the instruction bulletins from the Autobody Toolmart site of from 3M.

The service manual calls for Lord Fusor 127 adhesive which is also available from Autobody Toolmart. The Fusor is a bit less expensive as you get 100 ml more for the same dollar approx. But I used the 3M as I could get all of the instructions for it.
BTW the fender to hood lines can be adjusted by moving your fender in and out by loosening the mounting screws along the hood line and they can be raised to match hood height by adding washers between the fender and the wheelhouse (paint them black so they will not be seen).

It is important to check all of your alignments or you may not be happy when you are done - door to fender - fender to hood - especially the height at the front fascia and hood. Hope this helps

04Dave

This is the tech spec for the 3M stuff


http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawe...66s7n0COrrrrQ-


the Helms repair manual calls for Fusor 127


http://www.lord.com/products-and-sol...duct.xml/310/2

Konrad

Take a look at my thread from a few years ago, there's some good info on there that may help you...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...-question.html

I bought a damaged z06 which I wanted to fix, which included damaged wheelhouses on both sides. I had to take both off and reinstall both. It was a pain, but doable.

The glue/caulk that's used is very hard and strong. When I was taking the old pieces off, I used a hammer and a flat head to knock off the old glue from the rest of the body. It came off pretty easy, just a lot of banging.

What I also did was, I left little reference marks for my self for when I installe the new pieces. I left little pieces of the old glue and wheelhouse to know exactly how far in, front, back, high, low I had to go. Remember, how precisely you install these, will depend on how aligned your body panels will be afterwards, especially the fenders and bumper to the hood.

I got the black glue from a local body shop. I don't remember what part number it was, but it was 3M.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

When

Konrad

Dave also makes a good point here and kind of reinforces what I said. Think of the old glue as a shim for the new pieces. Leave little, about one inch pieces of the old stuff, here and there to get the proper alignment.

04Dave

The only issue with using the old glue in this case, is that he is trying to correct a misalignment caused by a previous installation. If he uses the old glue as shim stock (which the repair manual recommends) then he may end up with the problem he is trying to correct. (incorrect panel spacing) My recommendation is that the wheelhouse is installed and temporarily fastened in place then install the fender so that he can check all of the spacing alignments (especially the door to fender). He will have to make up custom shims for spacing (that space will end up being the glue joint). Once he is happy with all the gaps, take it apart and glue the wheelhouse to the frame, etc. (There are a couple of places above the frame rail where you can install some temp fasteners)
Be careful which glue you use as you do need working time, some of it hardens very quickly. The 3M 8219 has a 30 minute work time and 2 hour handling time - sets up hard in 24 which I found was lots of working time. Read the spec sheets!!!: Lots of fun!! you can do it over again - just takes another $80.00 in glue!!! canadaflag:

bdhigs

Big thumbs up to Dave and Konrad! Thanks guys for chiming in here. Good bad or otherwise I ended up buying a can of the GM adhesive that I found referenced in GM service manual. Another couple days here and it'll be test fit and glue time.

Konrad

You're right Dave, sorry striper. I was at work so I was trying to read the original post as quick as possible and post a reply. I missed the part about the shop screwing it up.

In this case, my advice would be to, before you take everything apart, inspect the misalighnment very carefully- gaps between fender/hood, bumper/hood, door etc. Make note of which way it has to go. It doesn't take much to correct that gap.

Also make note which direction the wheelhouse is seated correctly, if any. If the gap is good between the fender and the door, for example, I'd leave a small piece of that glue on the firewall as a shim and resting point for the piece not to be able to go back any further, and take the rest off. It's hard to align every direction at once. Like Dave said, that stuff sets in quickly so just try to make it as easy as possible for yourself to align the wheelhouse when you're ready to put it on.

If not, Dave's point about using screws and shims is very good. In my case, I had to use the wooden door shims you can get at home depot, to adjust the wheenhouse on one side.

Take your time and it'll make things a lot easier if you have a second set of hands to help you with this.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Konrad

Good luck to you too and no problem.