Removing body parts... any pitfalls?
 

Not talking about pulling out kidneys to sell on Ebay so I can afford a tank of petrol, but car body parts! In preparation for a respray I'm gonna be pulling the front bumper, passenger side front fender and passenger door this weekend. Just wanting to make sure it should be straightforward or if there are any little things that could be annoying and would need getting my head around first.

Cheers for any thoughts :)

Be careful of breaking bolts. UGH I always break at least one when removing a body part.

Drill tiny holes in various places near where the fasteners are. That way when you put it back together, you can use the drill bit (or whatever fits) to realign the gaps. Makes it MUCH easier.

Get a friend to help you with the door...
It's heavy!


-Ted

Instead of doing that, I prefer to use a sharpie marker and making some index marks at key points along the panels to simplify their alignment on reassembly. Gets the job done without the need to drill holes or the possibility that the fresh holes could encourage corrosion issues later.

Will spray all the nuts and bolts with liquid wrench for a while and hopefully they'll come off without too much hassle. Have got a whole new front end (bumper, both side fenders) to go on. If I have any serious problems, I'm fully armed with zipties!

I know the door is heavy. Couldn't believe that thing bring it up the set of stairs to my 2nd floor apartment! I take it there's a heavy support bar in there? Might have to cut that out if I ever fit a rollcage in this thing.

This is a good tip.

just for reference even with the easiest of parts theres always something that pops up thats unforseen. the only thing i hate about working on FCs. it does keep you guessing tho lol.

and who knows what you could find in those empty areas. i found a spark plug in my firewall ahaha.

+1 i was gonna say the same thing.. it works great (personal experience)

This is also a good idea :)


its really not hard to take the stuff off... some parts may be tricky if you havent done it before... like the fenders for example... 2 bolts by the front of the door, 4 or 5 under the hood.. and 4 that hold the bumper to the fenders. you will need to take your splash gaurds out of your fenders to get to 3 of them and you will want to raise your headlights to get to the 4th cause its kinda in the upper front corner of the fender.:banghead:

Also, getting rear bumpers on is a pain in the ass, and I've never been able to get it done alone.

^^^^agreed..... if youre gonna try it alone...especially on new paint.. tape up the corners of the quarter panels reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll good :)