Matto'85TA

I crashed my car into a tree. I was leaving my school graduation practice and my throttle jammed and I spun out into a tree. I hit it on my driverside between the foglight and fender. The driver side fender is junk, as is the front GFX/bumper. The metal bar behind is also bent back. The driverside headlight assembly is completly smashed. The other side looks like it also got damaged, though I think the motors are fine though. The front bumper is bashed in, though in one piece, the headlight pod is smashed, the fender is crumpled. The fender damage goes to the wheel well. The car IS drivable. Everything under the hood checks out. Everything is in one piece except the headlight pod and foglight. The reinforcment bar is bent but I think it could be bent back. The fender is creased in a couple spots. I drove it and didnt notice any unusual steering. As far as I can tell only the fender skin is messed up. The hood open and closes normally. The driverside headlight is totally messed up. The passenger side is also broke somehow, it is jammed against the fender and the hinges or somthing is broke, cause it pulls up a little bit. I think the impact forced the other fender over some. I wish I could get a pic.

Tell me what you think.

Because of this I need to replace the fender a bumper. I need to know how to remove them. I have Chiltons and Haynes manuals but there instructions are crap and they dont have the proper diagrams. Haynes doesnt even go into it.

So how do you take off the fender and bumper. It looks just like its jsut bolts to remove. Are there any welds?

Is there a possibility of frame damage? I didnt hit it extremely hard, maybe at 15-20 mph. The fender seemed to take the brunt of it as it did a accordion thing.

Thanks,

Matt

Briansz28

Matt- this is in addition to your floor pan problem.... might not be worth it--

Matto'85TA

Maybe, I got the floor done though, and it held very well during the crash, no movement at all. The car is drivable, just looks bad. The damage seems to only be body panels. No frame damage is evident, though I wont know till I take it apart. Everything is still lined up for the most part. Though the passenger fender seemed to get pulled by the bumper cuase the headlight is jammed, then agian the passenger fender looks perfect, maybe the bumper jammed it since the light mounts in the bumper, one of the hinges broke. I'm gonna try to fix her if possible. I can do most of the work myself.

Thanks,
Matt

eddie jr

Matt,

Nose:

- 4 bolts attaching it the the fender (each side); approximately 5 bolts holding it to the hood latch pan (in front of rad); and a slew of plastic clips along the bottom holding it to the bumper.

fender:

-remove the 3 hood bolts on that side; 4 or five bolts along the top edge in the engine bay; two bolts down below in front of the wheel well; one big one in front of the rocker. You have to remove the inner fender skirt (approx five 7mm bolts.....leave the skirt attached to the outer fender panel to save time) and the underskirting in front of the wheel well (underneath)

fairly easy job if the bolts aren't rusty.

Trans_AM_88

hey eddie, im trying to get a front left fender here. i found a decent one at a junk yard, but the botton part of the car is submerged in water (or at least hovering right above it) and the water is about 1 foot deep. are there any bolts on the underside of the car?

eddie jr

ewww, doesn't sound like fun TA88! Unfortunately there are 3 bolts down below (pretty much right underneath). Two infront of the wheel well and one right in front of ( but below) the rocker.

Chances are that if it has been sitting in water for a while the bolts are probably rusty too. There is another option for the 2 infront of the wheel well though if they're being difficult. There is a bracket mounted on the frame with 2 rod-like extensions that reach out to the fender (these are where those 2 bolts are). You can also try to remove the 1 or 2 bolts that hold the bracket to the frame as they may be easier to get off. Then the bracket will come off with the fender.

Good luck!

CaysE

I was hit in almost the same spot in my 84 last year. If your passenger side fender shows signs of damage, you MAY have a bent frame in front. Hopefully it's just the front clip that pushed the passenger fender, but you'll have to take a close look in there.

Those headlight pods aren't cheap!

Matto'85TA

I hope the frame isnt bent. It doesnt seem to be, Everything seems straight. The other fender only shows signs of damage right along where the headlight door is. The only damage is paint peeled, like the fender lip bent in slightly and cracked the paint. It only goes as far as the headlight door. Seems to me that the impact forced the headlight into the fender.

eddiejr- Thanks again man! Chiltons manuals have the wrong diagram, they show a Camaro nose.

Matt

Trans_AM_88

thanks for the info...heh doesnt look like im getting that one then . do camaro fenders work on trans ams? both cars being 82-90 of course...

eddie jr

As far as I know they bolt right up the same way, however, there is a noticable difference in the fender flare. The FB has a gentle curve but the Camaro has a sharpe line where the flare meets the body. So it would look really funny!!! Actually I'm not certain but they may be just a tad different up front to since the Camaro headlights are revealed.

Actually something I just thought of for that one almost in water. You could cut the bracket holding the fender in front of the wheel well with decent tin snips (it is pretty flimsy). You could easily get at it by cutting the plastic fender skirt with the snips. You wouldn't have to get down low at all. The only one you would have to worry about is the single by the rocker but it is only a bolt (no nut) so you don't have to get on the other side as well.

GTAJIM

you need to take a look at the frame horn where the stearing box is and see how close it is to the engine... someone took off my nose at a light and the damsge looked not that bad till I started tearing into it!!!! Lucky my best friend owens a bodyshop and my car was so rare or else I would have dumped it into the bone yard!!!!!!

Matto'85TA

About how long does it take to remove the front bumper and driverside fender? What frame damage should I look for?

Thanks,

Matt

GTAJIM

Depends on weather your just tearing it apart or weather your paying attention to what and where you take stuff off I encourage the later of the two and take your time and mark where you took everything off and take as many pics as possiable that is unless you have alot of RR with front ends on T/A's(z's), or else reassembly is gonna be tuff, But it shouldnt take more than a couple of hours, if that. But what I was saying before is when you have it torn apart look at the front frame horn you can usually tell if its bent or not it helps when you have another to compare it too. Good luck!!!!! lets us know how it turns out

Matto'85TA

How much clearance should there be between the steering box and the power steering pulley?

Matt

GTAJIM

a couple of inches like I said its a lot eaiser to look at one that hasent been hit. I had no problem cause it hit and bent the p/s pump pully ive seen them bend and break the p/s pump bracket rip it right from the block. I didnt think my car was that bad off cause I drove it home from getting tha nose taken off but when I got to taring boy did it change for the worse, hope urs aint bent cause it costs a bit to straighten it out then you have to figure how much would it be just to buy a new one like I said if mine wasnt a notchback i would have definatly parted it and junked it, and the only reason I didnt was cause my buddy owned a shop with a straightner there or else I wouldnt have been able to afford it.

Matto'85TA

Well, took the car to a couple bodyshops. Estimated $2500-$3500.
Also found out the frame is bent slightly. The frame rail is bent down and in somewhat. They'll pull it and weld were it split slightly for about $150. This a good price?

Anyway, I'm gonna try to pull parts today. I already have both headlight pods and the turnsignal. I am pulling the bumper and everyting behind it today or tomarrow. The only thing I need is the fender.

Anyone know where I can get a driverside fender for a '85 Trans Am? I would like the vent already installed cause mine broke.

Thanks,

Matt

91bluemetalicRS

post a picture of your car and I can help you find frame damage if you have any. Open your hood and take pics of your strut towers down to your radiator support. Also crawl under your car and look at your frame horns that your bumper is hooked up to. You are looking for bends in the frame with metal chipping away (If you see this take a picture of it). If you dont see anything like that under your hood or under your car, chances are your frame is ok. It doesnt sound to bad just from reading your post but unibody cars are designed to bend at certain points on the frame to keep the passangers in the car safe. frame damage can happen even at a 5-10 mph hit. Let me know what you find.

91bluemetalicRS

check your other post were to find a fender. You can get one for 187.00 at keystone in houston. I bet you could also get one from one of the venders at the top of the screen for cheap too.

Matto'85TA

There is an area on the inner fender wall where it has cracked some. On the frame horn, where the upper right(outer) bolt for the impact bar is, the area is crumpled/cracked. Its only around that hole. The metal is bent in someplaces, like the triangle shaped support that runs from the middle of the radiator to the bumper is bent a little. The fender has actually cracked and torn away fromt the frame. The area around one of the bolts is torn up. I'm gonna barrow a friends digital camera. I will post pics ASAP.

Thanks,

Matt

Matto'85TA

Here's some pics. This is after I got the frame pulled. They also pounded the fender for me.

Matto'85TA

heres another

91bluemetalicRS

thats not too bad. $150.00 to pull frame and weld cracks is a good price. It usually is more expensive than that, most shops will charge 2hr set up and 1-1.5 hours per controll point to pull. Good luck on the repair. Just by looking at pictures it looks like you need a new lt fender and about a 2-3hr repair on hood and bumper cover. Shouldn't be too much more money.

Matto'85TA

Well, I finally got the car back from the shop. I got a new fender from Trojan Auto Parts of Warren, MI. The car is painted. However, I know have a problem with the headlight doors lining up properly with the hood and the front bumper lining up with the hood. The gfx also need to be mounted. I will post pics of all this when I get a camera. I am heading back to the shop to let them know it isnt completly fixed. Some wuestions though-

-How do I adjust how the headlights sit when fully closed? Right now it seems they are goin down too far. They open/close fine, its just that when closed they stick in too much.

-My Passenger door is sagging, how do I fix this? I though the bolts could be adjusted but the hing is welded top the door, the other half is bolted to the car but they are only accessible when the fender is off.

-The lower fender filler/gfx is not bolted on properly sine the mounting bracket was busted, besides getting a new bracket how else could i put it back on, I just want to get rid of the look that it is pulling off, a little gap is no problem.

Thanks,

Matt

91bluemetalicRS

when you open your door does the back end (bottom of door under handle) drop down. If it does your frame probably isn't completely lined up. That may explain why body parts aren't lining up. When you go back to shop get them to check the frame again. Check their machine to see if it is laser guided (it might be an older frame machine they are not as accurate as the one with lasers.

Matto'85TA

Got everything pretty much fixed up. Went back on got the door fixed, they also realighned the body panels for me. It looks way better than before but its no where extremely good.

I'm happy though.

Thanks for all your help. I really appriciate it.

Matt