onebluemcm

Hey all - first post here. Super glad to have found this site - sure to be a great resource!

Only about a month ago I found a cherry '89 IROC 305 with 5spd. Love it - what I've always wanted. In great shape too. More on the car to come. The reason I posted in the body board is because I made a very stupid mistake and the result was some semingly minor front end body damage. Had the car up on blocks for clutch replacement work. It pains me to say it, but yes, it rolled off the blocks!!! So stupid!!! - I digress. Anyhow - the front end rolled off as I was lowering the rear end after I finished the job - the blocks hit just behind the wheels and sort of shoved the rear of the front fenders up a bit. The damage doesn't appear too severe, but I need advice.
Main changes I can see is that the middle of the fender where the center molding is is bowed out about 3/8 inch and that little center piece of trim is about 3/8 - 1/2 inch higher than the piece on the door. Doors still close well - no probs there.
Underneath where the fender attaches to the body is squished a bit however the lower glass trim pieces appear to be intact and not broken (WHEW!)
It appears that I need to pull the fender back down about 1/2 inch - should take the bow out and re-allign the center trim with that on the door.

What do you all think? Could there be much more damage that meets the eye? I can say that when it was resting on the blocks after rolling off, the front wheels were just touching the ground - the blocks were probably holding it up about 3-4 inches.

The other thing is I couldn't do much to examine it after it rolled off because the car is in storage in Michigan at my parents house - where I did the clutch work - and of course, this all occured right before I had to leave to come back home here in VA - no time to work on the fenders.

Makes me sick - an other wise perfect IROC with regard to body and I go f-ing it by being stupid with her up on blocks. Any help as to where to look first for the extent of damage would be great.

Glad to be here too,
Kevin

kerryismygirl89

Just wanted to say welcome to the boards.

JeffW

sounds like you have the right idea. take the bolts of the bottom under the ground affect and straighten that peice that must of bent out wards. you should be able to see if it is bent just by looking under the gfx. the bolt mounts should be straight up and down. loosen the bolts in the fender well to that may help you adjust every thing to line back up again. you may need to pursuade the fender to take back its orig curve depending if it bent or just got misaligned.

badandy247

i just wanted to note for future reference that you can get good jackstands cheaper than good bodywork

sounds like a sweet ride welcome to the boards

onebluemcm

I hear ya with the jack stands - I had done everything right up until the very end when I should have placed small blocks up front so it wouldn't roll off - I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here - I am very concerned with safety while under a car doing repair work. I had the front up on blocks cause it was easy to roll it up on them, then I jacked up the rear and had it on stands so that it couldn't roll anywhere. I just was stupid at the end and forgot it could roll off when I was lowering the rear - such a dummy. But it was as stable while I was doing my work as it would have been sitting on the flat ground.

I still am sick about it - but it's done. And yeah JeffW - the bolt mounts are now horizontal and very squished. Otherwise, I think the fender is just "sprung" - I don't think it has any bends as you would see with a fender bender etc, aside from the bottom where it is mashed. I'm first gonna drop the trim piece and see what I have to do.

I'll post what I find for other people's use if needed - that is, whenever I get back to MI to work on the car more!!!

Thanks for all the input guys - and yes, in retrospect, it would have been better on stands - I'm a believer!!!

C-ya
Kevin

TekViper

can you take pictures?

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

While we're on the fender topic, where EXACTLY is the jacking point behind each wheel? I've f***ed up my lower rear front fender bolts now because that looked to me like the proper point. I do not have the decal inside of the spare tire lid to show me where the point is, because the "fluffy stuff" (I call it that for lack of knowledge as to what it really is and a better term) with the decal on it has been gone for a while due to water problems, and those are really vague anyways.

onebluemcm

TekViper-
I surely wish I could take pics - I know it would be a huge help in showing the problem but the car is in MI and I'm in VA. Separation anxiety is horrible

I have additional info that I thought of that may mean the damage is worse - I don't know. What I thought of though is that on a normal Camaro the top of the fender that is level with the hood normally makes a nice even, level line into the top of the door just in front of the mirror. If you look at one from about 30 feet out to the side, this line is nice and continuous from the fender into the door.

Well, on mine, the fender is still level with the hood alright, but on both sides there is this subtle step (maybe 1/4 inch) down from the fender to the door at the seam between the two. If you go look at some pics on the site of any Camaro from the side, then read this, it'll make more sense - just follow the top of the fender back into the door and you'll see that it's normally nice and continuous - no step.

To any of you who have done major body work on these cars, could things be more F-ed than it would seem? *** I hope not!
Kevin