i had my car on a jack, it tipped over and long story short it basically broke the ground effects into 2 pieces. it snapped about 1 foot from the front tire and now its in two pieces. I'm having a hard time finding a replacement, and am thinking of just trying to some how secure it back into 1 piece with some kind of fiberglass repair kit or something, then sand it all down, and repaint it when i paint the car. any ideas or suggestions?

 

first don't do that again . second remove both halves , repair from behind with fiberglass , looks like they are fiberglass already . keep parts in the proper relationship when you do the repair . clean is everything on a good repair . sand and shape slow , you can always grind/sand more off . it's pretty hard to grind/sand more on . good luck .

 

also does anyone know how to get the back bolts off? i have heard i have to take the arm rest panel off from the inside, do i have to remove the seat? also is this the same if its a convertible?

 

Oh man. Probably the most embarassing moment of my life: The first day I had my IROC at the shop, two days after buying the car. I tried to lift it with a floor jack and support it with ramps under the front sub frame. A moment later I was looking at my crushed ground effects. I had the body shop replace the fiberglass pieces with ABS. Good luck with the repair.

 

You should be able to fix that easily with a fiberglass repair kit. Like mentioned before, keep everything straight and lined up in its original position. If i remember correctly, you will have to remove you inner rear armrest and tear out a small piece of insulation to get to that stud. You'll need an socket extension or deep-well socket and be careful not to lose the nut. I had to fish mine out with a magnet. I think the front studs can be accessed by removing the inner fender. Much easier then the rear.

 

i did a similar thing 2 nights ago,had many beers and dropped the jack with the handle up,put a 2 inch hole in the bottom of my passenger ground effect on my 86,im watching what you do to see how to fix mine!

 

Affirmative on the repairability w/ fiberglass.
The critical issue will be relative placement of the two parts
when you start the repair. Get them aligned as good as
possible, and then use something strong like metallic duct
tape on the front, to keep them relatively positioned correctly
while you repair the back. Make sure the new f-g has good
clean surfaces to adhere to -- light grinding is highly recommended.
Then you can remove the tape, put some material into the front
of the fracture, and smooth/prep for paint.

As to f-g material: I've made repairs with auto-parts quality
products that are old enough and are now cracking/splintering.
Marine grade material (West System products) last forever,
as you would expect, commensurate with their price. Do your
own cost-benefit analysis. West also has filler powder that
can be added to make the consistency "bondo"-like, more suitable
for the finish surface needed on the front.

Good luck, & post some pics of the progress.

 

well ive started the project, but having an amazingly hard time trying to get the ground effect off in the first place. there seems to be one bolt on the back end that must be on the inside of the car. I have spent hours on the web and this site reading and thats what it seems.

Can someone tell me where this bolt is? I have taken off the side panel and a few other things and there is some black rubber goop on the bottom, do i just start scraping that off? if so, is there a certain part i should start at, i hate to just go ripping all that stuff apart. it seems to be rubber/tar type sealing or something that's all dried into a rubber like sealing. Is the bolt under there somewhere? it's definitely secured to the car some how and there is a sneaky bolt i just cant get to. Please look at the pics anyone and tell me where to start digging. Thanks.

 

The answer is yes. Behind that rubber/tar type patch is an opening slightly bigger then your fist. Tear it off or pull it at one end like a flapper. Inside you will feel a stud coming through the quarter panel which is the stud on the ground effect. Use an extension to get to the nut and be careful not to drop it or you will go fishing for it.

 

well apparantly convertables are different i guess. no rubber patch or access hole. i even called the local chevy dealer and talked to a guy in the body shop. No one knows these cars any more (at the dealer), the guy was clueless about irocs, and said (ground effects, where, what, hugh?) and its not the first time i have called there. Here is the other post i found about this: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...s-removal.html

 

Can you reach it through the vent in the door jamb? I'm thinking that's what I've done before.

IIRC some were held with a big washer looking clip. Just slid off of it, up or forward I believe.

 

ill try it out later and find out. thanks.

 

My 83 has two clips in the back, after the front screws are removed (behind the badges),side screws, the back slides up...off the washer like fasteners on the car.

 

Phone pic

 

thanks for the pic. im going home now to see if mine has that. i keep hearing varying statments that convertibles (and maybe newer iroc models) are different and i have to drill a hole from the inside to unscrew a nut. ill assume thats the case, so i can be pleasantly surprise if it's like yours. btw, just so everyone knows, i replied to another thread and have some discussion going on there also, so not to maintain 2 threads on the same topic, here is the other one. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...s-removal.html

 

I went out to the garage to check for you and I have 3 perfect ones,,,, Driver's side.

Sorry

 

just to put an update to this thread, i started the job, found the bolt way at the bottom, confirmed i would need to drill an access whole (this is because of the asc conversion for some reason they figure you never will want to remove the ground effects) and realized this is too much for me. i was able to partially fix the gfx and not have to take off that nightmarish bolt, by just taking off all other bolts and bend the gfx back to have working room. i used jbweld putty and put a small plastic brace behind it and that put it back together with amazing strength. the next job was to then fix the crack line with fiberglass repair. however durring this, i was getting an oil change at a shop. while explaining to the guy there that i that this car is kind of rare, old, and to be careful with it, exactly at the same time a van rolled out of their shop (with employee running after it) and i watched it smash into my car and bust up the back bumper. I couldn't belive it. anyway after cops, arguments, etc... they settled for 1800$ and now im just getting the whole thing restored and paying the extra out of my own pocket. Just dropped it off monday and it will take 2weeks because i told them to do it right with full de-trim and make sure its not noticeable that it was repainted. Im having them take pics of the job in progress.

 

BUMMER!!!!!!

Sorry to hear about that. I guess that could happen anywhere though..