GTA88

I had my front left fender and front cover worked on recently, to repair damage there. The car had been hit, and the cover had been popped off about a half inch at the left corner, and there was a 4 inch dent in the same corner on the fender. I picked up the car about a 5 weeks ago at the bodyshop and it looked fine. Paint matched, dent gone, everything like new. But about 2 weeks ago I noticed the seam between the cover and the fender is opening up ! There is now about a sixteeth to an eigth of an inch gap there !
It looks like there is some glue in there which has lost its grip. The parts are still firmly anchored, nothing is actually loose, but of course this gap should not be forming.
I have a lifetime warrantee on the work, and of course I am going to take it back to the bodyshop. What do you think they did that resulted in the repair opening up again ? They left the original cover and fender on, btw, which was OK with me. And they used some bondo on the dent. What I am guessing they did was "rebend" the existing fasteners in there, get everything to hook up as closely as possible to the original state, then glue it all and hold it together with clamps until the glue dried.

I want to go there with some knowledge beforehand of what they need to do to fix it. If they just say they will reglue it, that will probably not be a permanent fix, right ? Maybe they need to buy some new brackets and so on, and get the parts to line up right without the need for gluing .
So what should they do to fix it right this time ???

Thanks




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88 GTA 5.7 TPI Charcoal Grey Bone Stock except for loose muffler which makes it a bit louder than normal.

deadbird

Sounds like someone forgot to tighten some bolts...

http://www.angelcities.com/members/gtaz/zzzz/a08.jpg

There should be no glue holding the nose (bumper cover) to the fender. The 'glue' might just possibly be some of the paint that seeped into the body line during painting.

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[This message has been edited by deadbird (edited October 03, 2001).]

okfoz

on a bird I ccould tighten up my front bumper in under 1 hour. there is 2 ways to do it from the top or the bottom. Simce I get sick to my stomach (sometimes0 when laying on my back I like to go from the top whenever possible. So it might be opssible to open your headlight and reach over to tighten the nuts. (I think they are 11 mm nuts if I remember right)

To tighten them easily from the bottom you need to be a little bit of a contortionist to get to the top ones. you will also need a deep well socket or a combination wrench to get in there. Deep well is easiest.

Been a while since I have done it so take it with a grain of salt.

ALSO if you want to do the bumper tightening really easy, remove the headlight assembly. Unfortunately you will have to re-adjust your headlight assm to get to back together right.

John

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G O D BLESS AMERICA
87 Formula Yellow/Black

5.1 TPI Automatic
Baer 12" brakes 4 wheels, KYB AGX Adjustable Shocks & struts, Custom Leather interior, WAAAY TOO MANY MODS TO LIST

87 Formula TPI (5 Speed) Yellow/Gray STOCK

1967 Buick Riviera 430hp Turns high 14's (Not bad for 4300 lbs)

83 Camaro (Parts)
83 T/A (parts)

http://www.3rdgenformula.com

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

Deadbird, what year car is that pic from? On my 88 GTA, the top 2 holes for the bumper were filled with the bar that went all the way across and bolted to the area under the hood, and the remaining holes were filled with bolts/nuts with large washers. My car didn't have that single piece for each side like that.

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deadbird

Jim, are you talking about the nose reinforcement? ( http://www.angelcities.com/members/gtaz/zzzz/a06.jpg ). The pieces in the abouve pic go on after & thru that piece.

If the grey matter is still working somewhat correctly, I believe those are the original from my '87 formula bumper cover, one of the small few pieces I could save.

[This message has been edited by deadbird (edited October 03, 2001).]

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

That's the piece I mean. On mine, it had the 2 studs that go through the top hole, and that along with a couple bolts are the only pieces I had on my GTA.

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The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
Custom Thirdgen Subwoofer Enclosures
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

GTA88

Deadbird,
Thanks for the pic. Now I am able to visualize what's in there. From what I can see by looking into the crack near the headlight, it looks like there is no bolt or screw in the top hole of the "canter", although there is some sort of bolthead-like object on one side of the top hole. I just can't see a shaft going through the hole to the other side.

The reason I think they used glue is that the top hole in the cover had been ripped during the accident, and lots of body shops said "Ooooh, hard to fix that, need a new cover", but these guys said they could handle it, no problem. They said they would use epoxy and 2-sided tape, although I could never pin them down to what they did where, what was bolts and what was epoxy. The car looked right when I picked it up, so I didn't press the issue.
There is a whitish residual substance in the crack between the fender and the bumper. Since the paint is gray, seems like the substance is not paint.

Today I tried to push the bumper in toward the fender and it would not move, so maybe it is all bolted up correctly and just needs some tightening, hopefully.

If it doesn't get any worse, I can live with it. I don't drive it in the winter, so salt getting down in there is not a problem.

Do you still think it is not a "glue problem" but a "loose bolt" problem ??

Thanks






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88 GTA 5.7 TPI Charcoal Grey Bone Stock except for loose muffler which makes it a bit louder than normal.

GTA88

OK, I think I see what the problem is now, after putting the lights up, and staring at it long enough. The hole in the top left of the bunmper was ripped in the crash, and the cover is slipping back out and up and off, since the hole was not "repaired", apparently. The bodywork was tight enough to hold it for a while, but now you can actually see that part of the plastic bumper bending and coming off and up from the ripped hole and the screw that goes through it. Unfortunatley, if I bring it back to them and tell them to fix it again, I am afraid they will just do the same thing again, and it will be OK for a few weeks, then come off again. And of course there is always the chance they will f*** something else up while they have it apart. Wow, the joy of having other people work on your car......




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88 GTA 5.7 TPI Charcoal Grey Bone Stock except for loose muffler which makes it a bit louder than normal.