I'm trying to put the gfx back on a car I am restoring, they were already removed when I got the car. I have found that the only access to the area behind the quarter panel appears to be straight down from where the convertible frame is bolted to the car. The problem is, my arms are not thin enough to squeeze in there to get a wrench or socket on it. I hired the help of my 9 yr old cousin but he couldn't even reach it.

How the heck are you supposed to get the last (rear most) nut on the side gfx on/off? It's a 92, the ground effects are bolted on differently than the older style I believe.

Any help would be appreciated. I'd like to get her buttoned up this weekend.

The stud on the gfx is straight down this hole:

 

not trying to be a wise guy, but i would imagine either a ratcheting cresent (box) Wrench with a tube to use as leverage , or alot of socket extentions. assuming you tried this though.

 

I tried a sock swivel with about 3 ft of socket extensions with no luck. The angle was to sharp for the swivel to work.

I also taped a ratchet wrench to a metal rod and tried to use that but it didn't work either.


I've never had a problem removing anything from any of my parts cars, but i've never removed body panels from a convertible (go figure right?). I've never had to replace anything on my car, and this '92 we're restoring was in pieces when we bought it so I don't know how the previous owners got the ground effects off in the first place.


Blah...

 

Take the seat belt off and drill a 5/8's hole through the frame, right about where the bolt is. Then shove the socket through there with the nut held into the socket with some gorilla snot. That is how I did it on my car. Seemed to work rather well.

 

There's gotta be a way without drilling holes. How the heck were the attached in the first place??

 

They're attached before the 'vert conversion I suspect

 

Take the top off and reach down in the hole and take the vent off right above the door latch.. Reason why I drilled the hole, I don't have skinny arms . lol

 

You may be right. But of all the people that has repainted their convertible, they either drilled a hole in the frame or left the gfx on while spraying???

 

On my car (not a convertible) I had to take the vent out of the B pillar above the door striker. From there I reached in with a socket and swore for bit. It came out, but it was a pain.

 

Coupes have a hole behind the plastic interior panel, it's covered by a black rubbery peice of material that you have to take out to see the stud.

 

Yeah, but I accessed the nut through the door vent because I didn't feel like removing the plastic interior panels.

I just can't remember if you can do the same on verts.

 

I just went thru this a while back and also thought about going thru the top. The way to do it is thru the vent. Not hard to do at all

 

Nick I have been wondering the vary same thing. I cannot get the skirts off my 89 ASC and came to the conclusion that they do not come off. I have not found anyone that took them off without braking them or cutting the rivet bar in some way (not recommended)

I removed the vent from the door jamb and took a pic of the bolt with my phone.
as you can see I lost some tools in there.

The skirts where put on the car BEFORE the conversion was done...

makes me wonder what would have been done if the car was taken to GM for skirt replacement in 1989.

 

No can do, the ACS's (both of mine anyway) have both the lower and upper bolts AND mounting bracket welded to the chassis (as well as the top frame)...

I drilled through the wall just below the seat belt anyway only to hit the rivet bar. dont want to cut that because it's keeping the car from caving in on itself.

Thankyou ASC!!!

 

I broke off a perfectly good set of vert style skirts today.
maybe someone can learn from it..

if the screws holding the stud bracket to the skirt where flipped the other way..... the skirt could be removed from the bracket (and bracket would remain on the car).


another shot before I broke the skirt off the bracket

 

Long story short, I ended up cutting the stud off with a grinder...



GOOD NEWS - what looks like a bolt from above, is really a pressed on piece of thin metal much like what is used to hold the smaller rear skirts to the car (look in your trunk). simply take something long enough and pry it off (10 & 11mm sockets would not fit over it using my longest torq winch)!!!

BAD NEWS - cost me a pair of ASC skirts to find this out AND how will I get the new one on????? If I cannot reach to take it off in the 1st place, why should I be able to put the new one on???

 

How I plan to put the new ones back on....

I'm going to drill a larger whole next to the original stud whole.
Then I'm going to make a slot between the two holes.
The larger hole will allow the stud head (or bolt) to go into the car then slide over to the original whole (that the head cannot come out of).

this way there is never a need to unbolt the rear.
when the front of the GFX is bolted in, it all should hold together and line up like stock.

will post pics when I do it.

 

dose anyone know if they are bolted the same for Choo Choo, Matrix and any of the other Vert styles?

 

My niece's arm fit in there but she was too small to reach. I would not say I'm a "big guy", and I could not fit. How in the world where you able to get to that bolt?

We had to cut the vent hole open on the car I got my new skirts from.

see
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