Removal and prep of final front end parts

This session I will discuss how to remove the fender and prep the parts you have for body work and primer. First you want to remove the hood, if this hasn't already been removed. This will required two people since the hood is quite heavy and can be awkward to move. Remove the hood by taking out the four bolts holding the hinges to the hood, two on each side. Once this has been done and the front end has been removed, you need to then remove the side skirts of the body kit. This is done by taking out the screws in the door jam, as well as removing the rear clips from the back of the skirt, in front of the rear wheel. Once you have done this its just a matter of removing the bolts on the inside of the hood and underneath the back of the fender. These are located right in front of the door. Once this has been done gently lift the fender and remove. Use the same process to remove the other fender.

When prepping the parts for body work and primer, you will need a palm sander or a mouse sander, a mouse is recommended to have for corners and tight areas. A palm sander is simply a small rectangular piece of equipment that has clips on two ends. These clips can be loosened so that the paper may be changed. A mouse sander is very similar to a palm sander, however one side of the sander comes to a point, for access to small areas. Also instead of clips to hold the sandpaper in place, there is usually Velcro on the bottom to attach the sandpaper to. The sanding can be done by hand but will take much of your time. Start off by cleaning all grit and dirt from the parts. Next your going to sand, start with no less than 120 grit sandpaper. Anything less could leave deep scratches that would require a lot of time consuming work. Use your palm sander to gently remove most of the paint from the fender. If you start seeing metal you have gone too far and DO NOT sand anymore in that area. The front end is made of polyurethane so be very careful and only do a light sand, you can tell when your close because the part will become dull and feel smooth to the touch. You want to periodically run you hand across all the parts to make sure you maintain a smooth surface. Once you have completed this, you want to take a 220-320 grit sandpaper and do a quick, light sand. This is done so that any body filler or bondo that you use will have more surface area to cling to. Once all your parts have been sanded to a smooth finish you will want to clean them with a damp cloth. Be sure that you remove all dust from the parts, if not, your filler will have a difficult time grasping the area around where your trying to fill in, and may bubble up or peel off. When all your parts are clean go over them with a clean dry cloth to remove any excess that may have been missed and to dry up any water residue. I will go over using filler and bondo next session.

The Begining

I started the project of rebuilding my 92' camaro in the fall of 2009. I have some legal issues that don't allow me to drive till July 0f 2011, and they weren't DUI's either. I began this project with the simple plan of doing a little body work as well as doing any other minor work that was needed. This, however, didn't happen. Once I began tearing the car down, my mind was flooded with ideas. Having my son tell me that he wanted "daddy's race car" when he turned sixteen gave me even more motivation to do more work then I was planning. Between my friend in California, who works on many high end cars, a website that I use, www.thirdgen.org, and other people that I know, I came to the conclusion that doing almost an entire rebuild wasn't unfeesable.

The work has started with me pulling the front bumper of as well as the passenger side fender. Neither of which was a small task. The whole front end comes off in one piece, bumper, headlights, bumper lip, etc. This worked very well because it makes for somewhat easy removal. After removing the bolts from the engine compartment, you must then tackle the bolts that connect the front end to each fender. This wasn't difficult, just time consuming. Because of their location,it requires a deep well socket and a few busted knuckles to remove these bolts. once they are removed, the entire front just slides right off. When the front end is off the headlight assembly is just one piece, so just remove those bolts and the bolts holding the running lights as well as the grill and your home free.
Fender removal is next, as well as prepping your parts for repair.