Well, Sunday, I finally had a chance to replace my passenger fender. It was a hell of a lot easier than I expected. It only took about 3 and a half hours from the time I popped the hood till I was completely finished. There wasn't really much to it, so I'll give a quick rundown of what's involved, in case someone else needs to know.
Removed hood, including hinges.
Removed battery.
Removed 2 bolts from behind door, and one near hood hinge.
Removed 3 bolts that attached wheelwell to a brace behind radiator, and 4 that attached it to radiator support (under battery).
Removed 3 smaller bolts that held inner fender to radiator support.
Remove 2 nuts from studs that attach header panel to front edge of fender.
Carefully pulled on header panel to separate it from fender enough to get the studs out of the holes.
Slid entire assembly forward to clear brackets that were behind door.
Remove fender/inner fender/wheel well assembly.
I just cut the power antenna cable, since I filled in the hole on the new fender, and am installing a hidden antenna in the car.
Reinstalled everything in the reverse order.
I ended up scraping some paint off the door, but seeing as the car is 4 different colors of grey, and dented and rusty, who cares?
I only managed to hurt myself once, and only let out 2 'What the F#ck!'s, so it went very well.
So, i went from this:
to this:
to this:
From 5 feet, straight on, you can't even tell it was replaced. There are still a few dents, but I just sprayed it quick to somewhat match till the car gets painted next spring.
Removed hood, including hinges.
Removed battery.
Removed 2 bolts from behind door, and one near hood hinge.
Removed 3 bolts that attached wheelwell to a brace behind radiator, and 4 that attached it to radiator support (under battery).
Removed 3 smaller bolts that held inner fender to radiator support.
Remove 2 nuts from studs that attach header panel to front edge of fender.
Carefully pulled on header panel to separate it from fender enough to get the studs out of the holes.
Slid entire assembly forward to clear brackets that were behind door.
Remove fender/inner fender/wheel well assembly.
I just cut the power antenna cable, since I filled in the hole on the new fender, and am installing a hidden antenna in the car.
Reinstalled everything in the reverse order.
I ended up scraping some paint off the door, but seeing as the car is 4 different colors of grey, and dented and rusty, who cares?
I only managed to hurt myself once, and only let out 2 'What the F#ck!'s, so it went very well.
So, i went from this:
to this:
to this:
From 5 feet, straight on, you can't even tell it was replaced. There are still a few dents, but I just sprayed it quick to somewhat match till the car gets painted next spring.
