How difficult is it to remove a front clip from a 71. My water leaks are from the seam sealer(caulking ) drying out. My body shop wants $2000 to take off the front clip, clean,treat and recaulk! Does the bumper and hood come off with the clip? Is it easier to remove a fender one at a time? Thanks, Scott! :confused:

Old cars are easy to take apart, just DOCUMENT the snot out of every part and shim. Take LOTS of pics, and label everything in little baggies. Do that and simply reverse the process after you get the thing re-sealed.

You can do it!!!

P.S. Its worth saying twice, LABEL AND DOCUMENT ALL OF IT YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID.

I didnt on a car and dread the whole thing....

Speaking from a 70 viewpoint, not much different than 71. Bumper is by itself. The hood alone is pretty heavy. You'd need a block and tackle/chain fall to lift fenders and hood together. You'd need to pull rad support as well since that ties the fenders and grill together. Now you got this big assembly, hundreds of pounds, fenders flopping, held together at the back only by the hood. I'm sure it's possible but don't think I would try it.

Take heed of the previous advice or you'll be spending a lot of time time trying to line the panels back up.

Originally posted by Finally:
Speaking from a 70 viewpoint, not much different than 71. Bumper is by itself. The hood alone is pretty heavy. You'd need a block and tackle/chain fall to lift fenders and hood together. You'd need to pull rad support as well since that ties the fenders and grill together. Now you got this big assembly, hundreds of pounds, fenders flopping, held together at the back only by the hood. I'm sure it's possible but don't think I would try it.

Take heed of the previous advice or you'll be spending a lot of time time trying to line the panels back up. Took the front clip off my 70 a number of times using three people....one in the front, and one at each wheel well. Take the radiator out and take the front bumper off to give you clearance. Another trick I've learned is, take the front wheels off and support the front end on jack stands, under the frame. That way, you won't have to left the clip so the inner fenders clear the front wheels/tires.

I would suggest pulling the front bumper, then hood. Leave the hinges on the fenders. You'll need 3 people to pull the front end. There are bolts (1 each) at the top of the fender above the upper door hinge. Open the door and take them out. You'll have to label any shims that are sandwiched between the fender and the body. Remove the 2 bolts at the bottom rear of each fender. Remove a bolt from each side where the fenders tighten to the firewall (horizontal). Now you should be down to 4 bolts on each side.

Remove the lighting harness at the firewall, disconnect any hose or wire that is fixed to the fenders or inner fenders. On the heater hose side, remove retainers that fix the hoses to the inner fenders. Remove the battery, radiator (leave hoses attached to the radiator).

Confirm again that all the harnesses and hoses are free. Remove the 2 bolts (each side) at the rear of the front tires. You can now remove the top fender bolts to the cowl area and the radiator support bolts that secure it to the frame. Every thing should be loose at this time.

I suggest you use 2 layers of good masking tape to protect the door edges, as lifting the front end can contact the door edges and damage the paint. Position one person at each wheel well and one on the radiator support. Lift forward, up and over the tires. I hope this covers it all! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Core support and wheel wells come off as assembly with the front clip?

This should all come off as a complete unit. That's how it was installed.

Originally posted by EdCarpenter:
This should all come off as a complete unit. That's how it was installed. In some assembly plants, yes. I'm sure they didn't just have 3 people hoist it into place. Apparently it can be done that way though. How much you figure that weighs? Is it fairly rigid? Not looking to do it anytime soon, just curious.

I'm not exactly sure on the weight. Maybe 200 lbs.