The 71' I just purchased has the front fenders, hood, bumpers etc. off as the previous owner was in the process of preparing for new paint. I also thought it would be better to paint them off the car then reinsall, but 3 out of 4 of the paint shops I have talked want to see the car before they will give me a hard qoute on painting the car and they recommended putting the car back together prior to painting. I guess this is the route I'm going to have to go (putting them back on) as it is going to be a major PITA to try to trailer to car and its body parts to each shop for a good estimate.
Well, I said all of that to say this: how hard is it for an average wrench head with no body experience to re-install the front clip and are there any tips or tricks to getting every thing to align properly?

any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Thanx,
Dwayne

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my 68SS & 69 Vette (http://www.corvetteforum.net/c3/dwaynes69bb/)
"You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you"

Just put the whole front on my car together. It is pretty straight forward, just take your time and it will fit in. No tips really, if you have a tech manual it will show you pictures et cetera.

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www.yannis68chevelle.com (http://www.yannis68chevelle.com)

Some may disagree, but as an amateur, I like to start with an aligned door, put a fender on and fit it to it, align the hood to the fender, then the remaining fender to the hood and hope there's a good fit with the other door. Only time I've had a problem in years of doing it that way was when a frame's had repairs.

Fit the fenders to the doors first. Then install hood and align to fenders. Realign fenders to doors if need be. One tip is just make sure that all the bolts are tight but not to tight. Get every thing to fit first then tighten down all the bolts.

[This message has been edited by sevt_chevelle (edited 12-06-2001).]

Get yourself a body shim kit and do what the previous guys have said. Recruit one of your buddies to help you out. Makes it much easier having someone hold the fender in place while you start the bolts. Same with the hood, they're pretty heavy!! I would get everything as close as you can, then let the body shop do the final alignment before they spray it. They can do this stuff with there eyes closed. Just my $.02

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71 Malibu 454/4speed
www.geocities.com/chevnt1_chevelle/