I need to remove my fenders to fix some rust & POR15 it, but the car is my daily driver. I could drive ti without fenders for a few days but not without a hood. & by the looks of it there is no way of leaving the hood on without fenders on the car. Is there?

 

No

 

Sure you can.The hood isnt connected to the fenders.You will have to unbolt the bottom of the hinge and the fender bolts.Then you can lift the hood and hinge a little to get the fender off.You WILL need a extra set of hands though.I wouldnt think that you local authorities would approve of it though.So you might want to get it done fast.

 

At the point where the hinges are unbolted and it is lifted, the hood is removed. Sorry.

 

yea, he's right, the hood bolts to the fenders. and when i was back home (im from Mobile, AL) i was always told just the opposite, you could get away with no hood, but you HAD to have fenders...trust me, dont get caught without fenders...

Josh

 

i think he means he wants to put the hood back on without the fenders
and yes you can bolt the hood back on when the fenders are off but what is going to hold on the front end of the car to keep it from bouncing off when going down the road ??

there arent many bolts holding it on anyway and when you remove all the fender bolts that hold on the sides your in trouble

i believe it is illeagal to drive without fenders in any state....i could be wrong but you better check with your city police to find out for sure

 

I must have read it too quick, thought he was asking if the fenders could be removed without first removing the hood, yes you can still bolt it down after the fenders are out.

 

the answer is still no as the first responce showed. since the front end is held on to the fenders and not the front of the car or hood the front end would fall off.

hit the junk yard and grab some fenders and make it a swap. or just do the work on the car, why take em off to do the repair anyway. if you take the inner plastic wheel well out you can reach all the way around the fender.

Jeff

 

yea, at this point, even if you used a ratchet strap to hold the hood down (friend did it), you will still be illegal...

Josh

 

The answer is yes, the front end also bolts to the headlight impact bar at the top and down low its attached to the crash bar from the bottom.

 

i dont believe there are enough bolts or plastic tabs holding it on that i would want to drive down the road with it held on like that thou ...

 

I would, and have.

 

I just need to replace the drivers side fender and fix some rust bejind it. I got most of the rust out but there are some hard to reach places. most of the front trim will be atached since the pasenger side is good.
I didnt mean that I was going to be driving it oround like that is just that if I dont get to fix everything on my day off... Ill then have to take the car to work the next day, but I dont expect this to take more than 2 days.

Thanks for all the input.

 

youve drivin down the road with both fenders off your car ...and the front end held fine ?

i dont know but i wouldnt think it would hold up to any kind of speed at all .

maybe you moved it across your yard or down the road or something i doubt you drove it around town or any distance that way ...

 

I was definetly out on the road, how the hell is it gonna come off not like its a flat piece of cardboard just stuck there, it kinda wraps over the inner bumper support, held steady by quite a few 7 MM bolts all along the inner support brace along with the two studs that the fenders go onto which are part of the inner brace, and then the plastic pop fasteners at the bottom, that thing aint goin nowhere, for the reference the car also didnt have doors or a hatch for that little fun run outing, the powertrain was a slightly modded LT1 / T56

 

Right now neither of my fenders is connected to the front end, no problems I'm working on the bit of the car where the fender bolts onto to the car right in front of the door so I take my fenders off all the time.

Unbolt the fender (I keep front and rear bolts, and brace underneath), then unbolt the hood (prop it up), pull the fender out sideways and voila done, bolt the hood back down using the little clips that are still there. Only problem I see is your GFX are not going to be attached to anything, When I have the fenders on I have the last bolt on the front GXP bolted to the fender but that's it..

It's pretty easy to do...

 

While doing bodywork, I drove my TA for a week with no front fenders, bumper cover, or hood (without a hood for weeks!), and never had any problem with the law...and thats in metro Atlanta, where most of the cops are real a-holes just looking for an excuse to ticket you!
Most states do have a fender law, but on a thirdgen the wheel is still completely enclosed (by the inner fender panel) when the fender is removed, so It should be ok. The intent of the law is to keep cars from kicking up water, mud etc on other cars, and that isn't a problem on a thirdgen with no fenders.
I'm surprised to hear its an issue for any car in Alabama...they always seemed pretty lax about equipment over there.

 

not to mention marital laws....LMAO

just kidding

but seriosly here in illinois if you try and drive your third gen with out a fender your not going very far for some reason they just like to write tickets for what ever they can here

you can drive without a hood as long as you doesnt have hood hinges on it or the hinges are tied down securely