First I'll note this car was in an accident and I'm taking the fender, that got hit, off.
We already detached the antenna, removed the front spoiler from the fender(but still attached to bumper) Now I'm working on removing the bolts between the metal fender and plastic bumper, I'm using the right size, 10mm with a small extension and it gets really hard to turn, then, incredibly the whole ratchet turns backwards by itself like it was cursed. :confusion:

What's the correct way to get all of these bolts out, between the plastic bumper and metal fender. It also looks like there's some screws facing backwards...can I take off the light setup to get to them more easily?

 

The easy part is over, I got all but three bolts out in the entire process of removing the fender.

One, I can't get any access to the bolt up top right next to the headlamp because in the accident that side was pushed in(BIG Dent) I'm gonna have to start pounding the dents out from the inside before I can take the fender off.

Two, the last two bolts are where you usually jack the car up right? guess what, the place where you jack up the car is BENT because of rust and jacking it up. What should I use to bend back all of that metal?

Any suggestions?

 

Jack the car up using a hydraulic jack on the front "sub frame" then with a good pair of locking vise grips, you should be able to bend it straight so the bolt can be removed. Once removed you have to swing the fender out, where it meets the door, the front has the bolts facing forward so that end will not come out until the rear is loose.
Where in NY are you?

 

I actually took off the whole front clip,(nose and both fenders) much easier to seperate the nose from the fender that way.

 

He only needs to remove the passenger side fender.

 

Just cut the fender for access to the needed bolts.

 

Saw to the zall it. It's not like you are going to save the fender anyway.

 

Here's the fender

That's a current picture with most of the bolts out so it may seem loose, because it is.

See where it's bent so I can't get to the last bolt? I can probably hammer that out. I used to think it was a basket case, maybe there's something you guys know that I don't. How does it look to you guys?

 

cut out that area and then you will have all the space you need.

 

Are you saying I really need a new fender? Or could I patch it up with bondo or sheetmetal?

 

I would replace the fender.

 

It is terminal unless your ok with a half gallon of bondo on the right front. Saw it off and replace the fender.

 

Yeah I know that he only needs to take off 1 fender, But doing what I did saved me ALOT of time compared when I just replaced 1 fender and nose, Heck it took me half a day to get them darn rusty nuts off in that very tight space, taking off the whole clip made it alot easer to get to those nuts and only took 2 hours to get off. But thats just my opinion Maybe his will come apart easier.

 

Looks like youve got the wheel off already, just take the plastic inner fender well out. Should have a strait shot to all the bolts up there. You're gonna have a rough time getting the fender clear of the nose bolt studs unless you remove atleast some of the nose bolts

Upper bolts are pretty strait forward, just lift the hood up when you swing the fender off and lay the hood back down on the chassis until you re-install the new fender. I've found its easier to remove the lil V support up front so ya dont snag it when trying to remove/install fenders alone.

I dont know how the side skirts are for a camaro but they were a major PITA for a firebird. Had to remove all the door jamb and underside screws and open the door to swing the side skirt bolts off the fender.

Once you get the fender on there, youll have a nice lil marathon getting the damn thing aligned again

Best of luck to you

 

i'd say buy a new fender, they can be found on ebay pretty cheap. take the plastic inner wheel well out and with an nice long extension you should be able to reach those bolts on the top near the headlight bar. the ground effects come off fairly simply, philips head scredriver on the top, 7mm ratchet on the bottom, they should pop right off.

 

ALMOST DONE, I re-bent where you can jack up the car, it took forever to get 1 out of 2 bolts out, because one is a nut/bolt combination, and the nut under the fender was encased in crushed metal, so first I had to compress the metal with a vice grips, then I pryed off metal around the nut with a flat head screwdriver. lastly..I had to buy a new wrench, both bolts are 13mm but because of the exhaust, only an open end wrench will fit, I held one side, my dad used the ratchet with a breaker bar and lots of wd40. now the fender is detached from the underbody and there's one bolt left

The bolt I cut a hole in the fender for, the thread is spinning, so I am f***********, what do you think I should do?

 

Dremel with a cutoff wheel

Put a new bolt thru when you reinstall the fender

Problems like these are why its easier to do this as a whole front clip unit

 

Any decent body man could fix this in short order. Weld on some of those studs and pull it out to near perfect, layer of filler and file/sand it out, good as new without all the disassembly. Even with a fender replaced you'll have to paint it anyway. But, like you, I try to do it myself usually but this might have been better done in a shop?

 

Even a Body shop would have replaced that fender

 

HUZZAH!!!!! The fender's off and just in time for the blizzard, getting cold in that garage without using the heaters and I didn't want to stay outside long.

Here's what I did, used the recip. saw again to cut off more of the fender so I had access to the bolt. Held the spinning thread with vice grips and used the open end wrench(10mm) so that's off, becareful of the antenna when you take the fender off. If you don't want to break it, I had it hanging by it's own wires

Okay nextproject, cutting out the old battery tray, I thank you all and if you have any questions about the fender, feel free to ask. Verdict- You can take off the fender without the front bumper, so stop telling me to

 

I just found that in my situation it was alot easier, and it was just a suggestion.

 

I agree with you Aaron because the hard part was getting the bolts connected to the front bumper. But I didn't plan on replacing the whole front end because they weren't hit much.

That's a lot of work also because now you're talking about the bumper connected to both fenders, plus the lip, so taking off a total of 4 parts, and depending on the condition of the car, it may take more or less time. Of course, if you need to take off the whole thing, this thread won't help you much.