After doing a basic tune up of plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc etc a suv infront of me jammed their brakes realizing they were about to hit a pedestrian, unable to avoid contact I hit her rear bumper, , thank you, anyway obviously considering how low my 1986 sits, I took the damage illustrated here(because she did not hit the pedestrian I am liable and insurance will not cover all the repairs )




Attachment 242676

There appears to be no damage to the radiator or any other engine damage, the dent on the bumper is holding my hood locked in place, once I cant get it open my plan was

1. check the hood allignment
2. take it off try to bang out dents with mallet which may be overly optimistic
3. Pull one for 45 bucks, Im not a painter so spend about 250 to get it sanded, primed, etc etc
4. Throw the new hood on
4. Turn to replacing the bumper in full, never done, sounds like a very layered process

any advice would be appreciated Im still not sure whether the bumper can be saved or not...

back at ya

Looks like you will need a hood and front bumper clip. You can get those pretty cheap, in my area. I am guessing in CA you can also. To bad it messed up your ride, but thank God no one got hurt.

well said and thanks for taking the time to respond, first step will be to pull dent out of bumper so I can get hood open to get off, looking forward to the "after" pictures of this process

There are hundreds of stock Camaro hoods laying around even on Craigslist I see them a couple times a month, and you have a berlinetta front clip. You could get another berlinetta front end or get an Iroc front or brand new '82-84 z28 front from classic industries. But I'd check local yards and online before resorting to buying it new.

Thanks Undertaker, more of a Kane before the mask came off kinda guy myself, but the advice is duly noted, the plan is, if i could find one, get a hood from a scrap yard in Oakland, CA for about 60 bucks, Im no painter, so to strip, sand, prime and paint I figure about 200-300 and throw it on which will make the car look 75% percent better then I will address the clip, thanks tho man!

Day 1 of the work, I have to drill a hole into my hood in order to get it open, once that is done I plan on taking off the bumper parts necessary, unforunately my impact bar is no longer bolted down and indented from impac and I will to need to readjust before I can put a new hood on, other than measuring the distance on another camaro, any suggestions?

Got hood off, about to raise vehicle and remove rest of bumper



Right now my friend is going to tie chain to my bumper impact bar and pull it with his jeep back into alignment so my hood will be able to close...Any body have other ideas of how to do this? Will continue to post pics

I do not know quite how you are planning to do that unless you are going to put holes in your bumper cover. As for pulling it I have tried pulling steel bumpers etc and have found for me that it is easiest to pull it using a comealong. This way I do not pull to far and cause more or other damage. I always go one or two notches past straight as it will flex back in some. It may just be bad luck on my part but I can not take my foot off the gas and step on the brake fast enough when it starts bending back out to avoid it being bent to far out.
Pertsonally I would take the bumper cover off first. Then pull the impact bar out. As I am not a real body man I am wondering how the impact bar is holding the top of the bumper cover pushed in. I would take off the air inlet and unbolt the hood latch and panel to get all the braces there out and straightened. Then the bumper cover isn't held by anything in the center and pull it out by hand or pry with boards etc to get it out. Then I would plan on putting the hood latch and panel back on if they are straight.

Thanks for your input!

I plan to use a comealong or nylon rope and attach it on the bar next to the radiator cap, the alignment seems par for the cours on the drivers side



Im going to trying to hammer back that broken bracket back into place or worst case replace from scrap yard

I am working with solo with a helper that comes and goes I have a clarification question if anyone reads this,

According to my trusty chiltons guide

8. Remove the bolts from bumper impact bar and radiator lower air baffle if equipped
9. Remove the push on retainers attaching bumper fascia to bumper impact bar



So 8 is to the right, but the 4 retainers to the left are the only push on thing I see on the car and I thought those were related to removing the front bumper fascia extension....

Also just a question about those 4, anyway to get them off yourself!!?!, drivin me nuts, seems impossible unless someone is gripping them with pliers while I try to wedge out with a screwdriver, anyway any feedback appreciated, I am almost half way done!

The push in retainers can be a pain to get out. I used a pair of wire cutter pliers and a large screwdriver under them to pull them. Carefull not to snip the head off. They only need to pull out about 1/2 to 5/8 inch before the whole retainer can come out. You might be better with regular pliers if you might squeeze to hard.

Grab some needle nose pliers and tug like hell on those push-in retainers.

Calling it a day, once I got the air mainfold completely off I just pressd down on the top of the push in retainers with a screwdriver and they came out instantly, lol, life, I have preexisitng damage right at front of the drivers side fender that was preventing me from getting off the last bolt so I hacked it off with a power saw, have a bumper lined up for $150 just need to get a truck to grab it, also need the bracket for the driver sides headlights

is it me or does his core support look a bit pushed back ? id hope its just me and its not...

i was thinking the same thing, although it doesn't look too bad and prolly can be pulled out by a by a body shop but i do agree it looks slightly bent, on the driver side i see a slight kink

Yes this is true! My neighbor has a old international truck, we will be pulling the dent out with a comealong tomorrow, its not much but my hood latch is currently unhinged so hopefully bringing it back into place will allow me to allign the hood and make it flush, its not in this picture but I took off the busted bracket on the drivers side and once we pull it into place I will grab that part with the new bumper

Also, just for the sake of kicking the ****, just graduated school, looking for work, dont have money to paint parts right now, hopefull will in a month or so but untill then, any suggestions on color combos? lol

Just an update and seeking further counsel as it were

Got new bumper this morning, almost identical, It wont be completely flush until I get a new right fender, another day, I will also need to get a new LightBar down the road, the place I got the bumper from wanted $125 for the LB and I just couldnt do it

Question deals with this



So the kink on the drivers side has to be pulled out if I want to get my hood close to flush, the hood latch is also unhinged from the core support, tried tying a comealong on the ball bearing of a truck and hook the top of the light housing and apply pressure but had little to no success

Now I am thinking about tying off to the bottom of a telephone pole or other sturdy object and loop inside and around the housing and giving it a few tugs as I gently reverse

I dont want to take the whole part off and bring it to a machine shop, has anyone dealt with a similar circumstance? It may sound silly but I am a little nervous about over tugging with the method I have laid out

Structuraly you need to replace the core, if you try and pull it back with the cars power you will have no idea when it is right. It really all needs to be square and in line for all the panels to line up properly, I am not a fan of trying to fix a core support, I would rather drill out the spot welds and put in a new or used one that is strait. That kink is not just going to pop out with a come-along, you will need to get the proper measurement from the cowl to the opposite side of the support and square that front end up. You may need to pull forward than to the side to get it back in place, that is why we use a Chief Golliath. The towers are set to pull in all directions and the deck is self leveling to ensure the car is level when the process is started. we used to use measureing poles to check everything but now the new systems are all laser levels. Try and fix it correctly if possible, at least square it all up by doing a corner to corner measurement as you are pulling it. just worried about your safety.

Thanks for your concern and of course your right there is no way to known when I have it right, checked out the Chief Goliath, pretty badass, taking your advice I think I will re try hitching it to the ball bearing and after the pressure is applied, and try to beat it forward a little bit, figure I will give that a go and if still no luck I guess I will have to replace the core support, welding is not my strong suit, and by that I mean I cant weld so lol, thanks!!!

I don't think any harm will be done by eyeballing the core support, these cars aren't symmetrical anyways...

Good luck, like I said be carfull, there is a great amount of pressure on that come-a-long when you are pulling and beating it with a 5lb hammer. Use a block of wood so you dont destroy the support to bad.

it shoudl be alrite but pulling it out, i did ALOT more damage to my 89 z24 when i slammed into a scion tc doing about 40, it was horific, frame was bent extremely bad, well 2 weeks later with a com-along and torches she was on the road, i did the alignment myself at my shop and it actualy came out perfect except for the caster on the drivers side (side which the frame was bent bad passenger side didnt bend at all)

and my core suport was totaly screwed, however no the car never sat quite right but u didnt notice besides the fender being a few shades off (it was off a base model cav)








fixed


I THINK if i could fix mine and it was 10x worse then yours then you should have NO problems gettin urs to come out looking perfect

Thats extremely impressive and motivating althought I dont exactly have the same amount of resources as yourself your point still stands, I am going to throw the bumper on today and drive for a little bit hoodless, my buddy with the truck took off for the 4th and couple days, when he told me he was taking off my mind jumped to tying off to a telephone poll but now I feel that the dent isnt that bad to do something that extreme

Will try the comealong, paper towels, block of wood, and a heavy hammer, let ya know in a couple days, again thanks to all for input

lol yea thats why i showed u the pics because if mine was that bad and came out half decent i KNOW urs can too


btw all i had to use was basic mechanic tools, a come-along, a set of oxy-acetalene torches and a TREE. lol, only parts i used from my parts car wer the fender and steel bumper




and ur core suport isnt that bad, should pull out easily, i actualy was able to move mine in the cavy part of the way by hand

id advise not to beat on it with a hammer tho, the comalong is plenty strong enuf just take your time, your not bending a frame back ur only bending back a tinfoil thick core suport lol

Thats the new bumper, not perfect I know but it will do fine for the time being, will try to use the comealong and "persuade" it later then will grab a hood and see if I can adjust it some to get it close to totally flush

But for the fourth I had to get her runing and hear Ride The Lightening come out of the speakers


HAPPY FOURTH!!!!!!!!!!

First I will not deny that it would be best if fixed properly or replaced but I understand we do not all have the money or resources. I would look at taking the lights and radiator off and any thing else nearby removed as well as the new bumper cover. Then I would carefully place bolck so I could wrap a cable or chain around that area and pull it with a come along. It will be a hard pull with the come along but would be much better than trying to yank it by backing up. It is doable but needs to be done carefully. The blocks are to help keep everything else as straight as possible with the cable wrapped around it and help even out pressures.
Good luck with it. It is looking much better than it was.
I did notice the light bracket broken but with the yards around me I considered that minor compared to the radiator core support.

lookin alot better bro, just be easy and persuade it like ya said, like i did my z24, u shuld be fine, if u hav any questions just ask me

Well here is my original hood, poor thing I beat the hell out of it with a little more to come



I was going to get a new hood and do a make shift paint job on it but I read a couple threads on rattle cans and learned my lesson, anyway thats my $250 fix, might have to tier her down if the latch doesnt allign, but I of course plan to get a new hood when I earn additional funds, thanks to all again

250 special

Just make sure it latches good and tight, that hood may flap a bit when the air gets under it

Hey thanks I have it tied it down too, Im going to take it off again to paint and beat it down some more from the drivers side later, we have hella Hmong Chinese in the neighborhood n they siphon gas n steal any **** they can find in your garbage I was hella nervous leavin it out w/o no hood

i have a iroc hood that i would give you but your kinda on the other side of the country

Manifest Destiny, you and your hood belong out west

looking good bud, shell come out good