[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 03-10-2025).]

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: There is a metal shelf below the taillight area. Bend the metal shelf up to restore the desired gap.

My '84 and '86 are metal, I believe my '87 is metal as well. The design was changed for '88, as my Formula has a plastic shelf.

If I remember correctly, there's some adjustment available with the position/height of the shelf. But yeah, the metal ones could've sagged downwards and might need to be bent back up.

The shelf can be seen below.

quote Originally posted by Quadfather:

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-10-2025).]

quote olejoedad: My Formula, my son's 88 base coupe and a Formula spaceframe that we have here all have metal shelves.

My '88 GT has a metal shelve too.....

Your photos shows that the lower 'bumper' {fascia} isn't meeting the upper fascia.


olejoedad said, remove the taillights, side marker lights and the wheel well liners
Loosen the sides of the bumper/fascia cover
Bend the metal support upward to restore the desired gap

EDIT for a thought: Maybe I'm wrong but I believe that the lower fascia screws are fasten on the upper fascia with metal clips which are threaded, meaning no 'nuts'. Perhaps you don't have to remove the wheel well liners....?



------------------
Original Owner of a Silver '88 GT
Under 'Production Refurbishment' @ 136k Miles

[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 03-11-2025).]

Hi gang…… 😊
First, to answer the question above: you’re probably right that you don’t need to remove the wheel well liner from the car but you really need to remove at least the rear lower screws that secure the liner to the bottom section area of the rear bumper fascia.
Ok, so I got it done. First order of business is to remove the tail lights, then the side marker lights and extra screw, then all the plastic push pin fasteners, then I marked the bottom edge of the metal shelf with a silver marker, then I removed all seven 10mm screws that attach the shelf onto the rear sheet metal. Then I elongated the holes in the shelf mounting bracket so that I would have additional room to move the shelf upward.
Observation#1 The main culprit for the sagging “gap” is that over time the shelf works it’s way downward to the point where the screws are resting at the top of the hole. (if you look closely at YOUR shelf, you will see that those seven holes are over size on purpose to allow for adjustment.
Observation#2 No offense to those who recommended bending the shelf upwards to close the gap and fix the problem, I didn’t like the idea of bending & tweaking that shelf. I felt that the “proper” way was to elongate the holes. Yes, my way was more work but I felt it was a better, more quality approach to the problem.
Ok, here are a few pics:
And thanks to all for your help on this!
Kit
P.S. First pic below shows how much I elongated the shelf holes.
2nd pic shows the shelf before I removed it.

[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 03-20-2025).]

More pics…
Lower pic shows just how much I moved the shelf upward. (see silver lines that I marked before removing shelf) Also, notice that I used oversized washers to secure the shelf better.
Top pic shows everything all back together.

[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 03-20-2025).]

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: My Formula, my son's 88 base coupe and a Formula spaceframe that we have here all have metal shelves. I wonder if yours is missing or if it was a Canadian model thing.

I can't swear to it, as this was years ago... but I also stripped down an '88 base coupe before it was scrapped, and I seem to recall it had the same plastic shelf as my Formula. Come to think of it, that plastic shelf is probably somewhere in my basement. I would have wanted to save it as the plastic shelves are much more skookum than the stamped out sheet metal ones. It's difficult to believe though that something like this would be a "Canadian model thing".

[EDIT] It just dawned on me that my Formula was originally from Knoxville, Tennessee... so that would seem to put the "Canadian" theory to rest.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-21-2025).]