Hey everyone I am overhauling my ride as well as getting it painted satin black. I was trying to get all the panels off and over to my painter and am a lil stuck. I have removed the front fascia, hood, deacklid and partialy the front fenders. Do I need to remove the rockers to get the fenders off the front? The rockers seem to be rivited on and just want to make sure before destroying, A full writeup on how to remove each and every body panel would be a huge help. Just got all my zero lash end links put on and tons and tons of other dickman parts..... now i wannna get her out and spread her wings and cant cause i cant get the dang panels off and finish the painting job. Thanks guys any panel remove info would be great.
Well yes and no. If you want to make it Easy and Safe and dont mind replacing the rocker rivets, then yes rocker has got to come off. Fender is held in by 2 additional big rivets that are almost impossible to reach without removing the rocker. Not to mention the fender to rocker connector on the bottom of ground effect. Now you can remove the front fenders without taking the rocker off but you have to be super careful and very patient. Let me know if you want me to explain how to do it without removing the rocker and then also how to put a fender back on with rocker still on. It can be done if you know exactly how and exactly where your mounting areas are attached and need to be reattached. If you dont have ground effects its still pretty much the same. Lmk.
When you drill out the rocker rivits, DO NOT SPIN them with the drill. They will just eat through the rocker. I replace all the rivits with "nut serts" and use bolts their after. just leave the 2 big parts of the body on the car. The front part, around the windshield is glued on. It brakes.
When I come over to finish work on the car I can run thru what all needs removed. U will need a drill with bits to drill out rivets. I would leave the roof/rear clip on for painting as they r somewhat a pain to remove. I have extra body panels, rockers, extra if any panels get damaged.
And cross your fingers. I see a lot of paint jobs damaged when people reassemble them, so they end up painting them on the car anyway. I never will disassemble a whole car unless im getting a ton of money for it. I have done it on $20,000 jobs. Most newer colors are hard to match all apart anyway. At the minimum if its apart, you need to arrange them on sawhorses or stands to be in the same positions as they are mounted...sort of like in an 'exploded' pic.
*add in your specific case matching isnt much of a problem. Satin black will always match satin black unless your using a metallic black
[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 02-23-2013).]
Ok guys thanks for the help. I think im gonna go remove the rivits ... found their replacement rivits at fierostore... dont know how i did not see them when i looked earlier. As for the roof and rear clip i guess ill leave those on i suppose. Oh and Stephen I ordered the rest of the dickman parts and got the front lower ball joints aswell. Still deciding on wether to get poly or rubber on the other stuff what would you recomend?
the front roof section isnt "glued"---it is the waterproof sealer they call it sealing strips---I used thin wire to slice through it---it was a hot day--went through pretty easy--pretty messy too. I did another on a cold day--pried gently and it popped off--the stuff is like tar--sticks really good it is up the A pillars and across the bow top of the front windshield---get your service manual--it will tell you how---just be CAREFUL!!!! I cracked my A pillar arm
I got the fenders off and then got the whole car all over to the painter. I also put the slave cylinder in and the slave line repair kit from Rodney... I spent 2 hours trying to to bleed the damn car as I had never bled a clutch system before and had 2 back to back steps reversed which made for a frustrating time. I was opening the bleeder... then having the helper push and hold peddel... then I'd close bleeder... then he would release pedal.... then i'd open the bleeder... then have him push and hold LOL so I kept letting the pressure release.... LOL took a bit to figure it out BUT I now know how NOT to do it as well as HOW TO do it. Now I need to get the rear zero lash's on and the fron ball joints. Then I have to decide get some "2Crave Fiero no14" rims or get the 13' brake kit from fieroguru. FUN FUN FUN Love my FIERO
I would never remove fiero panels for a paintjob... remove anything that may be hard to mask or get to (bumpers are hard to paint on the car). Fieros are the easiest panel on car to paint I have ever seen.
So moving panels off the vehicle is a plus or not ? very controversial subject but do agree with the fact that you could end up with different spray patterns; slight shade off and then the fact that you got to put it back and have to be so gentle not to scratch or damage your new paint job . I would love to hear from those that did the job and what were they experience............
Im with you. I NEVER remove body panels for a paint job if its my choice. On a Fiero, all I take off are the wings, headlite covers, and tail lights. Theres hardly any jam (1/2") and the rest is black on all of them. I always hear they want to cover all the panel so the old paint wont show. Well you only see that old paint if you take them off or wreck it...so why bother ? When was the last time you took a door panel off to check the paint ?
If you dont have ground effects its still pretty much the same. Lmk.
