Cajun

I am about to begin my winter project. I just purchased a '87 928 S4 that was hit in the front. Fortunately, the car was not hurt bad, but she will need both front fenders, hood, and front end cap & lights. I am going to do most of the work myself.

I was wondering how difficult it is to remove the front fenders...does anyone know how many bolts &/or welds or other connections there are???

Pictures and descriptions would be greatly appreciated!

Mrmerlin

the front fenders are bolted on....(approx 35 bolts this includes the front cap, liners and fender bolts)... remove the wheels first, then the spoiler, fender liners then the front cap. then the fenders, the hardest part will be about 3 to 4 inches from the base of the windshield on the underside top portion of the fender this has a glued strip holding the fender to subframe, you might try using a hacksaw blade to cut this after removing the windshield filler strip

123quattro

The bolts inside the fender going into the firewall are a pain to get at. You'll need approximately a 1.5 foot extension. Once all the bolts were out, I slowly peeled the fenders off breaking the glue seal up by the windshield. Maybe 3 hours to get them off both sides the first time you do it.

Podguy

A time saver is to remove both fenders and the front bumper cover all at once.

It is a pain to get to the 8 mm nuts in the front bumper cover. To get to the top ones you really need to remove the headlights..

It is easier to do the following:

1. Remove the strip along the front bumper cover by the hood.
2. Remove the visible bolts on the inside of the fenser well.
3. remove the bolts holding the lower part of the fender by the doors
4. remove the cruise control cansaster and the plastic washer tank under the fenders on both sides.
5. Get a small propane torch and heat the three bolts under the fenders by the firewall. Unless that were removed previosuly they will be coated with a rubberized coating which makes it hard to get socket. Keep a wet rag and bucket near by to put out the flames. The ruberized coating will take off with a good flame, but it burns at a low temperature and is easy to put out.
6. Drive a 10 MM socket with an extension over the bolts and remove them
7. There may be a couple of bolts holding the spoiler to the car, remove them. I rarely see a car with a front spoiler. There are also a couple of bolts holding the side struts to the fender.
8. With a pry bar or a big screw driver pry up the rear of the fenders on the top of the car - there is some ruberized glue there.

The fenders and front cover should now be loose and can be pulled off the front of the car. When you see the location of the small bolts holding the bumper cover on you will realise the amount of time you saved.

Another great time saver is a 3/8 impact wrench from Harbor Frieght. They are cheap and bing high speed make short work of disassembly jobs.

Have fun and save the damaged parts. Some people can work aluminum and plastic.

Check the bumper shocks. from the hit you describe they have been exploded. The older fenders are cheap and can be adapted to fit the 87. There are places that repair plastic bumpers for a reasonable price. Before painting the car get all the parts stripped. You will save time and get a better job.

Dan the Pod Guy.

Greg Z

Boy, I wish I knew that before!!!

Cajun

Thanks for the responses gentlemen. I already have a hood on the way, and I *think* the right fender can be saved... I am going to pull the front end cap off of the car and see if I can get it repaired. It only has a small puncture in it on the passenger side (about the size of a nickel) where something from the metal brace behind it poked through. It really is not that bad...

I just spoke to a member on this board who owns 928RUS and he is going to get me a line on the fenders...I will also be looking for all of the lights with the exception of the amber turn signal on the passenger side of the front end cap & the amber signal on the passenger fender. If anyone has any spare fog light assemblies lying around, please PM me.

Hopefully, she will be back in one piece within the next couple of months. The hardest part is being patient and finding good deals on good used body panels. I have to admit, at first I was going to take the easy way out and drop it off at a body shop, now I think I am going to get a few cases of beer and call in a favor a buddy owes me (I have been helping him restore his '74 Bronco...talk about a PITA) and do it myself!

John Struthers

Podguy hit it pretty close.
Those 8mm around/under/behind the buckets' are a pain.
Don't loose them or the washers.
The sealant depth and width was shot out of a pnematic caulking gun but there was a guy holding the trigger while applying... I broke 2 spring steel scrapers trying
to cut the sealant. Finally resorted to an old M-16 bayonet tapin' the back side with a ballpeen hammer. After you remove the splash shields -front and back of the front tires-
eyeball everything related to the headlights. Then after removing the front bumper cover, eyeball everything related to the fogs/turnsignals/running lights how they go thru the aluminum bumper, cable anchors ect...take digitals, really! You can straighten the alum. bumper as long as it isn't
cracked -can be Mig/Tig'd- or twisted - your call-. Be aware of possible bumper shock bending as well. Then look down to the head light motor area.
There is an actuating arm that has a 'C' clip retainer remove the clip and pull the arm off of the pin.
Now, assuming the fender hasn't pushed back to far around the headlight buckets you can manually
raise the headlights ( or you can raise the light with the switch and remove the clip etc...).
In any case you can reach the front 8mm's easier. You need to prevent hardware loss, bag and tag everything, if one screw or bolt is longer has more washers etc. , annotate. Re-assembly is exponetially easier when you KNOW where everything goes. Don't scrape off the fender sealant
if it is still tacky, just rearrange it prior to re-assembly. Buy 1 or 2 of those endcap, cheapo ratchet sets and a few extensions -3", 6" 9/10"- best set of tools there are... they only have to work once and for $10-$15 you cannot go wrong.
Serious as a heart attack about the Digital flicks, Bag and Tag and cheapie ratchet sets.
Guess what? Now is a good time to check vacuum lines -both sides- , the coolant tank neck on both sides of the fender, the 'eggcrate' drivers side backside of the fender/firewall area. as well as the door hinge area's for movement-check for edge line movement/looseness. Also check the 'jump point and 14 pin zones. Might as well change those spark plugs....ad nauseam.....
YOU'LL see! Oh yeah, great time to go over steering and suspension gear.
And talk about cleaning...I scrapped at least 15 lbs of road tar and gravel off of the lower arms
and at least that much in oil/grime/sludge of the engine/bottom.
Check all ground straps too...
Get the picture? Actually After doing this job and all the gotcha's and cleanups YOU will be a GURU!
Not to mention having saved yourself UNTOLD THOUSANDS of Greenbacks.
Time to get intimate with your baby..
Have fun. Keep us posted.

123quattro

Ha, that exactly how I did it. I just wasn't going to publicly admit torching my car.

Podguy

An althernative is to use a wire brush on an electric drill or a die grinder. I actually use a Oxy / Acetylene torch, but I have to be careful when giving advice not to assume everyone has a fully equipped shop.

I also use a torch to remove the door hinge bolts. For some reason - probably to save weight - Porsche made those out of an alloy which just strips when you try to remove them. Maybe Porsche was tired of people stealing doors off 911s. Heat the heads cherry read and they just turn out with no effort.

Dan the Pod Guy

John Struthers

Zackazilla used an exacto, carborundum (round blade) hacksaw blade (modified) and a 3/8" wide
wood chisel to work the sealant off those bolt heads...but he is young and has done it before.
Besides he wreaked Snowball the 81' ,Great White both times...
Why should I do the hard stuff ?
:<)

Cajun

Well, that certainly explains why the one body shop I called (he has experience with sportscars & restorations) told me that removing the fenders was a real PITA...

Now that I have instructions on how to remove the fenders, please tell me that putting the new ones on is going to be a little easier...will I have to worry abour replacing all that "gunk" from the factory???

Podguy

You can put them on separately or save yourself some time and put the bumper cover on the fenders and put them on as a set.

The goo under the fenders is necessary. It keeps water from the road from splashing on your windshield. 3M makes a winshield kit with the same material. It comes on a roll like rope and can be layed down in a strip. Try your local body shop supply house. There are seam sealers for the part that mates to the body under the fender. It is a good idea to seal up all the seams so that bits of dirt and water do not get on the paint.

There is another product you should look at - UPOL. It comes in gray and can be sprayed on to match the under coating. Before you paint spary some under the fenders to seal everything up. It comes in quarts and spray cans. When you paint allow some over spray to cover the visible parts and you will have a factory job. Alternately you can improve on the factory by spraying the chassis before installing the fenders. For the surface stuff I generally spray each panel separately and color sand them. It is also a good idea to have the body parts stripped before you start with the paint. Kragen sells a very good Aircraft stripped - much better than the Eastwood product. Cheap too. Or you can have them blasted if you do not want to make a mess. Be sure to use a good epoxy primer on the new metal to get a proper base or you will be chasing paint reactions for the rest of your life. I use a DTM from the Restoration Shop in San Diego. They have a full range of products and sell for less than local shops.

Dan the Pod Guy

John Struthers

Ditto, what he said.
There is a product used on aircraft windows and faying surfaces called Zinc-chromate tape.
I don't recommend the straight zinc-chromate putty because of application/thickness issue's for beginners. what you are looking for wether using a tape sealant or a variant of tubed silicone is
a uniform thickness/width. Otherwise, due to the slop in the fender bolt holes, varying thickness of sealant, and some enthusiastic wrenching you can pull the alignment of a fender/hood line off a tad.
When you pull the fenders you'll see what I mean...note that compression/divoting around the bolt
holes. Little things do make a difference (if only George Senior had worn a condom) and while it would take a 928 owner or an interested body man to spot a minor hood/fender/door line deviation it would be better just to prevent the issue. In this case either use a uniform thichness tape sealant or make sure you 'run-down' the bolts on a tube silicone for an even squeeze out before it begins to harden.
Other than that, the biggest thing to keep in mind is to star 'all' of your mount bolts prior to tightening.
Couple other things.
1. Were the hood hinges bent at all? Check em for bends and twists...plays hell when closing
2. The hood may be bent/twisted and you won't see it till re-install. Those welded under hood re-enforcement
braces are a bear when trying to take a small twist out of a hood. Heads up! if you don't have a helper you might want to hang the hood before putting the fenders on. After the fenders are on bring the hood down slowly so as not to scrape the paint off the fenders if the hinges need adjustment.
There are judgement calls concerning 1 & 2 you won't confess to a priest...such is the life of a 928 owner...
Krylon makes a "plastic bonding paint" that is GREAT (assuming they have your color) and flexible
to boot. Had a bunch of rattle-can naysayers jump my butt , but you 'can do' a professional job on medium sized parts ...like the bumper covers, prep is everything.