Long Beach 818S

[samuel]

Hello to anyone out there.
I have an 818S and I need help lining up the front end. The bumper, fenders and hood don't line up. Plus the head light buckets don't fit in right. I have measured and played with everything but with little success. I'm not a fabricator and I would like to have a fresh perspective on what is needed to correct my problem. Maybe someone knows a good shop that deals with fiberglass. I live in Long Beach Ca. Thanks!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hello to anyone out there.
I have an 818S and I need help lining up the front end. The bumper, fenders and hood don't line up. Plus the head light buckets don't fit in right. I have measured and played with everything but with little success. I'm not a fabricator and I would like to have a fresh perspective on what is needed to correct my problem. Maybe someone knows a good shop that deals with fiberglass. I live in Long Beach Ca. Thanks!

Hi Samuel,
You did not mention if you had a gen 1 or 2 front end. Here is a video I made for installing my headlight buckets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPaGiM453c

This is my front end with ZERO trimming. 131849

[Ajzride]

post lots of pictures

[samuel]

Yes. Thank you Bob I have a Gen 1 front end and have viewed your video. I'll post pictures in a few days. Maybe you'll see something I missed.

[samuel]

132019132020Ok, here is my my problem(s) First I should say that i've had no real trouble with the side sales or rear bumper. Everything went in fairly smoothly. Even the doors fit well, which really suprised me! But from the fenders forward everything goes wonkey! The left side,(drivers) seems semi ok except the head light buckets are too large and lift up the fender.

These pictures are without hood

[samuel]

The left side fender twists backwards from the sidesale it's attached to and thus won't fit forward over the front. When bolted to the bumper it's very stressed.
132009
132008

[Ajzride]

Your pictures links are incorrect, we can't see what you hope we see.

[samuel]

132021I'm not sure these pictures help much. It would probably be better to take a look live to get a better idea of whats amiss.

[samuel]

Sorry, didn't do the pictures right. here's the hood laying on top.132011132017132018

[Ajzride]

Yikes, that is pretty far off. Is there a chance the panels are warped, did they get stored in an odd position while off the body?

[autostang]

I dont know if this is the issue for you or not, but three things I remember from that portion of my car are:
- the headlights sat up too high. I ended up with mine rotated forward to give more clearance. I regret doing this as the headlights point down too much now and low beam at night isnt great. I should have figured out how to lower the whole headlight. One area I will be going back to eventually.
-i put spacers under the upper rear fender attachment point to give more clearance over the windshield frame. This stressed the fiberglass a little, but it didn't feel unreasonable and I am guessing its shape has adjusted over time.
-my windshield frame was not square. One side sat lower then the other. I was never able to get the two sides exact, which causes the corner of my hood to sit up slightly on one side.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I found that putting the hood, fenders, and bumper together off the car, was the best way to give me confidence they all fit together. I used clamps and a lot of tape to hold them all together. Then I put the all on the car as one piece. (2 persons needed). I use spacers where necessary when mounting.
When the assembly was sitting flat on the floor I had to put a spacer in the middle of the bumper and let the 2 ends droop down. This was so the hood could slide forward enough to match the bumpers.
My car is a 20 ft car. A lot more work is still needed to get it anywhere near OEM quality.


132093 132094

I feel The headlight aiming issue was one of the main reason FFR went to the gen 2 frontend. The only way I've seen this fixed on gen 1 front end was by replacing the headlight assemblies with projectors units.
Bob

[samuel]

I don't think so. I had the fenders on a shelf in my garage in sunny SoCal. The right one does seem to twist off to the right. But they measure the same. If they were made on the cold Michigan winter then shipped here, then maybe you are right!
Yikes, that is pretty far off. Is there a chance the panels are warped, did they get stored in an odd position while off the body?

[samuel]

Thanks Bob. I'll see if that helps. I'm going to have to take the head lights out because they will still push up the fenders. What are, "projector units."

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Thanks Bob. I'll see if that helps. I'm going to have to take the head lights out because they will still push up the fenders. What are, "projector units."
when you shine your headlights against a wall, you should get a horizontal line. With the mounting of the FFR lights in the gen 1 body, you get an up-side-down "V".
Projector are round units in the headlight assembly. Some after market projector can be rotated to get you back to a horizontal line.
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