Hey guys I’m putting my front end together and like the title says I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it. I painted my frame and firewall and will have my fender liners and core support powder coated shortly. I’d like to avoid scratching them up when installing. It seems easiest to put the front suspension on first while it’s easy to access, then instal the core support, then the fender liners into the fenders, then bolt the fenders on the car? Would that be the best way to do it?
Not yet I was going to go to Powder Craft in North Hollywood, Ca. to get a quote today. Why do you ask?
I'd highly recommend pre-fitting everything 1st before painting your fenders & powder coating your inners. Get all your gaps correct, know what shims are required, practice assembling it, etc. If applicable make sure your emblems are straight & positioned correctly, wheelwell trim fits, headlight bezels align, etc. As far as gaps and alignment, start w/the procedure in the Fisher Body manual.
That sounds very smart. However my exterior paint is, well… just primer. At this point I wanted to get the engine bay looking good and get the car running right, then move to paint. Might be a little backwards but I’m doing what I can myself first. Thinking about it now it might be best to paint the fender liners and core myself and then later once I move to get paint done spend the extra money to have the fender liners coated since they will all need to come apart again anyway.
Nice. Are the spindles from a Corvette? Probably a good idea to do what you said wrt painting the wheelwells. The front end sheetmetal just takes patience and quite possibly drilling of a few spot welds to get it right. Are your fenders original or replacement (i.e. used NOS). If you're not sure, just post pics of the gap where the outer skin & inner panel meet (along where the hood bumpers would be & above where the part # stamp is).
The spindles are from ATS. They're meant for an A body conversion for c6 corvette brakes. Fenders are original. Eventually, I'm hoping to find a new guy who can straighten up the gaps especially on the lower front door to the fender as well as finish up the custom fab work I'm planning to do on the front end. Tucked in bumpers and such. The rear of the car has already been completed.
When my car was repainted the fender liners were left attached on the frame. The fenders where then installed & the fender liner bolts installed after the frenders were aligned properly.
