I'm a newbie at cars and resotoration......so here's a question for all of you that are hands on and have done restoration work yourselves.....I'm trying to get the bolts off/loosened up on the front fender of a 1969 Camaro. The bolts under the wheel well are stripped. How do I get them off? Or can I? Should I just leave it to a professional? I'm trying to get the front fenders off so I can take off the "Camaro" emblem on each side. But I can't even get the fenders loosened up or off for that matter because of those stupid bolts that are stripped. Any suggestions??

Thanks
Don

 

If you are removing the fenders then you can remove the fenders and the wheel house together if you have several of the metal clips that broke causing the bolts to turn and not loosen. Post a photo of the front of your car and list your intentions. Are you doing a complete restoration???, are you just trying to remove the emblems for paint... I will be glad to offer any advise I can.

 

I want to remove the emblems on the front fenders. The bolts I'm referring to are under the wheel well....do I have the correct bolts for removing the emblems? Maybe I have the wrong bolts.

 

The fender must be loosened almost completely before gaining access to the nuts on the backside of the emblems. First remove two fender bolts (9/16 heads) located at the bottom rear of the fender. Then remove the 3 bolts that are located in the wheelhouse area, these bolts are located behind the rear portion of the wheel. The upper fender bolts may need removed. There is one inside the door jamb, two more under the hood. As you loosen the bolts you will start to loose thin shims, Keep track of them because you will need to put them back so the fender lines back up. By loosen the fender you should be able to reach up and loosen the nuts to the emblems. If not you have to loosen a couple of bolts that attach the wheelhouse panel to the radiator supt.
If your going to disassemble the complete frt end. Remove it as a complete unit. This a really fast process but allow access to everything.
A quick way to remove the emblems if you dont want to go thru all the this work and you are not reusing them is with a stiff putty knife and hammer. A couple of wacks and the studs will break off the emblems.
I would recommend a Camaro restoration book. I used the book thru out my first couple of builds and I really learned alot. I dont remember the exact name but it had a picture of a 69 camaro and said something like how to restore a Camaro.
Post your intentions like is this a complete rebuild are you just doing your body and paint work? How far are you wanting to go with this project.

 

There is only so much I can do with cars anyway because I really don't have the knowledge or experience. I'm planning on just dismantling as much as I can and then have a professional do the body work, suspension, engine and paint. I was told that if I can strip as much off the car as I possibly can it would save me money. So that's my first intention. Then have a professional do the rest of it. Thanks for the tips though!

 

Don, I have restored several cars and I am just starting to restore my '68 Camaro.
I am in fact stripping it down (like you) so that the paint shop doesn't have to worry about dissasembling it. But there there are certain things (not many) that I am going to let the pros worry about doing. One is the emblem on front fenders. I have orderd new ones along with clips and will ask the paint shop to install.
Reason being is that you need to be very careful removing the lower end of the front fender once the car is painted. Unless you are very careful there is a very good chance that the fender will rub or touch the leading edge of the door while the fender is unbolted from bottom. This will immediately chip your new paint job. Of course there are ways to prevent this...but why take the chance? Removing/installing one or two emblems will not save you that much in the grand scheme of your restoration.
If you have stripped fender bolts, they have to be repaired, anyway. (At least the threads on the fenders will need to be repaired.) That means that they most likely have to take the fenders off anyway.

 

That's a good idea, I have taken off most of the emblems except for the sides ones. I was wondering, would I be better off just buying new emblems or having my old ones re-chromed? I'm not sure which would be the cheaper route to go.

Don

 

Don,

there are many excellent reproduction emblems for these cars available today and they can be had for a lot cheaper than you can rechrome them.

In fact, most reproduction bright work (including bumpers) can be purchased for much less than a rechrome job. For example, a new, good (though not what I call Concours quaility) bumber will run you a couple of hundred bucks. An imported one about $100. I took mine to the chrome shop that I have dealt with for years and they could not do it for less than $300. (That did not include any repairs that the bumper may need......and that was with my return business discount!).

Even if you end up having your original rechromed, they will not come out as good the reproduction. This is because rechromed parts always lose some fine detail as part of the cleaning and re-plating process.

If I was doing this (and I am) I would be purchasing good reproduction parts.

My 2c.
Vic

 

Don,
You talk about having never done this level of work, but I learned almost all I know about automobiles from working on my Camaro. Now, that was out of necessity, since it was my only car for better than a decade and I needed it to go to work, but it was a learn as you go process. There were no restoration books or how-to manuals, just the Chilton or Haynes repair manuals. There were also no forums where you could connect with people who have done it before you. Just be brave, and ask questions along the way; you will be amazed at what you can do.