Fascia alignment

[TTait]

I need to do some tweaking on both the front and rear fascias to reduce some of the awful gaps. On my other car I did a rear fascia swap and found a piece of angle iron installed to tweak the position of the upper edge. I understand some cars have that and others do not? Was it a factory or QAC mod, or something the PO had done in that case?

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It sure looks like my current car would benefit greatly from some additional lift to the upper outer corners of the rear fascia, I can manually pull it up into a better position and it seems that the angle iron insert would be just the ticket. I tossed the part from the other car years ago when I moved, does anyone have any additional info on how this was done, and how to do it correctly?

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Any other tips on fascia tweaking? The front looks... challenging. Probably as I have never pulled one all the way off and don't know the mounting details.

Hoping to get the fascias aligned and painted in the next two weeks. Any advice or help appreciated.

Tom

[Rich_NYS]

I'm going to pull my front fascia off this week to fix the eyebrows & work on the headlights. I'll be taking pics and will share here if you'd like a closer look at anything in particular.

My front gap looks a lot like yours and I'm planning to try & resolve it...I'll post my progress on that mission also.

At DCS, Justin from Canada mentioned one of their guys wasn't able to fix the front gap so he put some type of weatherstripping (or something) to effectively "camoflague" the gap. If all else fails, I'll do that.

[TTait]

I'm going to pull my front fascia off this week to fix the eyebrows & work on the headlights. I'll be taking pics and will share here if you'd like a closer look at anything in particular.

My front gap looks a lot like yours and I'm planning to try & resolve it...I'll post my progress on that mission also.

At DCS, Justin from Canada mentioned one of their guys wasn't able to fix the front gap so he put some type of weatherstripping (or something) to effectively "camoflague" the gap. If all else fails, I'll do that.


I just did eyebrows - excellent results. Know that you don't need to remove the fascia to do that. It took about 1-2 hours per side. Very do-able with it still on the car.

T

[TTait]

It looks like the studs t allow adjustments of the upper corners of the front fascia are accessed behind the headlight assemblies?

[TTait]

Made significant progress with the front fascia today. Not perfect but a lot better...

Took a few measurements on the rear and picked up a length 1f 1.5" angle. It appears that it will help significantly on the rear. Need to do some trimming on the angle - will get a fresh cutting disk tomorrow.

Found an old reference in one thread to the angle iron mod being done at the QAC centers - Dave S. asked James to post more info on it years ago and it ended there. I'll try to recreate the process.

T

[TTait]

Talking to myself here - but someday someone may read this... so..

I think I've roughly replicated what was done on my other car - probably at the QAC. Bought a piece of angle iron at home depot - I chose the one with pre-drilled slots and holes. 1.5" x 1.5". The length was perfect. The angle used by the QAC was solid, no pre-drilled holes. That could look cleaner, and some day I may redo this but for now its a thousand percent improvement, and its time to move on.

Removed screws at top edge of fascia going into the top of the fiberglass form, and lifted the urethane along its length. and slid/rotated in the angle. I marked the spots where it would mount with bolts down into the fiberglass form, one bolt on each side of the latch and one at each end, and then cut away most of the rest of the angle on what becomes the bottom side. Primed and painted the angle black. It lifts the top edge of the urethane perfectly - very happy with the height of the top of the fascia now - the middle and bottom were always fine.

The fascia now sits a bit too far forward as its currently not screwed back into the new angle. The old hardware wont work so I'm going to pick up some self tapping screws tomorrow with washers and tap back into the angle, and pull the fascia back at the centerline enough to let the lower engine cover close properly.

It's not perfect, you will be able to see some of the angle plate when the engine cover is open - but at least the fascias line up with the body now. Not bad for a few hours of work and a few dollars, literally. Danny said the fascias had shrunk and my best bet was to buy new ones - glad I did not.

I'll post a couple pics at some point if this thread comes to life (its late, and nobody else seems to need to do this I guess). If not - send me a PM in a couple years if anyone ever comes across this thread again.

This is Dr. Ryan Stone, sole survivor of the Shuttle Explorer STS157 transmitting in the blind from the International Space Station... Can anyone hear me?

Tom

PS - if a moderator ever comes across this thread could you change the category to frame and body and delete this line? Thanks.

[ALEXAKOS]

I hear ya Dr. stone!! I am solely floating in orbit and hope to see some images! 10-4

[Dangermouse]

My front fascia looks like your before picture, so I'd be very interested in how you overcame that. I have done the eyebrows with success too.

[TTait]

So for the front - here is the before and after:

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Removed the hood and the rusted out screws (and 2 bolts( that hold the fascia/stiffener to the underbody. I pushed the fascia into the preferred position and my daughter tightened the new stainless screws and bolts down. Bot going for flush, just truing to get a somewhat uniform gap of a few mm.


Here is before and after of the rear:

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And a shot showing the angle where it bolts to the rear stiffener.

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here is the other side, which was also awful before:

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[Rich_NYS]

It looks like the studs t allow adjustments of the upper corners of the front fascia are accessed behind the headlight assemblies?

I took my front fascia off and didn't note if those studs were accessible, but I did find what I believe to be the solution to getting the corners fixed and it does have to do with the studs. When I reassemble this evening, I'll take pics and note what can be accessed where.

In the meantime, here's the cliff notes:

There's a strip the runs along the top of the front fascia, it has holes the entire length that studs in the fascia go through, and another set of holes for attaching to the body near the hinged part of the hood. The holes with the fascia studs have enough tolerance for adjustment.

I think the issue with the front corner gap is caused by the eyebrows. It appears to me that when the eyebrows form, the fascia is pulled away from the front corner of the fenders.

Dave mentioned sometimes being able to resolve that gap, but then having trouble where the hood hits the center. So, when I worked on the eyebrows I loosened the last 4 nuts on each end (leaving the center secured) to allow the end portions more easily move back into place. After fixing the eyebrows I also coaxed the corners [of the fascia] a bit before tightening those nuts and I expect the gap to be resolved (or close to it) when I re-install the fascia.

I've heard mentioned a few times that the fascia shrinks, therefore the gaps can't be fixed, but I'm not yet convinced. I don't think it's shrunken....I think it's pulled. I also think removing the fascia to work on it is the way to go; I was able to see that the eyebrows pulled the corners out of place, and I was able to access everything.

I took a bunch of pics of the removal, I'll take some after I reassemble & post the results.

[TTait]

I've heard mentioned a few times that the fascia shrinks, therefore the gaps can't be fixed, but I'm not yet convinced.


Nor am I. Even if mine did shrink some at some point as was strongly asserted, I've made a lot of progress in getting mine better. I look forward to seeing your pix though as there is still a bit of room for improvement.

Any hope for doing your adjustment with the Fascia still on the car?

Tom

[Rich_NYS]

Any hope for doing your adjustment with the Fascia still on the car?

Tom

I don't think so, I dry-fit my fascia today to see if I could access the studs but I think the headlight bracket is too much in the way.

For all that is involved with dealing w/the headlight assemblies, removing the fascia is the clear & easy choice for me.

Tom, do you need any specific pics while I have things apart?

[TTait]

Tom, do you need any specific pics while I have things apart?

I don't think so... For now my fascia is close enough as to not require me taking it off, but while the hood and headlights are out now would have been the time if it just needed more tweaking. If there is anything in general we can add to the thread to help others though, snap a few now.

Thanks for asking!

[vps3922]

Here is before and after of the rear:

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Is it just me or does it look as if you streatched the fascia upwards to fit the higher corner? It does not look right. I will have to check mine but I think that the bow of the panel will be in line with the bow of the fascia. It looks as if your fascia is sitting too low.

[TTait]

The top aligns now, but I need to shim out a bit to get the rest of the panel to align. The entire assembly was already as high as I could get it. Ive been told there was as much as an inch of variation in the underbodies, and that the QAC centers did a similar mod to get fascias to align on some cars. My last car had that mod installed as well, but was shimmed a bit as well to push out the "shoulders" just below those peaks. At the QACs they seem to have used WASHER-SHIM 106680 for this purpose. They are a little overkill though - must be hardened steel or something to warrant the DMC price - looks like I can buy Fender Shims on ebay - a dozen or so for $5-10.

It lines up well at the belt line.

T

[Rich_NYS]

Here's a before & after of my fender gap. I'm definitely not satisfied, but I think if I had more time with it I could do better. It seems like every other time I work on my car, it's a day or two before a trip and I rush to meet the deadline. I'm also guilty of doing a bunch of things at once. In this case, it was a few "while you're in there" things.

In hindsight, I should've waited to glue the reinforcement bars over the headlights and save that for last (after I was satisfied with the alignment.)


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[TTait]

I'd almost swear those were photos of the before and after from my car, and my sentiments are the same.

[Rich_NYS]

I'd almost swear those were photos of the before and after from my car, and my sentiments are the same.


Ya, I'm not satisfied but I might have another go at it next summer.


***I haven't done the procedure below, but this is how I plan to do it:


#1...Install the eyebrow repair reinforcement bars only after I'm satisfied with the alignment, set aside an entire weekend, and prepare to align everything.

-During the summer, remove the fascia and prepare to remove the fascia reinforcement panel without breaking studs (heat, penetrating oil...whatever.)

-With all the reinforcement plate nuts loose, remove the eyebrows.

-When satisfied with the eyebrow job, remove the headlight assemblies (for maximum working room) then temp-install the fascia with all the reinforcement plate nuts still loose, but the body screws (under the hood) snug and with the reinforcement panel as even & as far "forward" as possible.

-Parked in the hot sun & using a heat gun, I'll try to adjust the fascia back into proper position and use heat when/where necessary.

-When satisfied and with the fascia still in place, tighten all the nuts securing the fascia to the reinforcement panel.

-Park in the garage and wait until morning, then inspect the job to see how it looks after "cooling" overnight.

-After 100% satisfied, tighten everything, put everything back together (except for the headlights) and install reinforcements for the eyebrow repair.

-Reinstall headlights and make hood gap adjustments.


I'll let you know how it goes next summer....I'll probably redo mine just to see if this procedure works. If anyone is preparing to tackle the same scenario, consider giving my idea above a try unless you're uncomfortable with multiple body panel adjustments.

[Gregadeth]

At DCS, Justin from Canada mentioned one of their guys wasn't able to fix the front gap so he put some type of weatherstripping (or something) to effectively "camoflague" the gap. If all else fails, I'll do that.I'd love to get more info on this, and/or pics if possible. My front fascia gap was bad enough already, but now after replacing the headlights and doing the eyebrow fix, for some reason the gap on the driver side has gotten much worse.