DIY - Minor Bodywork
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DIY - Minor Bodywork
First thing is first:
IF YOU PLAN ON EVER SELLING THE CAR, STOP. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO IT, AND TAKE IT TO A BODY SHOP. IT IS ONE THING TO BE FIXING YOUR PERSONAL TRANSPORT, BUT IT IS QUITE ANOTHER TO TRY TO SELL THAT AS BEING "SAFE!" IF YOU CAN'T PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF YOUR WORK - FOR LIFE - TO YOUR MOST LOVED AND CARED ABOUT ONES AND TO TOTAL STRANGERS ALIKE, THEN DON'T EVEN THINK OF DOING THIS WORK YOURSELF.
When doing bodywork, understand that you will only be able to even attempt to fix the most minor of issues without specialized tools. I was lucky and this was a very "low speed" dent that Joe Pesci's sledgehammer put in my front end. If you get the bumper cover off and major pieces of steel look bent, take a few good pictures (With a ruler in the frame is helpful), put the bumper back on and take the car and pictures to a good body shop. If the structural steel of your car is bent, the car won't ride or align correctly and it WILL be dangerous. Additionally in a future crash, it won't be as safe as it was designed to be! Bending weakens metal, and the high strength steel of your car's frame is designed to be sacrificial to save what is in the main compartment - namely, your and your passengers butts!
This information is for educational purposes only. I do not in any way suggest that anyone perform or attempt procedures that may endanger personal or public safety. Those not specially trained and knowledgeable in safety and proper work procedures should not attempt automotive work. By using this information, the user absolves the poster of ANY liability for the consequences of their actions.
********************
So, one day, mysteriously... I got out of my car after driving to work, and noticed that I had a pretty decent size dent in my front end. My hood was pushed back and up about 2 inches, and the upper radiator support was bent back a ways.
Funny. The car was in tip-top shape before I went to work.
It was almost as though my car had collided with a 2003 Ford Expedition at 2 miles an hour. Almost as though the Expedition's increased ride height put its trailer hitch dead even with the bottom of my hood. Almost as though the other car had NO damage to its trailer hitch, and as though my car went completely under someone else's at a yield sign. It was almost as though someone laughed at my car and said "ahh, forget it, no damage no harm."
But that couldn't possibly have happened, because then I'd have to tell my insurance company.
**** that. It must have been Joe Pesci with a sledgehammer.
However, it still left me with a car that operated mechanically well, but looked stupid. As though a civic of my vintage wasn't enough of a birth control car, it now had a messed up hood and a lopsided appearance.
I took it to several body shops who all quoted me a LOT of money to fix it. I'm a teacher, and I don't really have that cash lying around. Even if I did, I sure as heck wouldn't spend it on something like this that is purely cosmetic. Good thing I have a friend who is an independent insurance adjuster. With his advice, I decided to fix this myself. It might not be factory new condition, and it might be noticeable when you take a really close look at it, but since I'm keeping this car until it falls apart I think I can personally deal with that.
Tools needed:
Friend or two to help with measurements / positioning stuff.
Factory shop and body repair manual. The one listed in a thread on this site works.
Sockets / Wrenches / Extensions
Screwdrivers
Slide Hammer + Hooks / picks / grabbers / chain. I bought mine at Harbor Freight for $40.00, but there are others and tool rental places sometimes have them.
6-9' Tape Measure - the more accurate the better. cm / mm is good, inches work too, but you want to get the best measurements possible. How important are the measurements?
Read THIS. This guy has over 20 years experience. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about. The more measurements, the better.
If at all possible, a Tram gauge. Like THIS
If you don't want to spend 250.00 on a one-off tool, I improvised my own, but it will DEFINITELY not be as accurate as the real thing. You've been warned. To improvise, you'll need:
Masking tape / scotch tape
Carpenter's level - No, I'm not kidding.
Long straight board 1"x2" is plenty.
1/8 or 1/4" dowel rods about a foot long.
The last three items are to make a homemade tram gauge. Basically, in the shop manual you'll find measurements to various points on the car's frame and steel support panels from various other points on the car. For example:
These measurements are great, but they are measurements from level. If you remember your high-school geometry, if you just lay your tape measure on point A and point B, unless they are totally level, your measurement will be of the hypotenuse of a right triangle - which never ever equals the length of one of the straight sides.
Therefore, you stick the dowel rods into the hole points on the frame, making sure they are vertical with the level, tape in place. Take the long piece of wood, put it between the dowel rods, make sure it is horizontally level. Mark it on-center with the dowel rods at 90 degrees and take THAT as the measurement. Look at the tram gauge picture. You'll see what I mean.
Materials needed:
Body parts:
Braaaiiiinnnsssss.... No, not THOSE body parts. Sheet metal panels. They come in 2.5 varieties:
1: Aftermarket parts: Crap. Garbage. doo-doo. Some of these parts are made ON THE BOAT they are imported on to avoid having to pay taxes. Do not buy. They have been shown to not hold up as well as other varieties, and usually don't fit very well. I have also heard they don't paint well, but YMMV.
1.5: CAPA Certified Aftermarket parts: Also somewhat crappy. usually made in China, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines. The Certified Aftermarket parts Association theoretically checks these parts for fit and finish and strength. it then assigns the parts a sticker which you can look up on http://www.capacertified.org/home.asp under the "seal search" page. However, check out the "Updates" section. That's where all the "de-certified" parts are listed. Holy crap, there are a bunch of them... so much so that they have to list them monthly on a full page in small print.
At least there is a LITTLE accountability here. Granted most of the people on the CAPA director's board are flown to inspections BY the manufacturers... but at least it is some form of accountability, albeit a sketchy one. Fit and finish range from pretty decent to mediocre.
2: OEM Parts - The best. Parts made by the manufacturer, probably on the same assembly line with the same quality steel / ABS that was used to make the original panels that came on your car. The fit and finish of these parts is the best, because it IS the original part. Primers are pretty good, and the parts are usually warranted for a year or more. Junkyards are good sources for OEM panels and lights and such, though if they are welded in you won't be able to use them.
As with most things, you get what you pay for. I'm poor and didn't want to pay $300 shipped for an OEM hood. Headlights are ridiculously expensive OEM, but again they are the best. I went with a CAPA certified hood for $100, and I scored some scrap hood hinges from a pick-a-part yard for $25.00.
Paint Shop:
Unless you have a LOT of paint experience, don't even THINK of painting the panels yourself. Its not that painting a hood or a fender is hard - it is pretty easy - matching colors is hard. Matching the fender you DON'T have to paint to the hood that you DO have to paint is impossible. Yes - impossible. Any paint man will tell you that you can only get close. So close you'd need a pro to barely be able to see it with a trained eye, but still just close. Being able to match colors is what you pay a paint shop for. The phone book and calling 10-15 painters for bids is your friend. DON'T take the lowest bid. Take a bid that will get you quality work.
Procedure:
This is what I did, and it details minor dent repair and straightening the upper radiator support bar 1.5-2".
1: Raise the hood. If you can't get the hood open you might need to remove the bumper first to get at the hood latch to jimmy it open. If that still doesn't work, remove the bolts from the hood hinges and go at it that way. If that doesn't work, take it to a body shop. if it is so jacked up you can't open it, you probably have frame damage, and you need serious professional help.
2: Disconnect the negative battery cable, remove the battery / battery case and WAIT at least 5 minutes. You'll be working somewhat close to the airbag components, and it would suck to hear an explosion when you didn't expect it. YELLOW means airbag components.
3: Leave the car on the ground. Measurements should be taken with weight on the frame and tires, not on jackstands.
4: Survey the damage looking down. Is the very front steel bar (Upper radiator support) bent with any sort of crease in it? Is it grotesquely bent more than about 2"? Is it slanted / non-level aside from where the headlights are more than 1-2"? See any busted welds? If the answer was "Yes" to any of these, go to a body shop. Possible frame damage - don't risk it.
4: Remove the bumper cover and grill if you haven't already. Remove the hood if you haven't already - be sure to disconnect windshield washer hoses and nozzles.
5: Check out your A/C Condenser and radiator. if your ac condenser is bent or leaking, you probably need to replace it, and your AC system will need a once over / recharge. If your radiator is bent / leaking / busted STOP and go to a body shop. Collisions bad enough to kill your radiator probably are bad enough to bend some frame elements.
6: Assuming your car is mechanically sound, it is measurement time. You need to make sure your frame rails are the correct distance apart. Check the shop manual measurement point, and make sure that the rails are exactly that far apart from center of hole to center of hole. I think the tolerance is like 1-2 mm. If the rails are out of spec, STOP and take it to a body shop. They'll need to pull the frame. You don't want to mess with it. If the rails aren't level (assuming your shop floor is level) STOP and go to a body shop. If they are different lengths out from each other, STOP and go to a body shop. Your frame is the foundation of your car, and if it is out of whack it is definitely beyond your capabilities, and it means everything else is out of whack as well.
6: Make a diagram of all the measurement points listed in the shop manual, and measure ALL of them with a tram gauge or your homemade measuring device. Compare numbers, and list the differentials.
If ANY points are more than about 1-2" out of spec, STOP. To fix the problem, you'd need to bend the steel so much that it would lose a lot of its strength and you should probably replace the whole bar. To replace components, you'd need to weld it. I don't know how to weld, and I sure as hell don't know how to keep the frame from twisting when working on it. Take it to a shop.
7: Everything suitably minor? Basically, you'll need to check the differences and pull the parts back to spec using directional force proportional to the impact. It helps to know and look at the angle of impact, as that is probably the angle you'll want to pull at.
8: Slide hammer time. Hook the working end of the slide hammer on the bent part, but DON'T start working straight at the point of impact. You want to work from the outside towards the center of the deformation. If you start at the center, you end up just stretching the metal and causing yourself major headaches when you can't figure out why the fenders are splaying.
Many semi-light strokes are better than a few leviathan ones. tap tap tap, check. tap tap tap, check. You want to angle the force to move the outsides of the part toward their final position, but you don't want them there quite yet. Use the final pull at the center to move things very slightly - by the time you work the center you should have pulled it decently close to where it should go.
Every time you change the position of the hammer from one area to another, use the tram gauge / improvised tool to measure your work - that way you can see how far each tap / force is getting you. You'll want to work the piece in a few sections, lightly, going back and forth to get the pull accurate enough. Hopefully you'll have some sort of symmetry on the undamaged part of the vehicle to work with to see where to aim.
9: Close? OK. Check your measurements against factory specs. You need to be within about 1/2 to 1/4" or better in ALL measurements. Once you are there, you'll want to test-fit some parts. You have play of maybe 1/4" on a side of most fender parts and on the hood, so if you can't get it looking right, more Slide hammer work is probably needed.
You want the fitment such that the gaps in panels are obviously equal on all sides, and that body lines line up correctly. if you THINK you have them looking good, back away from the car about 5-10 feet, and check for level and angle. Anything splayed out still? more hammer work.
Once you have everything lined up as best you can, ask yourself if that is acceptable. If you were to take a girl /guy out, would you want him/her to see the car with those gaps or that weird asymmetrical front? If not, more work is needed. If you don't feel like doing more work, give up and call a shop. At least you bought the parts cheaper than they would have sold them to you.
10: Paint shop prep. If it has been a while since your incident and you put off painting something, you may have rust in a fender or something where paint chipped off. You need to sand it down and get that rust out of there, lest it ruin the new paint job. Ask your painter how they want the car delivered, and if they want any prep work done on it (clearcoat sanding, 180 grit sanding, etc). Help them out - the happier they are, the better your final ride looks.
If you are replacing the hood, put the new hood on totally bare - no moulding, windshield washer hoses, rubber, anything. the shop will want it bare.
11: Deliver to paint shop. You might consider driving it to the shop with the bumper off but the headlights on (You need turn signals to legally drive anywhere). At the shop, take the headlights out and that should help them prep that much more.
12: After the car is painted, the first time you see it, check it with fresh eyes to see if you were right about your gaps being acceptable. If not, you'll have to either move panels and re-adjust or remove panels and tap tap tap again...
13: When you are finally satisfied with the results - or when you give up in frustration - let this be a reminder to pay more attention to the road next time!
IF YOU PLAN ON EVER SELLING THE CAR, STOP. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO IT, AND TAKE IT TO A BODY SHOP. IT IS ONE THING TO BE FIXING YOUR PERSONAL TRANSPORT, BUT IT IS QUITE ANOTHER TO TRY TO SELL THAT AS BEING "SAFE!" IF YOU CAN'T PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF YOUR WORK - FOR LIFE - TO YOUR MOST LOVED AND CARED ABOUT ONES AND TO TOTAL STRANGERS ALIKE, THEN DON'T EVEN THINK OF DOING THIS WORK YOURSELF.
When doing bodywork, understand that you will only be able to even attempt to fix the most minor of issues without specialized tools. I was lucky and this was a very "low speed" dent that Joe Pesci's sledgehammer put in my front end. If you get the bumper cover off and major pieces of steel look bent, take a few good pictures (With a ruler in the frame is helpful), put the bumper back on and take the car and pictures to a good body shop. If the structural steel of your car is bent, the car won't ride or align correctly and it WILL be dangerous. Additionally in a future crash, it won't be as safe as it was designed to be! Bending weakens metal, and the high strength steel of your car's frame is designed to be sacrificial to save what is in the main compartment - namely, your and your passengers butts!
This information is for educational purposes only. I do not in any way suggest that anyone perform or attempt procedures that may endanger personal or public safety. Those not specially trained and knowledgeable in safety and proper work procedures should not attempt automotive work. By using this information, the user absolves the poster of ANY liability for the consequences of their actions.
********************
So, one day, mysteriously... I got out of my car after driving to work, and noticed that I had a pretty decent size dent in my front end. My hood was pushed back and up about 2 inches, and the upper radiator support was bent back a ways.
Funny. The car was in tip-top shape before I went to work.
It was almost as though my car had collided with a 2003 Ford Expedition at 2 miles an hour. Almost as though the Expedition's increased ride height put its trailer hitch dead even with the bottom of my hood. Almost as though the other car had NO damage to its trailer hitch, and as though my car went completely under someone else's at a yield sign. It was almost as though someone laughed at my car and said "ahh, forget it, no damage no harm."
But that couldn't possibly have happened, because then I'd have to tell my insurance company.
**** that. It must have been Joe Pesci with a sledgehammer.
However, it still left me with a car that operated mechanically well, but looked stupid. As though a civic of my vintage wasn't enough of a birth control car, it now had a messed up hood and a lopsided appearance.
I took it to several body shops who all quoted me a LOT of money to fix it. I'm a teacher, and I don't really have that cash lying around. Even if I did, I sure as heck wouldn't spend it on something like this that is purely cosmetic. Good thing I have a friend who is an independent insurance adjuster. With his advice, I decided to fix this myself. It might not be factory new condition, and it might be noticeable when you take a really close look at it, but since I'm keeping this car until it falls apart I think I can personally deal with that.
Tools needed:
Friend or two to help with measurements / positioning stuff.
Factory shop and body repair manual. The one listed in a thread on this site works.
Sockets / Wrenches / Extensions
Screwdrivers
Slide Hammer + Hooks / picks / grabbers / chain. I bought mine at Harbor Freight for $40.00, but there are others and tool rental places sometimes have them.
6-9' Tape Measure - the more accurate the better. cm / mm is good, inches work too, but you want to get the best measurements possible. How important are the measurements?
Read THIS. This guy has over 20 years experience. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about. The more measurements, the better.
If at all possible, a Tram gauge. Like THIS
If you don't want to spend 250.00 on a one-off tool, I improvised my own, but it will DEFINITELY not be as accurate as the real thing. You've been warned. To improvise, you'll need:
Masking tape / scotch tape
Carpenter's level - No, I'm not kidding.
Long straight board 1"x2" is plenty.
1/8 or 1/4" dowel rods about a foot long.
The last three items are to make a homemade tram gauge. Basically, in the shop manual you'll find measurements to various points on the car's frame and steel support panels from various other points on the car. For example:
These measurements are great, but they are measurements from level. If you remember your high-school geometry, if you just lay your tape measure on point A and point B, unless they are totally level, your measurement will be of the hypotenuse of a right triangle - which never ever equals the length of one of the straight sides.
Therefore, you stick the dowel rods into the hole points on the frame, making sure they are vertical with the level, tape in place. Take the long piece of wood, put it between the dowel rods, make sure it is horizontally level. Mark it on-center with the dowel rods at 90 degrees and take THAT as the measurement. Look at the tram gauge picture. You'll see what I mean.
Materials needed:
Body parts:
Braaaiiiinnnsssss.... No, not THOSE body parts. Sheet metal panels. They come in 2.5 varieties:
1: Aftermarket parts: Crap. Garbage. doo-doo. Some of these parts are made ON THE BOAT they are imported on to avoid having to pay taxes. Do not buy. They have been shown to not hold up as well as other varieties, and usually don't fit very well. I have also heard they don't paint well, but YMMV.
1.5: CAPA Certified Aftermarket parts: Also somewhat crappy. usually made in China, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines. The Certified Aftermarket parts Association theoretically checks these parts for fit and finish and strength. it then assigns the parts a sticker which you can look up on http://www.capacertified.org/home.asp under the "seal search" page. However, check out the "Updates" section. That's where all the "de-certified" parts are listed. Holy crap, there are a bunch of them... so much so that they have to list them monthly on a full page in small print.
At least there is a LITTLE accountability here. Granted most of the people on the CAPA director's board are flown to inspections BY the manufacturers... but at least it is some form of accountability, albeit a sketchy one. Fit and finish range from pretty decent to mediocre.
2: OEM Parts - The best. Parts made by the manufacturer, probably on the same assembly line with the same quality steel / ABS that was used to make the original panels that came on your car. The fit and finish of these parts is the best, because it IS the original part. Primers are pretty good, and the parts are usually warranted for a year or more. Junkyards are good sources for OEM panels and lights and such, though if they are welded in you won't be able to use them.
As with most things, you get what you pay for. I'm poor and didn't want to pay $300 shipped for an OEM hood. Headlights are ridiculously expensive OEM, but again they are the best. I went with a CAPA certified hood for $100, and I scored some scrap hood hinges from a pick-a-part yard for $25.00.
Paint Shop:
Unless you have a LOT of paint experience, don't even THINK of painting the panels yourself. Its not that painting a hood or a fender is hard - it is pretty easy - matching colors is hard. Matching the fender you DON'T have to paint to the hood that you DO have to paint is impossible. Yes - impossible. Any paint man will tell you that you can only get close. So close you'd need a pro to barely be able to see it with a trained eye, but still just close. Being able to match colors is what you pay a paint shop for. The phone book and calling 10-15 painters for bids is your friend. DON'T take the lowest bid. Take a bid that will get you quality work.
Procedure:
This is what I did, and it details minor dent repair and straightening the upper radiator support bar 1.5-2".
1: Raise the hood. If you can't get the hood open you might need to remove the bumper first to get at the hood latch to jimmy it open. If that still doesn't work, remove the bolts from the hood hinges and go at it that way. If that doesn't work, take it to a body shop. if it is so jacked up you can't open it, you probably have frame damage, and you need serious professional help.
2: Disconnect the negative battery cable, remove the battery / battery case and WAIT at least 5 minutes. You'll be working somewhat close to the airbag components, and it would suck to hear an explosion when you didn't expect it. YELLOW means airbag components.
3: Leave the car on the ground. Measurements should be taken with weight on the frame and tires, not on jackstands.
4: Survey the damage looking down. Is the very front steel bar (Upper radiator support) bent with any sort of crease in it? Is it grotesquely bent more than about 2"? Is it slanted / non-level aside from where the headlights are more than 1-2"? See any busted welds? If the answer was "Yes" to any of these, go to a body shop. Possible frame damage - don't risk it.
4: Remove the bumper cover and grill if you haven't already. Remove the hood if you haven't already - be sure to disconnect windshield washer hoses and nozzles.
5: Check out your A/C Condenser and radiator. if your ac condenser is bent or leaking, you probably need to replace it, and your AC system will need a once over / recharge. If your radiator is bent / leaking / busted STOP and go to a body shop. Collisions bad enough to kill your radiator probably are bad enough to bend some frame elements.
6: Assuming your car is mechanically sound, it is measurement time. You need to make sure your frame rails are the correct distance apart. Check the shop manual measurement point, and make sure that the rails are exactly that far apart from center of hole to center of hole. I think the tolerance is like 1-2 mm. If the rails are out of spec, STOP and take it to a body shop. They'll need to pull the frame. You don't want to mess with it. If the rails aren't level (assuming your shop floor is level) STOP and go to a body shop. If they are different lengths out from each other, STOP and go to a body shop. Your frame is the foundation of your car, and if it is out of whack it is definitely beyond your capabilities, and it means everything else is out of whack as well.
6: Make a diagram of all the measurement points listed in the shop manual, and measure ALL of them with a tram gauge or your homemade measuring device. Compare numbers, and list the differentials.
If ANY points are more than about 1-2" out of spec, STOP. To fix the problem, you'd need to bend the steel so much that it would lose a lot of its strength and you should probably replace the whole bar. To replace components, you'd need to weld it. I don't know how to weld, and I sure as hell don't know how to keep the frame from twisting when working on it. Take it to a shop.
7: Everything suitably minor? Basically, you'll need to check the differences and pull the parts back to spec using directional force proportional to the impact. It helps to know and look at the angle of impact, as that is probably the angle you'll want to pull at.
8: Slide hammer time. Hook the working end of the slide hammer on the bent part, but DON'T start working straight at the point of impact. You want to work from the outside towards the center of the deformation. If you start at the center, you end up just stretching the metal and causing yourself major headaches when you can't figure out why the fenders are splaying.
Many semi-light strokes are better than a few leviathan ones. tap tap tap, check. tap tap tap, check. You want to angle the force to move the outsides of the part toward their final position, but you don't want them there quite yet. Use the final pull at the center to move things very slightly - by the time you work the center you should have pulled it decently close to where it should go.
Every time you change the position of the hammer from one area to another, use the tram gauge / improvised tool to measure your work - that way you can see how far each tap / force is getting you. You'll want to work the piece in a few sections, lightly, going back and forth to get the pull accurate enough. Hopefully you'll have some sort of symmetry on the undamaged part of the vehicle to work with to see where to aim.
9: Close? OK. Check your measurements against factory specs. You need to be within about 1/2 to 1/4" or better in ALL measurements. Once you are there, you'll want to test-fit some parts. You have play of maybe 1/4" on a side of most fender parts and on the hood, so if you can't get it looking right, more Slide hammer work is probably needed.
You want the fitment such that the gaps in panels are obviously equal on all sides, and that body lines line up correctly. if you THINK you have them looking good, back away from the car about 5-10 feet, and check for level and angle. Anything splayed out still? more hammer work.
Once you have everything lined up as best you can, ask yourself if that is acceptable. If you were to take a girl /guy out, would you want him/her to see the car with those gaps or that weird asymmetrical front? If not, more work is needed. If you don't feel like doing more work, give up and call a shop. At least you bought the parts cheaper than they would have sold them to you.
10: Paint shop prep. If it has been a while since your incident and you put off painting something, you may have rust in a fender or something where paint chipped off. You need to sand it down and get that rust out of there, lest it ruin the new paint job. Ask your painter how they want the car delivered, and if they want any prep work done on it (clearcoat sanding, 180 grit sanding, etc). Help them out - the happier they are, the better your final ride looks.
If you are replacing the hood, put the new hood on totally bare - no moulding, windshield washer hoses, rubber, anything. the shop will want it bare.
11: Deliver to paint shop. You might consider driving it to the shop with the bumper off but the headlights on (You need turn signals to legally drive anywhere). At the shop, take the headlights out and that should help them prep that much more.
12: After the car is painted, the first time you see it, check it with fresh eyes to see if you were right about your gaps being acceptable. If not, you'll have to either move panels and re-adjust or remove panels and tap tap tap again...
13: When you are finally satisfied with the results - or when you give up in frustration - let this be a reminder to pay more attention to the road next time!
Last edited by reddawnman; Dec 30, 2007 at 04:56 AM.
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From: SoCal OC / LA / San Diego
Rep Power: 273 Re: DIY - Minor Bodywork
*Update*
One additional procedure / gotcha that I should mention applies to anyone with a Cold Air Intake / Short Ram intake.
If you are working on the body, remove your CAI or SRI before doing any major pounding, lest you break the welds.
When I was pounding on my frame, I forgot to loosen and remove the mounting bracket for my AEM V2. I noticed before starting the car up that I had busted the weld of the mounting bracket from vibration.
As noted above, many lighter pulls with the slide hammer are better than a few really heavy ones. If you went all-out with the hammer, you can very possibly break a motor mount. Have patience and remember to do the pulling a little at a time so that the shock loads aren't too bad on he mounts. Personally, I think the AEM bracket weld is a ****-poor design...
Anyone know a place in SoCal that will weld aluminum cheap?
**edit. Elementary Solutions in Santa Ana welded it for $30. The guy is a stand-up dude with a great brain and good hands with a TIG.
One additional procedure / gotcha that I should mention applies to anyone with a Cold Air Intake / Short Ram intake.
If you are working on the body, remove your CAI or SRI before doing any major pounding, lest you break the welds.
When I was pounding on my frame, I forgot to loosen and remove the mounting bracket for my AEM V2. I noticed before starting the car up that I had busted the weld of the mounting bracket from vibration.
As noted above, many lighter pulls with the slide hammer are better than a few really heavy ones. If you went all-out with the hammer, you can very possibly break a motor mount. Have patience and remember to do the pulling a little at a time so that the shock loads aren't too bad on he mounts. Personally, I think the AEM bracket weld is a ****-poor design...
Anyone know a place in SoCal that will weld aluminum cheap?
**edit. Elementary Solutions in Santa Ana welded it for $30. The guy is a stand-up dude with a great brain and good hands with a TIG.
Last edited by reddawnman; Jan 7, 2008 at 02:05 AM.
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