Project "Critter" begins

[IowaEagle]

Nice to hear things are turning around for your family Herman.  The critter is in good hands with TJ.

[trapperjack]

Have been test-fitting for an idea I have, ya'll tell me what you think. And before you say, "That's not how to do it right", I'm not trying to do it right, that costs money. I just want to get the headlights and turn signals in and have stuff line up. I'm thinking I may have found the redneck engineering way, even though there's no duct-tape involved, YET.
You can see from the pic below that the support for the headlight buckets and fender just won't quite line up.

What I'm thinking is, start at the d-side, which was unaffected. Attach fender, and headlight bucket. Attach that bottom piece that goes from fender to fender (what is that called?). Attach grill to d-side bucket and radiator support. Allign p-side headlight bucket with grill and bottom piece and DRILL NEW HOLES, so it lines up. Then shim the fender so it lines up.
I've allready got things moved enough to get radiator back in, my only hold up is geting the lights and blinkers in to pass a safety inspection.
What do ya'll think?

[Route 66 Rambler]

If my experience with an '86 Trans Am is any indicator, a lot of leaning and grunting might just get it all there, with a pry bar.  Like you said, fasten the closest one, then lean on it hard to get it moving towards the next one, fasten it, etc.  You can move a lot of it a long ways sometimes, a couple of inches from one side to the other, overall.
mike

[trapperjack]

That's pretty much how I got to where it is now. It's WAY better than when I started, just won't budge any more. In fact it now pushes the wrong side the wrong way.

[blondedriver]

Where is the UK pannel beaters??

[IowaEagle]

If the front valance is off, then tie it in first?

[83Eagle!]

Nice work.  Wish I had you abilities. 

[txjeeptx]

Try this - a long ratchet strap (with towels under its hooks & ratchet to protect the paint) wrapped all the way around the front end of the car, maybe even with the hood closed. That's the idea I get when I look at the pictures, but. . . is it a case of the fender support being tweaked to the inside, where you would actually have a problem mounting the headlight bucket if you got the fender mount holes to line up? If that's the case, then the right way to do it is to drill yerself some new holes, like you plan to do. You will probably have to drill new ones for the headlight buckets, too.

Maybe I can come up fer a visit in the next week - Ema is headin out of town for a week long visit with a friend of hers who just had a baby, leaving me free to wander around aimlessly without being told what I should be doing. I have the GE's dash all torn apart to replace the hood release cable, wire up some XJ gauges, and install a stereo and CB. I hope I can get it back together later today. I have to cut the dash up a little, and I'll have to cut the door panels up for speakers to mount up.

[trapperjack]

If you get a chance, swing by. Let me know when.

[trapperjack]

Well, finally did something. Work has been keeping me pretty busy, 3 kids, sick in-laws. Decided this evening, I was going to work on the Critter. Got the good radiator put in (from the 80 sedan RIP), filled her up, connected tranny lines, added some tranny fluid, shot a little boy-scout fluid down the carb, and she fired right off. Ran it a bit to see how much more water she wanted, topped it off, checked for leaks, and went for a spin around the pasture, down the hill to the county road, back up, down to the bottom pasture and back up (requires 4wd to get back up, this one's full time 4wd) Got a bit hotter than I'd like, but took more water after it cooled down. No leaks, yet. I'm going to try my redneck engineering on the headlight buckets, maybe this weekend. Now I've got her up on the drive where i can work with lights.
Yee-haw.

[IowaEagle]

Double Yee-Haw!

[trapperjack]

Well, I had a good day.



Hood closes, horns honk, blinkers blink, side clearance lights work, headlights almost work. When on lo-beams, both outer lights are on. When you go to hi-beams, all lights come on except the d side outer light, which works as low beam. Will need to fix that before inspection.
For inspection i need to fix the headlight issue, get tires, mount bumper, and hope a slight exhaust leak doesn't keep me from passing.

[68AMXGOPAC]

NIce Job  !

[blondedriver]

exhaust leak shouldn't be noticed ,, around here it is dangleing parts ,, intact lights and working

[IowaEagle]

Maybe the high beam filament is just bad on that one lamp.  All four should come on, but the outer lights have two filaments.  Maybe a bad socket too?  Now if the rest of the body behind the A pillar was white, you would have a RWB Eagle.  Looks like you got the light alignment issue solved.