Hi I was on the last stretch of my 67 coupe restoration, just the interior left. Then I had a laps in concentration and when jacking the car on the front cross member, the jack slipped and crushed the bottom of the core support and some other bits. My question is if it is possible to replace the core support without taking off the fenders.the car is newly painted and I really don’t want to take even one fender off if I can help it. I know what to do as I built the car from the ground up just can’t work out if it will come back out to replace with the fenders still on? Thanks for any input. (Still drowning my sorrows)
Yes, you can remove the core and leave the fenders attached. I did, no prob. I was told the fenders would sag so I thought about putting some kind of brace across from one side to the other, but in the end just removed it. Like you the exterior had fresh paint and I didn't want to take a single screw out.
I feel for you about the accidental damage. It just turned spring here yesterday, I will sit in the sun and help you drown your sorrows by downing a couple cold ones.
Thanks Bluebird I was Hoping I could do it from the front. Once you got everything undone is there a trick to get it out. Just need to import a replacement now and hope the new one doesn’t alter my panel gaps as I spent so long getting then as good as they could.
It was a few year ago, but I don't remember having any trouble just taking it out and putting the new one in. The 67 service manual has instructions on how to take it out, although the 68 manual doesn't. Mines a 68. The manual says to loosen the fender bolts at the firewall, I didn't I left everything on the fender mounted tight, I didn't want anything to shift as I didn't want to realign it all. I got my replacement from Ames. Was the correct shape, nice core only problem I remember is one bolt hole for mounting the rad may have been missing or drilled in the wrong spot. But then my rad is not stock so in may have been the rad not the support.
One thing it did lead to, was all that ugly wiring hanging down got me to rip it all out and make a custom harness. My car is not stock, wouldn't have done that if I was doing a restoration.