I'm about to remove my right front fender to replace my heater core and check my hidden serial #.
The paint on the car is in excellent condition so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I would suggest trying to extract the inner fender...not the whole front fender... Take all the bolts out and try to manipulate the rear of the inner fender away enough to get hands and tools in.. no matter how bad you scratch the inner fender up it beats the pants out of scratching the cars exterior paint.. I'll admit to never having done this but all the old timiers I know used to do horrible things to inner fenders to avoid removing fenders for heater core swaps.. It can't really hurt to try as you must remove most of that anyhow.. If your a very patient man you could remove the front fender extension and all that around the battery stuff and really be able to move that inner fender around. I'd love to see a pciture of this if it works

This sounds like a great alternative. I'll keep you posted.

I too would suggest removing just the inner fender. I did a second gen with factory A/C this way and from memory you need to remove the bolts from the bottom of the fender as well as a bolt from inside the car near the kick panel. You also need to remove all the bolts which attach the inner fender to the fender and also remove the wheel. From memory I also insert a wooden 4 x 4 block between the bottom of the fender near the car so that it holds the bottom of the fender out wide enough (without bending the actual fender) so you can maneuver out the inner fender. This isn't the easiest job in the world to do and its probably best if you can have someone assist you to do the job to help hold out the fender and to also assist man handling the inner fender while putting it back in later. I believe its much easier than removing and realigning the fender as well as risking scratching the paint.

Great advise, Thanks.

While I'm working in this area of the car another problem I have is the antenna base not covering the hole properly. I've ordered two different types with the same results. Is there a special base that I can purchase that will solve this problem?

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Make sure the hole is the original size!

Unless your car is air conditioned, you should be able to replace the heater core by removing the box from inside the car.

Keith C.

I still have to obtain access to the hidden serial# so I'm afraid I can't aviod this battle. I'll check out all the options.

Dave

Keith is right.. as soon as I finished my C-1 and started it the core crapped. I hadn't finished installing all the dash stuff so I pulled that big air box down and worked it from the back side but don't remember the specifics.. But you said something about checking the hidden VIN as well

I want to take pictures of the serial # and video it to complete my records etc on the car.

I started the project tonight and I really appreciate all the sound advise.
Hopefully I will have enough time to finish it this weekend. Patience seems to be the key.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!!!

I'm well into this project and almost wish I removed the fender.
I removed all the bolts on the inner fender along with the headlight bracket bolts and the cocktail shaker which really freed things up. The long molding and bracket at the bottom of the fender had to be removed. Now I'm in the process of removing the bolts on the fender near the firewall(as suggested) to free up enough room to slide the inner fender down past the fender. The question I have is it seems like the hinge is going to hold things up. Should I unbolt it at the fender?

The hood hinge?

Yes the hood hinge. I'm just trying to free up as much as I can so I don't tweek the fender. I think unbolting this is going to give us the play we need.
I'll post some pictures.

THANKS

What a project, regardless of what I did, I could not get the inner fender out of the way to gain access to the hidden serial number. My advice to anyone removing a fender, be as patient and careful as possible, tape off all exposed edges with double tape at least to avoid any damage. I dont know if I would even trust a mechanic to do this job, there is to much risk of things being scratched or damaged. The good news is all the serial numbers match so it made all the time worth it. Tom, does this hole for the antenna look original or do you think it has been modified? Thanks for everyones help.

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