I'm in the process of bagging my xB, it seems that most of the pics i see have removed the front plastic fender liner. But the fender liner is needed to hold the fender and bumper together properly. Obviously some sort of a bracket needs to be made. Does anyone have any tips or preferably photos of the brackets or whatever you used to hold the bumper and fender together? Thanks in advance.

 

I did not remove my liners. I removed only the silly plastic clip thing that holds the bumper to the fender with the 2 bolts. I cut away the prutruding part of the liner in this area only. I attached the fender to the bumper with a small screw plate mounted to the lip on the fender where it flushes up to the bumper. Locate the clip and drill the fender flange, put the bumper in place and mark where to drill the bumper flange to match. Apply 1 screw from the bottom up thru the new hole in the bumper flange to the new clip and hole in the fender (You can reach this with the shield pulled down out of the way at the front). Is stronger than stock.

 

Do you have pics. I have unfortunatly rubbed through both sides and Im not able to put the silly plastic piece back on. I was thinking of fabricating a strut from the lip to the inner support for the fender.

 

x2 on the pics, i tried to picture that in my head and got a headache.

 

I can not really readily make pics. The fender has an edge that aligns with an edge on the bumper (where the 2 are against each other). Both the fender and the bumper have flanges here. Basically what I did was to remove the plastic bracket thingy and put a screw through the flanges to hold them together. You could simply put a screw thru the bumper flange into the fender but it is much stronger to use a screw plate (like the ones that come in speakers) in the fender flange. (i suggest not using the exact weak cheap crap that comes in speakers but the same type device from a hardware store that is stronger). One screw per side near the outer edge of the bumper fender joint...you will see the flanges are a bit narrower right by the wheel opening... drill and apply screw and clip just inboard of the narrowness.

 

Hard to picture without at least partially removing the bumper. When you take out the plastic bracket at the fender bumper joint and pull them apart a bit, you may see what I am talking about better. It is simply screwing together the 1/2" flange of the bumper and the fender where the 2 run along against each other between the wheel opening and the headlamp, using a screw plate for strength.

 

Any idea on what size screw you used? If memory serves that is not the largest of lips on the bumper and fender. Thanks for the help as always
You got any thoughts on how to get my Corvair running properly again

 

Ive run my bumper without the fender clips for almost 2 years. I rolled the metal part of the fender up and out of the way. I've never had any problems at all. I've also got about 3/4 inch spacers in my fender mounts to push it out a little more. But i do still have my inner fenders.

 

About 1/8 " diameter. Man I am kicking myself right now. We just had the bumper off 3 hours ago coulda snapped some pics,it is back together now tho (had some clearbra done on the bumper and lip.) I can tell you that I screwed the fender and bumper together about 1" away from the wheel opening. I would use a round top phillips screw ideally stainless. 1/8"diameter x 1/2" long or so.

Yeah bring the Corvair to Atlanta I will make it run!

 

Carl, I'll try to get you a pic of the aluminum brackets that I made.

 

Thanks I appreciate it.

 

see I was just thinking of making "struts" that span from the lip bolt, to the brace that holds the fender to the body that should pull everything up nice and neat.