Hey there

I just bought an 87 rx7 and it has been in a fender bender. The bumper, side fender, hood, and headlight were kinda bent and messed up on the left side. I got all of the replacement pieces from various rx7's. I took everything off that needed to come off and started putting on the replacement parts but everything isn't going exactly as planned. I can't get the left headlight to align up perfectly and the hood isn't aligning. I know it's the right size hood because I put it on top of the old one and they are exactly the same size, but it rests ontop of the headlights a bit instead of fitting right in. I messed with it for hours but didn't seem to get very far.

Any help at all will be very much appreciated.

Thanks

soul

 

was the frame bent at all? it could be slightley bent causing all these things to not line up properly..

 

yeah it is very tuff to get all that stuff to line up again. If you are not a body man I would suggest bolting it all on and then bringing it to a body man to have lined up correctly.

 

When I changed the stock steel hood to an aluminum one on my S4, it didn't just bolt in either. I had to play with it for about 20 mins to get it to even latch correctly. I would mess with the hood first by having the four bolts that hold it in place snug but not tightened, and just try to line it up with the sides of the fenders as well as the latch itself.

Once you're done with that, tighten the bolts down tight and move to the headlight covers, doing the same thing. It may take some time, and you may need an extra person to help with the hood, but you should be able to do it. Aligning these things can be a bitch sometimes, because if you're off even a little bit it looks bad and can even rub against the other parts on the car.

 

Same here when I put a TII hood on my vert. I've pulled and prodded and still there's a bit more space on one side, to completely even.

 

yeah I was hoping that it would just be a matter of fooling around with it. It amount that it is off is only about a quarter of an inch, almost nothing at all, but it makes the difference lol. I appreciate everyone's help, thanks. I don't think it's frame damage, the frame seems to be perfect for the most part, I'm pretty sure it's just getting it to fit on right.

soul

 

The FSM body section has a description of the headlight door alignment procedure.