Reznor, Ruby, anyone that's done the front-end conversion I was wondering if you guys had any problems with the headlight assemblies mounting flush with the front bumper?

I bought all the brackets and that's the first thing I installed since there's no where they can be off since they mount directly to the frame. So I put the headlights assemblies on the brackets, slide them in, them put the bolt into place and also applied the top bracket to the radiator support.

So everything is in place - SOLID with no adjustments, but when the headlight assemblies are in place there's about a 1" gap between the front of the headlight assemblies and the front bumper cover, but only on the High Beam (Inner) end.

So the end of the headlight assemblies by the fenders are looking ok, it's just the High Beam ends of the assemblies that are sitting back about 1" behind the bumper....

Now I've used the LT1 impact absorber, just trimmed it down. I know for a fact that's not a problem because the bumper is mounted to the top bracket and to the fenders and with the hood on, I can tell the bumper IS definatley in the correct position....


ANY IDEAS anyone? I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

I'm working on adding a 98- up front end to my 93 camaro. Since my car was wrecked semi badly before I bought it, I used the 98-up core support. This might be where your problem is. The core supports are not the same. They also aren't in exactly the same place. The 93-97 core support tilts back slightly more since the hood line is lower. I think you might have to shim the brackets for the headlights out a bit to compensate. It shouldn't be a big deal.

 

I have to say, I'm Stumped too! Or was that Stumpered?

 

I heard of shimming, but it's not possible to shim JUST the headlight brackets! Because the headlight brackets are mounted right behind the front bumper support bracket, so if I shimmed it, it would also push the front bumper out! So I would be getting no where! Anyone have any other ideas?

 

Bend the lip at the top of the headlight bracket where it attaches to the core support, then place it in front of the plastic support for the bumper. Place washers till it's where it needs to be. Be sure to put one washer behind the plastic bumper support to push it forward as if the headlight bracket was still behind it. Make sure to check how everything else aligns after and re-adjust them.

Now that I have given some advice I need some. I ordered 98+ rear hood hinges, but the hood still sits a little high in the back. It also sits high at the front drivers side, and low at the front passenger side. Adjusting the hoodstops and the hood latch itself doesn't help much. I can't figure it out for the life of me. Is the front hoodlatch different? Some people are driving around with the new front end so I know its possible. TIA

 

Thanks for your help MadKilla, I was thinking of doing that, I just wanted to see if there's a better way. It's nice to have some help every now and then. I'll see if I can help you. I just bought my SS hood from ASCD, what kind of hood do you have? I got a couple install pages in the links below, they have some info on adjusting the latch and such on an 98+ ASCD SS Hood, but I'm unsure if it's what your looking for, but maybe.

http://www.01pewterz28.cz28.com/wca%200202a.jpg
http://www.01pewterz28.cz28.com/wca%200202b.jpg
http://www.01pewterz28.cz28.com/wca%200202c.jpg

I hope that helps you out MadKilla, I too know how it feels to be clueless, but you know it DOES work!

I'll be getting my hood hinges tomorrow, so we'll see how much that helps. By the way how different were the hinges? Did yu ever try putting your new hood on with the old hinges? If so how'd that work out? I'm asking because I was trying that same thing, but then realized they had different hinges, but I swear I read somewhere that the hoods were compatible with the same hinges. Maybe I misread it though, I hope so! Let me know how your conversion is going, e-mail me and maybe we can help each other out some more.


Oh yes, you can get about 1/2" or so adjustment to lower the back down if you remove the rear hinges and oblong the 2 holes that mount to the body, there should be a 3rd hole in the middle just a little lower than the top 2, but it should be oblonged already if they're anything like the 93-97 style. Hope that helps.

As for the front of the hood, I'm unsure about that. I hear of people not even needing hoodstops! So I'm hoping I won't either! The only thing I can thing of is oblonging the holes in the hoodstop bracket itself. That should solve all your problems, then just sit back and grin at your beautiful work...that reminds me I gotta go out to the garage.

Did I mention we got about 6 inches of snow
Spring time hurry up already!

 

Thanks for the help. I am installing a stock hood for now because I am photographing the installation for a writeup. After its done, Whistler and I discussed doing a Red Carbon Fiber cowl hood, which will have hoodpins and should solve my hood problem. One of the reasons it wasn't closing right, is now that the proper rear hood hinges are on and the hood sits lower in the rear, and its hitting the LS1 airbox. I was worried about the fitment of the airbox because of the different core support, I've grinded out a lot of material from the bottom of it already to get it to fit, I am going to try to lower it another 1/4 inch and see if it solves the problem. BTW, the hood hinges for the LS1 arrived in bare metal, when I held them next to the LT1 hinges, I swear I could not see a difference between them, they look identical. When they're on the car though, the hood went from sitting 3/4" too high, to just under 1/4", so they definately make a difference. When putting these on, if your fender is still on, MAKE SURE that you don't let the 2 bolts fall into the fender. They are attached to a metal bracket and the weight of it will drop it into the fender, and make it impossible to get them without removing the fender again. PITA

Today I am ripping the car down to take pics, and install my impact absorber, and put everything together 100%. I have an aftermarket fender on the driverside now, and it is a POS, so I got an OEM one I have to pick up today from the dealership, its the only part I have to paint. A warning about aftermarket fenders, they need tons of prep work to get them to look good. Mine had tons of casting flash all over it, and every edge of it was sharp and jagged. It needs to be sanded to give the edges a soft round look like an OEM piece. Not really a huge issue but the area around the headlights was not shaped like an OEM fender, they were visibly different. I have one OEM on already painted, so I got another. If you have two aftermarket fenders I would not worry about it. Just remember to smooth out those sharp edges, or I think you'll have painting issues.

 

I'll be interested in the carbon fiber hood , as far as aftermarket parts, I have everything aftermarket, and I think it looks almost identical to OEM parts, just plastic and needs some paint. I had a problem with the front bumper piece though, the turn signal lenses didn't fit flush in the bumper, but all it took was some grinding down on the lenses' mounting piece and it was fixed fairly easy. I also have aftermarket headlight assemblies too which to my eyes look identical to the OEM ones, and they came with bulbs for $160.00 so I had to get them. All in all everyting looks really good and I'm happy with the turn out so far. I wish I had a digital camera to take a couple pics. I just got my hinges about an hour ago and I grinded them about 1/4" down, do you think I'll need anymore than that?