Nose piece flared

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Nose piece flared

Postby Brian » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:29 pm

Ben (AKA NoCash) sent me a pic of his Monza's nose piece and asked if the flared end was normal.

Image

I've seen this on more than a few Monza's but was never sure if it was actually supposed to look like that or not, especially since it seems to be more common on the older models. Since I was curious I went out to the garage and took pictures of my two cars.

The 1979 Spyder has a bit of the same flare though not as pronounced as NoCash's...

Image

...while my 1980 2+2 doesn't exhibit that flare at all.

Image

If the flare is not supposed to be there, what can be done to fix it and get it properly aligned?
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby Nocash » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:36 pm

I hope someone has a solution for this bumper sag! Its so unsightly. :bang:
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby 80 MONZTA » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:38 pm

My 1980 has that gap in it as well, so year may not have anything to do with it. I also noticed that Brian's bumpers are tucked in nice and tight (lucky dude). Maybe the ones with the flare have a flatter aluminum bumper underneath, so the sides stick out more?
I have no idea how to fix it, if fiberglass '78-'80 nose pieces were available, I would probably buy one.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby cjbiagi » Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:58 pm

Ben, yes yours do flare out quite a bit. Mine flare out slightly but nowhere near what yours are. Are both sides the same way? Unfortunately these are things that should have been addressed before the paint job, not after. Could be a difficult repair, may involve some cutting to try and tuck it in. It appears to be deformed, maybe you need something on the inside of it to help stiffen it to help straighten it out. How about some more pics of your new paint job?
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby barebonesracecars » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:50 am

Mine is exactly the same way. I can't really see any deformation; I just always figured it was a result of GM's superb '70's Quality Control.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby jamesp » Mon Jul 23, 2012 6:42 pm

I have noticed the same thing on mine. I thought at first that it had been hit but there is no evidence of that anywhere. I think it may have come this way from the factory and am going to try to 'adjust' it a little.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby marco_1978_spyder » Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:42 pm

Easy fix.. All you have to do is tweak the fender.

#1.. Disconnect the lower bar that ties the front of the inner wheel well to the frame.

#2.. Twist the forward most part out while twisting back on the wheel well part.

#3 reinstall the bar to hold the new position.

Next time you back out of a steep driveway, or kiss a curb in a parking space thats too tall, repeat 1-3.

I believe they left the factory looking like Brians last pic.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby cjbiagi » Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:43 pm

Marco, you have me a bit confused. The problem doesn't have anything to do with the fender, it's all in the urethane nose piece. Are you referring to the lower fender brace?
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby marco_1978_spyder » Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:15 pm

cjbiagi wrote:Marco, you have me a bit confused. The problem doesn't have anything to do with the fender, it's all in the urethane nose piece. Are you referring to the lower fender brace?


The fix is in the fender. The front bumper / urethane doesn't change unless it's been whacked. The area gets exposed and ugly like the first pic because the fender has been tweaked a bit. Follow the steps to bring it back to look like Brians.. The small brace has elongated holes for lot's of adjustment, which I believe is for this purpose.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby cjbiagi » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:31 am

Ok, so you are moving the whole lower part of the fender and nose piece out when you adjust it?
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby barebonesracecars » Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:43 am

I don't think that will fix the problem.

My car is the same way and always has been. I bought it in 1982 when it was just 3 years old and has never had any front end damage. I know the original owner and he has told me the same thing.

Both sides are about the same, although my bumper is slightly misaligned and needs to be adjusted. I don't believe there is anywhere near enough adjustment to align the fenders with the nose piece. I'd need at least 1.5-2" per side.

I could fabricate longer braces but I doubt the fenders will move that far without creasing them. Also, the air dam went on perfectly without adjusting the fenders, so it seems to me that the problem is simply a poorly-made nose piece.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby marco_1978_spyder » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:35 pm

cjbiagi wrote:Ok, so you are moving the whole lower part of the fender and nose piece out when you adjust it?


Yep, the nose follows the fender when you align it. There's quite a bit of twist available in the front lower part. BUT.. if you can't get all the adjustment needed, you may want to start from scratch and remove the front nose. Readjust the front fenders outward a bit more with the inward facing bolts that were hidden by the nose.

There's also another possibility I got to tired to type out last night.. Under the urethane lower cover at those protruding and unsightly corners there is a rubber spacer for some reason. The bolt it attaches with corrodes or the aluminum corrodes,(probably snow belt cars only) and puffs the urethane out just a bit too much.
Worth a check.

I have no problem accepting the notion that a few cars if not many slipped through the quality checks, and had bad corners from the factory, and I'll get to exactly why in a bit..

I do contend that most of the time, the car was was parked a little to far over a tall curb. Or the car was backed down a steep driveway..or any number of reasons the front may have been tweaked (not hard to knock 'em it out of whack)..

I didn't have a reason to go to my storage area tonight, but I'm going to go now and see if maybe I didn't get this fixed like I think I have sitting here at the comp.

As for the factory screw ups.. I spent a full a full afternoon aligning and re-aligning my front nose/hood/fenders..to get everything just right..
with even gaps, and hood that latched properly..ect...

The worker had less than 60 seconds to get the fender on just right and all tight?? then the hood? Then the nose?? all perfect? Holy cow! Certainly there were smooth installs, but then there must have been plenty of "awww... fuck it" cars that would go by every hour.. And lot's of "oh well, good enough"..
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby cjbiagi » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:58 pm

The sides of my nose piece had some very big dimples. Everyone told me there was nothing I could do but after years of looking at it I decided it was just too much to look at any more. I spent all that time block sanding the metal to get it straight and now I have to live with wavy, dimpled urethane parts? I used some special filler for urethane and after sanding them down real good applied it and smoother them out. That's been about about 15 - 20 years now and they have held up perfectly. I really don't like that urethane stuff as it has a tendency to warp or get funky when exposed to a lot of sunlight and heat but I finally got it all looking real good. As far as the part that Ben is talking about, I never really did anything with that as mine are nowhere near that bad so I never had a issue with it. Maybe I could try and tighten the gap up a little bit with your suggestions.
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby Monza Harry » Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:13 am

All 3 of my cars over the years looked like the grey one (ironicly my 1st 1 was almost the same colour) which I bought at age 6 (the car not me) I have never seen 1 as tight as that white 1 now I have another issue to look at, keep us posted please Harry
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Re: Nose piece flared

Postby marco_1978_spyder » Fri Jul 27, 2012 8:08 am

Here's mine after adjustment, could use just a little more tweaking..

My cars, been wrecked (before I owned it) and disassembled multiple times, so the gaps should be like the first photo above.

Just some 3/8" socket's and a box-end wrench, some careful twisting, tweaking, reshaping of the lower fender, and these gaps can be lessened or even eliminated in a saturday afternoon time.
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1978 Monza Spyder V8 4speed, posi
1978 Sunbird Formula V6, 5 Speed, Hatchback
1980 Sunbird Hatchback 4cyl, 4spd.
2006 Chevrolet Aveo 5 speed Hatchback
Yes, you can refer to me as Mark
Please visit my blog... http://chevymonza.blogspot.com/ Follow if you like!
Featuring special guests; Carl Beraytor and Ray D'atore

My Red spyder now has a youtube channel please Like and Subscribe!!!
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