[edvisme]

This article come across my Facebook from Firebird Nation for lining up the Endura, front end on Firebird. If only I knew this info when I built my '70. Good info here.
http://www.firebirdnation.com/forums...nel-alignment/

[Norwood]

Well I'm going to disagree that there should be a gap. Can someone show me that in an assembly manual. Otherwise it is total speculation.

[RAJ7395]

Norwood - I think the image of your car pretty much says it all. No gap, everything lines up and works like it should. Stunning!!

[Norwood]

Thanks Rob, no gap is a good gap

[Dens71TA]

I love how everybody seems to assume that all cars made before the 1990's were built with tolerances of 1/2" or more! I've found that anything out of spec more than 1/8" usually causes problems with opening and closing the doors, trunk, or hood as well as fitment issues with tail lights, bumpers, and valance panels.

The fender to endura bumper spec is in the assembly manual but I can't recall it exactly. I think it was something like zero to 1/16".

[njsteve]

No gap on my survivor car and the bolts have never been touched. And the paint is a shade off off the original paint on the rest of the body, too.

[Transamric]

No gap-o-sis here either on any of my original Firebirds.

[edvisme]

As some of you know I am still learning of these cars and how they were built. When I bought my car the lines on it were awful. Then trying to find a source of how the thing was suppose to look and go together was very daunting. The assembly of the front end was very time consuming and somewhat of a nightmare for me doing it all on my own with no knowledge of how its suppose to look and fit, I did get it to line up snug against the fenders and look very nice.
To read this article and in the info in it was making sense to the struggles I had with my build.
It's these kinds of finds and discussions that I know if I post them here I will get to the truth of the matter(s) and I thank you all greatly for the info and replies with the facts. If you will, NJSteve, I would like to see some pictures of your nose/endure line up on your car? Again, thank you all for setting the facts straight

[njsteve]

Here you go

[mklinger]

I have owned three T/A's in my life and there has never been a gap. I just got done with the front end panel fitment on my current '71 project and the bumper fits perfectly, no gaps. As a matter of fact, after making sure that everything was where it should be I simply placed the bumper where it should be and tightened the bolts. Now I will say there is a particular order to doing this as follows.

Make sure all the bolts are in place and loose. This includes the bumper supports to frame, bumper to bumper supports and the small brackets on the bumper itself, 12 bolts in all.

With all this loose position the bumper where it should be. Tighten the small brackets on the bumper first, then the bumper supports to frame and lastly the bumper to bumper supports which allows you to fine tune the position of the bumper left to right.

[The Boss]

Didn't you re-hang that Steve when you restored & fit the poly valence? I seem to remember you posting something about it at the time.

No gap on mine but there is very little stock about it, besides the nose is fiberglass.

[johnta1]

From 70 Bird ad with the crowbar:

[RamAir]

I'm proud of my gaps


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by The Boss

Didn't you re-hang that Steve when you restored & fit the poly valence? I seem to remember you posting something about it at the time.

Nope. Never had to touch the bumper at all. My mantra with that car is "Above all, do no harm" so I have refrained from fixing things that the assembly line did wrong or more accurately, neglected to do right. For example, the original thick, black, plastic spoiler that bolts to the underside of the radiator support behind the valance has one self-tapping bolt that never went into the corresponding hole in the rad support flange. The bolt missed the hole and is pushing the spoiler out a half inch on the end. I figured it was built that way, so leave it alone for others to enjoy and point at.

[Norwood]

Steve your doing such a fine job of preserving this fine example. I can't wait to see it again in November.

[Brewster]

Gap this, panels move and poly can shrink, stretch, expand... Original low mileage cars which we all have seen and or have owned show both tight and loose gaps or lines however remember they are all older than ****.
The original cars had been assembled to allow flexibility without binding and or paint chipping warranty concerns.

[marxjunk]

i cant figure out how guys could ever publish an article like that..

ive parted so many when i was a kid and prob viewed 100s in salvage yards....they never had gaps like that...they where all over the place..but no big gaps like that

[rexs73gto]

I had a 73 T/A that had only 58K on it when I bought it. All the line lined up almost perfect. The nose looked like the gaps were drawn on because they were so close & so good it almost looked like there was no gap at all. It was a fremont car. Even the front lower was spot on.

[edvisme]

Thanks for the pics, Steve. What I'd really like to see is the top edge where the hood and nose meet and at the corners, too The hood on my car fits okay but I'd like to see how the OE looks.

[bird72]

Factory fit, believe never apart. It is not perfect alignment, but there is no gap, pulled up tight.

Factory, as many have said is not perfect. One of my side stripes at the front emblem end on fender is sloping down. Edge of stripe inside cut-out touches top edge of bird emblem, should have 1/8" or so paint and gap between the two. At wheel radius you can really see crooked.