Hey guys.......did a 360 on a Texas Freeway in the rain.......cause I put the good tires on the front instead of the rear.

Anyway, was hoping to get some advice on the repair.

Was going to replace the body panel and headlight to save some money on the repair.

Does anybody have any info on removing and replacing that body panel?

Thanks much in advance.





z

 

Nothing in the manual on it that I could find, but I did find how to remove the bumper. Once you get to play with the super difficult clips that connect it to that quarter panel you should have a good idea as to how to proceed I hope. It should just be screws, hidden super tough clips that you don't wanna break (although I suppose you are replacing it, but if another panel physically interlocks with the one you're removing, getting careless could cause damage). Might have to remove rubber windshield trim a little? Not sure.. Heres how to pull the bumper. I'll check again in the wheel well section, but it doesnt look promising

 

Thanks Pyts..........I got the new body panel, and using that I can see where it attaches.....seems pretty simple......I've already removed the bumber a bunch of times to paint it....install the light bar, etc.

z

 

Those body panel seam clips are no fun. Super stiff, requires so much force to separate them the right way that it feels like you're gonna break 'em.
If you feel up to it, post up some pics of how it's going. I won't give yuh a hard time

 

I didn't see any body panel seam clips. This panel just screw into the frame with maybe 4 screws. The hardest one is between the door and the panel, but a socket was able to fit into the gap and no problem. It was actually pretty simple to do. The headlight was also easy. One problem was in the front where the frame was dented in a bit and the bracket welded to that part now won't line up with the headlight and body panel, but it's just adds a support point and really isn't needed. However, I'm gonna use a piece of wood the right thickness to bridge that gap.
See pics.

 

Also will repaint and replace the bumper........already got it. Wheel liner also needs replacing. All these pieces link together and support each other.

Then will take it to body shop, and they'll have a LOT less to do to finish it all up.

z

 

Here's the Spacer..........Body panel is now solid as a rock

I just drilled a 1/4 inch hole through the spacer....then used it as a guide behind the body panel (which already had a hole in it) to drill a 1/4 inch hole through the bent bracket.

 

Right on! Glad to hear it's going well.

 

So the guy that fills his tires to 51psi and drives 115mph on the highway spun out and wrecked his car huh. What a surprise.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...y-problem.html

 

Never put the wrong size of tire on the stock rim. Or the results might be a loss of control like in the author of this thread.

The correct tire size for GE8 sport rims is 185/55/R16. Anything larger or smaller will not allow the tire to sit on the rim correctly.

 

Tires are made for different rim sizes. I have 205 tires on my stock rims, but the tire manufacturer listed them to fit on the Fit rims (don't remember the width - think it is 5.5").

An example:

 

This thread isn't about tires 🥲 (although 205s are too big for a 5.5" width wheel. They'd work if the sidewall is flexible enough, just not *ideal* for handling)
It's also not about giving Zardiw a hard time over the the car accident that he was in.

Meanwhile in Georgia, I've been running premium in my air cooled xr650l. Some dude in a smoke shop told me that was dumb yesterday. Consequently I looked it up and found a govt. website which informed me that engines with a compression ratio of below 9.2:1 should run on regular old 87 for peak efficiency, while higher ratios should on average run higher octane. Its engine has a ratio of 8.2:1. I've been running 91-93 for 8 or 9 years and the bike has always been a pain in my butt. The head's prolly loaded with carbon. Now I know and will test out the idea.

Keep those pics coming for the repair, bud! I wanna see how it turns out. Bodywork of any caliber is a semi-foreign language to me.

 

Normally I'd get on someone's case about not screwing together all the panels after an accident, on safety grounds. But since the Fit is so lightly constructed, and you added a big piece of wood, you may have improved it

The GE Fit wouldn't have passed today's offset crash test (and it wasn't required to at the time), so I get real nervous looking at the corner body structure. Half of that plastic wheel well liner doesn't press up against a metal wheel well like I used to think it does -- the liner IS the wheel well. Without that there's just a big 'ol gap with no rigidity at all in the event of a crash. :/