Hi Everyone - I recently, and somewhat on a whim, bought an 86 5.0 T5 former SSP car (Cali Beach Patrol, the 'Beach Patrol' lettering is sunburned into the trunk deck lid 
). Its been run hard, put up wet, and needs some real TLC... I bought it from a 17yo kid who was planning to autocross it, and honestly I probably should have just let this one go. But alas, it sits in my garage begging me to work on it so here I am.
There was a noticeable gap on the passenger side fender-to-front bumper and clearly there had been some sort of damage at one point, but not enough to cause the steel bumper bump stops any deflection so I wasnt too worried. Tonight I pulled the bumper off and looking at the damage its worse than I hoped: the fiberglass headlight housing is cracked on both sides, multiple places. Pics are here:
Bumper gap to fender:
Bumper intact
Passenger side headlight misaligned due to damage, also note cutout in bumper below turn signal (no idea why, maybe someone trying for DIY GT fog lamps??)
Passenger side fiberglass damage
Drivers side damage to fiberglass
So the question becomes: do I pop the rivets out, remove the headlight assembly and start repairing the fiberglass? Or look for a donor? I am having trouble finding anything for replacement of the actual headlight assembly, and no luck at my local auto salvage for a four eye donor right now either.
Anyone repaired one of these before?
). Its been run hard, put up wet, and needs some real TLC... I bought it from a 17yo kid who was planning to autocross it, and honestly I probably should have just let this one go. But alas, it sits in my garage begging me to work on it so here I am.There was a noticeable gap on the passenger side fender-to-front bumper and clearly there had been some sort of damage at one point, but not enough to cause the steel bumper bump stops any deflection so I wasnt too worried. Tonight I pulled the bumper off and looking at the damage its worse than I hoped: the fiberglass headlight housing is cracked on both sides, multiple places. Pics are here:
Bumper gap to fender:
Bumper intact
Passenger side headlight misaligned due to damage, also note cutout in bumper below turn signal (no idea why, maybe someone trying for DIY GT fog lamps??)
Passenger side fiberglass damage
Drivers side damage to fiberglass
So the question becomes: do I pop the rivets out, remove the headlight assembly and start repairing the fiberglass? Or look for a donor? I am having trouble finding anything for replacement of the actual headlight assembly, and no luck at my local auto salvage for a four eye donor right now either.
Anyone repaired one of these before?
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