God help me: Removing Side Scoops on 69 Coupe

[foothilltom]

Hi folks,

I'm beating back the urge to run screaming into the night with frustration. Am trying really hard to remove the side scoops on my father-son 69 coupe project in order to complete our sanding.

After diligently removing the quarter trim panel (before that the seats), I am staring at 4 9mm nuts that hold on the scoop.

Unfortunately, 2 of them are in an INCREDIBLY difficult place to reach. Impossible is more like it. The rear window "guide" is a piece of sheet metal that sits directly between me and the damn bolts that hold on the scoop. Tantalizingly close, but no tool in my garage can reach it. I've scratched the sweet bejeesus out of my hands trying to jam in various sockets, wrenches, pliers, and all manner of things.

Getting 2 of the nuts off was hard enough, but these other two are simply out of reach.

Do I need to remove the window guide to complete this task? I'm not sure I'm willing to do that...I might just drill out the stupid thing and hope it's easier to replace the nuts later on.

Is there some magical "flexible tool" that is good for this job? I'm googling around and not finding any quick answers.

This forum has been so good to me...I'm hoping for more magic. I really want to get these scoops off as they look crappy and need to be replaced. I'm just not at all sure how much more surgery needs to be done to get them off.

All help is sincerely appreciated!!!

Thanks!
Tom and Tommy

 

[suki243]

actually... There is, i think I saw one at Kragen the other day; not sure of the name of it... When i go back i'll check it out for you. But who knows maybe some1 else on the forum knows about it

Edit: here i found one on froogle
http://www.drillspot.com/products/71060/Proto_4765_Flexible_Extension

 

[bnickel]

yes, the window guide needs to come out. that flexible extension won't work either, been there done that. the window guide isn't hard to get out of the way. leave the window installed in the guide, remove all the bolts holding the guide in, IIRC there are 5, and just angle it out of the way. don't forget to mark around the guide attachment points so you can reinstall them in the same place, they aren't real easy to re-adjust, at least by yourself anyway.

 

[RogerC62]

There are 3 studs and nuts holding the forward edge of the scoop and 3 or 4 (can't remember) holding the rear edge. Otherwise, what bnickel said.

 

[foothilltom]

Bnickel and RacerX,

Thanks VERY much for the response. After another 45 minutes of wrestling with the window guide (after taking out 4 bolts), I managed to get those damnable stud nuts off! Right side down, left side to go!

I'm amazed how hard it is to get to these things, but I guess that's life in the big city. I do think a "flexible" extension would make life easier even with the guide shoved to the side -- especially when you're doing this yourself. Thanks, Suki243, for taking the time to post that link. I'm going to get myself one of those for the return trip after painting.

I really hope I can get that guide back on (correctly) when this is all over.

Thanks again. This forum is just amazingly great for me.

Tom (and Tommy)