Fender swapping questions?

[shawnw]

So I'm planning on swapping a straight drivers side fender onto the car tomorrow and I'm looking through the Haynes manual and it's telling me that I have to remove the front bumper and the wheel to do this properly.

Do I really need to do this?

I thought I'd just be able to unattach the splash shield, pull out the headlights and get all the bolts out and pop it off?

[shawnw]

And one more thing. How is the trim (rub strips) attached to the door? The replacement ferder has a taller trim than the car and I'd like to swap them over.

[93 FordFestiva93]

the trim is attached with double sided tape, as for the fender, i just remove the screw on the inside of the wheel-well that hold the bumper up and pull it down a little bit to acess the fender bolts behind it, never have i removed the wheel to remove a fender.

[xanthinic12]

and dont forget the bolt behind the door hinges. it was a pain for me to get off.

[gottafesty]

There's a lot of bolts and screws. Might even be on behind the corner light. I cant' remember though. I replaced mine last summer and didn't need to remove the bumper.

[skeeters_keeper]

you don't need to remove the headlight, just the corner light. Theres a bolt behind that, then the bolts along the top of the fender, another bolt inside the door (open the door all the way and use a long extension, it only needs to be loosened the fender is notched), then theres one at the bottom back of the fender under the body, and the screw that holds the bumper to the fender. loosen the bolt on the brace that holds the bumper cover on and you will be able to pull the bumper cover out of the way far enough to get it off. A few screws on the plaster fender shield and i think thats all, no need to remove the wheel or anything.

[shawnw]

Thanks for the help, got the fender swapped over this morning, it went nice and easy. I went into the garage last night and sprayed every bolt with liquid wrench. Didn't keep me from smashing my finger while getting the bolt above the door hinge but it helped.
Definatly no need to take off the wheel, just had to turn it a bit and the bumper could be pulled out of the way once removing the clip that goes into the fender. I got a little suprise when I pulled the fender off with a couple of handfulls of pine needles from the yard at my old place, but the new fenders on and it looks so much better.

[Maxtiva]

Post pic !!!

[gottafesty]

glad you got done without any problems.