Malibu fiberglass parts by Featherlite Composites.
When you obtain parts like this, you want to install them immediately so your car can start looking like a car again. If things seem to be getting slow, somehow this ignites that motivation. The excitement rages again just like it did when you started tearing the car apart and cutting it to pieces. That motivation can dwindle when you are installing fiberglass parts using dzus fasteners.
It all started with the trunk and it fit great. Very smooth, good lines, and very little tweaking. Now to attach the dzus fasteners. This was our first time, and an experience this surely was. The depth is measured, plates welded, and holes drilled. The fasteners would not attach. On the bottom side of the trunk, there is thick border of fiberglass that runs along the edge roughly 3/4" in. Our plates didn't quite clear. The welded plate can't be adjusted, so the fastener and the spring were both changed to compensate for this raised border around the trunk. There is much success with that change and the install is finished.
The rear bumper is much easier with one dzus fastener in the middle just below the license plate mounting location and some fasteners holding the bumper to each quarter panel.
A test fit of the hood did not go so well. Some cutting is necessary, but first it was found that the front of the car is very out of square. After some adjusting where we could, the core support is shifted completely to the passenger side of the car and then some more. The hood is placed on the car and to our excitement, only the front edge needs to be trimmed. The installation of the dzus fasteners is being skipped for now. That headache was saved for the following evening. To finish out the night, the motivation was shifted to the front bumper.
The front bumper fit just as well as the trunk and the rear bumper. Attaching some fasteners into the fenders and all is well. What a great way to finish a night
Universal 6-hole rivet-on dzus rails are being used for the hood instead of the plates used on the trunk. The correct dzus fasteners are also being used and the thick fiberglass border around the hood is being trimmed enough to allow the dzus rail to sit flat against the bottom side of the hood. After one rail is attached to the car and the hood is set on the car, an outline is marked on the underside of the hood and that is duplicated to the other side. A small angle grinder is used to remove the fiberglass material within the outline.
With the other rail fastened to the fender and some holes drilled into the hood, the install is completed. The guys at Featherlite Composites did an amazing job on producing these fiberglass parts for us and we definitely appreciate the support from Troy Jr's Innovative Racecraft and Tim McAmis Performance Parts on all of the dzus fasteners that were used.
