It has been 5 years since we welcomed Honda's light sports car "S660" into our home. It's time for the second vehicle inspection. But...there's a big problem here. It is also the reason why the series has stopped for a long time.
S660 of the author who caused the accident
The big problem is self-inflicted accidents. One day, on my way home from work from morning until late at night, I bumped into a curb while driving on the highway. Luckily, no other car was involved and I was not injured, but not only was there a deep scratch on the right side of my body, but I couldn't run straight. When I'm tired, I realized that I should rest without overdoing it.
Scratches on a beautiful body...
Of course I needed to fix it, but isn't that more expensive than I imagined? The easiest way to fix it is with voluntary insurance, but I would like to avoid it considering that the insurance premiums from the next year will be high and in case of a bigger accident. So I decided to repair it on my own, but unfortunately the timing was close to the vehicle inspection. If you ask for everything including vehicle inspection, it will exceed 500,000 yen. As a person who has had a drastic decrease in work due to the corona disaster since last year, it is painful to suddenly pay 500,000 yen in cash.
It is said that this dent does not pass vehicle inspection. I have to do something to fix it
The problem of not running straight is due to a problem with the front arm, so I can't repair it myself, and it won't pass the vehicle inspection, so I asked for repairs. Repair costs of about 80,000 yen were incurred for parts replacement and labor. Now I can drive straight, so I thought it would pass the vehicle inspection, but the front fender was dented, creating a step between it and the door. It seems that this protruding part does not conform to the vehicle inspection, so it must be repaired. However, even though the repair of this front fender is quicker and cheaper than replacing parts, it's still a good price. When I tried to order only this fender part, it became a lot of trouble, so I decided to look for a used one.
The writer who bought a second-hand front bumper and tried to remove the roof of the S660 and take it home
The inside of the car looks like this. there's no way I can take it home
I found a used front bumper for 6000 yen, but I couldn't find a front fender. Therefore, I decided to go through the vehicle inspection with my own sheet metal, and later purchase aftermarket parts such as Mugen (M-TEC) to dress it up. I don't know when it will be....
Tools used for repair
Anyway, you have to remove the front fender. To remove this fender, you will need to remove the front bumper. The tools used are a Phillips screwdriver, a No. 10 offset wrench, and a snap remover.
Start by removing the four snaps on the black part of the front bumper
Can be easily removed with a tool
Start work after curing the headlight so that it will not be damaged. First, open the bonnet and remove the four snaps. Since the snap is made of plastic, it may become hard and break in winter. So it's best to warm it up before doing it.
Remove license plate
Remove the snap in the center of the back of the number
Next, remove the license plate and remove the snap hidden behind the license plate.
Snaps removed
Next, remove the four parts on the bottom. It's quite difficult to do if it's a car with lowered vehicle height.
Remove the small tapping screw
The front bumper removed
Finally, if you remove the Phillips screw on the front tire house, you can remove it by force. The work up to this point will be completed in 10 minutes.
When you open the hood, you can see 3 bolts on the front fender
Remove the bolt with a combination wrench
Remove the two bolts on the bottom of the body
Next is the front fender. A #10 combination wrench is used here. There are 3 places on the bonnet side and 2 places on the bottom to remove a total of 5 places, but since this is painted, if you try to remove it with a wrench, you will not be able to remove the nut. It is recommended to work while scraping the paint to some extent with the spanner side first.
Remove screws
Two bolts will come out, remove them too
Next, remove the plastic parts attached to the front bumper with a Phillips screwdriver and remove the two nuts.
The fender can be removed by removing the tire housing snap
Finally, you can remove it by unscrewing the tire housing. After that, it's an amateur sheet metal work, hitting and bending. I feel like a sheet metal boy who appears in a certain midnight manga. However, if you do too much or not enough, you will have to match the actual product.
To restore it to its original appearance by hitting it from the back...
Succeeded in hiding the bump. This should pass the vehicle inspection! So I passed inspection without incident. I would like to replace the front fender when the corona disaster has passed and the amount of work has returned to normal. The problem is the scratches on the door, which I may not be able to do by myself. I would like to ask a sheet metal shop in the city to do this.