SECTION 4.
3) Repeat for the passenger side. The seams on the passenger side of the vehicle were the same; the only difference being that there was a blank grommet for the matching hole where the hood release cable passes through to the interior.
(photo 46)
STEP 5. Reassemble in reverse. Pay particular attention to make sure the fenders line up flush and are evenly spaced with the hood and door panels.
STEPS 2. to 5. took 1 and ¾ hours per side. The whole job took 3 and ¾ hours. I probably could have done it faster if my dogs weren’t trying to help me! (photos 47 & 48)
(photo 47)
(photo 48)
At one point, I wasted a bunch of time looking for my stubby Philips screwdriver until I discovered why I couldn’t find it!
(photo 49)
Busted! (photo 50)
One unrelated point of interest that I noticed while I had the fenders off was that the JDM VX front left fender mirror is positioned directly over a large air intake duct of the same dimensions. (photos 51 & 52) The mirror base has a flange which if extended by 2 inches would fit snuggly into the intake duct. I am guessing this was for a snorkel kit that was never produced?
(Photo 51)
(Photo 52)
There’s nothing more frustrating than a leak that is almost impossible to trace from inside the vehicle especially when it is hidden by the dash. The last thing you want is for the carpet to rot and smell bad.
Definitely looks like there were some manufacturing oversights but a little late for a recall !! Keep your toes dry !!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, after making the above fixes I discovered that I still had a slight problem when driving in very wet conditions which resulted in dampness of both front carpets but not really wet like before, hence my delay in posting this. As you can see at the beginning of SECTION 1, I did address this problem but in doing so, found evidence of previous water ingress from the roof section but which does not appear to be leaking now. My guess is that water may have been leaking through the radio antenna at the rear which on my VX appears to have been caulked by the previous owner. It would make sense that water could have pooled on top of the head liner, then found its way to each front windshield pillar. Just to put my mind at rest, I will pull the head liner another day and check for water damage. I'll let you know!
Hope you find this helpful!
Jayd-S
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