Red2001GT

My car is back in the bodyshop again. They will try to fix whatever orange peel and paint problems exist with the front bumper and they will also take a look at the fender/headlight gap problem again to see what they can do to fix it. I am unsure whether or not the gap problem can be fixed.

Azure

My car does this as well, as did my '99 V6. The 6er's previous owner put a Cobra bumper on it, but as far as I know my GT's bumper hasn't been messed with. The gap annoys the **** out of me but I try to ignore it; if anyone has found a way of fixing it please let me know.

EDIT: On both of my cars (and likely on yours) there is also a slight gap between the plastic bars that separate the grille and the headlights and the hood when it is closed. It seems to me like the entire bumper is sagging for some reason. I can manually lift the bumper and mostly seal the gaps.

DTK

You may have already looked for this but there are tabs (short pins) on the back of the headlight housing.
There are holes in the headlight header panel for those tabs to slide into to properly seat the headlight when re installing it.

Is your unit sliding back into those holes properly?
One of my headlight assemblies comes out like butter while the other is a real bitch and I have to work it side to side and up and down very gradually to get it out of the header.
If yours is tight it may not be going all the way back in thus giving a gap.

Just a thought.......good luck and post some pictures.

Red2001GT

Well, I just got my Mustang back from the bodyshop this evening. They wet sanded and fixed the parts of the bumper that had orange peel in the paint. They also wet sanded and fixed the right hand side of the bumper which wraps around under the right fender underneath the amber colored signal light because there was roughness underneath the paint in this section of the bumper.

The bodyshop also tried to fix the gap in the passenger side headlight unit. They were able to adjust the headlight unit a little bit more than they did before and they were able to make the gap a little smaller than it was before. The headlight unit still has a small gap between itself and the front pointed part of the front fender, but it doesn't look as bad as it did before. Right now, when you look at it, you can see the inside perimeter of the front pointed part of the front fender almost touching and almost sitting about half way inside the rubber seal of the headlight unit. I will try to take some pictures of it tommorrow if I can find some time and if it's sunny outside to show you what I mean by this.
The gap is still there, but the gap space is smaller now because the black rubber seal on the headlight unit is "almost" touching the fender and it's "almost" sitting inside the pointed part of the fender. Before the fix, the rubber seal on the headlight unit was not even touching the front pointed part of the front fender and there was a larger space in the gap at that particular location. Right now, there is less gap space between the rubber seal and the front pointed part of the front fender. The rubber seal on the headlight unit is almost touching the inside edge of the fender where the headlight unit fits into the fender. You can still see somewhat of a small gap space, but it's not as big of a gap as it used to be. This is the best that the bodyshop can do trying to fix this gap problem. I'm just hoping that the headlight unit doesn't move downwards and open up the size of the gap anymore between the front pointed part of the front fender and the top part of the headlight unit where the rubber seal is located.
What do you think? Will the headlight unit stay tightly in its place where it's at right now and NOT open up the gap anymore after this fix was done?

Red2001GT

Bump

laserred38

i have taken my original headlights off/put new aftermarket ones on with clear corners/took those off and put the original ones back on/and then traded the clear corner ones for black/amber ones...the aftermarket ones didn't fit as well as the OEM one and i had to "jam" them in there into the tracks...then push the pins down while pushing the headlight assembly in with my other hand (this was on the right side also)...i got them in but they were really tight...if i didn't push them in with force there would have been a gap...however both pins wouldnt have been able to go in either so check and make sure both L-shpaed pins are in at the top of the assembly....and once i traded off my aftermarket ones my OEM ones never fit as good as they did the first time so i'm guessing that all my wrenching to make the crappy aftermarket ones fit bent my headlight panel....so you could TRY wrenching on it to make em fit....worked for me as it eliminated the gap...or sue the bodyshop and have them install a new headlight panel/headlights/and a whole new paint job!

Red2001GT

The headlight panel is all fibergalss. How can it get bent unless it was cracked somewhere?

laserred38

didn't know that...maybe i cracked it when i jammed my headlight in?

Red2001GT

Maybe that's what happened. But I know that the header panel is all fiberglass or some type of hard plastic. It can crack or break very easily if too much pressure is applied to it.
My header panel is not damaged, but I don't think that it's the cause of the gap problem. I think that the cause of the gap has something to do with the weight of the headlight units. The headlight assembly units are heavy and are held in place only by 2 metal metal clips. Maybe the weight of the headlight unit is making it drop downwards a little bit causing the gap to form at the precise location on the front pointed part of the front fender. The 2 metal clips are the only 2 things that hold the headlight assembly units in place on to the header panel. That's the only thing which is securing the headlight assembly unit from getting loose and falling out of the header panel. Maybe the metal clips are too thin and are not strong enough to hold the weight of the headlight assembly unit. Maybe that's what's really causing the gap problem. I cannot think of anything else around the headlight area that would cause the gap if everything else in that particular area on the car is perfectly straight and if nothing is cracked, damaged or broken.

laserred38

idk about that...my headlights used to sit in the track without the pins...and they wouldn't fall out...the pins just secure them in the track...maybe post some pics underhood so we can see