That pesky side panel has to come off when you need to change the battery.

It's pretty much straight forward until you come to that last 10mm screw that is located under the Rocker panel.

Once you get it out, and before you button it back up again, get your trusty Dremmel out and make an oval into a slot for reassembly and future battery issues.

Once you do this, you can then slip a 10mm into the thin open area between the rocker and panel and just loosen that 10mm screw enough to slide the panel out...this makes it so you don't have to remove the screw all the way. A real time saver.

Pictures 1, 2, an three are of the hole that is now a slot....

Pictures 4 and 5 are reassembly with a nifty slot

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Good tip! As often as some guys change their batteries....

Matthew

On a 92, that's been done at the factory.

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Same for the 95.

Like that on my 90 as well.

And my '86. I wonder when this change went into production. I'm the original owner of my '86, so I know mine came that way from Bowling Green.

LOL.....this is going to be one of those "early '84" issues.....that only the misfir....er...Crossfire guys has to deal with...

I was thinking the same thing... both bastets 87 and my 92 are slotted.

Call it great minds thinking alike...

91 is slotted as well.

My 85 was just a hole.

So I turned it into a slot also.

This mod came already done from the factory starting in '86.

Which means my super lazy azz did not even have to lift a finger.

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I wonder if there was another factory change somewhere along the line. On a 92, there's tons of clearence for a standard wrench.

^^On the older models, you have to take out the two screws in the wheel well and at least two from underneath the rocker panel in order to pull the rocker down far enough to get a wrench in there.

The last of my pictures shows the rocker being flexed downward

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Good to know.
At least it's only 2 screws for you guys.

I have some mini wrenches that came in a bag in my big craftsman set. Work good for fitting in that tight space, a standard wrench is too thick.

You can actually remove the battery without pulling the whole panel off, but it flexes a lot and is tricker than necessary. Just make sure you line it back up so the door doesn't chip the paint when you open it.

I still like this thread

As you should. It helps the last three 1984 and 1985 Corvette owners quickly swap their battery.

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I took one from my kid's cheapo tool set...they were thin enough to work perfectly!


PS I dont like the title "Lazy Man"...it shopuld be smart man tip..... always "work smarter not harder!":-)