So I picked this old ratty fender up from a Swap Meet here in Denver awhile back. I have been working at TMS, The Metal Surgeon, since the beginning of this year. The fender was intended for training purposes as I am slowly learning the art of metal working from Jon here in Denver . The first few pictures are showing how beat up the fender was before I started the metal finishing process.
I first started off by making a simple adjustable stand that I could clamp down to the work bench out of some light wall 1" tubing. After that I filed the some of the major areas out to brighten up my highs/lows
The area where the fender flanges and bolts to the back of the running board was the worst. It had been folded over badly and beaten up and lost most of its shape. I started by working this area out followed by straighting the wheel opening arch.
After I got the wheel arch straightened out I TIG welded the cracks together and file them down smooth. I then moved to the area that was damaged so badly near the running board. Working this area out took me lots of time, I used a home made "slapper" from a file, two different dollies, straight file, and a rubber mallet/sand bag to achieve the intial shape. The fine tuning came from slapper/dolly. This is what I ended up with.
After working out the front area I started working towards the rear bringing up the lows cautiously with the same idea, slapper/dolly/file. This is how far I've gotten on the fender for now but I will be posting more as I cut up some areas and finish metal finishing the rear section out. I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for looking!!
Hey Kid, It's looking pretty good. I'm looking for a good right rear for the 40, but I'm going to start slappin my fenders for practice as well. You never learn till you try!! Good Job. Murph
Wow that would be incredible to learn from someone like Jon! I love his threads here and follow the non hamb stuff on his site. Nice work by the way.
I was told that Donnie Smart (North Carolina) makes a panel that replaces the lower back piece from the wheel opening to where it meets the back of the car. This part has the bottom edge curled just like the original.Telephone 828-874-4609
good info thank you.For this exercise Conner will be making everything by hand.I will post some more pics of his work tomorrow.
Looking great Conner keep it up! What a great Opportunity to learn from Jon at the Metal The Surgeon a Master at Metal work!!
Thanks for all the Remarks Folks! More progress on the fender, As I worked closer to the gas tank filler hole I decided it be worth a shot at filling it in, I figure I can always cut it back out if need be. So I shaped up a 10"by10" square on the planishing hammer for the first time out. Once I got the front to back and bottom to top shape I marked it out, cut with some snips, and began TIG welding it in, followed by finishing it out. and working other areas near the hole out. Here are the pictures
After I worked out the filler hole and moved down to the bottom rear of the fender where it had tear spots as well as some rust. I cut this piece out and made my own out of 18g. like the filler hole. this piece was extremely difficult to make as it had a rolled flange as well as shape front to back and top to bottom again. Here the piece is tacked and TIG welded in.
As I TIG welded the panel in I planished the weld as I went. Afterwards I worked the area over as well as doing the rest of the rear section Here are the finished pictures. Thanks again!
The Jalopy Journal
