Hello all. i have a 1941 ford coupe and thinking of welding the rear fenders on. what luck has anyone had with this and how did you go about this task? i know just weld the fenders on but what would you fill the gap up with that would hold and not crack over time, unless you just keep adding weld to the joint. just asking for some ideas and or pros and cons of this? I dont like the fender welting and or the gap between the body and the fender. thank you mike
Unless you're building a custom, don't do it. You will be sorry if you ever have to replace the fender. Also, too easy to warp the body sheet metal.
One option is to work on both the body fender mounting surfaces and the fender flanges to get a really nice fit with consistent and minimal gaps. Lead would be the filler of choice for that too, but plastic filler would work if the ‘build up’ is minimal. A nice tight gap with no welt is, to my eyes, a good look while retaining the practical repairability of bolt on fenders.
If you do decide to mold in the fenders, here is a good tutorial that was posted on this site quite a while ago. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-molding-in-fenders-on-your-custom.215686/
I saw well done molded fenders once that were bolted on then the seam was filled with seam sealer (think pickup bed). It looked like leaded but the fenders could still be replaced by digging out the seam sealer.
@4ford as alluded this is more associated with customs but I suspect it was not totally absent in the Hotrod circles however it is a lot of work... In addition to the mixed reviews above this Hamber tackled the attaching and since we're not a restoration site I will say it turned out Fricken Awesome and if you can pull it off why not... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/jersey-girl-full-custom-47-ford-coupe.1124122/
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