A few years ago I bought a straight axle 1952 Deluxe project with plans for drag week. Long story short I kept finding more and more rust. Got disheartened about it and moved onto other projects. Last week I watched Drag Week 2022 and worked up some motivation for it. I got the brakes plumbed and tossed a 305/th400 I had and got it running. The only thing it lacks to move is a driveshaft. Today I started the wheel well radius. Using some cardboard assisted design I cut a pretty decent radius out. My question is about the finishing. I’ve read lots of threads about using fuel line or a barrel top. But it’s always just words. I’ve never really seen a DIY how to for it. I had some 5/16th brake line laying around that I bent over a tire for mock-up. Is the general plan to tack the brake line on the outside surface of the quarter panel? Then use some filler to feather it out? Or do you tack the line onto the bottom of the radius? Meaning half the diameter of the line would be outside the panel and half inside. I tried to take pictures of each if I’m not being clear what I mean. For looks should the line run all the way around the radius to the bottom of the panel? I was initially thinking no, that it should end right about where you can see there is still material inside the wheel well about 6” up on either side but I’m not sure. For a completely different option. On this car it looks like the rigidity of the quarter is based on the inner wheel well meeting with the quarter. There are gaps now that lead into the cabin and into the trunk. But if I cut some patches and welded them in tucked up inside the wheel well it seems like it would be stiff again. Then I could just work to make the radius as uniform as possible and leave it. That said I feel the biggest benefit to the hard line deal is it would hide any imperfections. Then again this car is a pile so who cares if it’s perfect. Open to any tips and tricks here.
Lotta rust! Props for shooting for Drag Week! In the past it was done 2 ways with tubing. You can tack it on as is OR cut the tubing so it slips over the sheet metal then weld and fill. The last method will protect the tire fron the sharp edge. They were generally filled and finished with lead or kitty hair and filler. That is the lo buck way. The high end version is to form the bead on a new patch panel that goes around the enlarged opening.
Is there a tool to split the tubing in a straight line? I like the sound of that option. That said I have no interest in trying to free hand a straight line in 5/16 tubing with a cut off wheel. And yeah. The heartbreak moment for me was when I pulled off that piece of quarter trim and found basically a hole. I didn’t touch it for about a year after that. I knew it was rusty, I put pans in it. But as the old adage goes, it’s ALWAYS worse than you think it is.
On mine (which you might have seen on Drag Week) I used 1/2" OD 1/16" thick round tube, and bent it around a tire, then fit it entirely inside the sheet metal, tacked it in place, and smeared some filler over it. Works fine. Pretty hard to see in the picture, though
It old-timers that I knew used 1/2" EMT (electrical conduit), bent over the tire, with the coating sanded off. It is hard to ben over the tire, so it ends up slightly larger. That's ok. Weld it on the outside, and blend with filler.
you don't even have to use the rear tire to bend it over...try a front tire, then when it springs back it might be the right diameter. 1/2" EMT is about 7/8" od, which is kind of large...but you have to decide how you want it to look when you're done. There are a lot of ways to skin this cat.
I for sure saw your car. They love to talk about how you drive it all the way from AZ. So you have no protruding lip on the outside? The tube is on the inside of the wheel well? It is hard to see. I would have said you have an outside lip from that picture. Optical illusion. How much of the tube is left below the line of the radius cut? 50%?
about 50%. Also, finishing it is a lot easier if it's a flush surface, rather than having the tube sticking out past the fender!
Awesome. Thanks! I want to see what other old tricks everyone has up there sleeve but that’s probably what I will do too. I’m not painting it at this point. So finishing is going to be a relative term for me. I’m looking for function. Specifically rigidity and eliminating the sharp edge. A lot of that surface rust comes off with some CLR and an abrasive. Leaves it with a decent look. I’m going to hand letter Toxic Relationship on the side of it and move on from a finishing standpoint lol.
About 40 years ago my Dad Radiused the rear wheel wells on my High School Buddies 55 Chevy, he used conduit tubing, and split the tubing so it slid over the 1/4 panel. He split it with a die grinder. He welded it to the 1/4 panel. Came out great.
We did this on the stock cars. It took some of hammer and dolly work to get it looking decent. I imagine with more time it could look good.
Try to flush out the nooks and crannies in the body and frame. Launching the car on the starting line will leave dirt and rust on the track and usually right in front of the rear tires.
Are you bridging the gap between inner wheel well and outer quarter skin with the tubing ? If you leave an opening the car will fill with smoke in the burnout box, looks cool, but causes issues if youre running competitively. @squirrel has great advice, flush to outer quarter surface, or close to it, looks good, and finish sands easier ( maintaining the radius from quarter to a bump out tube is a lot of hand work) If you use electrical conduit, muratic acid strips the galvanizing. Cut the length of sections you need, simple 2x4 box the size of the tubing and line it with plastic. Baking soda water neutralizes the acid. Muratic is nasty stuff - do it outside away from the shop - wear a respirator even outside. Just sanding the outside galvanized also an option, be sure to wear respirator when welding, the inside galvanizing will still fume out.
There are a ton of steel suppliers out there. I posted one of the first that showed up on a search… Please consider using non coated plain steel for your project. Breathing any galavanizing, zinc, cad plating will ruin your lungs. Even holding your breath and running is crazy. Live to play another day.
hmmm...might even find some in stock at a builder supply, although getting the 6' length might be needed. 1/2 or 3/4 would work. Steel suppliers in big cities have a much better selection, of course. I have to drive 75 miles to get to one of them, only 5 miles to a local building supply or steel supply (which is actually a welding supply store that stocks some steel) https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-1-...-Hot-Rolled-Steel-Weldable-Round-Tube/3059283
You might try any steel fabrication business in your area and see if they will work with you on getting small quantities of steel for you. In my area, I can drive 45-50 miles one way to Albany for steel, but found that Stone Bridge Iron & Steel in Queensbury will get steel for individuals. And they delivered! Which is a great service. Places like this also tend to have drop racks, full of short sections of all sorts of steel shapes for current scrap prices.
On both of my gasser builds I used 3/8" solid rod. I bent it around a 15" front tire as Jim recommended, and then just pulled on the ends slightly to fit it to my radius. I welded it to the inside edge of my fenders as both my Austin, and my '39 Chev have removable fenders, so it was easier to weld both sides to get a solid weld. Once welded on I dressed the welds and then did a small amount of Duraglass to blend the rod into the fenders on the inside, and prevent any inside lip for water to settle into. Inside keeps the outer edge from having any flare to it, as I'm not a fan of a flared edge to the opening myself.
I love this community lol. Everyone so willing to pass on info. You guys are awesome. I suppose I should give some background on the project and myself because some of the suggestions I already plan on doing. while I don’t claim to be an expert, I am the guy who who can do enough of it all to be dangerous. I am an A&P mechanic by training, though I’ve moved into different technologies. Yes, I plan to fill the holes in the wheel well. Specifically to keep tire smoke and debris out of the car. Also with the fuel cell in the rear if I don’t at least seal the front it won’t be NHRA legal. The car is a pile of junk. That said, you guys were looking at the absolute worst section of it. I put new front floors in and seam sealed then when I got it. I also put a BBC, TH400, and Chrysler 8.75 in it. Unfortunately I tried to Roadkill the engine. Put a really nice set of Dragonslayer heads on a truck 454. Ran like shit and ultimately milkshaked the oil. Probably because I used the Brodix recommended head gasket, which was meant for two fresh machines surfaces. Which the block side for sure was not. The steering and all is built with the bbc and fender well headers in mind. Made it really hard to put that temp 305 in. The frame is good save for one or two small areas in that rear wheel well. Which are probably fine but I’ll probably grind them clean and put some extra metal in anyway. The only other place on the body that really sucks other than what you already saw is the driver door bottom. So if someone has a set of doors or at least the driver off a 49-52 two door sedan I’m interested. I know you need to grind the coating off any metal before it’s welded. When I did all the panels off my old flat fender I bought flat sheeting off eBay. Maybe even Amazon once. You pay a little more, but convenience comes at a little bit of a cost. I’ll see if I can find the seller because I was pretty happy with it. Also I do plan on power washing the underside to eliminate the dirt and rust. It’s way better than it was when I got it. I need to make it move. Both so I can get it outside to do stuff like that, and also to get it out of the bay so I can move my 43 MB in and get it ready to sell. I need to sell that to fund the engine for the gasser. I bought a police interceptor DS that I thought was the right length. I trusted old message board information instead of measuring myself. Its barely too long to go in even as a temp solution. Of course none of the shops around here will shorten an aluminum shaft. I guess I’ll just have strange build one.
I did the brake line on the outside, even with the radius then blended it in with filler. It was a little tough not blowing through the brake line and the thin metal of the fenders, not sure if solid rod would've been better or not.
I just came back from Lowe's with some 1/2 conduit. I ultimately think Im going to prefer that method. Most of the 49-54 cars I have seen with radius wells dont have an outside lip and I like they way they look.
I used 3/8" round solid bar stock. Its easy to form and you don't have to be concerned about burning through. Form it, clamp it in place, fill the gap with a weld bead, grind smooth. All 4 of my fenders have the 3/8" round welded in, been there since 2011, nearly 100,000 road miles. No cracks, no deflection of the fenders, and no concerns about them falling off or getting dented like hollow stuff can. The rod/tubing being inside or outside might depend on if you need extra tire clearance or not. If you don't need the extra tire clearance, its a lot cleaner finish if the reinforcing is inside the edge of the fender.
Having been an electrician all my life, the 1/2" EMT will create multiple problems. First off is all the galvanized coating needs to come off. That's going to be a pain, and time consuming. 2nd, it's almost impossible with tools most guys have around their shop to bend 1/2 EMT and not kink it. Trying to bend it over anything wont work. Bending it with an expensive tubing bender is the only way to get the smooth, even bends needed to make it fit the radius. It's just too hard to bend without the proper tool. And once you start welding it, you'll quickly discover it blows through really easy! I think you'll find out it wont work, and end up buying mild steel 3/8" rod that's easy to bend, and easy to weld.
I made some progress and I’m fairly happy with it. The 3/8th rod might have been a little easier to bend. If I had it to do over again I might have used that. With that said the tube had some definite advantages. Namely it has a center line on it. So when I did the initial bend I put that line at 90 and then used it as I moved along it. Because my cut wasn’t perfect that line allowed me to move a little above or below the fender line as I felt it necessary. also for the galvanizing I just went along that line as well since it was my weld point. I used a flap wheel to zap off the coating along that line. As far as blowing through it I never did. I was worried about blowing through 80 year metal more than the tube so I had it set pretty low. There was a little smoke blowing out of the end of the tube from the inside. I set up a fan and blew it away from me in case it was coating fumes from the inside. there was a fair bit of filler near the bottom of the panel. I know the OEMS use filler but I didn’t think they did that far back. Maybe it’s not original paint.
Fisher Body used lead to fill the seams between panels, such as where the roof meets the quarter panel, places like that. The plastic filler was done later in the car's life.
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