It’s not often that I admit defeat, but this fender repair has me whooped. The task seemed pretty easy enough, replace the rusted portion below with the reproduction part (I should have known better...I know). I’ve run into the snag below on my ‘36 Ford build thread. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/resurrecting-the-mehoopany-coupe-1936-ford-5w.1088366/ Rusted out portion of the drivers side fender. You can see I kept the bottom/outside edge of the original fender in order to ensure I kept the same profile, or at least I thought. I should have fitted it to the car before tacking it in place, but I don’t think that would have improved the outcome on the final fit, as it wasn’t until this point that I realized the entire profile of the reproduction piece is totally wrong. The step from the running that runs horizontal before turning up to meet the fender is too shallow. To make matters worse, the curvature from the side of the fender to the front of the fender is ‘wrong’ as well; although it’s hard to describe in words the ‘wrongness’ of it. I don’t want anyone to think that I was naive enough to believe this was going to be a simple task, however I was not expecting to have to totally reshape this common piece to get it to fit. So, with that I’m looking for anyone who’s done this before or has magical metal skills to give me some advice. I’ve also posted a wanted ad for anyone with a donor fender, fingers crossed. In the meantime, I really want to kick this fenders ass.
Sorry to have to say it but I would cut off the part and modify it to fit before welding it on. Looks like you have the skills to slice and dice your way to a usable part. You may have been in a hurry.
Yeah, I kind of figured. My concern now is where exactly I should cut it. Trying to determine if I should cut it at my weld or section it somewhere else. It will definetely require extensive hammer and dolly work to get the right profile. Sloppy, when I built my shop I overloaded it with light! The only thing more frustrating than crummy repop junk is not having enough light to see!
If that part is made by the same guys who stamp out AD Chevy patch panels working it to get to all fit right before welding it on should be standard procedure. It looks like it fit about as well as most of the cab corners we get.
It don't seem to matter who makes the patch panel or what vehicle they are for, None of them are ready to install and be correct!!! It's a lesson you won't forget now. Your going to have to cut at least some of it loose or all of it off to get things right. This is way to common and I don't understand how it remains acceptable by builders. It's been this way since I started doing Tin Work back in the early 70's. With what it takes to make a set of stamping dies and in todays C-n-C world you'd thing they could get things right. The Wizzard
This is why I make em They almost never fit Looking at this on my crappy phone but looks like you could fab a new edge to fit running board
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