Technical Fixing 46 chevy fenders

Hey guys haven't posted in a long time been neck deep busy but here are some 46 chevy pickup fenders that I fixed so lets get started.

First things first this fender needs some patches but the whole fender needs to be smoothed out fairly well before the patches can be welded in because you think about it all the dents take up some surface area so you can't really weld in pieces and planish them then hope the rest of the fender will come around.

Smoothing with the planishing hammer with a delrin lower die so it will just squash the imperfections in the surface without stretching everything all out of wack. I like to use a planishing hammer die that is half the radius of the part that I am working when just roughing out.

More smoothing and just cleaned up with a clean and strip disc just about ready to make some patches.


Usually if I have a small patch right next to a edge I will pre stretch the new piece and the original metal in problem areas so they planish out nice after its all welded and always remember to round the corners of your patch to reduce the amount of shrinkage, sharp corners get shrunk when you change direction where a rounded corner shrinks alot less.

 

Nice!

 

On to fender number two same treatment as the first rough out the fender reasonably well and start making the repair sections.

ok on to making a piece for fender number two I measured the the circumference of the round detail on the fender lip then marked that minus one materal thickness then marked the part of the flange that is vertical.

here is the die set used to make the fender lip I just used a random profile die for a stop



With the new part clecoed in place I used my little air saw to cut right next to the new panel and with the right thickness blade when you push the panels into alignment you have a darn near perfect fit.

more work with everyone's favorite sounding tool

On to the next repair section all the radii marked on the new replacement piece

handy way to set up your doming dies in a pullmax or similar machine with a stainless steel ruler

 

I like to pre stretch the seams just a little it makes it alot easier to get the weld to vanish

welded and planished and cleaned with a clean and strip disc and who ever worked on these in the 80's should never be alowed to buy 16 grit








Next up running board

 

making a replacement running board section running the beads it takes 3 passes to run the beads full depth

now is point and time that accounting for the circumference of every bead was important this panel was not pre stretched so by accounting for the circumference it allows the sheet to draw to the bead and when all the beads are put in the panel will be the correct dimension. Imagine making a 4 foot wide piece of corrugated sheeting (like the outside of a steel building) it has to be wider than 4 feet as a blank to be 4 feet as a finished part.

the beads ran so close to the front and rear edges I just shrank the ends of the beads to correct some puckers on the ends

My brake is not long enough to put the 90 on the bottom of this part so just clamp a piece of bar stock to the part and lift it high enough to get after it with the air hammer with a aluminum face.

now its time to tack it together the weld seam is in a valley in-between two beads on a flat it is very important that these parts fit almost perfect

this is why this part is welded on the underside the valley of the bead is a hump on the bottom so now the trick part is all you have to grind on the top is the penetration of the weld.

finished and ready for epoxy you can see why it needed replaced with the finished running board next to the damaged part so what do you guys think?

Pat

 

Nice work right there

 

I agree

 

A true craftsman....Very nice

 

Thanks guys!! I should talk about my roughing hammer a little bit, a couple years ago a friend of mine (Dan, Route56wingnut) gave me some really hard tapered wood sticks turns out they were rejected pool que pieces that had a blemish so they were not turned down to their final size. I made a hammer out of some of that stuff and wowie it has outlasted several plastic hammers but that is what I use to tame down all the claw hammer marks so they will go through the planishing hammer.

Pat

 

That's some great work you're doing!

 

Great work!

 

Incredible, this is some high-quality work. Nice job on the fenders and the running boards are amazing. Way to go, and thanks for sharing your talents.

 

Thanks a lot it means a bunch coming from you guys!!! Usually when I do metal work for someone I am their first experience and they just think everyone does it this way. I used to do everything by hand but in a effort to save my joints I invested in some equipment but all of this work CAN BE DONE BY HAND all the edges of the panels can be made on a arbor press and beads can be formed over routered out wood with a chasing tool. With out the support of Hambers over the years my business would not be where it is today, getting a little off subject here but I am considering a new thread "Saturdays with a shaper" Kinda like what the jalopy kid has done with his clutch popper Wednesday thread would there be any interest in such a thread?

Pat