bobb

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all your thoughts. So now that I understand that the repop fenders are ok, but need work on the rear edge...and the lower fender patch panels are crap......I've got to ask the stupid question.

With the goal of saving the one year only 1970 fenders that are rusted in the lower rear area (where the patch goes), is it feasible to cut the lower rear section (and brace behind) off a set of new repro fenders and weld them to the original 70 fenders (instead of using the crappy patch)? Of course it's a stupid thing to do money-wise....but from a quality standpoint would it get me the results I want?

thanks,
bob

2blu442

It would probably save $$ and be easier to fit if you cut the patches from a set of the more common 1971-72 fenders. If the rust holes aren't too large, you could just use sheetmetal to patch them. If your needing the brace too, it may be too far gone for that though. John

bobb

Hi John,

Thanks for the input. My problem with your idea is that I wouldn't trust any lower bottom part of an old 71-72 fender. What I mean is you can't see what's happening between the outer skin and the brace...which is where the rust starts. So unless I could seperate them and seal them first I just wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of welding in and old bottom fender section, painting it, and then have it continue to rust thru a few years from now. My intent with my beater 70 W30 is to restore it in a way that it can be used as my daily driver....meaning every day....rain, sleet, snow, everything. So I want to repair the fenders once and not have to worry about it. Nothing, I mean nothing pisses me off more than going thru all the trouble of painting a car only to have something bubble up or rust to pop thru in a short time.

So I hear what you're saying.......and I'm not saying it's a bad idea....just not foolproof enough for my intentions.

My second thought was probably more stupid than this one. I was thinking why not take a new 71-72 repop fender.....make a slit in each of those crumple bumps along the top edge, flatten them down, and then weld up the slit. With some nice TIG work on one would ever know the bumps were there. Time consuming to be sure......but my time is cheap.

What do you think of that idiotic suggestion????

take care,
bob

2blu442

Well.... it all depends on how much time and trouble you want to go to!

I don't know how easy it would be to separate the skin from the support to treat rust, then put the skin back on. If your good at working with sheetmetal how about getting the supports from other fenders and fabricating the sheetmetal patches?

How about creating a thread to ask others how they dealt with this problem? I know Erik worked on the lower fenders on his Vista Cruiser build thread, you could check there.

John

stevengerard

I have heard many a folk who cut out those bumps, many times the whole lip. Send me your email and I can send you an image or two of my car, with the hood down there is no way yo can tell the fenders are repos.

BTW There is actually another way you can tell the repos even from a 71 original fender. The nut that is welded into the fender for the brace (I think is the brace or is it a mounting bolt) anyway that nut is a "modern" style round nut. The original ones had a square nut incorporated into the sheet metal.

bobb

Hi Steven,

My email is w30bob@verizon.net.

thanks,
bob

stevengerard

got it

bobb

Ok........now I see exactly what you guys are talking about with the crappy quality of the lower patch panels. I picked up a pair of unused patch panels yesterday for $20 at Carlisle from a guy who just finished restoring his 71 and didn't use them. What junk these things are. I can use the metal as it has the right contour....but how did they get these so wrong? Even the Chinese have eyes.

later,
bob

507OLDS

Your best alternative to repair your original 70 fenders,is to sacrifice some nice original 71-72 fenders,if the lower section is all that you need.I have done this.I also had a situation where a person had installed a pair of NOS fenders on his 71,only to get into a front-end wreck 5yrs later.The fronts of those fenders were junk,but the bottoms were perfect,so they were the best donors I could possibly ask for.I saved them for this same reason,and last winter I repaired a pair of 70 fenders with these.If the bottoms of your fenders are not REAL bad,you could fab in the metal correctly,depending on your metal-worker/fabricator.I am very lucky to have 2 different guys near me that are some of the best I have seen.One of them even duplicated the back brace on another one of my fenders.Every notch,curve & contour was exact.I could never do that.
I have also given try to the repop fenders.In my experience,I had to drill out all of the spotwelds,connecting the outer skin from the backbrace.This allowed me to hang & align the fender on the car correctly.Once it was hung correctly,I retacked the backbrace,removed the fender,& finished retacking the brace.Just something else to think about.

bobb

You're right on Brian.....I agree with what you are saying. Hey....any chance you have a brother named Larry who works for the Navy down at Pax River, MD?.......because I think he sent me that pic of your car a few weeks back when we got talking about 442s......and I just noticed your last name.

regards,
bob

compedgemarine

I installed the repop fenders on a car for someone (they supplied the parts). one side fit OK the passenger side was so far off that I could have made a fender from scratch with the time I had making it fit. After it was done it worked but I was not real happy with it. one of the problems with the chinese crap is that one of a hundred shops could have stamped it and different companies may have stamped each side so there is NO consitancy.

507OLDS

Bob,
Yes,Larry is my brother.