I'm just starting my 72 S resto and was planning on some body work as my winter portion of the project. I started searching the forums about fender patches to find which would be best, but it seems the consensus is to find a donor fender and cut the patch from it.

My original plan was to buy a patch (I was looking at the ones from BAP or Year One but maybe those are all Sherman metal) and then fabricate the inner structure I need. But are the fenders plentiful enough that it would be possible to find a rust free donor for just the bottom rear patch? Being in the Midwest the thought never crossed my mind to look for 40 year old sheet metal!

I would assume you would still want to drill out the inner structure and POR it before patching everything together?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Tim

 

You want to look into weld thru primer. Whenever I have layered metal such as lap seams or braces, I hit both sides with it after drilling/punching holes for welding. As for the patch ... it's easy enough to make your own with a little practice ... just a question of learning how metal moves when you hit it. Depends entirely on how much acreage you need to fix

 

I'm probably going to have to replace about the lower 6" of the rear fender, and making a panel from scratch sounds great..but my metal skills are elementary at best so I was hoping to have something to start with that at least resembled what I needed!

Appreciate the input, I will have to get some weld through primer.

Thanks
Tim

 

I should have this on speed dial. If you pop over to MetalMeet.com ... they've got a good primer on shaping sheet metal. Even if you manage to find a decent piece in the boneyard, it's worth knowing ... because metal has this nasty habit of changing shape when you cut it free (sort of like teenagers) from the rest.

but have you really looked for virgin metal?

http://www.walkerautoparts.com/Sheet.../13cutlass.pdf

 

overlap after removing the bad metal by about 3 to 5 inches. but 1st cut all bad metal into clean and solid metal. the patch overlaps the old metal and bonded properly. and bodywork is first with fiberglass hair then bondo and treat all metal properly first and it has to be compatible with the chemicals or some homework time.

 

Note that the high end sheet metal fabricators, like Ron Covell, do NOT overlap when they weld in a patch. They butt weld and grind the welds down to the same thickness as the parent metal. Note that sheet metal shrinks when you weld it, which is what causes warpage. You need to hammer-on-dolly at the weld to expand it back to the original shape.

 

I appreciate the information, and will take all that into consideration. But I don't think I phrased my additional question very clearly. I am familiar with the process and have done some basic patching in the past (its not that I don't know how, just not something I am particularly good at...give me an engine to rebuild no problem)

But I started my search on the forum to find out if there was a particular company that sold the best patch panels, and found an consistent response of "don't get those patch panels, find some good OE donor metal". So I was just wondering if those patches are that bad, or if there was something more to the story...

Thanks for all the info!
Tim

 

All of the repro panels available today are stamped in the same one or two offshore factories. I believe Tabco claims theirs are US made, but I have not seen any difference in thickness or fit as compared to the Chinesium panels, so I remain skeptical. None of these panels fit worth a crap, but short of good used OEM panels, these are your only choice. Expect them to require a lot of hand work to get an acceptable fit and finish.

 

Don't waste your time with aftermarket patches that aren't close....find someone with wrecked fenders that have good heels, have that person cut them off, and ship to you! That way, you can also get the brace...

 

Here is a dry fit of the patch panel I did. Although the only issue I found wa the body lines weren't sharp enough but what I did was I notched the front and welded and a section on the inside and blended the lines out with a little filer. Overall not too bad imo if you aren't doing a 1000 point resto. I used the flange as im not the worlds greatest welder so it's a .3/4 overlap
http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/pts/4061876265.html

Not mine but they look good If need be I can pick them up for you if you want them if the guy does not want to ship and I can ship them to you.

 

Thanks for the info, and thanks for the craigslist lead...that location can't be 30 min away from where I bought the car! Its close enough I could sneak up that way to pick them up if need be..those are in pretty good shape for something in WI...

Just out of curiosity, where did you get the patch that you have in the above pictures? I certainly am not doing a 1000 point restore..just trying to get a good solid driver ready for some new paint.

Thanks
Tim

 

I got one from tamaraz and one from the parts place.

 

Finding something rust free from a boneyard would be good for patching or replacing complete fender.

For my Olds, finding a donor car in Canada has not proved to be easy, plus I like making my own patch panels. I've made patches for fenders before with a hammer & dolly, but lately I've been wanting to get a bead roller and a shrinker/stretcher. Those tools would let me make all kinds of patches and sharp, curved flanges like those on a fender woud be a lot easier.

Maybe not what you were looking for, but always an option.

 

I'm looking for all the angles, and would love to get a little more serious on the metal fabrication side. Like you I have hammer and dolly'd some patches but haven't done anything too intricate...ultimately mine is a space issue for the tools, I'm already pretty maxed out on space and the metal tools can certainly take up some room.

I thought it was interesting that the reviews on these patches were to steer clear, I've used some prefab patches on some other types of cars and was pretty pleased with the results...seemed like the cutlass panels aren't quite on par with some.

Thanks!
Tim