AZ455

Is there any difference between a 1974 2 door 88 and a 4 door 88s front fenders?

I am looking to replace my badly dented one searching salvage yards with www.car-part.com. I found one from a 2 door 1975 Delta.

Anyone know for sure what years would fit also?

Thanks!

rocketraider

None at all unless car has cornering lamps. Ninety Eight and Custom Cruiser fenders will also fit, just may have extra trim holes or clip studs.

I think 74-76 B/C fenders are all the same but don't hold me to that until I can check the parts book.

aliensatemybuick

One thing to keep in mind about that car-part website is the inventory records are often ancient and out of date. I'm talking 10-20 years out of date very often. Found that out when I used that site to try to locate a rear swaybar for my old '65 Starfire. I'd get guys on the phone saying "oh, that car was crushed YEARS ago". Just FYI.

Allan R

I think you can expand that search to read 71-76 Delta 88/98 fenders will work. The major differences was in the header panels. The biggest problem with these fenders is the horrible rustout zone behind the front wheels, the lower cowl area by the body pucks, the lower part of the A pillar and rocker panel. I love the look of the 76 Delta 2 dr - it's my favorite of them all.

66400

74-75 full size Olds 88/98/CustomCruiser according to Hollander Interchange manual. Henry

AZ455

Thank you all for the advice. I e-mailed the yard and haven't received a response yet. Maybe it's like 'aliensatemybuick" says and the car is long gone.

My 74 does have running lights/turn signals on the fenders, I included that in the search options. The only problem with the search feature is it searches 88s 79 and down or 80 and up, so I needed to verify the years.

I wish I could find one in AZ, my fenders are rust free, but who knows about what would be shipped to me. Maybe I should just try and hammer the dent out.

Allan R

Absolutely yes! How big a 'dent' we talking about? A good bodyman could probably whack it into shape with some time and patience.

You know what they call auto body techs in the UK? Panel beaters. No lie. And now you know why....

AZ455

I just realized something... When you guys say the main difference is cornering lamps, you aren't talking about the turn signals toward the front of the fenders are you?

You are referring to something like what is pictured in this photo?:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/that_ch...uy/4747429422/

If so, then I do not have those! Just the fender turn signals behind the bumper edge.

AZ455

Sounds like a suitable name to me! I was actually considering removing the fender a week or two ago and trying to beat it into shape. OR take it to the college where I am taking auto tech classes and see if one of the body guys there will do it.

Here is a photo that shows the damage pretty well. You can see the header panel has some damage also, but I will have to address that at another time. Someone unfortunately beat up that corner of the car, as you can see. It doesn't bother me too badly, I am more interested in mechanical function, but I know it could look a lot better!

Allan R

That's actually quite minor damage and easily fixed. The panel can stay on the car while it's done, but I'd suggest that the front header panel come off to do the fibreglass repair better.

BTW, you do NOT have cornering lights. The ones on your car are the normal clearance lights that go onto all cars after 67.
For 1974, cornering lights are big honkers combined with the normal clearance lights fitted into the front portion of the fender. They illuminate only when the signal light to that side is on. (only when headlights are on) The idea was to give a better view of what you couldn't see on that side at night when turning corners...
Here is a pic of a 1974 98 with cornering lights. They are the top part of the assembly.

AZ455

Hey Allan, how would you go about pounding that dent out? I have very little experience with body work. I have seen several methods of pulling dents, but am not sure which is the easiest or most effective.

Thanks for clearing that up about the cornering lamps also.

Allan R

The best way to pull it out would be with a slide hammer. There's all kinds of them out there. I'd get one of the new glue dent slide hammers or have the body shop at your tech school do it. They can use a body hammer with a welded pin(s) on the car. Whatever you do, don't use the slide hammers that you have to drill holes in the metal. You can get the surface pretty darn close to even with the slide hammer and it only works the outside of the metal. When you're really close to the finished surface you want, a little bondo, smoothing, high build epoxy primer and shoot it with paint. The header panel will have to come off to fix the fibreglass properly. It has to be done from both sides.

AZ455

Thanks Allan. I watched some videos of the glue slide hammers in action, pretty impressive stuff. I have never seen any but the kind you have to drill for locally, and I would never use one of them. I will remove the header panel to repair it.