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I know this has come up before.But has anyone SERIOUSLY looked into reproducing that lip??Or possibly roll a cut civvy fender(with some sort of mysterious body tool of course) I looked at it,doesnt seem like it should be impossible.I asked the bodyman who is doing my truck(I think he got sunburned between truck and garage he is so slo) He says a Gated Bead roller could do it if it was trimmed very accurately. just wondering
My question does anyone know how to straighten out the fenders once they've been slightly dented etc. I am sure alot of old timers who worked on cars in the 1930's would know. One of my fenders has some small imperfections and I'd like some advice. I guess alot of hammer and dolly work...
One of my close friends used to own a body shop in the '60's and he did come over and remove a few imperfections before I sent it off to paint. He used a small hand held torch with MAPP gas in it to heat the sheetmetal with first. And while it was still hot he just pecked at it really, not banging and clanging like I thought he should. Came out pretty nice, not perfect by no means but better than it was before.
He especially heated some of the thick metal on the bed, glowing in a couple of deeper spots and like I said, for the most part he got the big one's down to an acceptable level.
Are you talking about the lip in the center of the fender between the top edge and the flare? I'd think a good bodyman (not a putty guy) should be able to work it out and make it smooth again if it isn't completely wasted.
Most sheetmetal work just takeas a LOT of patience and time, but it isn't impossible. Given that the M sheetmetal is pretty thick, it should be pretty forgiving......
Quick question, can the arched flat piece (Blue arrow) of the fender be removed from the rest of the fender (Green arrow)? All the manuals show everything as one piece, I've never tried to seperate them. You just want a new outside lip on the flat fender (Blue arrow), or a whole new flat fender?
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6...harrowsan3.jpg
RPG:
if you look under the lip, you'll see how they're spot-welded together. On a lot of trucks, they do actually get seperated in the front and peeled back from the fender.
Everyone else: I'm working on getting new fenders made, or at least getting a cost for them to be made. Some of you may know Zach Heisey, longtime FSJ-List, IFSJA, and FSJ Magazine guy. He has been providing bedsides, reproduction fenders, etc for FSJ's for a good while now and is interested in helping us out. :D
So hold your breath for jsut a LITTLE longer. These fenders would have a sort of "pie-cut" flange that you'd have to bend in 90*, and make your own flare (NOT a big deal), to keep tooling costs low. This way they only have to add one die set to the stamper. So I'll see what it will take.
Oh, I see. I was thinking that you could take a flat sheet, put the hem in it (thats technically what that outside flange is called), then put it through a roller to get the arch. I wasn't sure what the back side looked like, as to how hard it would be to reproduce that part that spot welds to the rest of the fender. I've never had mine apart, or seen a set apart.
As an Autobody student, we drill out spot-welds all the time--take the 2 pieces of metal apart-- match up the replacement, clamp and reweld with a mig welder. The tricky thing is to get the arch correct before attatching it. I'm guessing that anyone with access to a Englishwheel could do it, especially if they had the old flare to go by for comparison. Look for a shop that does restoration and not just collision repair.Hope this helps? shortround
The flares are about twice the thickness of the fender itself, and are spot welded onto a flange on what was an FSJ fender. Mine had been knocked loose so while I was working other dents out of the fender I rewelded the spots on the inside.
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/9...0298ex3.th.jpg
The welds aren't the prettiest, but they won't be seen and they are strong.
The flare has about a 1/2" hem folded over on the outside edge. This could be done at a metal fab shop with a roll that will handle 16ga. It might take a few test shots to get the radius right.
The other thing about the flare is that it is not straight on the inside where it bolts up to the inner fender.
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/3...0301dz3.th.jpg
this would require a little more cutting. The triangular gussets are the same thickness as the flare and could be bent up on a brake.
As for mildly dented fender flares, dolly out the damage as long as you can stand it. They peck out the remaining highs and lows. Get a body file and chase the flare and you if you are patient you will have a perfect looking repair with no bondo or spot putty. I had an auto body restoration instructor that was an incredible artist. I never saw any filler in any of his repairs. I wish I were that good.
Gotta thow this in again for self-motivation.
I am working on a fender mender. Still working out the details - I'm about a 2hundredths off of the radius and just returned from dropping specs off to the laser cutter guys.
I want to get this perfect - including the curled lip on the fender before I get the 1/4" plate rolled. Should be able to pull the wheel and jack it under the flair until it's tight/right height. Just a matter of the propper application of heat and a hammer. Using this, I should be able to fix the body attachment points that have been bent as well - and reinforce them.
I'd rather fix what I have than to replace them... that looks like a PITA.
Snuffy
Mine were beat up and I started with the biggest hammer I could get in there with the tires still on it. Gradually worked my way down to smaller hammers and dolly block. If you look real close you can still see some inperfections, but it is hard to tell.
I've been working on my bed lately and with some heat from a torch, a few different body hammers and dolly work the bruises out for the most part. With a little filler, it will be hard to detect...
V.P.W. used to advertise having 'rear fenders' for the 715 @85. ea Im not sure if there same size as the flares on the front fenders
Spent the day yesterday drilling out spot welds to have some new flares made, if I can find a shop to put it in CAD, I will share...