Front Fender Work

I have been concentrating on the front fender area. I first removed all of the front suspension including the sway bars, steering box, suspension arms and tie rods. I think that the tie rod ball joints were probably original as I had to cut them with the grinder to get it disassembled. Once I had everything out, it was easy to work with on the work bench and I was able to remove all of the pieces of the ball joints. The link pins and king pins did not have much play in them so I will plan to reused them with their shims.

I am planning to send the suspension parts out to be powder coated. I was planning to send them to Allied Powder Coating and then my father told me that a friend has a set up in his garage. I am not in real rush so I will investigate his buddy before I send it out.

Now that the suspension is out, I have been using the grinders with wire brushes to knock loose all of the crud under the fenders. I think that someone had removed the undercoating before because all I really found was rust and dirt before I reached the metal. Everything came out pretty easy other than the fact that I was getting cramps from working in some tough positions on my back.

The closing panels (item 37)on both sides of the front fenders were replaced with new ones from Stoddards. It is not the prettiest weld job but it is functional. I will POR15 the area and spray undercoating before the suspension goes back in.

The rust along the trailing edge of the fenders was a real dilemma. I decided to patch the rotten areas rather than replacing the section with replacement parts (item 44). Keep in mind that this will be a daily driver not a concourse car (I hear the pros gasping now). My main concern was in keeping the door gaps in place. The gaps looked really good with the original doors installed and if I were to have replaced the fender it would have required a lot more work to make the gaps match again. I was also worried about making the upper fender line match with a new replacement piece. I figured that if I patched it rather than a new piece, the worst that could happen was that it would look like crap and I would have to use a replacement part anyway. I should at least try.

The patching came out pretty good using the left over material from the replacement gas tank floor. It will take a little skimming of the body filler to make it look good before paint.

The front fender braces (item 36) were also replaced with replacements from Stoddards.

While I was under the car I found that the diagonal support (item 10) needed to be replaced as well as the lower few inches of the bulkhead (item 20). It looks like the bulkhead had been repaired before but did not last. I have ordered the new diagonal, floor pans, and perimeter kit from Stoddard. Once I am finished with the front fender area, I will have to figure out the next steps.