Mustang Rebuild

The repair of the fender has slowed a bit.  Getting the proper fit is not as simple as cutting out the old sheet-metal and welding in the replacement.  It just doesn’t fit well enough to do that.  The after market replacement needs some attention before you can complete the job. 

The replacement panel at first glace looks exactly the same but it was not until I attempted to test fit it that I realized some subtle differences.  When the metal was stamped it produced some ripples in the metal in the area where it will weld to the shock tower as it bends towards the top.  These ripples had to be hammered out flat.   Basically I spent my free time this past weekend clamping the panel in, measuring, making sure it’s aligned properly and marking areas where the metal doesn’t fit correctly.  I’ll then take it out form the metal in those areas and test fit it again.   At this point I’m almost ready to weld in the replacement.   I need to take it back out of the car and drill or punch out holes for the weld points.   I’m waiting on an order from Eastwood that contains among other things some weld through primer.  Perhaps I’ll be able to finish it up next weekend if I’m lucky.

Here, I’ve clamped in the replacment inner fender, and double checking the measurement I took before starting all of this. Once I get every thing aligned, I check to see where the sheet metal doesn’t fit well and make some bends here and there so it does fit well.

My next task before putting the passenger side suspension back under the car is to repair the sheet-metal damage to the inner fender on that same side.   As you can tell from the photo, battery acid has taken it’s toll on the metal.  In order to give myself enough room to work, I took out that blasphemous Chevy radiator and the alternator.

Next, I took a reciprocating saw and cut out the inner fender leaving about 1 inch of the fender in place all around.  Basically I followed the contour down next to the core support, along the bottom at the frame rail, and then along the shock tower.

 Once the sheet metal was out of the way I used a wire wheel on a pneumatic drill and removed the paint to reveal the spot welds. I then drilled out all of the welds and removed the remaining pieces of the front section.  At the end of the day, I have the portion of the sheet-metal remaining attached to the core support.  I’ll remove it next weekend once I get a better drill bit.