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AH 1962 - Putting on Front Fenders

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J

Jersey

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I am in the process of trying to put on my front fenders back on my Austin - Healey MKII. I took the fenders off when the doors were on, but now they are beautifully painted and I am having a difficult time getting them back on without scratching the paint job.

I see in the shop manual they say take the doors off, but if I do that I doubt be able to access the bolts to put the doors back on...it was a bear of a job getting the doors bolted on even when the fenders were off the car!

Has anyone ever put the fenders on when the doors were in position? Any tricks to help me accomplish this?

Please advise.

Thanks

Jersey
 
Jersey,
I believe that you have to put the fenders on before the doors. My car is a BJ8 and I could not put the doors on with the fenders on. Just be sure you put some masking tape on the edges of both the fender and the door before you try to put the door on with the fender in place and take your time, do not rush this fitting. Hope this helps and have a good day!

John
 
I see in the shop manual they say take the doors off, but if I do that I doubt be able to access the bolts to put the doors back on..

:savewave:Jersey
The bolts that allow removal and replacement of the doors are the hinge bolts you see visible when you open a door,These bolts attach the hinges to the shut face panel.
In either case use the Tape suggestion provided above to prevent scratching the paint!!--- Also get an extra hand,or make a jig . to hold the door while you are installing or removing it Fwiw--Keoke

.it was a bear of a job getting the doors bolted on even when the fenders were off the car!
 
John, a bit confused by your comment:

"I could not put the doors on with the fenders on"... does this mean you put the fenders on after the doors were on?

Please advise.

Jersey
 
Hi Jersey,

First, the doors must come off to place the front fenders properly.

By your description, it sounds like you had removed your door by removing the hinge bolts mounting the hinge to the door. This is incorrect. The proper removal of the door is to remove the Philips head screws that attach the hinge to the scuttle panel (bulkhead).

With the door hinges attached to the door, the hinges are mounted to the scuttle side panel using very large counter sunk Philips head hinge screws. The hinge screws are secured to the scuttle side panels by a captured plate attached to the rear of the panel.

This is not a difficult job and you should be able to mount the fenders and doors without scratching either.

Hope this helps,

All the best,
Ray (64BJ8P1)
 
I have a 59 100-6 that is apart right now. This is the second time that I have had the front fenders and front shroud off.

At least on MY car, there is NO WAY to get the front fenders off and back on with the doors on. The doors MUST come off.

Tim
 
Tim is correct, the doors must be off the car to mount the fenders. However, if you have the doors where they are fitting pretty good right now you can drill a small locating hole through the hinge ( 1/8" or so ) and use the holes for a dowel type relocation hole by simply putting the drill bit back in the hole to line it up. I did that on my hood and it worked very well.

Bob
 
This is not a difficult job and you should be able to mount the fenders and doors without scratching the paint "IF" you tape the adjacent edges of the fender and the door.--- :hammer:
-----------------------Keoke
 
BlueRidge1 said:
Tim is correct, the doors must be off the car to mount the fenders. However, if you have the doors where they are fitting pretty good right now you can drill a small locating hole through the hinge ( 1/8" or so ) and use the holes for a dowel type relocation hole by simply putting the drill bit back in the hole to line it up. I did that on my hood and it worked very well.

Bob
Click to expand...
Bob (and the rest) is (are) correct. On my car, the doors have to be removed to get the front fenders off or on.

Reread what Bob says about using guide-holes to relocate a panel back to the same spot/alignment from when it was removed. This method works very well...

... however, I am puzzeled by how your doors could be aligned when the front fenders are not mounted! No matter; if you want them in the same place again, drill two (2) 1/8" holes through each (of four) hinges and into the body (and floating plate behing the body panel).

Do remove the doors by removing the eight (8) POSIDrive screws (that resemble Philips head) per door. Ideally, using a POSIDrive screwdriver :wink:
 
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