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Eliminate fender beading?

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The molding is not flexible. It is steel.
 
Those strips are really a T shaped peice of metal that is welded between the panels. It does not flex or bend but it can rust underneath if the paint job has been let go so sand blasting is required.

Filling the gap after the strips have been cut off with an impact air chisel is best done by brazing every 6 inchs, let things cool between each brazing then again and again. Too much heat and things warp. The whold seam must be brazed to completely close it off. Grinding and filling with lead or bondo if very thin did the trick. Never had a problem after that but mine had rust in the seams as it lived in Hawaii and I really had no choice.
 
Air chisel? That seems a bit drastic.
 
No decision made yet.
I was hoping to run a cutoff wheel to cut a groove down the center, then come back and cut at an angle from inside the groove. Finish with a grinder.

But... this is why I asked here. (Because I've never done it before)
 
I have de-beaded a bugeye nose and the tail end of the 69 Midget. After the bugeye beads blew past me on the road, I figured it was time to "fix" it for good. Not wanting to split the fenders off the hood, I ground off the remaining beads, used the grinder to vee out the channel, welded a 2" wide strip of sheetmetal over the gouge after some Rust-Mort and red copper based paint poured bown the seam.
I finished the new metal with some fiberglass to level it with the rest of the bonnet. A touch of bondo and it was fine for 10 years. I sold that car last summer and there was no sign of rust where the seams were.
On the 69 Midget rear seams, I just ground them off and glassed over the gouge as this was the BABE rally car and it was a quicky. a year later and it's still perfect.
There are times when you have to do what you have to do.
Yes I like the beads but depending on the car, you go with what the tin worms left you to work with /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
I spent days on the beads on the 58 getting them perfect.
The BABE rally car was a butchered mess to start with, now it looks like something. The Bugeye nose was on a 73 Midget tub aka PIECES so it really didn't matter too much.
 
Man I would be hard pressed to take a BE with good beading and then remove it especially if the rest of the car is relatively original. Reversing that decision in the future would be a pain. I'm getting ready to remove and replace damaged beading. Not looking forward to that.

On the other hand, if you were replacing the bonnet with something like a Speedwell then removing the beading from the rest of the car makes sense.
 
Ray, It's nice to see someone who agrees with me LOL.

Even with the car being two separate cars joined at the middle I would have a hard time removing the beading. It's just a part of the car, and with so few remaining...

Can't wait to hear Trevor's decision.
 
Would it pain you to know that I'll be removing the hinge pockets and filling the passenger side blanking plate? And rerouting the hydraulic lines? And removing the fuse box and regulator and installing a custom wiring harness?

I'm guessing that people familiar with spridgets may not approve of my modifications, but I intend on making it look "original" to the untrained observer.

I just can't decide about the fender beading.
 
Sounds good to me. Mine is a front tilt bonnet and I love the ease of accessibility. Head dosen't hurt do much either....lol
 
leecreek said:
Sounds good to me. Mine is a front tilt bonnet and I love the ease of accessibility. Head dosen't hurt do much either....lol
Click to expand...

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif Mine too!! And as far as the beading, my bonnet is 'glass and really doesn't need the beading and I think will look "slicker" without, and so I might as well work on getting rid of it at the back too, and filling the rear 1/4 seam to the rocker while I'm at it too!

If I had a really nice example of a BE, with matching #s and the rest of it, I would be right along with the purest of the purists in calling for the exactitude of originality, but falling short of that, I feel what makes you happy with your ride should be your guide!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banana.gif

Git 'er dun Trevor!!!
 
I'm leaving the seam at the rocker because it completes the line that includes the bottom door gap.
 
That is just what I need. Going to have to keep on the look out. Someone must make them as I sure don't have the equipment to do so.
 
The issues with front flip:
1. latching mechanisms are usually unsightly, hard to use, or both
2. there is A LOT of lateral wobble when trying to open or close and you risk scratching your paint.

These are the issues that I'm currently working on.
 
Sorry to hijack your thread Trevor. Those were the same issues that I noticed.

I bookmarked a picture of a very nice looking latch setup. I hope to duplicate it at some point. I'm not sure what can be done about the wings scratching the footwell sides on the way down. Especially if you're opening or closing without a helper.

I thought about attaching some teflon tabs to the inside to minimize scratching?
 
I have thought of all sorts of methods and tested a few. One of the more promising ones involved mounting nylon drawer rollers on the inside of the bonnet, and mounting a guide track to the side of the foot box using the existing prop rod mounts.
 
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