Testing w/pictures again

[vette]

I can't believe how much work it has taken to make this fender fit. And obviously it still needs more work. This lends truth to the saying that if you have a fender, fix it, don't buy a new one. I wish I knew who made this fender. I can't believe how far off it has been. Sorry about the quality, I guess I still need practice.

 

[GregW]

Hi Dave,
Looks like you have the photo compression down, that thing is only 9k, you could go bigger to get more detail if you were inclined. How is the fit of the fender at the top. Is the whole thing higher than the door or is the distance to the swag line off a tad?

 

[Healey 100]

A couple of issues ago in the Healey USA magazine Roger Moment discussed this particular fit issue -- he said it is usually impossible to get the top of the doors and the swage line to both line up.

If I recall, he suggested lining up the top of the door with the top of the fender and then using filler on the higher side of the swage line to move the swage line down to fit.

In your case, the rear fender is a tad high, just use some bondo to lower it to fit the line on the door.

Don't feel bad, the judges won't deduct for this not being original! These never fit right when the cars were new, but virtually all concours cars today fit perfectly. No doubt, they are using Roger's trick.

 

[vette]

Thanks guys. The whole fender was off so much that I decided to match the top of the fender to the door and also the dip at the top of the fender is matched to where it belongs on the shroud. Also know that i hung the front fender and door first to assure that this reference was going to be stable. The door then being where it was going to stay, I proceeded to make the rear fender fit the door. The arch of the fender was crowned too high also. I cut the fastening edge off the mating surface of the fender, then sliced the arch of the fender and hammered and shrunk it to match the curve of the shroud. The only problem that I have now is that the fender is a tad too long at the trailing rear edge. About 3/16th of an inch beyond the rolled part of the shroud just below the bumper. I'm not happy with that, but it is below the bumper and the beading may hide it enough. AS you can see the swag line is off too. I was going to cut it out and move it down. But I may fill it. An alternative to body putty is to use bonding adhesive as used in joining body panels together. I is very hard and so strong that once it cures you can drill it and tap it and it won't chip out. I am alittle concerned that body putty right at that spot might get chipped. I'm going to try to upload another pic or two:

 

[roscoe]

If you don't mind taking the swage line doen to bare metal you might consider using lead or the new lead free solder that Eastwood is selling. I used lead for any of the spot profiling I needed to do on my car and although there is a learning curve, and the lead is of course toxic, I was very happy with the results. It is quite flexible and if the surface prep is done properly it will never chip or flake off.
I think the high quality polyesters are very reliable and do not suffer from the problems they had when they first appeared, but I liked the tradition and did it more for the experience. I was surprised at how well I liked the lead when it was done.

 

[vette]

Roscoe, I understand your point completely. But I must say that I never thought that lead was worth the trouble. Like you said, you did it for the experience and the high quality of synthetic putties and resins is so good that they exceed all the qualities of lead. Lead was the go to product in its day but the new stuff has it whupped.
Dave C.

 

[vette]

Hi Greg, something I don't understand with this photo up load stuff. I know i have the number of pixels and the kilobytes down really small. but if I up it some, then it is hard to load into the file manager. Now that may be because I am on a phone line way out in the boonies. but also, even though I have the size down really small, when it does upload, the picture is hugh in the post.

 

[GregW]

Hi Dave,
The second set of photos looks like a good size. You can see artifacts in the first shot, especially around where you sharpied. I didn't realize you were on dial-up, uploading or viewing pictures can be a pain.

Couple of thoughts. I wonder if your door has putty on it to lower the swag line. Wouldn't that be cool if you could just remove it and the lines would match up? As far as the shroud being too short in the back, have you loosened all the fender bolts and given a big old pull on the shroud? It may just be too far forward in relation to the door.

Also, is the distance from the swagline to the top of the fender the same as the swagline to the top of the door? I have two pair of fenders at the moment and those distances are different from each other.

BTW were you even asking for help? Your first post seemed more of a vent than any kind of question. :laugh:

 

[BUNDYRUM]

Hello vette,

Having seen what you have been able to achieve so far could you re-swage the swage line.

Regards,

bundyrum.

 

[vette]

Greg, I guess I just wanted to talk. And I appreciate the input from everybody on this forum. Two heads are better than one and no man is a mountain. I work totally alone. there is no one around here to tell me what im doing wrong and sometimes you can look at something straight in the face for hours or days and not see the leaves on the trees. metal and body work is an art form, it is a sculpture. You know where your going with, but sometimes you don't know yet how your going to get there. So bring on the opinions, it only improves the process.
Bundy, Yes, I could reswage the swage line, But.... It would distroy much of the work I have already done. I thought about that in the beginning and decided not to. My dememsions and fit especially on the lower edge would be off and have to be rebuilt. This fender has taken alone time. Because it is the worse I have ever run into. I backed up and redid things a couple of times. I believe the other side will go faster. If the swage line is off there, (i haven't spent much time with it yet to know just what will be off, but i know it is much like this side.) I may move it first before I do anything else.
But you see, I take the best fit or the part that has to be just where it is. Then that is the fixed point. Everything else has to move. So the swage line is the least problematic. I want to get other things where they belong, then see were the swage line falls.
Greg, one thing I decided when I was disassembling this car. the shrouds are in perfect condition and their fit and joint bond is excellent. I decided not to take the shrouds off or separate the joint. I'll make the fender fit the car, not the car fit the fender. The curve of the rear shroud is very nice and I don't need to disturb that. Having said that, I think you are going to make me revisit this. I may be able to push the shroud just a tad without having to separate much of the joint.
as can be seen in the pics. the distance from the top of the fender to the swage is not the same as the distance from the top of the door to the swage. I have the door matching the height and curve of the fender in every way except the swage line is off. Well we'll see, I'll chew on this awhile.