Well I had a member contact me about some running board to rear fender patches so I figure it was a good time to do my sons passenger side fender at the same time. So I removed the fender tonight and will start Sunday on the repairs. I will do my best to show all the steps that I use when making these kind of patches.

Now I have a lot of specialty tools and machine for doing this stuff but you can get the same results with basic body hand tools but it take much longer and the results are not always as smooth. Most of my patches are metal finished before a coat of sealer, fill primer, block sand and paint. With the hand tool approach plan on using a skim of filler prior to paint.

So here are the before and after demo shots and one shot from tonight that I just thought was cool when I was sitting the the curb in front of my shop with my puppy tonight.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Thank you for making the time to share.

 

Now as you can see from my fender I will be showing how to do the front fender to running board area, the rear fender to bed area where the fender mount brace is located as well as the fender brace at the wheel opening. Then I will also be removing all the dings and dents while I am at it.
Stay tuned and if anyone happens to be decent with Photo shop please let me know as I have a few mods I need get done before the real surgery starts!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

That area on the top rear of the fenders is not as simple as it first appears, I gave up and went 'glass. Anxious to see how you deal with it.

What is this?!

 

Yes the top rear is not simple but really not that difficult with the right tools. I have already done a few of them but I will show the steps of how I do it.

The coupe in the shop is one of my personal projects. It is my version of a 36ish 3 Window coupe that I designed and have been slowly forking on building. The body is 100% hand built or should I say will be once finished and is sitting on what started out as a stock 36 ford frame. On this one I am running 2002 C5 IFS and IRS along with the manual 6spd trans axel and a aluminum 4.6L 4cam mod motor.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

So step one in any metal working project is to have your metal as clean as possible. So get out side in the 30* California weather and clean them parts. Next you want to make sure your part is kept in its proper shape while you are working on it. Now depending on the patch you may be able to leave it on the vehicle but it in my case I had to pull it off to complete the work as well as to be able to photo the steps for all to see. So for this I made a very simple but effective buck to hold the fender and it will work for the drivers side just as easy by putting the mounting bolts in from the other side.

I started by laying the fender on a sheet of 1/2" ply making sure the outer edge of the fender was flush with the bottom of the ply wood ( see framing square) then I clamped it in place. Next I traced the out side of the fender to the plywood as well as the inside flange and mounting holes and cut out the outside shape of the fender with a jig saw. Next I drilled the mounting holes just under sized of the carriage bolts that I had for this project this way when you tap them in place they will hold and not require much work for bolting the fender onto the buck. After the fender was securely bolted down I needed to add a outer fender brace to keep the wheel opening in place but my bot was broken off. To remove these I use a socket that is just over the size of the head of the carriage bolt and place it over the head and then with a hammer I tap on the bolt until it comes out. With out the socket you run the risk of bending the fender hole outward as you hammer resulting in damage to the panel as well as a loose hole. Then i made a simple brace to hold the fender and bolt to the table.

So before I mounted the fender I cleaned the inside and removed mostly all but the factory sealer/primmer and then started to strip the exterior of the fender.
See the next dozen pics or so to follow along and I well post more tonight.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

And the rest of the pics.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Thank you for taking the time to document your process on this and taking and posting so many excellent pictures as you go along. This will be a huge help to a lot of us.

Bobby

 

Thanks for taking the time Kevin. Especially the tricks to keep the work piece from distorting. I can't speak for the others here, but I know I have fixed some dents and holes, only to find out I altered the panel elsewhere in the process.

 

subscribed.

 

I will need to do this also..

 

I agree, the knowlage shared so freely, by so many of you people that are so highly talented , is so valueble and so appreceiated by so many of us, thank you.

 

Thanks for the tips and taking the time to share.

Paul

 

subscribed.

 

Me Too! thanks for sharing.