The PR (previous restorer) did something like I'd do - fabbed a lousy patch panel, welded it in, and covered it with 1/4 inch of bondo. Except he braze welded it. Held up pretty good for 30 years but a quarter size spot of bondo failed so I'm glad I stripped the whole thing down. But what should I do? Sand blast and re-bondo, try to hammer it out so the bondo does not have to be so thick, try to make a better patch panel and weld it in, or buy a new fender. I'd rather put some sweat into it than shell out $325 but the lower rear section had some serious dents and therefor lots of bondo.

 

JMHO, but if the last repair lasted 30 years with the filers that were available then, how long would it last if filled with one of the newer better fillers? That is something you could finish out, drive the truck and look for a replacement fender.

 

I have seen various ads for fenders...here's a local CL for a pair for only $5 each: 1965 Ford f100 step side fenders I am not saying that you would want to bolt these on your truck in the condition that they are in...but, there are some good patch panels here. You can probably find some fenders in your area for less than $325...I with raytasch, patch it up and drive it til something better comes along.

 

Was that a cutout for a spare tire?

 

I assume it was a spare tire dimple. Funny thing is the holes in the bed where the bracket bolts on are not filled.

 

Hey Das, I would try to hammer and dolly all it would cost is a little time and maybe gain a little experience. Hey by the way you can swing by Salem and I give you some Bondo...My wife bless her heart wanted to get me a little filler today that I need, and she came home with a 7lb can. She meant well but I bit my tongue and gave her a big kiss. heh heh. So if you need some come on by.

 

if it was refinished , you would be the only one who knew it . save all the old tin you can. some folks got skills,some got money, i need help with both

 

Ditto

If that's all that's wrong with the fender...keep it and do some pounding.

 

Are the seams butt welded or overlapped? If they are butt welded, I'd suggest hammer and dolly it smooth, hit the brass with 60 grit to give it some tooth and skim it over with no more than 1/8" thick coat of putty. It takes sensitive hammer work, and an understanding of the differences and results of "on dolly" and "off dolly" work tho to not just stretch the metal and make it worse, but it's a perfect opportunity to develop your skills. Do you have an Ox-Ac torch? How about a 7" angle grinder? You'll also need a medium faced blunt pick hammer, a slap hammer, a heel dolly, universal dolly, a rubber dolly, a body file, and a long board. If you aren't sure what each of these tools are, especially the differences in bumping hammers and how to properly prep/use them, and want to learn, I can walk you thru it. I also recommend the inexpensive, old but excellent book The Key to Metal Bumping and Ron Covell's DVD Metal Techniques for Working with Steel.

 

wow, I might take you up on that offer. hmm, 7 lbs., I think that's about how much I ground off this fender. But I'm leaning toward trying to pound it out a little closer to original shape and cut that in half.

 

thanks everyone for the encouragement to fix what I have. I'm running out of steam on doing body work and was leaning toward just buying a new fender.

The seams seem to be but welded for the most part so I'll dust off my Ron Covell video and give it a whirl. I suppose if I just stretch all the dimples I can reduce the amount of filler by half. But 1st I'll get the inside cleaned up so I know the whole story.

 

I use my body file (also called a vixen file, it has a metal blade with single curved teeth across the blade, it fits unto a handle that you hold with a hand at each end. Some handles can be adjusted to curve the blade. I use an inexpensive solid wood flat handle), or a long board with 60 grit paper to highlight the high and low spots. Run it across the surface with parallel strokes until you have covered the surface, then recover the surface with strokes 90 degrees to the first set. If you find it difficult to see the differences, first give the surface a light coat of rattle can dyechem, a machinist's metal marking dye, or a thin coat of lacquer paint.
I use a length of welding rod sprung to the desired contour placed on the panel in a grid pattern to decide if the area is high or low. Use a strong light played flat across the surface from the opposite side of the rod to make it easy to see how the metal surface matches the wire gauge.

 

Some hammer & dolly work will get you real close . Use a micro fiber towel under your hand when you feel over it . It magnifies the the low & high spots to your feel .