I am at a bit of a stumbling block with my 48. The PO had modified the front fenders (widened them by 4 inches) to accomodate the wider stance of the 1972 Chevy chasis. He had also welded all the seams in the two piece fender and modified the running boards to tie in with the lines of the widened front end.

I have been working feverishly on these front fenders and still am not satisfied with the being symetrical and they still need a lot of work. I was thinking that I would maybe just start over if I could find another det of front fenders in good shape. So far no luck and looking in teh catalogs there do not seem to be any metal repro fenders available for the 48 just the 50-52 model (I think was the year range).

I have never worked with glass before, can these fender mods be made to the glass fenders without too much trouble or should I consider switching up a few yares on the front end and continue and get new metal fenders.

I will also look into narrowing the front suspension with shorter a-arms and off set rims to keep the tires inside the fender.

Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm just becomming so frustrated with this and need somebody to help me get things back into perspective.

 

Fiberglass parts are fairly easy to work with. I worked in a big truck body shop for a number of years and made the mistake of being being pretty good with repairing the smashed glass front hoods of the big rigs. I got stuck with all of the disasters that came in. Fiberglass is a pain to work with because it's messy and it itches like H*ll. As with any chemical process you need to use proper safety equipment ie. a good repirator and body protection.

For patching big holes and building parts that were no longer attached we used pieces of cardboard lined with duct tape, facing the repair area. I'd tape the cardboard to the outside of the damaged area and apply the fiberglass from the inside of the fender. You could use the same technique to make filler panels in your fenders. After the fiberglass would sit up we'd peal the duct tape lined cardboard off and work on the outside of the fender, using canned fiberglass filler and then plastic filler to finish it off.

On the trucks I worked on we would blast the inside of the part so we had a nice clean surface for our fiberglass to adhere to. With new, never used parts you should make sure you also have a cleaned, roughed up surface.

 

I was told by someone that new fiberglass should be left out in the sun for a year before you install it to allow it to cure and finish and shrinking or expansion or the new parts amy result in panel misallignment. Is there any truth to this theory?

 

I find that very hard to believe. If that was true any resto job using glass parts would have to wait at least a year to even start. I do believe there are differences in quality of glass parts. I have heard some manufacturer pull their parts from the mold before they're completely cured causing the parts warp before completely hardening. There have been many posts on this site asking advise on who makes the best glass parts, do a search and I am sure you will find many posts.

 

Not true. Fiberglass parts should be installed as soon as possible, however, and leaving it out in the sun will make them more pliable. The pieces will fit better if you install them immediately. I ordered mine from Bebops and was told that they make them only when an order is received and that they are fully cured by the time I receive them. I clamped a two by four to my fiberglass running boards and left them in the sun for a few hours to straighten them since they had a little curve to them...but a year, no way! That's ridiculous...

 

Agree with GNW, I was not able to bolt up my front fenders ('52) for 6 months, and when I did I found that they had pulled it from the mold too quickly. The left fender is sagged down 1.5". Putting them in the sun only helps for about a month, after that they are hardened (cured) and any kind of major adjustment isn't going to happen. Mine were shipped from the mfr. to the paint shop and painted about 3 weeks after molding, no problems with paint sticking.

I wonder if you would be better off finding a set of (steel) big-truck fenders that are wider to begin with? The wheel wells are different but it may be easier to work with that than trying to get the crown of the fenders correct after widening. There was a thread with pictures of a similar setup about 3 months ago. Big-truck fenders are more available (used only) and cheaper. For some reason they seem to be less rusted, too.

PS -- GNW, my runnning boards are curved too, along the vertical flange. I called the mfr. (Fairlane) and they insisted that was intentional, "as per factory". I sent them pics of stock steel boards, but they wouldn't believe me.

 

I kind figured that a year in the sun was a little much....LOL but that is what I was told so I figured I would have that clairified on here.

I wold prefer to go the large truck fender route and then hem in the wheel openings to the desired size but so far I have had limited success locating the larger size trucks let alone one with decent fenders.

 

Ross,

You mean that the beat in and bowed up factory running boards on my truck are just as ol Henry Ford designed them?? Way cool!!! that will sure save me alot of time on bodywork.........LOL

Kusto,

There was a post some time back where one of our members used the larger truck fenders and worked the wheel opening down to a regular size. I think he was an Australian but I don't remember his name or how long ago it was. Heck, I'm not even sure how you would go about searching the board for thepost. I'm thinking it was close to a year ago.

Bobby

 

Ameriken, narrowed his F-7 fenders.

 

51 - Now that makes sence....Now show me a picture where I can widen the fenders with ease and I will call you the master...I never thought of just re-arching the wheel opening.

 

Yep, that's where mine were curved too. I didn't complain about it to Bebops because I've dealt with fiberglass before and I know it's not always straight. Clamping it to a piece of I-beam or a 2x4 will straighten it right up...but it's definitely not intentional. Whomever said that had didn't know what he was talking about. I also clamped my rear fenders to the bed sides right away since the mounting flange wasn't real straight either.

 

Making sure that these glass parts cure to match the correct lines of the mounting surface makes a heck of a lot more sense that leaving the parts loose in the sun for a year. Maybe the feller was thinking of spanish tiles rather than fiberglass parts.LOL

 

Maybe he was thinking of rubber seals or upholstery pieces. It always helps to have these item get loose and pliable before installing them.

 

I have heard the leave out in the sun thing before, but its because sometimes there are air bubbles in between the gel coat and fiberglass, and they can come to the surface and pop. I know the first round of Cobra bodies from Factory Five had this problem but it has since been fixed.