anyone ever had this much fun fitting thier front fenders? i had these on this truck for many yrs and couldnt stand to look closely at the fit...now on its second rebuild i decided to make a better effort at getting things to line up better....if i snug up on the gap at the front grill panel.. look what it does to the back of the drivers fender....holy COW!!!!!!
i purchased these fenders close to 20 yrs ago...again the fit was aweful back then ...im wondering if the molds have been perfected... i think the whole front of these fenders will need to be completly reworked by adding and subtracting material here and there.... thoughts??? r
SORRY...I CANT SEEM TO POST PICS INTO THIS MESSAGE?!?!?!

 

I think you have to be a supporting member to post pictures.

 

Post pictures of your fender in your gallery, then you can use the internet addres (URL) to post in your thread.

 

Use the Go Advanced Option. Open your Gallery Right Click picture you want. Pick Copy, Go to message, Right Click and choose paste. You do not need to be a supporting member.

 

ok thanks...ill try
i think this worked as u can see..if i close up the gap at the grill panel..look what it does to the back of my fenders....aweful...just bad fenders?

 

As long as your Hood is off, can you tell me what Radiator you are using? Looks like it fits pretty well in the stock frame.

E

 

20 years ago those would have been considered replacement fenders for a working truck, not a restoration piece. Good thing about FG it's not difficult to work with to fix the problem, but first you will need to figure out just where the problem is. Best would be to borrow a set of good stock fenders to compare them with and or make templates from. If the pass side fits right, you could try making templates off of it and flipping them over.

 

Are both front fenders glass? It appears the problem is only on the driver's side? It doesn't appear to have a straight line along the inner fender. Something ain't right. Who made them?

Edit -- is it just the grille panel that is glass? Just figured that out. Mine needed some sanding to make the edge where the fender bolted on sit right. Not uncommon to need to tweak like that. Fortunately, it's easy to do with glass.

 

I think I would make a pattern off of the passenger side (like AXracer suggested) and see what is wrong with the drivers side. The passenger side looks to be ok.

 

Also check that the pan between the fenders is actually square to the frame. the pass side may be the one with the problem if it's pulling it out of square.

 

hi,
thanks for all the reply's.. the radiator is a 70's mustang radiator..im not sure of the year.. tomorrow ill snap some close pics of what i did.. i cut off the original mounts from the radiator support and swapped sides/ trimmed them a bit and then welded them back on once they were bolted to the radiator..they bolted directly to the radiator perfectly..kinda neat...
as far as the fenders.. i really believe the drivers side is the issue..when i had them boted on the truck all these past yrs they fit well EXCEPT up at the grill panel...i had gaps up there that u could stick a pencil in..was aweful.. but............
the grill panel is in good shape.. im thinking i ether hafta rework the fiberglass..or buy some new ones...
i did find after taking these pics tonight that my cab was not square to the frame.. which threw the whole nose off ofcourse...i loosened my front four cab bolts and shoved the cab to the left..and found the nose to fit a hair better...but still not perfect..
i left the drivers "hanging" like that to show u guys how far off it is.. if i try to bolt up the complete fender..it pulls HARD on that gap up front...like i said.. i think im either gonna hafta play fiberglass monkey and "square" up that front grill area to match the metal grill panel... or look around for some new fenders.....
i wish i knew someone local w/ some "good" fenders that i could try.....central MA anyone??..

 

I have a 56 that had much the same problems with fit of the front clip. Mine had some collision damage that the PO just bondoed over and stuck it all together. When I started fixing everything and refitting, the gap problems showed up worse. I know there are differences between your F1 and my F100, but the idea is the same.

I found that I had to start from scratch with squaring the cab and centering the radiator support first. I hung all the parts on the front end and just finger-snugged the bolts, and started jockeying stuff around until I got the best fit. Then I could see what really needed fixing.

Before I did all that, I was just chasing the same gap around the whole front end. Once one thing looked OK, something else looked awful. My gravel shield is fiberglass and it had huge (pencil-sized) gaps like your glass fenders. I cracked the edge seam trying to use the attach bolts to squeeze the gap down. I finally built up the edges of the glass to close the gaps. Although I had never worked with fiberglass before, I found the repair and mods fairly straightforward and simple.

One tip I can pass on is to drill indexing holes through each mating piece for repositioning where your best fit winds up. I use 1/8" holes (2 at each mating seam) and clecoes. Using the clecoes repeats the position exactly. I got tired of refitting everything every time I had to take it all apart. Works like a charm. Here's some cleco work: https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...124609&width=2

I developed a way to index my doors in the same fashion. I just had to use bigger pins instead of clecoes to hold the door weight, but the idea and result is the same: https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=27817

This truck stuff is more art than science, sometimes. Good luck.

 

spent the day fitting..staightening some bent inner fenders...i didnt realize how straight they were supposed to be...mine were bent like banana's out..towards the wheels.. then i got them closer in the front...but not so close at the fander to cab line...how close should they be? i know there is a fender welt that goes there..bhow close are any of urs?also..in this picture..can u see the sag in my fenders? especially the drivers side..sags way down from the flange...not much i can do w/ that...im thinking that just from almsot 20 yrs bolted on incorrectly....and they "took" a shape...

 

They will actually be out a little when you put on the rubber strips that go at the back of the fenders. You're almost there!

 

does anyone have a picture of thier finished truck w/ a view just like the ones ive posted here above? is that large opening between the cowl seam and inner fender seam just a charactaristic of my fiberglass fenders? im wondering how much effort to put into that area? if im going to be building other area's up w/ fiberglass to make things fit..should i do something w/ that too?
ive never done anything w/ fiberglass before.. im just a little concerned of bonding the new to the old... and having something crack down the road..each one of these areas has alot of stress on it..... thoughts?>