Well, I have the motor mounts done and the motor installed to include the headers on my 55. While I realize this is probably not rocket science. Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to go about trimming the inner fenders to accomdate the Mustang II suspension without butchering them too much or even a line on a template? Right now I figure if I trim sparingly and continue to work that way I should not take too much out and have a decent finished product.

Thanks
Pat

 

Pat, I doubt that you'll find a template as each MII application will be a little bit different even among the same model trucks. You can trim it nicely by just doing some careful measuring of the suspension components that will protrude through the inner fender panel, transferring that to a pattern on the panel, and trimming with a die grinder and cut off wheel. Ease into it and you'll get a nice fit... but don't be too stingy with your cut. Leave room as needed for things to settle or flex. -Ken

 

Some of the best installations that I have seen have made the cut about two inches further out than you would expect, and then rivited a piece of rubber over the gap. This looks it look clean and keeps water from splashing onto your engine. Good luck, Jag

 

Make a dummy panel out of a large cardboard box and trim that first. If you make a mistake just cut out the botched area and tape a new piece of cardboard in place. Or go to your local U pull yard and grab some inner panels that have the rubber splash shields attached Like Jag described. As long as you trim neatly the rubber will make it easy and clean looking. Worse comes to worse you can always weld more metal on like doing rust repair. If it were me I'd weld a shaped piece of 1/4" rod along the cut edge and filet it with bondo to give it strength and a finished look.

 

I traced the inner fender panels on 1/4" ply, then trimmed out accordingly until I got the spacing right. It helped with all my mockup in the engine compartment.



Tom