I repaired my front lowers last week, but with my body work skills they look quite "dimpled" so I'm considereing going with the fibreglass lowers I bought about 4 years ago. I fitted them up to the front fenders and at first glance would appear that the driver side does not fit well. Is there a way of "shaping" the fibreglass so that it will fit better ? It appears that the lower would need to have more curve to it to get it to fit the fender.
Does applying controlled heat with say a heat gun work in forming them ?

Tom

 

Fiberglass is a thermoset. That means that you CAN NOT heat and reform it.

 

Thanks Don;
I guess I'll have to try other means if required. I'm not 100% sure that they will not fit, but hopefully I'll get to them this fall.

Tom

 

One thing to remember, the bottom fender stick out past the top fender. They are not even. This is to mimic the body line in the back of the fender.

Hey, if you have $550 to drop buy a new pair of steel bottoms. Northern Classic Truck has them.

 

Tom, fiberglass is actually quite easy to shape or reshape. It's all a matter of sanding them to the shape you want them to be. If you need to add to them, add layers of fiberglass cloth and resin, let it dry, and start the whole sanding and shaping process over again until you're happy with the results. If you don't know how, it's easy to learn, and if you're going to work with fiberglass parts, you need to learn how to make them fit.

 

If you're going to work with fiberglass you better be prepared to itch.

 

LOL!!!! That too!

 

I've got to trim the upper edges of the lower fenders to fit the uppers , then I'll have a better view as to whether its going to fit.

Thanks for the input, but no probably won't buy new lowers. LOL

 

If your metal lowers are "lumpy" (the bag of walnuts look) that is pretty easy to remedy.
You need a 7" angle grinder and a shrinking disk. You'll also need a rubber sanding disk for the angle grinder, a bucket of water and a rag and hearing protection (good ear plugs or muffs). You can find the shrinking disks on ebay for ~ 40.00. Looks like a heavy stainless steel frying pan lid. You don't need one of the expensive ones with the thin grooves in it, the plain ones work just as well.
First make sure the area is free of any paint and/or bondo. A clean and strip disk from your local big box DIY store and an arbor to mount it on a high speed power drill makes quick work of cleaning the metal without thinning it.
Mount the rubber sanding disk and shrinking disk (SD) on the grinder (the rubber disk doesn't need to be as big as the SD). Run the disk at high speed and press as flat as possible against the lumpy area working ~ a 6" area at a time. Press hard and hold it until the raised portion of the lumps turn blue/black/purple from the friction. Remove the SD and quickly wipe with a rag soaked with cold water. Check your progress with a bare hand rubbed over the area. continue this process in the same area or an adjacent area until all the lumps disappear. Check your final progress with 100 grit sandpaper on a sanding board. If you sanding touches all but a few low spots, bump up the low spots with the bullet end of a pick hammer or small ball peen hammer and hard rubber dolly or hockey puck. Work slowly tapping (NOT hammering, just light taps) in a overlapping circular path from the center to the edges of the low patch. Test with the sandpaper until you are sanding the entire surface. Use the shrinking disk again should you bump the metal up too much. If you work carefully the area should only require a very thin coat of body putty or surfacing putty to produce a smooth surface.

 

If you work carefully, and have enough patience, you won't need any filler.

Dave

 

I agree, but I'm ****, but not quite that ****.
Even Foose uses a skim coat on his body work.

 

Foose's cars look cool. So did a lot of Boyd's. As far as workmanship, though, it looks like a lot of corners get cut. Some of that could just be TV, though.

If you get a chance, check out some of the metalshaping forums. Those guys do some amazing work. And yeah, some of them are a bit **** about stuff like body filler.

Dave

 

'48-50 lower fenders wouldn't be that hard to build new if you have basic welding skills. They're mostly flat metal witha couple of simple curves and bends. If you're not going for judging I think that's the way to go.

 

So far there is no filler > 1/16" thick on my truck. I am capable of doing fillerless metal work, But unless someone else is paying me to do it there's a limit to the time I'm willing to spend. I'm not looking to build a show car or impress customers as no one will ever see it in bare metal. I am building for me, and a skim coat of filler is fine with me.

 

I actually made a decision on this...will use FG lowers if they are close to fitting. Metal work can be done "at leisure" (time permitting) I gotta get this thing on the road while I still have a driver's license !