Hey guys,
I know repop panels need to be massaged, so I just need some ideas to resolve this issue.

Hood and fender gaps are looking good, but the middle bolt to cowl does not line up worth a crap. And you can see the cowl hole which is NO GOOD. the other cowl fender holes line up.

Do I grind off the paint and weld up that hole? Move it a little forward? That would suck...

 

 

Would the fender welt cover that up? I mean, you'll need to seal it up to prevent a leak, but the welt might cover it.

 

I didn’t plan on using fender welt. I like the clean look.

 

Is it my imagination or does that fender have a bend in it about 3" below that hole ?
If that hole is one that is from original I would make the fender fit , not move the hole .

 

It does look like it, doesn't it?

 

I’ll have to check to see if it’s bent from me torquing on it. The cowls have been replaced from previous owner.

 

If that is finished paint on the cowl(assuming from the masking tape) I would make the fender fit the cowl. Make a slit on the back side of the fender right at the corner, and re-contour the edge to cover what need to be covered, then weld in the gap.

 

Yes finished paint. What corner are you talking about to make the slit?

 

Right where the visible sheet metal folds under to make the mounting flange of the fender.

 

To me the fender looks like it's too far foward

 

If I slide the fender towards the bed, then the other 2 holes won’t line up. I’ll play with it some more when I get home. Thanks everyone for their input

 

I have a lot of "massaging" to get fenders to line up with cowls but in most cases there is a point of reference that you can hold when moving panels. In your case you have cowl panels that have been replaced by the PO and a repop fender that may/may not be accurate. Most repop cowl sections do not come with the inner brace that reinforces the fender bolt holes. I have had these reinforcing braces delivered to me that were so far off that I had to cut and reshape them to fit the cowl panel. I mention this because if the PO had this sort of problem he may have opted to drill the cowl panel to match the brace and thus moved the mounting hole. The first place I would check is the distance between the fender/door gap and the fender mounting hole...check this against a known good cowl/fender and go from there. At least you might be able to focus in on the proper area that needs to be fixed. Good luck...

 

Check alignment w/ the running boards mocked up .

 

Right, that's why I said the fender needs to go rearward. The space from fender to door lols too wide to me.