METAL REPLACEMENT

Front Inner Fender Replacement

Story and Photos by Rob Halas

What we are doing at this time is replacing the front inner fenders or aprons on our ’74 Cuda, the same basic technique that can be used for most unibody cars.

Not only is it our goal to replace the rusty parts, it is also to make sure that the radiator support and frame rails end up true and square with the rest of the body. Don’t be surprised if there are any discrepancies side-to-side, as many of these cars were not built very accurately. In our case, we decided to make our own custom-smoothed panels, as this car is going to be heavily modified. I will explain how to replace stock replacement parts, as well as show what we did with ours. With some cars, you will actually be able to make the front end better aligned than it originally came, with a little extra work.

Start by supporting the frame rails near the firewall and also support the rails near the radiator support. Do not cut the old panels out with the car only supported at one point or the other, as it can sag a fair bit without the strength of the inner panels, and then things will not fit later on down the road. No fun, especially if everything is already finished and painted! Yes there is a story there…

Measure the distance from the rad support to the firewall on both sides and keep track of those numbers, then drill out all of the spot welds and remove the rusty parts. After those are removed, you can now adjust the rad support to make it more aligned with the cowl/firewall if needed. You can also check if the frame rails or rad support are twisted at all with a digital level and fix those if desired; to do this, you may have to drill out and re-weld some spot welds where the support attaches to the frame(s).

Next, fit the new panels in place carefully and start the install using the same self-tapping screw method that we have used all along. When the panels are fitted, it is a very good idea at this time to test fit the fenders to make sure they line up properly with the doors, etc. This way, if any adjustments are needed, you simply unscrew the screws and move the panels. After you are satisfied with the fit, plug-weld the new panels in place and Bob’s your uncle....whatever that really means…

With our car, what we did was only replace the front areas of the inner fenders and patch the rear areas where needed. We decided where to cut out the old pieces to best match up with our new custom pieces, and we made cardboard templates ahead of time to get the look we wanted before we cut and formed the new metal ones. After they were made, the same method was used to plug-weld them in place, except at the top where we left the original portion in place; there, we overlapped and welded the new to existing parts. Now, proceed with priming and painted as desired.

That is about it for metal replacement on our 1974 “Rusty Cuda.” The roof really does need to be replaced as it is very, very rusty, but we have other ideas…

Related Posts

1. 
   Metal Replacement Part 3