Longitudinal repair without cutting away fender?, Can this be done, if so how did you do it? Options

[jjs3rd914]

It all started when wanting to reinstall the battery tray back in stock position. A PO had put battery in rear trunk and fiberglassed over the "hell hole". Of course the more we dug the worse it got. We have completed the upper area repair inside engine compartment and now ready to install the Restoration Design (RD) outer clamshell overlays. All the major repair threads show the removal of the lower portion of the fender get full access. We really do not want to do this unless this is the only way to correctly install the pieces so they will work as designed.

Has anyone installed the RD overlays (or Brad's system) without cutting away the fender for access? If so how did you do it? It would appear that a very small MIG gun (anyone know of such a tight area gun?) would help, but one still would not get to all the critical areas that need welded inside the fender.

Are we indeed doomed to cut the fender piece, reweld and repaint? The car was just painted by the last PO.

Thanks, and thanks to all the previous posts on repairs.

jjs3rd914