i need to pull a mcmark and section on a new fender... it was curled in heavil at the bottom by the door.... and a low spot above the wheel arch. PO bondo'd crap out of it.... i want to cut it off and weld on a new section....

urgerboy.....lend me your brain

Hey Aron I got you covered!!! I will check hirschels stash and pick a primo piece for your fender section that you need.

thanks shawn... i got a primo fender already cut off a car. just need to cut and paste

shawn, when you leaving for work again?

Aaron, I got a welder here and you are welcome to use it. I could even help you with that project. Let me know.

I know Joe made a donation to your account today too so you should have all the money you need.

I am at work right now, been here most of the night, but I will be home in about an hour or so if you want to call. I left my cell phone at home.

just right click the mouse into photoshop and paste. then clean up the fender and save it to your driveway.

if you screw it up just exit without saving changes and open the car in photoshop again.

LMFAO

i needed a laugh joe....thanks.

scott. thanks... i would love to learn to weld

EVERY PENNY HELPS!!!

Come on out, I will learn you how to do it. Bring Propel (Kiwi Strawberry)

name a time... ill be there with a sixer of propel

Well, I am working tonight so I can take my truck in to the shop again tomorrow and then I should be home after that. So I would say after about 10 tomorrow I will be there. I even got this really cool body saw to make short work of removing the old fender.

In fact, I am heading home now, been here long enough.

ill call you tomorrow AM.

pretty sure ill be there.

you da man scott!

The biggest key is that you want to make your gaps to be as small as possible. Welding a tiny gap is simple. Welding an 1/8" gap is hard. I wouldn't plan to do this project in a few hours. More like a long weekend.

Cut your replacement piece way big and trim it down a little at a time. Hold the replacement piece up and trace the line you need to reach. But never ever ever cut exactly on the line. The idea is to trace a line and cut 2" away from that line. Clean the line off (Brake Cleaner) and draw a new one. Cut 1" away. Clean it off and do it again. When you first start out you won't be able to hold the replacement precisely in place because it's so big. So you take a little bit off and now you can hold it closer and get a better line. Each time you cut some off and redraw the line it's a better line, but never assume your line is 100% correct. The longer you take and the slower you go, take a little off each time the better job you will do. The first few cuts will go quickly. Each cut will take more time. Eventually you'll have to switch to a hand file to get the last bit when the cuts become too small for your saw.

You need to make sure that the pieces line up 100% before you weld. If you think you'll be able to weld a little bit and then bend this or hammer that you're setting yourself up for sub-par work. You should be able to hold the piece up with 1 finger and everything fit nicely. If things aren't that nice, bend bang and massage them until they do. You should actually do this before you make the last few cuts because massaging the metal can potentially change the gaps.

When you finally get to the welding, do small sections. Move around a lot. I prefer gas welding for these sorts of repairs because the weld is softer and more workable. But MIG will work.

Anything else? There's a thread somewhere on here with more pictures and a similar write up you might want to read.

Oh, and when you're deciding where to make the cuts look for where it'll be easy to work with. Don't try to make the smallest section as possible.

Have fun! Be sure to take lots of pictures so we can share in the fun!

great advice.....

heres how i THOUGHT it would work.

1) cut part of old fender off.....
2) cut new fender several inches wider than the piece that was cut off....
3) set new piece inplace and trace the line from the back side....
and trim and cut in steps from there.....


kinda scared.... ...havent tackled this stuff before...want it to be like new.

is there some sort of template i can make in the exact shape of the cutout?

Can you make a template that you can trust? If you can it'll still take you a long time to make a good template. You'll do fine if you do it slow. That's the key. If you're in a hurry, be prepared for less than perfection. You can do it, I have faith.

(GULP)

ill see if i can do the template thing and still cut wider than that line.....

Mark, thanks....you kinda instilled some confidence in myself....thanks for the advice

just soak some socks in cold water and put it in a Propel bottle. he will never know the difference

Be sure to practice on something that doesn't matter, before you start welding on your car. After you've spent enough time to get the welder tuned in and the welds nice and pretty, then weld the piece on. Don't practice on the finished piece.

If you are going to MIG, don't make beads any longer than 1/2". And DON'T GET IN A HURRY!!! How long are you going to live with this car/fender? Take care and time.

I agree with McMark on the template thing. Why take an extra step anyway?

One last comment, how bad is the fender on the car? Unless it's totally mangled, I'd probably try to coerce it back to shape before welding on a different piece. If this is your first effort, you could end up with more filler to fix your welds, than to even out some metal work.

If you can do a little practice with the trimmed pieces from your new fender and the cutout old fender then you are working on exactly the same thicknesses for the final welds. Lots of good advice already. Good Luck.

When he gets here, I will take a look at the fender and see how bad it really is. I agree that it would be better to fix what he has than to try to weld on a whole new fender. I have all the stuff here to pull out just about anything. Aaron, if you are out there, I am leaving now to take the truck in and should be back around 10:30 or so. Call me.

Im leaving tommorow at 4:30 pm give me a holler on the cell and maybe I could come down and give you guys some emotional support with.... and then we can...

I'm not getting this...

Why wouldn't you "pick" the fender off at the original spot welds? Then do the same with the new fender and replace it the way the factory would?

I don't understand the trimming and line scribbing stuff. A fender should be "picked" unless you're only replacing a portion.

Picture included

the piece o have doesnt have the weatherstripping channel in thr fronnt trunk. also...isnt it IMPOSSIBLE to weld the cowl area back in?

For the Mig wire, try some body wire that's easier to grind. Unibody X2 by Uniweld, or ez-ee grind by ESAB.
Stuff is ten times easier to clean up.

You should get one that does. Brad has plenty. I found one off the board for $80.00. To me, it's worth the price to do it right.

Nope... I've just witnessed two, professionally done, in the last 4 months. Not impossible AT ALL. One passengers side and one drivers side.

Here's a shot of one area that needed a cowl repaired and a new fender was put on. You can see the welds in the weatherstripping groove.

Aaron, do what you need to do. I've butt welded flares on which is nearly a fender replacement done as mentioned above but, if I were to replace an entire fender "I" would weld it along the factory seams.

Eric. that does look alot better and easier and... ill work on procuring a replacement piece off of a solid car. just drill out the spotwelds?

ALSO! are all cars spotwelded in the exact same place? (as in assembled on a jig....?) so i could match up spotweld holes? i bet it will be apparent when i tear off the fender

If'n it were that easy, yeah, just drill them out. My guess is it will take a day per piece (or, a 1/2 day but you'll be so sick of drilling welds that you'll just drink the rest of the day )

No they're not all welded in the same place. You'll want to drill or grind the spots off ginding through the layer of metal you "don't" intend to keep. Meaning: if you look at the first picture I posted of the fender off the car, you'll notice that there are no holes drilled "through" that metal. Now, the replacement piece can have the holes where the spot remover drill went through it or you can drill them yourself. You will use those holes to "rosette" weld the piece on to the chassis. My body-guy uses the side of a small grinder wheel to go through the first layer of metal only. It's a talent but it can make short work of the spots when you get in the rhythm. He then performs the same procedure on the "backside" of the new piece to "pick" it off the welded ares. He then drills rosette holes where he wants the welds to go.

Make sense?

just rosete weld the new fenders through the holes you drilled the old welds out right?

Basically... but leave the base metal w/o holes so you have a foundation for the rosette.

roger that.

now, how hard is it to set doorgaps and alignment before welding? clamp in place ...adjust and weld?

Yup... but again, if'n it was that easy. There is a talent to it. The entire right side of my car was replaces with the exception of the door. The gaps are better than new. All I can say is measure, measure, measure and work slow. And PRACTICE with a couple pieces of scrap metal to get the wire feed rate and power "just right". You want penetration but not too much heat -or- you'll warp the fender right off the car.