Left wheelhouse and flare

Sometimes you have to make compromises between the quality and the time and resources. My left side wheelhouse looked like this.

The both sides of the wheelhouse could have been ordered as reproduction part, but I decided to limit the restoration here and patch it using sheet metal plate with 1,25 mm thickness. The bad thing was that I had to recreate the shape without a model.

I set the new wheelflare on top of the old one to see the area which it would cover.

 

Then I marked the area with a pencil. My patch for inner wheelhouse is well visible in this picture.

I used tape to make sure that I won't cut too much. I've heard about a Mustang which had an inch of sheet metal missing all along the quarter panel.

Now the rusty part could be drilled and cut out.

First I made a patch for the lower section of the outer wheelhouse. Prior to this the rear end of the outer rocker needed to be straigtened. I drilled a hole and used a lug and a nut as a puller.

Then I created an arch for the wheelhouse.

And welded in the remaining parts followed with normal routines ( grinding, grinding, grinding and primering).

The following day I welded the new part.

You may wonder why I did not replace the full quarter panel skin. The reason is that I was unaware of the poor condition of the wheelflare when I made the initial order for sheet metal.

Those who have sharp eyes and have stared Mustangs for an adequte time can see that this Canadian made part is not exactly as the original Ford part. The area where the side emblem will be installed ( and I will install it, though many of restorers do not ) is not as deep as it should.

The self made shape of the wheelhouse looks good enough for me.

Now the car was ready to be turned around for the start-up of same operations on the passenger side.