Just to make sure I will not run out of things to do, I fetched my fenders from the shed where I have stored them over the winter. I prepared them for the high pressure wash by removing the emblems.
There is a structure in the rear of the fender. I got afraid that the corner would not be strong enough to sustain the extreme pressure as it mostly was made of rust, rivets and putty. The bolt in the picture is one of my dirty-fixes-for-the-first-summer.
If the structure and lower part would vanish, I wouldn't have the reference points left to fit and match the repair panels. So I had to make an exception and fix this before cleaning it. First I cut the worst parts and placed the fender brace on top of the old one and marked the red line. No need to say but the brace, manufactured by American Designers Inc. , made an excellent fit.
Once the correct position could be determined, the repair brace was narrowed a little to leave a few millimetres for the fender sheet metal to be twisted inside. Then the brace was finally welded.
Before the final welding I had to test-fit it against the car body about a half-a dozen times because there is a knot in the brace which has to meet a similar hole in the outer rocker extension. I placed a tape above cutting line and marked some distances between the tape and the bent shoulder of the lower part of the fender.
When I was sure that the reference points were marked correctly I welder the repair panel using spot and seam welds.
The gap between the fender and outer rocker looks good. The flange twisted to inner side of the fender will spot welded after the wash and primering.
The fender is ready to be delivered for the high pressure wash. The driver side fender is better and does not have to be pre-repaired.
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