A request to anyone and everyone who has pics of a finished car that has corrected '70-72 NOS fenders on it. Post 'em up please.
If you have nice originals that just need a patch on the bottom use them. It's way more work to fix messed up NOS fenders.
It's a big PIA and I guess on a concours car (at least a '70 I believe?) they're not quite correct, but the benefit is unlimited adjustability. You can get the front end sheetmetal dead nuts.
That's the common sentiment, but I suggest that having done both, I would much rather have the NOS sheetmetal, even if they require a little work. Not that hard to cut the spot welds on the NOS fenders, and re-position the inner. We even did it on a fully painted car, and never touched the paint. Did it with the fender still on the car ... JW
I've done a couple sets. Been a while and maybe I'm looking back through rose colored glasses, but IMHO never thought it was that much, if any more work compared to patching the bottoms. The problem with originals is that you're stuck regarding alignment and not all original fenders are the same, nor are all body shells so there's often a compromise when it comes to sheetmetal alignment As we know, the alignment from the factory often left something (or in some cases a lot) to be desired. On one car (a board members), even the unstitched NOS fender wouldn't work. So we grabbed every fender we had, no matter the condition (had lots back then), and started trying them. Of course the one that was in the worst condition dropped onto the car like it was made for specifically for it and even then, the bottom skirt had to be "lengthened" a little to make it fit. Wound up cutting up the NOS fender & using it for "parts." I spot weld them back together so it looks factory & put a couple little tacks then fill the original welds. Cut the seam by the door & that can be tweaked to to align better. I'm no bodyman, so maybe someone who is more used to splicing panels than I am would find that the patches are easier. My old car above is a testiment to how well they can turn out. IIRC, on that car the flange @ the bottom the cowl that the fender bolts to had to be had to be cut off & moved up slightly to get it all to work. Heck, I'm getting ready to embark on a couple projects and have been thinking about using original fenders, but all this reminiscing has me ready to go look for some NOS and start cutting spot welds.
I can only imagine that was a painful (or at least a bit puckering) lesson in test fitting/aligning everything prior to painting and was well before this problem was commonly known (but, hey it's an NOS fender, it's got to fit, right?). I remember seeing many cars @ the GS Nationals back in the day that had serious hood/fender alignment issues. Of course @ the show with the hoods open they looked great!
Thanks to all, and for this shot particularly. It is well known that the arch on top of the NOS fenders is a mis-match to that on the hoods. But I have heard others bemoan the fact that the door-fender gap can't be corrected adequately, and even that the arched body line over the wheel well is under defined. From the looks of this green car, that is indeed not the case. Yes there are small differences between the 1970, and the 71 up fenders, and this is something I am struggling with. If I am to look for correct 1970 fenders, I might as well look for correctly dated parts, and where does one draw the line? A few more near broadside shots might be helpful. And again, thanks to all thus far.
It is important to note that sometimes the braces near the headlight/ core support mounting area need to be re-aligned, too. Drilling and rewelding the panels isn't very difficult and is worth the time to do it if the car is to look right. Finishing a brand new part is a bit frustrating after spending good money for it, but, rust free trumps bondo & patches any day. The fit of the left fender at the upper peak lin has been discussed on this board in the past. Apparently they were all (or most) stamped incorrectly. There is a thread somewhere on this board regarding "fixing" that issue.
We knew all about the fender issues, and certainly anything that would have a nos fender on it, would have been carefully checked and pre-assembled ahead of time. Every car that we did that was done from a "before" type condition was carefully assembled and gapped long before the paint guns came out. This case was different, the car was sent to us after someone else had worked on it, and installed the new fenders. Originally it was not scheduled for paintwork.. just a chassis resto.. It was as simple as no one noticed it, before the hood came off, which was about 5 minutes after it came in the shop door. As the job evolved, it turned into a much bigger deal, with paint, and no one thought to check the fenders. IT as a 49K mile car, so it was not a stretch to assume they were originals, that don't have that issue. But all is well that ends well, and it was informative that it can be done, on the car, without paintwork. It would not be an inexpensive process.. took us a couple days of very careful work. JW
Jim, my 70 gs 455 has born with paint and fenders 90k mile car, let me know what kind of pics you need to see, angles, hood open hood shut, etc, be glad to share anything you need, Ronnie
Thanks for the offer Ronnie. The pics I am looking for are of cars that have used the ill fitting NOS fenders, of which I have a pair and am trying to decide whether to use. My GSX is an original sheet metal car, so am familiar with how originals were fit/finished. It is getting harder and harder to find decent original parts. Trying to determine whether to have someone fit the NOS, or look for decent replacements for a project car.
Didn't mean to question your processes or expertise...Thanks for the explanation. I could see it being possible to do with them painted/installed, but certainly not fun.
