The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop sheet metal repair

Looking for advice regarding repair of two areas.
#1 my front inner fenders attach to the firewall via three bolts that used to thread into three pieces of thick metal that were once part of the fender. I now have six rectangular nuts and six torn out spots in my fenders. Do you guys recommend welding some thick metal over these holes and tapping the appropriate holes, or what?
#2 the head light holes in each front fender are a little rotten. It seems like replacing the whole area would be pretty difficult. Any advice on how to best repair such an area??? Thanks

On the nuts, it depends on if the metal is in good shape right around the hole. If it is, you can take the nuts that were pulled out, clean them, run a tap through them and weld them back in. The hole has been "volcanoed" by the thing being ripped out so that will need repair. I have found that if you put the nut back into the "volcanoed" hole THEN straighten the hole, it will even hold the nut like it did originally.

If the metal is rusted around the hole, then you have to replace that metal and weld in another nut. Sometimes I make them out of flat stock so they look original, other times I just weld a regular nut in. You could also use a "NUTSERT". Then all you do is drill a hole in the new metal and install them.

On the headlamp, without seeing it, it is pretty hard to say anything. I would assume it needs metal replaced and that is how you repair. How much, I don't know without seeing it.

Can you post a picture?