The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop stepside fenders

The fenders on my 57 are fairly sound and straight except for the mounting flanges, which are completely rusted off. I hate to discard mostly-good fenders for lack of a simple flange, and need some advice. I'd like to form a 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" angle from 18 ga sheet metal, and use adhesive to attach it to the underside of the fenders. I have a mig welder, but my skills are not adequate for 8 ft of bead for each fender.

I did a search on this site for adhesives, and found reference to a product called Duramix, and a mention that some adhesive attachments are very strong.

Another possibility is to spot-weld the flange to the fender using the mig, but I am skeptical of creating a good seal between the angle of the flange and the sharp edge of the fender (the joint that would occur under the bead of fender welt).

Advice please.

I would cut some 14 to 12 gauge sheet metal into about 5 inch strips and tack weld them to the fender in place where the mounting flange is gone or in sad shape. I would not use adhesive. You have a MIG and the welds will be on the underside of the fender so as long as they have decent penetration they should work fine and to heck with their appearance. If you are using flux core wire be very careful not to blow through the metal. If using MIG wire and gas I would start with a amp setting of B and a wire speed in the 11-12 range. Just use tack welds. If you want you can always come behind it and fill any gaps with epoxy or JB weld.
Good luck.