The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts First try on metal work: 1965 GMC 5000 fenders

Amatuer hour at BaconFarms,

My 5000's body is pretty nice except for the front fenders and extensions. I got a set of "rust free" fenders out of California and they are a bunch better than what I have, so there is that. I repaired the end of the extension that connects to the running board, but where the fender and extension meet was almost all gone. So, I decided to make the two into a one piece fender. I got the fenders blasted and started on my way.

I just retired a month ago and now have time to work on my projects. I bought the clips I used about 25 years ago anticipating today. LOL..

Anyway, I still have some work to do, but my first try at metal work. I am a proficient welder, having welded for a living in the past, but bodywork is new to me. I have probably worked this metal too much, and am tired of chasing little holes, so I might be done with the welding for this fender.

Now, I might try lead. Maybe not. We'll see.

More pictures of process

Here is where I screwed up. Welding the back side. Remember there is double lip coming up about an eighth of an inch, that why the weld looks to high. Anyway, I forgot what the hell I was doing and since the welding was good, I forgot to do a little at a time. So, I got some warping to deal with later. Back side pics.

Hammer time.

This is where I am at now. On the next one, I will not make that mistake again. Should be a lot easier to maintain straightness.

As, I said, never done this before, just practicing before I start on my '58

Here is some more pics of the clips and modification I made to them for this project.

So, after undoing everything I did, because it didn't work very well, LOL...

I decided to cut out all the distressed metal from my welding a seam "continuously" on the back side and distorting the metal.

Here I have patched a large part linking the fender and extension with butt joints.

Then, I cut a piece out of the old fender to use as a patch panel because of the curve etc..

You can see that the patch from the old fender came from a tar truck. I used a heat gun and a gasket remover on my die grinder to clean it up.

More to follow.

Here I clean the patch panel and set in on the fender, not trimmed yet..

Here I have trimmed secured and welded the patch in place.

Now, I spot a max of 6 times and go sit and look at my phone for a while until I can touch the spots. I make sure the metal has cooled then spot 6 more times.

Much better.

Learn as you go!

Last post for today,

Here I'm done for the day. A couple holes I need to spot.

Less that a 16th of an inch gap on the straight edge.

Looking good..