Thread: seamless fenders

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I've seen some fat fendered cars that have a nice smooth finish between the body and the fenders....no seams. What is the proper procedure for doing this? Welding? Fiberglass? A combination of the two? My first thought was to just use body filler but realized that it would more than likely crack after a while. I've tried to research it but can't find any how-to's. Anybody done this?
Thanks!

I am not shure how to do that ,but alot of those cars are fiberglass bodies I think.

Done a few. Best procedure is to grind the areas where the fenders attach to the body. Apply some panel adehisve and bolt the fenders on. Once the panel adhesive has set up, put a tack weld about every 3" on the seam.... Then, after sufficient cooling, a stitch weld in between these tacks. Then, allowing the previous welds to cool, keep stitching until it's welded solid. Don't try to run beads, it just distorts everything.. Grind the welds down, install a thin layer of filler with fiberglass in it (much stronger), let it dry, then sand it and proceed with filler as you would anywhere else on the car.... Pics in my gallery of a '36 Plymouth I'm building with the fenders smoothed....

PS--Somebody will probably come along and tell you not to use filler..... If they have the time to come metal finish the seams, invite them over to do it!!!!

One comment that many don't like/care to hear, but one of the drawbacks to doing that is it leaves the general impression (agree or not, real or not) that the molding of the seam was done because the car was a major rust bucket and is now a mud bisquit. Just another factor to evaluate is all.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

One comment that many don't like/care to hear, but one of the drawbacks to doing that is it leaves the general impression (agree or not, real or not) that the molding of the seam was done because the car was a major rust bucket and is now a mud bisquit. Just another factor to evaluate is all.

Hmmmm. That would be a case of people making an assumption........ Let em say what they will, but it sure does make the car look a lot smooter. IMO, anything is better then the yucky looking welting hanging out of the joint..... The Plymouth had absolutely no rust on the fenders, just did it cuz it cleans up the looks of the car....

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

PS--Somebody will probably come along and tell you not to use filler..... If they have the time to come metal finish the seams, invite them over to do it!!!!

I believe that filling with lead after the welding is the way Barris, Winfield, etc did it "back in the day", but from what I gather it's becoming a lost art.
When I got my first car, a 52 Ford convertible, I wanted to remove the hood ornament, but was totally clueless on how to fill the holes. The guy I bought the car from was an old timey mechanic and body man and he filled the holes with lead and when he was done and touched up the paint you'd never know any holes were ever there. My mistake was not paying attention and trying to learn something.

You could do a search on widening the rear fenders on a fat fender car. I've seen articles on that. It should help you also.

Richard

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

I believe that filling with lead after the welding is the way Barris, Winfield, etc did it "back in the day", but from what I gather it's becoming a lost art.
When I got my first car, a 52 Ford convertible, I wanted to remove the hood ornament, but was totally clueless on how to fill the holes. The guy I bought the car from was an old timey mechanic and body man and he filled the holes with lead and when he was done and touched up the paint you'd never know any holes were ever there. My mistake was not paying attention and trying to learn something.

Not so much a lost art, no more lead, and nobody wants to pay the extra labor required to do it that way. The new fillers are fine when applied correctly....

Thanks for the reply! I kind of figured that was the way to do it, just didn't know all the details.
I never thought people might think it was done just to cover up problems. I'll take photos so they can see it was done just for the aesthetics.
I always liked that smooth "customized" look.

Dave Severson is right on with this. That is the right way to do it. I'd use Dura-glass or some other glass fiber filler for the finish work like he said. My 29 is fiberglas and that type of filler is really strong. Just remember to get it metal finished as good as you can to minimize the fillers. I like the idea of pictures, you can never take to many, take them of each step, the bonding, the welding, the filler, etc. It will speak volumes to the quality of the build you are doing. Good luck and keep us posted on the outcome.