Thread: Fender brace replacement---The Thrash Begins

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Many of you will know what this is about as soon as you see the title. For those who don't, I refer you to this thread
http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33869
Basically, I am going to try and fix an annoying inner tire to front fender interferance that has plagued the roadster pickup ever since I built it 3 or 4 years ago. Only on the drivers side, and only on extreme parking lot right hand turns. I used aftermarket inner fender braces made of stamped steel---they don't fit particularly well, and they have a deep flange on both sides to give them rigidity. I was able to "tweak" them to make them fit, and I ground away a lot of the flange in the tire scrub area, but it still scrubbed!!! The originals that Henry Ford used for 28/29 Fords were a thinner cross section, and thanks to Ebay and a gentleman from Arizona, I was able to secure some Henry originals this past winter. Now the real issue, is that I have 28/29 series fiberglass fenders, and they are painted, and I don't want to get into paint or bodywork issues when I change the brace. Over the next few days, I will be building a jig that exactly picks up all the bolted areas on the aftermarket brace, as these points can not be changed or messed with. Then I will do whatever is necessary to make the Henry original exactly match the aftermarket unit. (My tire scrub issue was not at any of these "bolting points). I can not get under the car and use the "hot wrench" to make things fit, for fear of damaging my paint job, and/or glass fenders. I will keep you posted as this develops.---brian