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Re: Splitting inner rear fenders

To: "Brian Hollands" <Brian_Hollands@adp.com>,
Subject: Re: Splitting inner rear fenders
From: "Tom Phelan" <tomph@mchsi.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:47:53 -0500
Hi Brian,

> Hey you guys with body work experience.  I'm bulging out my rear fenders
> for tire clearance.

I had to go the other way on my race car. No bulging fenders allowed in
vintage. Had to split them in order to cut wedges out of the outer fender to
effectively shrink the metal back to the original shape. I also needed to
split them so I could re-shape the inner fender to make the biggest possible
tire cavity. Needed to get 205/60 14's in there with no rubbing with stock
fender flares in heavy cornering. It seems to have worked. Inner fender is
flush with outer fender all the way up to and just past the stainless trim
line.

> After removing some of the undercoat from the wheel
> well, I'm wondering how difficult it is to split the inner rear fender
> (wheel well) at the factory seam.

It's not as bad as it looks if you have a good sharp drill. I used a spot
weld drill bit and touched it up with a cut off wheel every so often.
Hardest part is finding all the welds. I found that if you take 40 grit sand
paper and hand sand over the edge the welds will start to so up pretty well.
There will be a paint spot left for each spot weld. (providing, of course,
that someone else has been doing work down there before ya)

Tom P





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