I'm in over my head again...

[Larry Mullen]

Brent
Your making good progress , .The edge joggle makes it a real challenge .Ive got a 40 chevy that I shaped rear fender for ., the chevys non,t have the edge joggle like the GMCs do . Your gonna learn a ton from these . Larry

[thingsthatfly2]

Originally Posted by ekdave1962

well done Brent seem u meet that challenge with ease the work will be stacking up at your door soon i think

I wish it would. I would like to start to pick and choose my customers. Im getting sick of people not wanting the job done to the best I can do.

Originally Posted by Larry Mullen

Brent
Your making good progress , .The edge joggle makes it a real challenge .Ive got a 40 chevy that I shaped rear fender for ., the chevys non,t have the edge joggle like the GMCs do . Your gonna learn a ton from these . Larry

I learned the front fenders do not have the joggle. I might see about frenching these out. more welding, joy. I had to walk away today from them today. I spent the whole morning making the other side front patch and just ended up with too much shrinking in the lower outside and not enough stretching. Im going to spend the night learning about wire edging and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to nail down some shapes. Im really planning on a high quality electric bead roller in my future.

[Joe Hartson]

Brent, sometimes things don't go as planned but that is where you learn the most if you are observant.

[thingsthatfly2]

Originally Posted by Joe Hartson

Brent, sometimes things don't go as planned but that is where you learn the most if you are observant.

Joe, Im really loving the fact this is not going as planned. its going much better. I have learned so much from this one project. I will be both sad and happy when it is finished.


I had fun again today. Started with new lips. since i am shaving the bead edge. I have a 3/4" flange on the back i may use to wire edge or leave as a flange. depends on what gets done on the front fenders making both of these equal was a task that gave me plenty of practice with the lancasters.


fits naturaly. I feel much more confident on the ability to get both sides to match. after I tack on the lips I will cut off the bad metal area and butt weld in my new lower panel I made last week.


the fenders still flopped and sagged so I had to do something about it. here you can see how i have to hold it up so it all lines up and sits naturally.


major difference between the 2 fenders shown here! the lips are mirror copies so I figure by locating them at same angles and same fitments as long as I make the surface panels fit naturally in there place I should end up with mirror copy fenders.... I hope!


I cut away the old wire edging so the panel would flex more. also ran the peak through the wheel some to see how close i could get the old panel before I started making a new one. here the lip is not sitting naturally.


some more work tomorrow with the lips and it should be spot welded on. I cut several 2x4's to hold the lip up to the right even height. really helps everything sit the way it should until its all welded.

learned a ton today and made plenty of mistakes. but I can say i learned from them. I tried clamping some panels on and using an air saw to cut one line on both panels for a nice trim to use with a butt weld.... clamps vibrate around remade part of the panel and tried again with clecos (thumbs up)

Thanks again everyone for following along with my trials and errors and all your helpful input!

[thingsthatfly2]

had fun today. made some more panels




i just started making the panel from 2 pieces and i was able to make both panels in about an hour and a half. had to spend the rest of the day tracking down parts and doing some block sanding so I am happy this went smoothly.


started fooling around with the lip for the other fender too. Its going to be a busy day tomorrow if I want to have these done by the end of the week.

[thingsthatfly2]

without the lip clamped on this looked scary. I dont like seeing that much area missing


ta da... lips on.


the tail patches on this fender too.


I am really happy with out close they are to each other. the lips are dead on and the most of a deviation with the guides i can find is 1/8th inch in some spots I will work up/down before i finish welding.


wheel arches match. they did not before the new lip from old repairs and collision damage


2 more panels! they are already made just need to be fine tuned and then cut out this lower section of old metal and replace!


this is how i am stretching my welds. its small and about the size of the HAZ so i have been stretching without grinding before to save time. I will grind soon before i start overlapping tacks.

[Joe Hartson]

Brent, lots of good progress on the fenders. Thanks for posting your progress.

[weldtoride]

Originally Posted by thingsthatfly2

it happened at a terrible time... not even minuets after i got off the phone with Joe this happened....

Brent,

Nice work on the fenders, thanks for taking time to post.

I noticed the alignment of your jaws in the photo above. In this little video from Lazze, he shares how he tunes Lancaster type shrinker/stretchers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEYpn6PkDcg

At around 1:30 in, Lazze discusses die aligment. He recommends off-setting the gaps, and tells why. He has other tips for tuning Lancaster type shredders as well.

Hope this helps.

[Steve Hamilton]

Hi Brent

The fenders are really coming along. The flow looks great, people will not know they were widened.

I see that you did not clean the back side of the original fender, that usually causes some problems with getting good welds.

thanks for posting

Steve

[123pugsy]

Looking good Brent.

Can't wait to see them finished. Thanks for posting.