Fender Apron Problems

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71Duster

71Duster

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Well just my typical luck or its the fact my car is cursed... If theres a problem I have it.

I planned on cleaning up the engine bay and makeing it the right colour again with the engine out as its 3 shades of blue. Well I knew there was something that didnt look right on the left hand innder fenderapron mid way down from the shock tower...... My luck its rust and looks bad too. Of course theres two layers of steel and its the inner -engine bay side- layer. And its not accessible from the wheel well as the shock mount is there.

Are the inner fender aprons replaceable and how hard? Or is there a better -cheaper- fix.
 
Clean off the area and post a pic of the damage,we can judge from there.Normally we mold a new piece of sheet metal and reweld it in and make it look new,mrmopartech
 
Alright I have pics already just have to get them online.

I Just wasn't sure what the body shop could do being as it was two layers but thats why I'm a mechanic and not a bodyman -L-
 
Does it look like this ? Look at the passangerside appron below were the shock bolts up.

IM000618.gif
 
Pretty much, check my pictures, the passanger side on mine is the "good" side. The outer shell of metal is rusted away.

I need a bodyman friend I think... to bad they all see dollar signs when I talk to them
 
Mines worse. It was filled with seam sealer to hide it. Same spot just the other inner fender.
 
As Mrmopartech said, you'll need to COMPLETELY remove any rusted metal, form some replacement metal, then MIG weld it in. A bodyman friend would definitely be an asset. :)
Hey, come to think of it, did you manage to get your tranny rebuilt, and if so, where did you get it done?
 
To bad I dont have one, knew I shoulda got my Bodyman ticket rather then my mechanics ticket... Seems anyone is willing to trade services for body work but not always the other way around.

I got the tranny rebuilt at A&C in Edmonton. Family run shop for over 20yrs very impressive setup. T hey do their own torques too with over 80 grand in eqipment to do them. They are the only shop I found who actully advertises they do performance stuff. It got Kevlar Bands, redline racing clutches and Coan Steels with a new TransGo shift kit. They cut my torque open to clean it out rewelded it with their machine so you cant even tell and it shifts great. Made it to the city for the big Edmonton Mopars show too
 
You may have to bite the bullet and purchase a small MIG Welder. :)

That's where the bro-in law got his Turbo 400 done for his 56 Chebbie I believe. He is really happy with his rebuild also. This 56 is a true mid 11 second street car and the tranny has held up so far with quite a few hard runs on it this summer. The other place I was telling you about, Parkland Transmission in Red Deer, also has the torque converter setup there, and they do the converter as part of the tranny rebuild. Good luck with the bodywork.
 
I hardly have enough cash to do the engine let alone purchase the mig... plus bodywork scares me as I have no clue where to start to make it look good. My dealership deals with the one body shop a lot and I kn ow the two guys that run it on a first name basis so they will cut me some slack. If I strip the engine bay and do some prep work its go nna save me a lot of cash.

I have to get the front of the rad support stripped as the pevious owners decided rock gaurd was attractive and rock gaurded it as well as the door jams and the underside of the trunk lid and the lip of the hood. Its nice blue paint underneath so who knows why. But it is hard to get off. Chemical stripper is all I have found to work well.
 
Being a bodyman and the fact that I restore mopars, I have fixed and replaced many fender aprons. As long as the attaching points (frame rail, rad support and firewall) aren't damaged, it is a straight foward repacement. I recently replaced aprons on my hemicuda, but that job was more difficult because of firewall rust. There are great reproduction panels on the market that fit very nicely. If the whole panel doesn't need to be placed, you could patch the damaged area much like you would a rust spot in a fender or 1/4. make a patch, cut out the rusted area and weld in the patch. I prefer to butt weld in the patch so once it is ground smooth, there is no visable sign of repair. if you are not comfortable doing that, you can overlap the patch, weld around it and do the finish bodywork with filler and primer. Good luck with your project.
 
My dads friend is into hotrods and does most of his own rough body work he mentioned the fact of butt welding actully and said for where the rust is he can do a good job as the patch area is all flat with no curves.

I havent been able to find anyone selling fender aprons though or at least they call them something else.
 
I see NOS aprons from time to time pop up on ebay. I have had good luck with used sheetmetal parts from dvap and texas acres.
 
My issue is shipping.... a fender apron isn't heavy but shipping all the way up here from texas might make me feel faint. But I guess It's time my hands got dirty doing some body work so once the ball is rolling I'll send you some pics... if it doesn't turn out looking like the victim of a tradgic farming accident
 
One thing you need to remember, if it does look like a tragic farming accident, cut it off and do it again. When I first started in the auto body business, I had a manager that told me " you know how it should look, keep working at it until it looks like it should." Along the way I have learned that metal can be cut and welding over and over and over again. Take your time and go for it.

As for shipping, I know what you mean about the cost, I am in the same situation you are. I live in the northeast and snow and salt has taken hold of everything here too, I have had parts shipped from texas and Arizona for my projects as well.
 
71Duster: 340john has it exactly right! If it doesn't come out right the first time, cut it back out and re-do it. If memory serves me correctly, I've had to do that once - maybe twice (AHEM) at least. :)
 
Thats the plan it'll bug me if I say "good enough" And the car has no engine, no tranny, no fenders bumper etc rioght now so this is the time to do it right.

On a plus side I found out my car had white stripes on it... and I found they didnt weld in the holes for my pentastar on the passanger fender. Just a nice cover over with bondo so I dug the holes out now I can get a pentastar again.
 
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