Inner fender well help!

[Bigmacdak]

You are looking at the drivers side inner fender well on my 70 duster. As you can tell, rust, bondo & rotting metel all over the part where it meets the firewall. This is one of the only problems with my car that im afraid to tackle on my own. I have a good donor car with rust free inner fender wells but I just now if I start taking everything apart & drilling out spot welds, I'll never get my donor part lined up right on my duster, then the entire front end will look like a huge dog-knot. The passenger side looks almost as bad. If I do take it all the way down to the frame, what are the chances of it bending the hell out of the frame/car under its own weight? I really need to get started on this phase of the car & every other site I go to says to take it to a body/resto shop & every body resto shop for 100 miles is telling me it will never look right if I use parts from a different car!!:banghead:

Im really in the dark on it. Do I try to replace it while the car is on the ground or wait to do it when I put the car on the tiss' next month??

Any help & suggestions on how to fix it would be great!8)

 

[rjsjea]

I dont think this is as bad as you may think.....

Take the fender off and remove all the paint/bondo off the area to see what you got to work with first. If you dont want to drill all the spot welds on the car, do it in sections.

Cut it out in sections and replace them as you go from your donor car. I would do it while the car is on the ground or jackstands. Once the motor/front sheetmetal is gone, the front subframe rail wont buckle or move at all.

My car was very similar, whacked in the front end at one time and we did the whole inner fenders and firewall for the ultra smooth look

 

[mullinax95]

That doesn't look that bad.

You can do it. I have no body work experience and tried it out for myself. First time I ever mixed and applied body filler and welded since high school. LOL


I read little bits and pieces on the internet to help out. Here is my work in progress : http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=32245

 

[RedFish]

I've got a similar problem. My inner fenders have rotted through at the humps inside the shock towers. I was told the same too. ie
"If you replace the entire inner fender you may never get the body panels to line up right , especially fender to cowl. Cut away all you want to replace short of cutting the outer frame. Hide your weld seams as best you can (bondo)."
The engine will hide a lot of my repair. Stuff like washer bottle etc.. will help hide yours. Good luck

 

[yellowdartdave]

Weld a brace from the firewall to the top of the rad. core support. That will keep your dimensions in place. Don't forget to take measurements on all key areas before you cut anything. That way you have baselines to refer to. And support everything to keep it from moving.

 

[Bigmacdak]

Thanks guys. I knew it wasnt to the point of no return, just wanted some opinions. Never thought of just cutting what I need & smoothing it all out. I was thinking all or nothing.

I appreciate your replys & I will keep you updated on the progress!