[Supercharged03]

After taking a year off to recover from a flood, I've resumed work on my S10 transformation into a late '30s/early '40s coupe. My prior work is captured in Supercharged03's photo journal: https://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jou...22&action=view

I've decided to capture the remaining build in this Projects forum.

Here's some work performed before the flood but after the last photo journal entry.

[WABOOM]

What am I looking at? !!!!

[Supercharged03]

I've now resumed work in the garage. First, I welded together three of the top pieces I'd fabbed for the driver's side front fender. I fashioned the "V" crease for the front of the fender using a sheet metal brake and stretcher, mirroring the passenger side crease.

[Supercharged03]

Finally, I welded the "V" into place.

[Supercharged03]

Originally Posted by WABOOM

What am I looking at? !!!!

This thread continues the story told in the Supercharged03 photo journal. I'm using an S10 pickup body to create a coupe with fat fenders. The build is now in its sixth year, I think.

[Supercharged03]

I continued tacking the various pieces of the driver's front fender in place. I need to trim the last piece for the front end of the fender. I tried to mark the piece from the inside but the buck is in the way. Instead, I'll try scoring the piece with this little jig I made from some scrap. The bent edge should trace the underlying piece and allow me to score the top piece with the nail.
If you look closely at the base of the yellow English wheel, you can see the water mark Harvey left behind. I never bothered cleaning it off - figure I'll leave it as a reminder.

[Supercharged03]

Here's a profile of the work in progress driver's side fender

[Supercharged03]

Got the front part of the driver's side fender trimmed and tacked in place today. Now, to get the remaining pieces tacked and welded.

[ericnova72]

Wow, you're into it deep....that's a pretty ambitious build!

I'll follow, I want to see it in a more finalized shape

[Supercharged03]

I finished tacking in all of the panels except the tail piece at the end. I left it off so I could remove the fender from the wood buck without dismantling the buck. I thought I'd be able to work on the flange to mate the fender to the hood side, but the buck sticks out too far and won't allow the fender to get close to the hood side.

[Rip VW]

Ding Ding Ding Ding. Ahhhhhhhhhhh now I understand. That is kool!! I like it.

[Supercharged03]

I trimmed the driver's side fender so that the outer edge is about the same distance from the car's center line as is the passenger side fender. The front fenders are 80 inches edge to edge, which is about the width of my wife's Suburban. Hopefully, a Ford Crown Vic front suspension cradle will fit properly.
I used a profile gauge to align the two fenders' forward placement. I'm really pleased that the angles match.
I've cut some strips of 18 gauge for the fender flange and creased them with the brake. I'll start the shrinking and stretching tomorrow.

[Supercharged03]

I found this old photo of the front end with the modified 47 Ford pickup front fenders. I think the rounded fenders look much better.

[Supercharged03]

Today, I worked on the fender flange. I used several pieces of the 18 gauge I'd creased in the brake. My shrinker/stretcher is a cheap model, identified as such by the three-piece jaws. More expensive models have four-piece jaws with the openings between the jaws slightly offset. This one is OK for my purposes as I'm not using it daily. It can also, at least presently, handle working the sheet metal deeply into the jaws. Inserting more shallowly would bend the metal more easily but would also leave bumps in the part of the metal that was not moved by the jaws. I traced the fender edge onto the hood side, placed some reference marks on the hood side and bent the flanges to match. I got all of the flange except the tail piece is now done.

[Supercharged03]

Time flies. Having a year and a half pass between working on the passenger side fender flange and the driver side flange lets a lot of learning get lost. The flange cannot remain at the 90 degree angle I bent with the brake; the flange needs to be more open to meet with the curve of the fender. I used the Ron Covell flange bending method (a half inch bar, bending 10 degrees or less at a time) to spread the flange pieces back out. I taped the pieces to the fender and cut through the flange and the fender to prepare to butt weld the pieces together. I tacked them in place and checked the fit before completing the weld.