Hello Everyone,
I have created a mess and do not know how to fix it. Heres the story. On my 1970 Chevelle the right side fender had some rust in the very bottom behind the wheel opening. I thought I was going to remove the fender, cut out the rust and weld in a patch panel that was a Goodmark panel. Anyway, I got the fender off cut the bottom 5" off the fender, put it back on the car to adjust the patch to fit and now the fender will not adjust back into place. The gap between the door and the fender has closed up and you can not even open the door. All of the bolt holes line up,the correct washers are back in place. I do not have the inner fendersin placeas that was part of a problem also.
What did I do wrong? Why will this panel(the original fender) now not go back into place?

HELP!!!!


Discouraged

Well, they don't always just "bolt up", they need some persuading. Pushing it a little forward and then tightening up the upper bolt at the base of the windshield post should keep it in place. There are also a stack of shims (usually a large stack) that space the fender forward at the firewall, do you have all the correct shims there?

Brian

Hello,
Thanks for the advise. Actually there are no shims on the bolt that goes into the firewall. There were 2 shims under the bolt at the cowl area. I have tried"persuading" back into place and there is just no more adjustment that I can find. There seems to be enough of a door gap at the top of the fender but, nowhere near enough at the bottom.

HELP.

Is the fender down where it is suppose to be in the front? If it is up, the lower gap at the rear is doing to be big. Also, it could need to go up in the back, that will make the lower gap smaller too.

Brian

The lower gap is too small. The fender lines up with the top of the door contour fine. And the fender is pushed about as far forward as it can go both top and bottom.The fender ext mounts fine and is in the proper position.
Could I have damaged the fender somehow by cutting the bottom off? I have not even gotten the patch back in place yet. When I saw that the fender was not lining up, I even tacked the old piece back on just to see what was going on...Still no luck.

Thanks

Hello,
Thanks for the advise. Actually there are no shims on the bolt that goes into the firewall. There were 2 shims under the bolt at the cowl area. I have tried"persuading" back into place and there is just no more adjustment that I can find. There seems to be enough of a door gap at the top of the fender but, nowhere near enough at the bottom.

HELP.
The bottom bolts that you cut off were holding the bottom of fender away from the door. Put some wood sticks in the gap as close to your patch as possible and fit your patch.

Thanks Mike,
The problem is that I have tacked the original piece back in place(it used to fit ok) and I still cannot get the gap correct or get the body line to match back up.

I am lost.

try picking up on front of the fender at headlight area. make the sucker fit. a welding machine and an axe is a wonder tool.

You need to pull the fender forward at the bottom where it meets the door.
This is the only problem you got.
Have someone pull the lower forward while you tightn and shim the bolts at the very bottom of the fender. This is all you need to do if the gap at the top is correct.

RandyB..