I put my plastic inner fenders in this weekend. The left side went in perfect- no extra holes and none to drill.
The right side went in a little harder. The holes around the edge of the wheel opening were drilled to far away from the edge on the plastic so when installed there would be know way to attach the chrome moulding. So I had to drill those holes closer to the edge and then file them to look like slots- looks ok. All other holes lined up OK except the second one in from the outside of the car under battery tray area. That hole was off about a quarter inch so I had to re-drill that hole as well... All in All look pretty good; hardest part was attaching rubber splash shields to them before installing them on the car. what a pain in the ass those metal staples are to bend over and get them to look good!!

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DRIVE HARD
69 ss396

I only have one completely on and had a different situation than you I think. I am reassembling the car so the front fenders were off.

Here are the steps I went through, I hung the fenders temporarily then test fitted the plastic fenders, I found that both were a little long in the front so I had to trim about a 1/2 inch off the front lip and re-drill/elongate the holes there, then I removed the fenders and installed the inners leaving all of the bolts loose. I replaced the front fender on the driver's side and aligned it roughly. I then started with the bolt that is at the very front of the wheel opening where the plastic fender makes the transition from the wheel opening to the flat brace that runs up to the headlight area. Then I worked my way back using a center punch in the next hole to jack the inner around to align the hole I was working on until I had all but the last two bolts in. On my fender the very last bolt hole at the rear of the wheel opening does not line up but I will be able to elongate it about a 1/4 to 3/8s of an inch and it will work.

Wednesday I will install the one on the other side. But in general I did not have as hard a time as some of the guys have reported here. I think if you leave everything loose so you can jack the things around and you take your time they are not too bad. Now watch me have a heck of a time with the other side!

I do have one issue, guestion. How did your two top holes line up, the ones up into the fender brace (where plastic fenders are usually cracked?) after everything is all in I have a good size gap there so I'm thinking that instead of just putting in the bolts and drawing the fender all that way up that I'm going to install some plastic washers or maybe rubber ones to make up the gap and not apply pressure to the top of the fender. Maybe that will keep it from eventually cracking.

almost forgot, I attached the rubber slash sheilds by using a very small drill, I used a marker to mark the holes (one clip at a time) drilled the holes pushed the clips through then used a small body hammer and a dolly behind the head of the clip while I peened them over, they are not perfect but not hateful. My car is a hot rod and not a resto so I don't have to be quite so anal about stuff like that.

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72 Chevelle and a 70 Chevelle with a crushed roof
ACES # 4051 MCC # 448
TC # 1549 81/70 Cruisers

[This message has been edited by Professor_SS (edited 07-30-2002).]

I started putting the wheel opening bolts in from the rear and worked towards the front. They all lined up perfect on the drivers side as I said. The other side lined up ok except that it was to far outward so the moulding would not have fit. As for the top two holes; they lined up perfect and I didn't notice any gap at the top two bolts. I did like you were saying; left all bolts loose until all were started. I could see where that could be a problem. I think- if I remember right -I tightened all the wheel opening bolts first; not too tight!! Then tightened upper two bolts ,then front bolts to radiator support, then back two bolts last. The only place I might be worried about breaking would be on the passenger side where it didn't seem to fit very good and I had to re-drill that one hole. I think that side had all the holes drilled a little off because the other side fit great. I'm trying to keep mine as original as possible as far as body stuff goes.
I'm looking at buying an interior kit from Ground Up , any thoughts or experiences?

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DRIVE HARD
69 ss396

maybe I'll try starting at the rear bolt on the other side to see if it works better, thanks for the tip. I have a 3/8 inch gap between the top two bolts and the inner. Don't know why, everything else seems to line up good.

I have purchased a head liner from OPG but it is still in the box. I have not thought about door panels yet. I need to replace mine, but my seats are good so I didn't need an entire kit. Mice got my head liner.

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72 Chevelle and a 70 Chevelle with a crushed roof
ACES # 4051 MCC # 448
TC # 1549 81/70 Cruisers

Hey guy, had much the same problem you had with the holes on the right fender. Had to elongate them to get them closer to the edge around the wheel opening on that inner. They seemed to be drilled in to far from the edge, could have trimmed the edge I guess, but since reading your post I was paying attention to that detail and was able to use a roto tool to elongate the holes toward the edge. They look fine.

Also had to redrill a hole under the battery tray and trim the leading edge a little to get it to lay flat.

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72 Chevelle and a 70 Chevelle with a crushed roof
ACES # 4051 MCC # 448
TC # 1549 81/70 Cruisers

[This message has been edited by Professor_SS (edited 08-01-2002).]

As I get ready to install my new metal inner fenders on my 69 this weekend. Are all the fit up issues you guys mentioned on the plastic inners?
I also preattached my dust shields. I layed out the shields drilled the clip holes then bent them and piened over with a body hammer. Came out good.....

Gap, we are both talking about plastic inners. Several guys were having a discussion on here about how much trouble they were having or had with plastic inners and had both Ozzy and me freaked out. Several claimed they had given up the inners were such crap. But, it seems that neither of us had that much trouble with them. I have my left on completely and after re-loosening the bolts on it was able to get the gap I had at the top two bolts worked out without shims. I still have the right one to finish, I have it sitting in the car and a couple of bolts started but it has been well over 100 (with heat index) and humidity in the 80+ range here for weeks so I have not spent a lot of time in the garage until after dark a couple of days a week.

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72 Chevelle and a 70 Chevelle with a crushed roof
ACES # 4051 MCC # 448
TC # 1549 81/70 Cruisers

[This message has been edited by Professor_SS (edited 08-01-2002).]