inner fender delete?

mikethe454driver · Apr 28, 2015

Ok, so I saw an absolutly awesome 69 El Camino recently who had removed his inner fenderwalls. It looks great, and I'm considering doing that to mine as well. One thing I forgot to look at, were do you, or how do you install the battery without the inner fender? I'm not ready to move it to the back yet.
???

1966_L78 · Apr 28, 2015

You could build some extra support to support the battery tray from below...

Before you decide to go this route, you might want to consider a few things as well...

The inner fenders keep rocks and debris from getting all over the engine, and also from denting your fender. I once new a guy that removed the inner fenders, and he ended up getting a significant "dent" on the top side of the fender, where the trie flung something up into the fender from underneath... Looked really bad with his otherwise nice paint job...

I have seen things get wrapped around suspension and driveshafts, and have them whip around beating up on the car... Not sure I'd want that stuff hitting the wiring and battery...

This about rain and wet roads, even a puddle... Thats likely to mess up an otherwise nice looking engine compartment (thats was the reason you wanted to revove the inner fenders, right?

Its personal taste, but like air shocks and high shackles for leaf spring cars, removing the inner fenders seems like a dated look... I can see "modifying" the inners, or fabricating new ones...

pnugene · Apr 28, 2015

Mike it may look cool, but the inners protect against dirt, mud & debris as already pointed out. They also are integral to proper airflow across your engine, headers & transmission. Dust flaps at bottom of inners are important too. You may well run into cooling issues without them.

65chevelle300post · Apr 28, 2015

I'm running fiberglass fenders that don't even fit the stock fender wells.

I'd like to keep my inner fenders out but like everyone say's, it's not really practical at all. Too many elements to deal with over the long term.

I'll end up building some basic splash deflector fender wells from aluminum.

droptop396 · Apr 28, 2015

Unless your car only puts a 1/4 of a mile on at a time, it would be a bad idea to remove the inner fenders. (for all the reasons Tony mentioned and more).
Race car maybe, street car - nope! :sad:

rookie chevelle guy · May 1, 2015

Inner fenders offer alot of rigidity to the fender. Without them, just leaning against a fender will deform it. Plus what they said with debris and mud etc. getting where it shouldn't.

Aaron · May 1, 2015

Your going to hate putting that car on the street without inner fenders. Race cars only for that. Batteries can be relocated to the trunk. Most that do that have the master disconnect so that they meet track or NHRA safety standards.

Tony65 · May 4, 2015

I had the inner fenders off my street driven '65 for over 20 years... but I did reinstall them and painted them silver for this last restoration.

I never had a problem with dings on the tops of the fenders, and never had a cleaning or cooling issue either. I've seen cars in stock configuration dirtier than mine was. Some of those years it was driven in foul winter weather which contributed to the level of issues I had to deal with.

The worst part about it was water streaming on to the lower cowls, rotting them out, along with the lower fender braces as well as rusting out the radiator support and headlight frames that connect to the rad support. The tops is of the fenders rusted out as well. Anything in line with the tires got wrecked... The electrical bulkhead is also in a vulnerable spot so you could run into corrosion there too. I attribute most of that damage to the lack of inner fenderwells.

If you're only using it as an occasional street cruiser used in good weather then I wouldn't worry about it too much... If you're worried about the paint damage on the fender tops, then liberally undercoat the tops of the fender like they did on early Mustangs.

I don't buy the heat control issues... Sure, it's not as designed, but without the inner fenders, you've removed significant obstacles from letting heat vent out of the engine compartment.

65chevelle300post · May 4, 2015

Tony65 said:
I had the inner fenders off my street driven '65 for over 20 years... but I did reinstall them and painted them silver for this last restoration.

I never had a problem with dings on the tops of the fenders, and never had a cleaning or cooling issue either. I've seen cars in stock configuration dirtier than mine was. Some of those years it was driven in foul winter weather which contributed to the level of issues I had to deal with.

The worst part about it was water streaming on to the lower cowls, rotting them out, along with the lower fender braces as well as rusting out the radiator support and headlight frames that connect to the rad support. The tops is of the fenders rusted out as well. Anything in line with the tires got wrecked... The electrical bulkhead is also in a vulnerable spot so you could run into corrosion there too. I attribute most of that damage to the lack of inner fenderwells.

If you're only using it as an occasional street cruiser used in good weather then I wouldn't worry about it too much... If you're worried about the paint damage on the fender tops, then liberally undercoat the tops of the fender like they did on early Mustangs.

I don't buy the heat control issues... Sure, it's not as designed, but without the inner fenders, you've removed significant obstacles from letting heat vent out of the engine compartment.

I agree the heat dissipation is probably better without them plus it just looks better, especially if the suspension is painted up.

I might be ok without them in a California summer or racing a road course but long term on the street much better off with fender wells. They do make the fenders much stronger as well.

inner fender delete?

mikethe454driver

1966_L78

pnugene

65chevelle300post

droptop396

rookie chevelle guy

Aaron

Tony65

65chevelle300post

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities