'59 front fender fitment

[my56chevytruck]

Hey dsraven, I'll be one of those to say thank you for your input and all the effort you are giving to help these fellas. I know as you do, the difficulty in getting these fitment issues to the best that can be done, so again, thanks for your input my friend.

brainp01, after looking at your very first picture I saw the spacing you have at the fenders to the cab, again, open that top hole some and go to the front of the fenders and make sure you've gotten the front support as close to your fenders as is possible. I had that problem and it was people on this forum that suggested I look up front and it made a difference.
Morrie

[brianp01]

Hey Morrie you mean bore that too fender whole a bit right? To shift things over some as I adjust the core support, right?
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[brianp01]

Sorry about that meant "top" instead of "too"
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[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by brianp01

Hey Morrie you mean bore that too fender whole a bit right? To shift things over some as I adjust the core support, right?
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Yep, I opened mine at the fender to the cab (outside of the hole on the fender) and actually welded some of the hole closed (towards the inside of the hole) which was closer to the cab so it wouldn't open up again and made sure i closed tight on the core support to the fender before bolting it all down tight.

[brianp01]

Awesome! I will give it a shot,
Thanks Morrie, this thread has been great, tons of info and advice with all the comments from everybody

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by brianp01

Awesome! I will give it a shot,
Thanks Morrie, this thread has been great, tons of info and advice with all the comments from everybody

Anytime brianp01, and after you button up your fenders to the cab and core support, lay your hood across the fenders to ensure it's laying accurately. Sometimes you may have to do some bending and stretching to get it all to lay correct.

[BIGglaSS]

dsraven, I took your advice and moved the door aft.
Thus creating clearance problem on rear inner jamb.

Had to move the jamb a little bit with 2x6 wedge and BFH:

Then I gently massaged the front of the door window frame:

And I massaged the windshield frame:

Result = 1/8" clearance on front and read door edge:

Now back to the fender. When I line up the belt line, there is a height gap fender to door.

When I close up the gap, the belt line is 1/2" too high:

When I match the fender to door AND line up the belt line, there is 3/8" gap at the cowl, and 1/2" along the hood.


I'm stumped on what to do.

[my56chevytruck]

bigglaSS, you've done all I've done multiple times to get my doors aligned to the cab and hood, using all sizes of wood blocks. My last resort was to get large gaps closed and the smallest spacing had to be saved with welding and some body work. I added small amount of metal strip and bondo to fill in the final area.

[BIGglaSS]

I'm thinking of running it through the ewheel to stretch out the arc. However, the radius may be too tight to get it over the anvil. Or stretch it over a post dolly. These fenders are hard to work on. I haven't found a good way to secure them while hammering.

If that doesn't work, I will cut and add a pie shape piece of metal. I just haven't decided where to add metal without causing other problems.

I'll try to get back to hammering this evening if it's not too hot.

[BIGglaSS]

Well kids, violence is the answer. I beat it with a hammer all afternoon. I seriously stretched out the area in the red triangle. The flange folded over was holding me back from stretching. Therefore, I unfolded it to work it into shape. It may have been easier with the e-wheel, but it's at my dad's shop. Anyway, lots of hammer stretch and planish.

With the flange over-laying the door, there is 1/8" gap at the cowl, and the belt line is off by 3/16". Once I get the flange turned back over, I can get it close to see where it's at. I'm predicting about 3/16" cowl clearance and might have to adjust the belt line a little bit.

[dsraven]

do you have rad support and lower grill bar in place? does the hood fit, width wise, with the front of the cowl? I would say to get the hood fitting well with the cowl,rad support and grille bar in place like it would be when fully assembled, then fit the fender. the cowl may have to be added to, or the fender be sliced along the top inner edge and moved in a bit, to get things to fit. the rad support can be moved slightly left or right to affect the cowl to fender gap but that will affect the hood gap fit at the rear edge and also the fender to hood fit on the other side of the truck. that is why I said to fit the hood first and get the height and location of the rad support before strapping the fender in place. on my truck the cowl fit is terrible with the fender but as long as the hood is on correctly I will adjust the fender to fit. my plan is fit the door to the cab (inward and outward movement of the door also affects the fender fit because of the taper of the body below the window line in that curve), then fit the hood to the cab because it is really wide across the cowl and that gap will really be noticed, plus it sets up the fender alignment, side to side, at the cowl due to rad support/hood latch location. then fit the fender to those pieces. it is not uncommon to have to slice the fender to get the top edge to gap correctly,especially with an aftermarket fender or other parts that are mismatched. check youtube like the ones below for some pointers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwg_loea5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNWOfG4j78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqonaN3QBmc

[dsraven]

check this post a bit further up on the site from your last post. it talks about hood alignment and then fender alignment. AD truck but same principle.
the poster, dwcsr, has done a lot of these old trucks, AD and TF, so he should have the inside scoop.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=740824

[BIGglaSS]

Raven, I haven't had a chance to go over the vid's you posted, however, I think I have watched them a while back.

Meanwhile, I "got-r-done". Once I closed up the flange, and tweaked a little more, I got it close to perfect without slicing all the way up the fender. (Sorry no pics).

I am not afraid of welding sheet metal. However, I frown on cutting all the way up the hood line, unless I absolutely have to. I prefer to move metal before cutting it. I'm hoping to get this thing in paint before winter.