How To: Fender Brace Rebuild◄

[BR3W CITY]

I posted asking about saving these in my "Fender Brace & Fender Seal" thread not long ago, and thankfully we found out they could be saved.

edit; found out these are referred to as "cab splash guards" so we're going with that.

Is it less work to just buy new ones? Sure. But I felt like I'd rather spend the time than the money, so here goes a complete rebuild on the front inner fender braces;

Mine were crapped out badly, but I took them to the blaster anyway to see what was left. This would have been a good time to pull those factory staples out, but I didn't think about that at the time! Notice how badly chewed up these are.



They would have been too thin to weld without chasing a hole, but a little JB Weld and some tape let me reinforce the thin metal, and fill any holes I didn't want anymore.


They dried and I sanded a bit of surface off the JB, and hit them with some Epoxy Sealer Primer to protect whats there. I did come back and trim that upper rough edge back a bit after this pic.


I hit it with a couple coats of good old engine black paint to get a nice surface (even tho you'll never see it!). They look a far cry from the first pics. I also finally pulled the staples out haha.




I got my seals in from Classic Parts, those guys haven't done me wrong yet. Their listings aren't as detailed as other places, but they seem 2-5$ cheaper on everything.
Unless you wanna punch new holes in your braces (don't!), grab yourself some steel or stainless garden/safety wire and a pliers. You'll need to align the seal and use something sharp to make a starter hole to feed the wire through. Do the same for both holes and make a loop. Then you can pull taught, and twist the wire to secure it from the back. Do this a whole bunch of times, and your seals will be in place good as original.




My last step before installation is twofold. The original part would have been coated with undercoating, if your truck was equipped with it. Due to bad tech, undercoating is a blessing and curse. In dry climates it protects the vehicle, but it moist salty places, it traps moisture in. I didn't want to have that happen again!

Generally, anything I need to protect, or anywhere I used to have undercoating...gets replaced with truck bedliner. Its WAY more durable, not porous, and won't trap anything under it as long as you prep first. This gives the guards a waterproof/chemical proof coating...and as a bonus, it recreates the original finish and texture. This is something to keep in mind for all you "factory look" guys!


I'll add the last two pictures of my topcoats of bedliner tomorrow so you can see them in non-phone-flash conditions. And YES, I did spray onto the seal as well. Thats how the original undercoat was sprayed (sloppily hahaha), and it helps coat the steel wire to prevent it from rusting out from the seal.

Let me know what you think guys. I had to learn how to do it, so yall might as well learn from me.

-Rev J

[Lugnutz65]

Nice job and good detail on the pics. Those pieces seal the fender to the firewall, right? The rear fender brace is spot welded to the fender itself. At least I think my terminology is correct.

[65chevysub]

Great article. I'm going to have to redo mine so this was perfect. Are there any threads on repairing the fender support? The one behind the wheel? My right side one has a rust hole in it.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

Nice job and good detail on the pics. Those pieces seal the fender to the firewall, right? The rear fender brace is spot welded to the fender itself. At least I think my terminology is correct.

Thats a good question, and I'm not exactly sure. I do know there is the larger brace that runs the inside arc of the fender, which is pretty much what these things fit up to. When I was looking at the LMC breakdowns, it had "fender brace" and "fender seal". I assumed the brace was the metal, and the seal was the rubber itself. Others have called the larger thing in the fender the "fender support" so I'm at a logical loss.

I may be incorrectly calling this thing the brace, as I don't think it actually "holds" anything but the seal...but I can't find a name for the actual metal-shield thing that holds the seal.

Unless they are referring to the "Seal" as the whole assembly, metal and rubber together?

If we can reach a consensus I'll change the post to reflect it.

[The Rocknrod]

Some interesting info:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=533958

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Some interesting info:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=533958

Apparently the formal name is "Cab Splash Guards" so we're going with that

[1963c-10]

Chevy lists them as fender closing panels in all the 63 literature part # 3766087 left # 3766088 right

When I did mine, I used floral aluminum wire so I don't get the rusting on the "staples". Factory specs call for 8 staples per closing panel. I had 6 on one and 8 on the other from the factory, so I went back with what they came with originally.

The cab splash guards were on the stepsides only and fit at the back/bottoms on the cabs to keep rocks from getting thrown up into the front of the stepside fenders.

[Lugnutz65]

All I know is that the original style little metal clips that you need to pinch to hold that seal onto the rear fender were $1 each at a local auto fair. I bought 12 - 15 of them because my old ones were brittle. Expensive little suckers.

[BR3W CITY]

I opened up pandora's box with this one haha.

[1963c-10]

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

I opened up pandora's box with this one haha.

I feel that way all the time!!!!

[BR3W CITY]

A couple pictures of how it looks after the coating dries and builds up. Close enough to the "undercoat" look for me, and works way better.

[Lugnutz65]

Very nice detail. You could go into business.

[63burban]

You can actually buy stainless steel staples for Tri-5 Chevys and use a hammer and dolly to crimp them. I have a bunch here if anyone needs any staples.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

Very nice detail. You could go into business.

We do tuning, plasti-dips, custom fab, and a bunch of other unrelated stuff already...might as well add splash guard restorations in there!

I'd gladly rebuild sets for anyone else. Its not "hard" as it is tedious to go through the blasting, filling...and then the patience to get the paint and coating to have a semi-legit o.e. look.

[BR3W CITY]

Finally put these back in, figured I'd toss the last couple pics up before the front end goes on again.

[Chevystep]

Hah! Can't believe I checked the forum today and saw this, in the process of patching in the bottom of the front fenders on my 66 with replacement panels (looks like you did too!). My splash guards look great although I'll probably replace the rubber, but what about those retainer clips? Doesn't look like I can reuse them so where to find or what is a substitute to fasten it back to the brace?

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by Chevystep

Hah! Can't believe I checked the forum today and saw this, in the process of patching in the bottom of the front fenders on my 66 with replacement panels (looks like you did too!). My splash guards look great although I'll probably replace the rubber, but what about those retainer clips? Doesn't look like I can reuse them so where to find or what is a substitute to fasten it back to the brace?

We patched ours years ago, but never had the front end completely off to dress the backsides of the weld or anything, hence the obvious patch from the back haha.

If you look at the second pictures in my last post, we broke a few of those clips and used black plastic christmas-tree clips. I'm not exactly sure what size I grabbed since there was a mix bag in the garage, but you can find all different ones at the parts store...or even from harbor freight (with a bit less selection). I want to say they are 3/8" but don't quote me on that.

[Chevystep]

Hmm, wonder how long the plastic will last on the clips....I saved my original retainers, but didn't know if I could spread them and hammer them back in good enough to hold. Reckon I'll check out some fastener catalogues for other ideas...

[BR3W CITY]

Modern cars have half the panels held on with plastic, including every inner fender liner. As long as they aren't suffering abrasive damage, they won't be going anywhere.

[Captainfab]

The correct clips can be found here.

http://www.classicparts.com/1960-66-.../#.VZoJsWdRF9A

Originally Posted by Chevystep

Hah! Can't believe I checked the forum today and saw this, in the process of patching in the bottom of the front fenders on my 66 with replacement panels (looks like you did too!). My splash guards look great although I'll probably replace the rubber, but what about those retainer clips? Doesn't look like I can reuse them so where to find or what is a substitute to fasten it back to the brace?

[Mathew21]

Nice write up, Great job.