57 Fender Question

[Kim57]

There is a part that is riveted to the front of the fenders and attaches to the core support.
Are you guys leaving it in place when doing your body work on the fenders?
Seems it would be easier to work on as two separate pieces.
If you removed it what are you re-attaching it with?
Kim

[Stepside Jim]

Kim, this topic was brought up a few months ago but I don't remember if there were any definite answers about removing it and how to reattach it later.

I came up against these pieces also when working on mine. I had staples and a thin rubber or weather stripping on mine. Fortunately, other than some movement it was still in place so I sandblasted the area and epoxy primed with every thing together.

I can only imagine they designed it that way perhaps for some flexibility when assembled, but that's just a guess.

Good luck, Jim

[Kim57]

Thanks Jim
Mine had the staples with just a little of the weather stripping left.
I was just wondering what others had done about them.
I did a search and didn't find anything on them.
Kim

[Speedbumpauto]

I welded mine in during a final mock up using the rivit holes for plug welds and welded and smoothed all the seams. The body and paint guy did the final smoothing and there are no rivits or seams on the front hood opening which I like a lot. After paint and before final assembly, I masked off all the body color and painted the area behind the grill gloss black. I asked this same question a year or so ago and got no response so I went off on my own. Don't have a pic of the fender operation but do have one of the front with the grill installed if you want.

[Kim57]

Originally Posted by Speedbumpauto

I welded mine in during a final mock up using the rivit holes for plug welds and welded and smoothed all the seams. The body and paint guy did the final smoothing and there are no rivits or seams on the front hood opening which I like a lot. After paint and before final assembly, I masked off all the body color and painted the area behind the grill gloss black. I asked this same question a year or so ago and got no response so I went off on my own. Don't have a pic of the fender operation but do have one of the front with the grill installed if you want.

A pic would be nice.
I'm leaning toward taking them out to make it easier to clean and paint them.
I hadn't thought about welding them in though, was thinking of using button head bolts to re-attach them.
Kim

[Speedbumpauto]

The final paint lines will be done soon now that the assembly is complete. IMO, that front area is ugly enough when the hood is open and I didn't want to draw attention to it with bolts or rivits, etc. Your results may vairy.

[Kim57]

That looks nice and gives me something to think about.
Kim