1935 Ford Fender Braces

3

35window

Member
Hello all!

I'm a newbie here, and would like to thank you for the opportunity to able to join your Community. I live in Utah and am building a 1935 Ford 5 Window (as you can tell from my Username)-I am getting closer, and am hoping you can answer a few questions I am having as I have never built an older Car like this, and there doesn't seem to be a good "blow-up" view of how the parts go together-some times I feel like I'm putting togehter a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle without the Instructions.

Anyway, my first question has to do with the front Fender Braces-I am in the middle of metalfinishing a set of front Fenders I bought, and noticed that there is a bolt hole in the middle of the fender lip-I have purchased two sets of what I thought were standard Fender Braces/Headlight Supports and they do not seem to have a provision for whatever type of brace (?) might have been there.

I used your fabulous Search function, and found this Thread:
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7108&highlight=1935+ford+front+fender+brace

So, it appears that maybe I have a set of early '35 Fenders-how important are these outer Braces? They do kind of look like a good idea, because as far as I can tell the inner Braces/Headlight Supports are the only Braces to hold the front Fender from there forward-correct?

I have been buying parts for this build for 7 Years and have never seen a set of the outer braces, so they must be like hen's teeth-I suppose I could make some-just how important are they?

The next question is: where the Headlight stand/Headlight bolts through there are four holes-I understand three of them (one large one for the Headlight, two small ones for the Headlight Stand, and then there is one that is offset to the side-what is it's purpose, as it appears that the Headlight harness goes throug the Headlight mounting bolt-I can't seem to find a picture where that hold is being used.

Thank you in advance for your knowledge/contribution to this old newbie's edumacation!
 
If you don't have this book already, the 1935-36 Ford Book published by the Early Ford V8 Club of America would be an excellent book for you to get. You can order it on their website. Cost is ~ $28.00 + shipping.
There were two different front fender braces/brackets used in '35. The early bracket was longer and attached to the frame side rail, extended up under the headlight mounting area, and across under the fender to the outer wheel opening lip. The mid to late year braces/brackets did not have the long arms that attached to the outer wheel opening lip. After these brackets were shortened, Ford continued to use up the fenders that they had in stock with the hole in the middle of the fender lip. On one of my '35's I have the short brackets and one finder with the the hole and one without the hole. IMO the early style brackets support the fenders better than the later style brackets but I would not hesitate to use a set of the shorter/later style brackets on my car.

The four original holes in each front fender are used for the following:
Two holes for mounting the headlight stands, one hole for the headlight bucket bolt, and one hole for mounting the horn.
 
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JM 35 Sedan,

Thank you very much for the info, and I will look into buying the V8 Club Book! So, there aren't any other brackets forward of these except the Bumper Barackets, yes? Thanks again, I sincerely appreciate your help-
 
There are two other little braces about 8"-10" long x 3/4" wide with a hole at both ends, pn's 48-16067 and 48-16068, that attach to either style fender brackets at the midpoint to add strength to the assembly. The bottom of these braces attach to the radiator support brackets. There are no other brackets forward of the fender brackets except for the bumper brackets
 
If you do not have it there is a FORD GREEN BOOK/BIBLE/etc that is a very good resource for finding part numbers, etc. They are avaoilable from companies like Sacramento Ford and I am sure Drake has them too.

Official name: FORD Chassis Parts and Accessories Catalog
 
I have a very similiar problem/question on my 36 Ford pickup front fender brace (the J shape one behind the wheel). The attachment bolt at the exterior at the turn-down part of the fender is pretty straight forward but the attachment bolt on the inside has me stumpted. The brace bolts to the turndown flange of the fender with the bolt head wedged between the fender and the cowl meaning that the bolt must have a very flat and wide head. None of the venders (Mac's, Obsolete, Sacramento) carry the bolt nor have a photo of it. Does anyone know how to get or fabricate the inner fender brace support bolt?
 
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