Cracked fender

M

mike kinsch

Junior Member
Yesterday, back from a nice Model A tour, I noticed that my right front steel fender had cracked. The crack started at the bead end of the fender and continued about 4 inches in the direction toward the engine.
I understand that this is quite common but I would like to know the best way to repair it or is it best to belly up and buy a new reprp fender? My car is a 1931 model, slant windshield Cabriolet.
 
Thanks for the previous articles, however, they do not address my question of the proper way to repair a cracked fender or do I go and buy a new repo fender.
 
You can unfold the folded over edge of the fender,exposing the wire.Cut the wire a few inches back from the crack,and weld in another piece of tempered wire.Refold the flap and weld up the sheet metal breaks.Sounds easy,just a little bit time consuming.A LOT less time consuming than fitting a new repro fender that you're not going to be happy with anyway.There was a detailed posting on how to do it,but I'm pretty much computer illiterate so I would have no idea how to find it.The search function on this site sends me off into never-never land.For a crack that size to suddenly appear it would have to be an old repair giving way.Or,it may have been cracked and you didn't notice it until it headed uphill to where it jumped out at you.
 
Mike,
I have repaired many by tig welding and reforming. It is also good to drill a small hole at the end of the crack to relieve the stress line before welding. I have used this technique for years and never had one reappear.
Regards,
Paul
 
Cracks are fairly common due to vibration. Once you fix the crack make sure all the mounting points are tight and correct to minimize the vibration. My neighbor has a 1930 coupe hotrod and his fiberglass right front fender also has a crack in the typical spot along the bead.
 
mike kinsch said:
Thanks for the previous articles, however, they do not address my question of the proper way to repair a cracked fender or do I go and buy a new repo fender.
Click to expand...

Mike, actually the post that is in the PDF above is a tutorial I made a few years ago on how to make a reproduction fender fit. The one you want to see right now is the one I did on cracks. Read THIS ONE first and then if you have questions, ask away.
 
Fixed my brothers by grinding the crack welded it up top and bottom side. Grinded the top side down, left most of the bottom side weld, but I did clean it up a bit. Then put a very small smear of bondo on the top side weld. Then blocked it twice and reprinted that area and blended out the paint on the rest of the fender. Took about 3 hours with primer/paint drying. Sadly it's the smoothest and slickest part of the fender now lol. But it was an easy and good fix.
 
Hi

Actually all of my fenders were cracked on my car when I rebuilt it. I wire welded a six inch by 4 inch patch of 22 guage steel under the fender and ground the welds down and glass bondo to smooth it over. You can feel it is slightly thicker if you know where to look but after 16 years of service and 9000 miles none of my fenders have cracked with the reinforcement metal in place.
 
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