Torn front fender 1939 sedan

[Charun]

I am beginning my 1939 ford project and have now disassembled all body panels from the car. I am in the process of working on trying to fix some terrible weld repairs that were done by the previous owner and am stuck with what to do with the large tears in the front of the fender. I am brand new to all of this so please bear with me . We have outlined the area in question and have cut a piece of metal to size and have begun the process of trying to shape it. It is incredibly difficult and does not want to conform to the curve we are trying to match it to.. Is there another way I should be dealing with this? or is there a method to heat the metal to shape?
Thanks!

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[SSsssteamer]

When doing major work to your fenders, as in replacing areas or major welding of ripped metal etc., it is best to rough work the fender while it is still attached to the vehicle. More than once I have body worked a fender off the car, only to find after I had finished the fender, that it no longer properly fit the car. While working a fender back to its proper lines, continually compare it to the fender on the opposite side of the vehicle to achieve the proper body lines. Some damaged fenders can take weeks of work to bring them back to usefulness.

 

[Charun]

When doing major work to your fenders, as in replacing areas or major welding of ripped metal etc., it is best to rough the fender while it is still attached to the vehicle. More than once I have body worked a fender off the car, only to find after I had finished the fender, that it no longer properly fit the car. While working a fender back to its proper lines, continually compare it to the fender on the opposite side of the vehicle to achieve the proper body lines. Some damaged fenders can take weeks of work to bring them back to usefulness.

Unfortunatly the majority of the panels were already off and bent from being placed loosley, and the other fender has a tear in the same spot so its really hard to guess how it should be shaped to an exact. We are trying to use the areas that are not dented to kind of visually place where it should go... what a bugger I could definatly see "weeks of work" on this, trying to get the metal to match the shape alone is a difficult procedure, we are using various body work hammers trying to pound it to shape.... On the bright side, this is the worst of the damaged panels on the vehicle... once we get over this one it will go a lot smoother

 

[Lawson Cox]

I agree with SSsssteamer. Put the fender back on the car to work on it. You will never get it correct if you don't. You are even going to have to put the wheel back on to check to make sure the contour follows the outline of the wheel. Trust me. I have just gone through all of this with my 35 PU.

 

[Steel 35]

Unfortunatly the majority of the panels were already off and bent from being placed loosley, and the other fender has a tear in the same spot so its really hard to guess how it should be shaped to an exact. We are trying to use the areas that are not dented to kind of visually place where it should go... what a bugger I could definatly see "weeks of work" on this, trying to get the metal to match the shape alone is a difficult procedure, we are using various body work hammers trying to pound it to shape.... On the bright side, this is the worst of the damaged panels on the vehicle... once we get over this one it will go a lot smoother

Somthing I have seen recently is using a old bowling ball on a stand, to Planish or shape the metal, I think from where I see you need to work it may be worth a shot!

 

[Dick]

Another possible aid is finding another fender damaged in different spots and taking 'patch panels' out of it for their shape. Be careful when using a hammer and dolly not to stretch the metal. Also, heat will almost always shrink the metal. I would work only with fender mounted on the car as mentioned earlier. No matter how it's approached it is a reasonably hard task. If you are new to metal work, you might get a copy of 'Key to Metal Bumping'. A book put out when your car was nearly new. It shows clearly very basic concepts of metal working that apply to what you want to achieve. It's available on Amazon.com. Mine is 126 pages and shows vehicles of the early 50's. Good Luck.

 

[Ross F-1]

Are the tears from flexing back and forth? If so the metal is work hardened and you should soften it before doing anything.

 

[Charun]

I will take a look for that book, that sounds like a great idea! the bowling ball idea would come in use as well, we were trying to figure out what on earth to use that would be solid enough to pound against. I am not sure if the tears are from flex or not, I puchased the car as it is and someone has already attempted to repair it by welding it (awfully I might ad) and it is re-tearing where the welds are. Both fenders have tears in the same spots, so it is difficult to know how the shape is supposed to be in exactness or what the cause of the tearing would be.

 

[Gary Tosel]

I am not a body man by trade, but I did utilize a 1/2 steel rod bent to the correct shape and then tack welded it inside the fender along the rolled edge. I left the rod in for my rear fenders while I clamped the rod in the front fenders to get the shape and then welded the fender. Since the curve is the same for both fenders only turned over, it worked great to at least be sure that the left fender matched the curve of the right fender. If you can find an original fender you can make a cardboard outline of the curve and then bend the rod to match. I did need to heat the rod to bend it to match the shape, but it worked for me. Just and idea. My car is a 36 Ford 5 Window Coupe, but the principle is the same. Good luck.

 

[Planojc]

If you can find a 35 thru 39 donor fender, you can cut patches from it. I used a 35 front fender as a donor on my 39 Std. and the curves match perfect.

 

[cmbrucew]

A 50# bag of sand, from Home Depot, layed in a shallow box.
Cut out the top of the bag, hold the fender while working the dents out with different sized dead blow hammers.

Works good
Lasts long time

 

[FlatheadTed]

Just to add to all the good gestation's . I cut a big piece of metal out of this fender because it had a poor weld a big IDIDIT chunk of lead in it ,I did the repair with basic tools .since you need a compound curve you need to stretch the metal first

(1) cut a piece of metal larger than what's needed
(2) Use a tree stump or a block of soft wood.Or CM Bruces sand bag idea , pound away on it with the ball end of a ballpean hammer .or the edge of a sled hammer ,to stretch it ,till it looks like a sorcer
(3) When you have the approximate curve ,lay it over the repair to check .
(4) Clamp a dolly in the vice or use it on a solid surface ,with a panel hammer hammer it over the dolly to get the sharp dents out,(planish it ),
(5) When its close to the shape use Garys idea a piece of rebar ,in the vice to shape the edge .
(6) Cut your old piece out of the fender
(7) scribe around the new bit and hammer weld it in .
(8) Finish the hammering the remainder of the dents out after its welded in .
(9) Like Lawson said best done bolted up to the car .