I've heard guys suggest that the "hot rodder" way fender openings typically get enlarged is by making a vertical cut in the wheelwell, and then grafting-in an additional section of donor fenderarch to allow the opening to "grow" wider. The problem is that the proportions change, and the wheelwell gets more oblong looking.
Here is a pic of an experiment I did on my front fender:
First, I traced the "stock" opening to get the exact shape transferred to a wooden template. Then, I went around and measured exactly 2" from that stock tracing to enlarge the overall shape by 4 inches without changing the proportions. At that point, the only thing I could think of was to cut out my wooden pattern and make it into a "buck". I took a couple of donor fenders and cut off the fenderlips, and made a whole series of "pizza slices" in them every couple of inches, and welded all the sections to each other. I then bent them over the buck to give them the new larger wheelwell shape and tack welded them back onto a donor fender. If you look carefully at the above pic, you can see all the individual slices still in that front fender.
My question is this: I am pleased with the overall shape that I got, but now I've got HOURS of welding to button up all those slices. When I'm done, it seems like I'll have a distorted mess... is there a simpler, less labor intensive (or simply a BETTER) technique to accomplish what I did?
It was a fun experiment to try since I'd never done any kind of sheetmetal work before, but I have a feeling that what I did is not what a REAL customizer would have done.
/forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
Here is a pic of an experiment I did on my front fender:
First, I traced the "stock" opening to get the exact shape transferred to a wooden template. Then, I went around and measured exactly 2" from that stock tracing to enlarge the overall shape by 4 inches without changing the proportions. At that point, the only thing I could think of was to cut out my wooden pattern and make it into a "buck". I took a couple of donor fenders and cut off the fenderlips, and made a whole series of "pizza slices" in them every couple of inches, and welded all the sections to each other. I then bent them over the buck to give them the new larger wheelwell shape and tack welded them back onto a donor fender. If you look carefully at the above pic, you can see all the individual slices still in that front fender.
My question is this: I am pleased with the overall shape that I got, but now I've got HOURS of welding to button up all those slices. When I'm done, it seems like I'll have a distorted mess... is there a simpler, less labor intensive (or simply a BETTER) technique to accomplish what I did?
It was a fun experiment to try since I'd never done any kind of sheetmetal work before, but I have a feeling that what I did is not what a REAL customizer would have done.
/forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
