wheel well

[mollyman]

I was just reading the long thread about the best way to cut fenders and now I have a question. If I cut up my front fenders how big a deal would it be to ditch the inner wheel well. Would it not hurt the engine to have all that crap getting flung up on it? You gotta know I'm working on my truck in a barn with about a dozen hand tools, I have no experience or access to welding. So for me it would be easiest to just get rid of the inner wheel wells. I do have one plug in that I can run my grinder from. So I'm ready to start hacking!! Does anyone out there have experience with loosing the wheel wells?

 

[goldwing2000]

You can lose them. It's not a huge deal. Your engine bay will get really dirty and you'll get a lot more splash on your air filter but it's do-able.

 

[Citizen Rider]

How much are you going to remove on the fenders?
What i did was cut the fenders, unbolted the rear part of the inner wheel well, cut about 8" off the bottom of it, then took a sledge and hammered it back against my firewall/floorboard so my tires would stop hitting it. Works just fine and keeps all the stuff off my engine.

in this pic you can see where i cut and pushed it back-

 

[gmc4cw]

start by cutting off the lower portion in the rear. if that does not give you enough clearance then Bravo! you have a lot of flex. I removed mine and will never run them again. Run a oiled filter like a k&n and it will help keep water out of the carb. On a street driven truck you really don't gain anything totally removing them. just trim the bottom part in the rear.

 

[mollyman]

Thanks for the info. So, gmc4cw, you don't have anything protecting your engine from the under side? What about when you hit a mud hole and throw crap on a hot engine/headers? Does that hurt anything. I'm not worried about cleaning it after I go wheeling because that's the beauty of no computer to worry about. Just let the engine cool, cover the distributer cap and spray it off. I was mainly worried about having stuff fly up on a hot engine.

 

[basing110]

i just took mine out cause they stuff to high so im gonna make some panels that just go up against frame and lean outward to top of fender

 

[gmc4cw]

The inner liners keep water off the underside of the hood in a stock truck. If you submerge your truck the headers are going to get wet no matter what. the entire bottom of the engine is exposed.