Driver’s side flare is fully welded in around the arc, it was looking good after the welds were all ground down, but before the hammer and dollying was done.
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After I took the hammer and dolly to it and started smoothing out the lumps, it quickly became apparent that I had too much metal right in the middle which manifested itself as a big outward lump that wouldn’t flatten out no matter what I did. Working the area with a shrinking hammer, plus several quenches with a MAPP gas torch and a cloth soaked in ice cold water didn’t do much to rectify the problem either.
I was about to cut the entire area out and replace it with fresh shaped metal, when I remembered a little trick that worked great for us on a similar problem on one of Mike’s ‘57 Chevy quarter panels. I cut a cross through the middle of the bulge with the death wheel (cutoff disc) and flattened out the 4 corners that it created. The cut allows the extra metal places to go, and will close up the cut lines slightly as the metal flattens out.
Once the 4 corners of the cuts were flattened out, I clamped one of my extended length C clamps right in the middle, and slowly and carefully welded up the 4 cut lines of the cross working from the outside in. Once I had welded and ground everything I could access with the clamp in place, I removed the clamp and finished it off.
No pictures of this process, but when the dust settled, it was all good - no more bulge.
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Since that went so well tonight, I had a little extra time to start making the first of the two end pieces with the shrinker/stretcher and getting it fitted into place. This is the back one, closest to the door:
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We’re very close to Christmas now, so life and family priorities are starting to cut into the available time over the next couple of days. I might get a little time on Saturday to try and make a bit more progress, but that’s about it until after Christmas Day.
After that, I’ve got the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s off, so Mike and I will be spending a couple of days working on each other’s cars back and forth. I anticipate that the last of the fabrication and welding will not only be done in this time frame, but I should also be able to get started on the filler and bodywork on both fenders as well.
There likely won’t be another update before Christmas, so a very Merry Christmas to everyone, all the best to you and yours!
D.
