Inner Fender Replacement -'72 Valiant

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Furious65

Furious65

C-body Guy
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I need to replace the inner fenders and rad support on my '72 Valiant. I have the inner fenders and rad support from another '72 but they are still attached to part of the frame rail and cowl. Here is a pic for a refresher as to why.

crunched.jpg


So, does anyone have pics/tutorials on how to replace them? Any special alignment issues I need to be aware of? Any tips, tricks, or advice that you can share would be greatly appreciated!
 
Check the end of the frame for damage. You may want to wrap a chain thru a hole and pull it forward to get some of the kink out, depends on how far back the impact is. If it is in front of the shock mount, probably not much to worry about.
Take off the fender and anything attached to the inner fender.
You will find spot welds on the back edge of the inner fender by the firewall, along the shock tower, bottom edge and rad support. They all need to be cut. Spot weld cutter, drill bits, die grinder, what ever you have. Clean up all the ragged edges, and flatten you donor edges before you put them in place.
sometimes it is easier to cut out along side the spot welds and get as much of the sheetmetal out of the way as possible to give you more room to work.

Assemble, tack weld a couple spots and test fit the fender, hood and bumper grill. Check for alignments. You may have to get it straightened on a frame machine if there are serious problems here, or it may just be a simple change in the tack welds. Once you're satisfied, weld and finish.

Good luck
 
Thanks for the input.

Hmm, I'm really shocked that nobody has done up a tutorial with pics on this. Maybe I just might have to do it myself! 8)
 
I would suggest pulling the fender off and whatever else is in the way of the inner fender.

Weld a tab to it ahead of the damage. Use a chain and a come along to pull the damage out You want it reasonably straight. This will help with alignment of the new inner fender. Can come along the rad support too.

You will want to pull the damage out in the order it occurred.
 
needsaresto said:
I would suggest pulling the fender off and whatever else is in the way of the inner fender.

Weld a tab to it ahead of the damage. Use a chain and a come along to pull the damage out You want it reasonably straight. This will help with alignment of the new inner fender. Can come along the rad support too.

You will want to pull the damage out in the order it occurred.
Click to expand...
I need to pull the damage out before I can replace the parts? I have never heard of this before but I will try it.
 
Furious65 said:
I need to pull the damage out before I can replace the parts? I have never heard of this before but I will try it.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is very good advise. Always pull as much as you can BEFORE cutting the damaged parts off. This makes lining up the replacements much easier.
Dallas
 
Cool. Thanks for the input. Can you tell I have never tackled such a large repair before?
 
Use a spot weld cutter for the spot welds. It will leave enough material behind to weld the new inner to.

Hammer and dolly any surfaces straight that dont mate up closely. Use lots of clamps/sheet metal screws or clecoes to secure the inner before welding.

Measure twice and cut once!!! Trial fit everything before welding. Much easier to not grind all your fresh welds off because you welded it on in the wrong spot. Take your time,it's not a race.

If in doubt, ask questions or get help.

Grind all weld surfaces clean. Dont sandblast,it will contamintate them. Use a good weld through primer.
 
Lots of zinc and don't breath the fumes, got it! Thanks a lot guys. I really do appreciate the help.
 
all the things every has said is good advise if you were close id help you but im in maryland if you know were theres an old body shop in your area not a new modern one i would almost bet there is an old body man there that would help you.good luck and remember some body put it together you can take it apart and fix it.........
 
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