clowe1965

I'm reaching out to anybody that has stripped their car down to bare metal with this. I'm doing this with a cup brush and an angle grinder, then painting it over with automotive primer (from a can). Just really got started but I'm trying to determine if the fenders are worth saving or if I should buy repos.

The passenger side has already had a patch on it, which has rusted through (holes present) again (last guy who painted this thing took it down to bare metal, used bondo on all the holes, and painted over the mess). This fender also has a two foot long dent/trench along the upper section.

The driver side fender is in better shape, having no patches but has at least two holes (1/4" Diameter) from rust. It also has a good bit of pitting and evidence by the last idiot (again) that he used a grinding disc to take it down to bare metal around the flare and a few other places, then covered it in bondo.

I'm not looking to keep it original (C code coupe) because one its not a highly sought car and two it came in that sunshine yellow, no offense but I can't stand that color. It has five layers of paint on it so its a lot of work to strip. If I start to uncover other replaceable parts like this I would like to know should I quit when I find something like this because there isn't any way I will come out better going to a body shop with the originals vs buying some rust free pieces.

Sorry for the long post and thanks to anyone who can help.

2+2GT

Unless you pay up for "original tool" fenders, the repros will need more work than your originals. Of course, it depends on your welding skills.

clowe1965

I can weld, but not on this thin sheet metal. Also I only have a flux core welder which doesn't provide the best quality welds. I really do not have the tooling/know-how to do body work at this time other than doing the stripping work myself. I have enough confidence in my abilities to replace floor pans, basically anything structural that doesn't have to be seen.

I am curious though, other than the $$$ what are the specific differences between reproductions and OE tooling body panels?

MustangFTW

dont sand/grind to bare metal, the heat will warp/ripple the fenders. use aircraft stripper you can buy it from walmart or any auto store (basically really powerful paint stripper, be careful with this stuff, dont let it touch your skin). at almost 1/4 of the cost repros will be alot harder to fit then ford tooling.

clowe1965

I am not using a grinder, just a wire brush and it has not had any negative affects on the metal concerning warping. Yes the metal gets hot if I hold the brush to one spot, but no more so than bare metal does in direct sunlight. I tried the chemical paint stripper route, it is not cost affective when there are this many layers of paint.

As to the repos, is the difference in that the dimensions are all off by a few hundredths here and there, making the match up to the OE parts more difficult? or is it the quality of the die used, with the repos having an excessive amount of high/low spots?

MustangFTW

alot more then a few hundredths. search for repo panels on the forums here and see what comes up.

clowe1965

Ok so if they were to be replaced shelling out for the OE tooling is the way to go. I still am waiting on an answer to the original question about purchasing OE vs trying to salvage the originals. Any takers?

JMD

Since you don't have a welder up to the task, and without seeing pics, I say buy new fenders. (OE tooling)