Don's 1969 Charger Restoration

[mopar4don]

Next I will be showing how I patched the lower front area of this fender.

I will form the entire lower area cutting it just above the body line (in this view) as shown by the blue line

I have another fender (from a 68 Charger) that is good in this area, so I will be using it as a reference to make templates for this patch.
I started by removing the inner structure from the nose of the fender.
I did this because I thought it would be in the way. And I may fix the 68 fender and sell it at some point.

Here is a good pic of the area I will be referencing

 

[mopar4don]

So to help with forming a patch panel I will make a Flexible Shape Pattern or (FSP).
I used 3/4 inch wide 3M reinforced tape like this

I started by covering the area with saran wrap. The tape will stick to the saran wrap and allow you to remove it.

Then I started laying the tape. (2 layers at approx 90 degrees)

Back side

Then remove it

more to come.....

 

[daytona kid]

That's a pretty cool trick.. Looking good!
I enjoyed the patching I did on mine, but glad to be thru with that part.

 

[RT68440]

Nice work! I'm going to be taking those headlight structures out of the fenders on my '68 to fix the dents and poor repairs in that area, then re install them. Your pictures are the first that I've seen of that piece being removed. It doesn't look too bad to remove those...

 

[mopar4don]

That's a pretty cool trick.. Looking good!
I enjoyed the patching I did on mine, but glad to be thru with that part.

I'm not sure I would say I enjoyed this patch. I will say it was challenging!

Nice work! I'm going to be taking those headlight structures out of the fenders on my '68 to fix the dents and poor repairs in that area, then re install them. Your pictures are the first that I've seen of that piece being removed. It doesn't look too bad to remove those...

It was not bad at all and a must to repair the front nose of the fender! (that repair is coming) Plus with them removed, you can properly paint where the factory did not.

 

[whayden2003]

Ok. So I read the whole thread today. Mister. You are a inspiration. Just wow. Thanks for taking time to post these updates.

 

[mopar4don]

Ok back to the patch.....
I selected some metal from an old quater panel and used the FSP to get a rough size

I layed out a grid onto the metal I am trying to duplicate.

Then I transferd the intersections to the FSP (flexable shape pattern).

Then I transfered those intersection cross hairs to the new metal patch

I transfered the outer shape to the patch

Then I created inner and outer templates along each section line. (These will help me when forming the new patch)

Once I had all of the templates I started hammer forming the patch using a shot bag and a low and high crowned hammer. (look back a couple of pics and you can see the patch sitting on the bag)

These pics show checking my progress with the templates

 

[whayden2003]

What is this FSP witchcraft.

 

[mopar4don]

I would check my work with the templates and the FSP.

In this pic you can see how I went back and body worked the patch with hammer and dolly
Looks pretty smooth!

 

[Stevearino]

Boy Don, That looks good considering you used that old metal. That stuff does not want to shape easily. Great use of what is at hand.

 

[conv67bdere]

I'm not sure I would say I enjoyed this patch. I will say it was challenging!

Or the word is Challenger-ing

( smile )

Nice work ( as usual ) Don . . . keep at it . . . I also used plenty of pieces of metal cut from the spare parts from the car - better metal than they use these days . . . I think

 

[Glenwood]

Awesome fab skills Don!

 

[747mopar]

Very cool, nothing like being capable of producing your own pieces.

 

[mopar4don]

Not sure how interested everyone is on how I made this patch. But I am quite proud of it. Especially for my 1st try. I give all the credit to MP&C over at garagejournal.com. This guy is an absolute magician. I learned a LOT just reading through his different threads! I cannot thank him enough! THANKS ROBERT! Please everyone check out his thread and be AMAZED!
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182565

 

[mopar4don]

And here is the thread were I asked for help on making this patch.
It has much more detail, and the advise MP&C gives is worth sharing!
I don't come in until page 24 post #436
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53534

 

[Don selleck]

bad *** on the panel fab, pretty cool, looks great.

 

[mopar4don]

For those who are interested I will go ahead and finish how I made the patch here. But for a more detailed version go to the link above.

So now that the patch has been formed, it is time to start tipping the edges.
notice the anvil I used to form the 1st tip.

The next tip is where things started to go bad!
You can see it extending from the bottom of the bag, parallel to the bottom edge of the patch.
What I noticed from this tip is it straightened out the curve that runs parallel to the tipped edge.
So not sure what to do I cut this "tip" off with the idea that I would weld it back on later

I must admit that after trying this first two tips and it not working. I was so disgusted and not sure what to do that I was ready to quit!

That is until I got a little encouragement from MP&C and I continued on...

 

[mopar4don]

started tipping 2 sides and the corner

This corner was a bear! I had to put heat to it and working it over and over until it moved to where I wanted it.

checked the profile, and you can see how far off I am.

So I made up some shrinking pliers

Here you can see I heated the folds up cherry red and I clamped the metal down (this helped hold the tucks when hammering)

Now the profile looks good

here is the other end after a little shrinking as well

 

[mopar4don]

The panel is getting close!

Here I want to tip this edge in to be like the original

This is what I used and it worked pretty well. I would clamp at the line and slightly bend it. I didn't know how it was going to work because there is a crown in the panel. I assume it worked because I was only bending a little bit at a time moving back and forth.

looks pretty good

 

[mopar4don]

Now it's time to cut out the old

and put in the new (after a lot of fitting)

here it is after it is welded in

Overall it turned out pretty well