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Mounting Pre-painted Fenders

There's usually a reason, so here's the how-to

When it comes to bringing an old classic car back from years of wear and tear there is nothing more satisfying than laying down fresh paint. A glass-smooth layer of deep, candy red, metal-flake blue, mirror-finish triple black, or even good ol' white paint seals up all the hard work and brings the project that much closer to fruition. In the ideal world of automobile restoration, the entire body would be assembled and lined up perfectly before any paint was applied. In the real world of automobile restoration, things seldom—if ever—work out exactly as planned.

Shipping delays, parts availability, shop backlogs, or a sudden lack of funding and/or time can influence decisions as to what and when various parts or projects get attention. In the case of this first generation Camaro convertible, the only way things were going to get done was to paint the back half first and the front fenders later, then assemble the car after the rest of the required parts showed up and got painted. While this is not the ultimate in smooth roads to take, it was the one that had to be traveled. Getting it together is what it's all about once the paint is on the body. Installing pre-painted body panels is not the easiest way to do things, but if necessary it can be done.

Be Prepared

Just as 99 percent of painting a room or a house is about the preparation, so it goes with mounting fenders and body panels post-paint. Every conceivable step must be taken prior to attempting to hang a painted body panel on a vehicle before the panel is lifted into place as one wrong move can result in a scratch or chip that can ruin the finish and send that part on a long trip back to the shop. Long mask, low tack masking tape is an indispensable tool as are plenty of clean blankets and a lot of patience.

One handy tip is to run all of the bolts in and out of their mounting points to chase the treads of crud before mounting the fender. Not only does this serve as an assembly dry run to make sure all of the bolts and fasteners are in the house, but it also makes it easy to turn the screws, so to speak. The absolute worst time to deal with a stubborn or missing bolt is while attempting to install a freshly painted fender or body panel.

Another handy tip is to mount the inner fender panels into the fender first and put them up, onto the body as a unit. Walk through things a few times first to save getting in trouble later. Practice makes perfect, and running through the entire install procedure before attempting to mount the fender is a good practice indeed. Also (while this may seem obvious) mount all emblems on the fenders before they go on the car.

Shimtastic

Unlike modern cars built with state-of-the-art computer-aided design, with fenders and body panels carved out with lasers or other space-age technology, the classics were built in a more classical manner, complete with the imperfections that make good ol' things so good. Even fresh off the assembly line, any two classic cars were never exactly the same. Parts made in different places required a bit of coercion to get them to line up correctly. This coercion came by way of shims placed on this spot or that to adjust the way the fender or panel sat on the mounting points. In the case of disassembling a car or truck for restoration, one good method is to keep track of how many shims came out of what spots on disassembly and put them right back in when the time comes.

This method will help only if using the same fenders that came off the car. If reproduction or used fenders come into play the process will have to be started all over again. Trial and error is often the only way to get the right number of shims in the right places to get body panel gaps the right way and make the fenders line up properly. While this process is not rocket science, great care must again be taken in the case of adjusting pre-painted fenders. The results will be worth it.

Resource

http://www.goodmarkindustries.com