Classic Ent. Fender patches

[kamzack]

Considering a pair of front fender panels for the rear of the fenders. What kind of experience has anyone had?
Kim

[rockne10]

I used them with success. That success depended on patience and careful fitting and trimming. Attempting to produce them myself would have been four times as much work, and still require all the fitting and trimming.

[3x2stude]

Kamz,

No disrespect to CE as I have used some of their parts with good success but on a quarter panel that is out there NOS and reasonable used you need to weigh out the cost of the splice job vrs. the life of the repair. If the quarter is so rusted that a patch panel is required its a lot hours. If you enjoy the do-it your self aspect of it then perhaps its the way to go. I have bought NOS in the last two years for $400.00 and a Nevada car with perfect quarters, (pair), for $500.00. I am assuming this is a C/K body fix? I know it is easy for me to spend your money but it is just something to think about. If you go the patch ask CE if their quarter patch has a compound curve front to rear. Their door skin bottoms do not, the flatness of a patch like this or the quarter puts you at a disadvantage from the start. Just to say it one more time I am not bashing CE, we need them!

Jon Kammer

Jon Kammer

[41 Frank]

The poster is asking about front fender patches. I have used them with mixed success on my GT. I used the whole patch on one side and used sections of one on the other side since it was not as bad. It was a pain installing the whole patch panel, but I don't pretent to be a body man. The curvatures were fine on my front fender patches. I would not do it again however. But on the other hand front fenders are selling for $1200 NOS these days!

[kamzack]

I should've been more specific. 62 Lark front fenders. I'm considering a pair of fenders over the repair. Wanted to hear form those that have done this repair.
Thanks for the feedback so far,
Kim

[41 Frank]

I think I would put feelers out for some NOS or rust free used Lark front fenders before welding the patches. They are still out there and not as expensive as C-K ones. Just my two cents.

[garyash]

The patches for early larks are OK, but just OK. Since those front fenders are hard to come by - an NOS set of '63 fenders is being offered on the Stude Swap page for $1400 and a used set at $500 with some rust - it's worth putting some work into patching old ones. My issue with the the Classic patches is that the crease near the top of the fender isn't as sharp as it should be, and I'm not sure how to fix it. I'm thinking of making a knife-edge blade to fit in my hydraulic shop press and push the blade into the back of the patch with the front against a 3/4-inch thick hard rubber pad. That might sharpen the edge of the patch.



On the other hand, I did buy a set of the fiberglass fenders from Dan Webber. Those, too, fall into the "pretty good" category. The flange for mounting to the cowl is put on in such a way as to prevent the fender from seating completely flush in the in-out direction; that is, to get the fender surface flush with the door surface. I think it's fixable, but it will take some glass work on the back side of the fender and some grinding.

[Bordeaux Daytona]

I believe this has mentioned here before, grafting the rear of an nos 64-66 front fender onto one for a 62 lark.

http://www.raylinrestoration.com/TechnicalPages/FenderAdapt/index.htm

[SN-60]

For the Classic Enterprises fender patch panel repair to come out really nice, four things are required:---- Subject fenders---- The patch panels----The correct auto body tools/welders----And most important, a Skilled Autobody Man!

[63t-cab]

Kim, I sent you a pm.

Considering a pair of front fender panels for the rear of the fenders. What kind of experience has anyone had?
Kim

[Jackson]

I used the CE patches on my 63 Lark R2 front fenders, not easy but can be done. I am by no means an expert body man (had a pro do the finish paint work) but they turned out pretty good. I intend to do the same on my 55 Speedster.

[clarkwd]

This fall I installed the CE patches on 53 coupe fenders. I considered it one of my more challenging undertakings and spent a couple weeks on each one. I took my time, measured more than twice before I cut or welded anything and probably took them on and off the car three times before I welded them. In the end I was really pleased with how them came out. I'd starve to death if I had to do this for a living, but I've got the time and enjoy the satisfaction of doing it. I'd do it again. Pix here. http://rustyrestorations.org/index.p...patch&Itemid=4
Bill

[3x2stude]

Bill,

Nice job on the c-body patches. I appologise to Kim for missing the "front fender" in the original post, my bad.

JK

[candbstudebakers]

I have some that are nice used little or no rust,but surface rust, in the past 2 weeks I have had two people ask abut the same fenders I gave both the same price of $250.00 each and will deliver to International in July but so far neither have followed with the payment, so it is still first come first served....Bob

[mmagic]

I used their patches on my '60 Champ. I took a number of pictures and put them into a video for myself and anyone else who may be interested.

http://www.viddler.com/v/a34e1d79

The CE patches were worth the money to me, compared to the cost and time of creating patches. I will use them again on my Speedster and '63. I would offer several cautions.
1) The left was 4 inches wide the full length while the right was 4" at the top and 4 1/2 at the bottom.... dumb me missed it until I welded, filled, primed, painted and hung it on the truck.... DUHHHH. I was surprised it only took me about an hour to grind off the welds and redoo it.

2) In the future I will screw temporary angles to the face to keep the face flat so I reduce the amount of bondo required to fill the gap.

3) Work out from the belt line both ways for vertical alignment... there will be several inches to trim off the bottom.

4) When replacing the angle in the front crease, if you tack weld the angle to the patch like I did, grind it thin and make sure the lip is hammered thin as well.

5) When I redid the left fender, after sheemetal screwing the patch on, I mounted it back on the truck to square up and weld. That worked much better and I will do that in the future.

6) With everything I've ever attempted, this was my first try at welding anything. My results may not have looked professional but my toy, Harbor Freight mig welder, my grinder and a little Bondo really came out well. I'm anxious to get on with my next two Studes that need the same treatment.