49 thru 52 Chevy Styleline Coupe Fender

Howdy folks;
I've been around a while but, I don't have all the answers.

Short version.
I had to replace the driver's side front fender on my 1952 Chevy Styleline Deluxe Sport Coupe. In having this done, I ran into a few things that I need the truth about. Reason being, it appears the 1951? Chevy fender, that was sourced, does not match the passenger side on my car. In that the headlight bucket doesn't allow the headlight to sit back-into the fender are far as the passenger side does, by ~3/16" and it looks bug-eyed. I swapped the headlight bucket from another car that had a factory one. Made no difference. The other issue is that the center line of the front wheels appear to be different, with respect to the wheel well on each side and the end of the bumper wrap around. The passenger side is noticeably closer to the front of the fender than the driver's side. BTW... Both of the fenders are vintage/period correct fenders. Not re-pops.

• Am I just a victim of sloppy fender stamping?
• Should the fenders match from 1949 thru 1952, not counting trim options?
• What years should be exact matches?

Can anyone please shed some light on this for me? I would certainly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time and input.

Happy 4th!!!

Kidd & The BackSlyder

 

Have you checked/compared the left to right wheel base??

 

Hi Inthweedz.

Great question.
Yes. It was actually in a chassis shop recently and was lasered. I was contemplating an Art Morrison chassis, if the original had any wrinkle at all. According to them, it is square, plumb and straight. They were actually amazed how perfect it was.

Thanks for the quick response!!!

 

49-50 and 51-52 fenders are different because of the grilles. the riveted on front parts of the inner fender wells are different for the same reason. the front gravel pan is also unique.

I don't know what lasering the frame is. did that include alignment? I'd measure wheelbase anyways.
I'm assuming original front suspension. is the crossmember still riveted in with factory rivets?
been a long time since I looked at a factory front suspension but something must be bent or otherwise out of alignment.

have someone follow you and see if the car goes down the road straight.

show photos of the bug eye headlights and the buckets

 

just saw in your profile you have a MII. could be any number of issues there....

 

your wheels are turned to the left so that makes it look off, center the steering, to see if that makes em the same...

 

Like previously stated on the fender difference in 49-50 & 51-52.

The buckets should be the same from 49-52.

 

Thank you 49RatFink... Much needed information. And yes... MII front suspension. What I was referring to was the shop used a laser system to measure/verify straightness of the frame.

I followed my car today... good idea... however, it was not dog-legged or crabbing down the road. I recall my mom's old Nova doing that when I was a little kid.

Thank for the info and suggestions.

 

Hi Rust1;

Yeah... I looked at that and thought the same. We double checked everything and made sure they were straight... not just the steering wheel. Same issue... more to come later on this though.

Thanks for the keen eye!!

Kidd

 

John... WOW.... this is priceless info for me. THANK YOU for providing this.

I'm trying to upload the photos of the headlights but my iPhone is having issues and wont let me reduce their size/MB's.

 

Hmmm... Found some interesting data today.

• Brought car home from buddy's shop... backed into driveway and heard a very loud pop from under the front end. Looked and found the following
  • Wheels are now sitting almost exactly the same within the wheel wells and distance from bumper, etc.
  • Looked under front of car and see passenger side coil-over shock coil is hitting crossmember/control arm.
  • Measured wheel base.... 1.5" difference between passenger and driver side... NOT GOOD!! So much for having it checked a while ago.
    • Gonna have to dig into this MUCH deeper to see what is causing all of this suspension mis-alignment.

Hopeful;y, its just something came loose and can easily be repaired/tightened/replaced. But... my gut says otherwise. I have already contacted the shop that did the work for me on the fender replacement. And am digging through all my photos to find a older one that shows a straight-on shot of both sides to compare with how it is now.

I'll keep y'all updated as to the root cause of both of these issues.

I am very appreciative for all the help I have received.

Have a very awesome 4th of July everyone.

 

If they put it on a frame machine and checked it for straightness, they should have found the front end misalignment. The targets can be attached to the spindles to verify the proper position/symmetry between sides. If they are the shop that did the front end, they need to fix it. At the very least they should explain how they missed the problem.

 

Sorry Moriarity... Didn't mean to cuss.

 

Hi Snoc653;
Yes, I agree. and have been talking with the place that told me the frame was fine.

Happy 4th;
Kidd

 

Hi Moriarity.... Cool. Being as I am rather new to posting on this awesome site, I was unaware of the cuss-word. I will refrain from using it anymore. I have updated my signature, as well, to remove it.

I was initially wondering where I should have started this thread anyway. Since you brought this up... other than the cuss-word... do I have this in the right spot?

 

Please move my thread to the proper topic. Thank you for your guidance and the link.

 

Thank you.

 

Chassis square but the wheel base is off.
Always check what has been changed. Even though the chassis is square, confirm the M2 crossmember is the same on each side.
You got a lot of adjustment in the upper control arm. Post a pic. If stock style lower, the radius rod could be bent or not in the right spot. If a modern one piece lower, the long bolt going thru it could be bent or broken.

 

Sorry for the long delay folks. It took a while as I had to deal with the shop that did the work on a few issues that came to light about their work.

The final answer to the misaligned front end was they installed the new coil-over shocks wrong and the adjustment knobs where binding on the stock cross member. This caused the wheels to not center in the wheel well. I'll just stop and shut-up there.

Thank you to everyone who jumped in to help and give advice. I truly appreciate it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Glad it is all sorted out and ready for the new year. Did they use the wrong headlight bucket to cause the difference? Since this was moved to the off topic forum let’s talk about your MII front end and pros and cons. My 51 is awaiting its heart transplant in the form of a blown big block. I have a heidt’s MII kit for it and now have a good amount of parts to retain the factory type front suspension as well. What pros and or cons have you found with your current kit?

 

Hi SNOC653... Sorry... this may get long winded
Yes, I am glad it's all sorted out.

As for the headlight bucket... well, they originally told me they sourced a '52 Chevy fender, intact with headlight and all. Come to find out, this was not exactly true. Its is an original '52 fender but the headlight bucket and all related items were not original parts. This was part of my discussion with them that lead to other points of contention that took-on a life of it's own. I wont be recommending them or ever going back. Fool me once.... you know the rest. The headlight parts are re-man crap. The backs of the buckets were not recessed to allow the headlight to sit back far enough. They had to do some handy work to make them fit properly.

Now.. The M2...
1- My car drives flawlessly down the road, w/o issue, at speed and I have had it over 100 MPH around a track or two. Having said that.... I would NOT recommend any crazy long periods of high speed fun... just because it is a STOCK frame and just isn't up to the task.... IMHO. My frame is solid with ZERO rust but... it is stock. I have an S-10 rear with posi unit and brand new leafs. But the rails are stock. I have had cars built, for real racing, by world champion shops, so I know what it should be like to do open road racing, road course or hill climb driving over an extended period of time. This stock frame aint it. Your BBC is going to be a lot of stress on that stock frame and, IMO, will require some gussets and crossmember additions, at a minimum.
2- Now that that's out of the way.... My M2 has no name and I don't even think it actually is from an aftermarket builder. It really looks like it was ripped out of a junkyard car. It was in the car when I purchased it. So, I have no idea where it came from. I have had, and ridden in, Heidt's front ends before. They are light-years more advanced than what I have in The BackSlyder. When I got the car it had bad shocks in the front and rear. I replaced them and the QA1 coil-over shocks in the front blew-out... they were swap-meet bargains... go figure. I know they make great shocks but these just didn't have the travel needed. Lesson learned!!! I drove it around for about 2k miles just thinking it was a hard ride before I discovered the real issue. Up until then... I literally hated the ride on my car and was contemplating replacing the front-end with Heidt's or going all the way and dropping the car down on an Art Morrison chassis. Then... WHACK... I smacked the front end and had to get the before mentioned work done. After said repairs and final finesse work, I have put about 1200 miles on the new Viking shocks and I can say they made a TON of difference. The ride is MUCH more enjoyable now. I would not try to tell you that my experiences with Heidt's comfort isn't a lot better than mine is, even now. But, I don't feel like I have to go run out and buy a new chassis or swap out the M2 for Heidt's anymore.
3- I don't know what kind of driving you are planning on doing with your '51 but... given you have a BBC... I would NOT stay with a stock front end. And, iffen I had the $ and time, I would most certainly find me a GREAT welder/car builder to sure-up the rest of the frame. I have read and talked with folks about horror stories related to these 49-52 Chevy's and high horsepower. They never turn out good.

As a side note and a question back to you... what tire size are you looking at for the rear and what wheel off-set are you figuring on? Or are you tubbing? I'm probably going to mini-tub but not 100% set on that yet. I may be able to get the right offset to achieve the right tread width. That's what I'll be working on at some point in the next month or so. You have to go IN with the wheel because the fender construction is in the way, unless you do some serious surgery. There is a good bit of room towards the leafs.

Anyways, have a blast and Happy New Year.