Hey guys my buddy has a 55 Pontiac that we are setting up as a gasser. What is the best way to radius the rear wheel openings? Any help would be great to get us on the right track. Thanks Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here is a thread with some info, the search function is your friend PART II - How to radius gasser wheel wells when you don't have a clue
Thanks bud that helped out alot. I would never guessed to use Volvo 240 wheel openings Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Also did they use a lot of front mounts for motor mounts and what gearbox is good to use. I'm also working on a gasser pick up. Me and my old man started this years ago. unfortunately he ended up having a brain tumor over a year ago and is unable to work on cars or drive i am working on gettin it on the road so him and i can have fun Here's a few pics Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
This may help. The original front fenders for my '57 were trashed. However, the wheel well openings were in good shape. Cut the quarters and grafted the front pieces in. What's appealing to me is the way they match front & rear now and the shape of the lip is identical. '55 Chevy Nomad wheel wells are available as patch panels also. There's also the conduit and bondo trick.... Which is VERY traditional by the way!
Read and look at the How to radius Part II really carefully. Henry Js idea is really good. I did that technique to a buddies 55 chevy a few years back. The only difference was that I mounted the compass tool on a brake drum as the centre point. It takes the pain of trying to find centre right out of the equation. Good luck Jay
55 gasserkid I like the way he did the wheel opening in radius part 2. I'm thinking on going that route since it looks more period correct to me. Was round bar or conduit used to close up the wheel well once it as cut Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I cheated. Even though my car is a '40. I did some trading to get a pair of '39 fenders because they were already done. Whoever did the job, brazed copper tubing inside the opening. Than filled the gap with some sort of hard filler. Looks a little crude on the inside. But pretty nice on the outside.
Back in the day most guys just cut them and left the quarters to flap in the wind. I know that that is how my car was done. I was going to leave it but ended up welding round bar on the inside for structural support. Hope that helps. Jay
just a little "geezer " input---one of the main reasons for cutting wheelwells was to make the tire change necessary for flat towing easier, it was much harder to jack up a car before everyone had a floor jack---we had a set of hoof trimmers modified to roll the wheelwell lip after trimming , did not need to weld a tubing lip...
The Jalopy Journal
