I have been replacing the bottom 4 inches of a 71 riv. In my typical bass ackwards method of learning a new skill. I skipped an important step. I straightened out the body. fabricated and replaced the rusted steel. puttied the patch panels. epoxied painted over the patch work. shot her with hi build primer. she's looking pretty. next i started the fenders and doors. this is where I learned about 1 step I had skipped. contour gages. I patched the first fender then went on to the 2ed. the fenders were not on the body. i wanted to get the shape true. i tried to eye the fenders up. I placed them next to each other. than I remembered about the contour gage. I cut a 1.5 inch strip of steel and bend it in a L shape. I shrunk or stretched the L shape to make the strip hug the shape of the fender. easy. took 15 min per gage. I made several gages and placed them at different sections of the fender. i did this on the fender that I had not repaired. than I transfered the gages to the fender I patched. surprise. the bottom of the fender was 1/2 inch off. It looked and felt nice. but the arangement was off slightly. I waisted my time puttying the fender. If I would have made a contour gage before i started to cut i would have a guide to form my new panel to. and I would have a gage to help arrange the panel when i welded it in. much easier than eyeing it up and basically guessing about the arraingement. Its tough to tell from the pic of the contour gage on the puttied fender. but the bottom of the gage is 1/2 off the fender. You could take this a step further. if you made contour gages and tacked them in place using pieces of steel crossing the contour gage. then add contour gages hugging the perimeter of your pannel. you would have a buck to form your new panel. I hope this makes sense to you. and for the guys who know what they are doing sorry for the beginners lesson. i hope this helps some one else. Tom
The Jalopy Journal
