Wheelwell tech:

Figure it’s time I contribute something to the HAMB, other than questions about my transmission….

OK, so the wheelwells on my ’55 Plymouth were cut out some time in the past, by a previous owner for it’s drag-strip days. Apparently it had some big honkin slicks on it, or something. Any case, they hacked the wheelwells with what appears to have been a chainsaw and an axe.
Here’s my somewhat ghetto-rific way of correcting this. Not only am I tired of seeing them, but the car is going on eBay in a couple days… figure it not looking like it was attacked by metal-eating rabid beavers would be a strong selling point.

Step one:
Take welding wire (or a coat hanger), and bend to the desired shape. I somewhat followed the stock lines. I use the term “followed” very loosely.

 

Step two:
Used masking paper (or butcher paper… anything, really), to get a pattern from the wire-form and wheelwell.

Note: An exacto-knife would be a lot easier than a rusty steak knife, which was my method (keeping with the “ghetto-rific” theme)

 

Step three:
Transfer the pattern to a piece of plywood. This will serve to be the ghetto-buck on which the arch will be formed.

 

Step four:
Cut the shape out with a scroll saw, jig saw, or whatever

 

Step five:
Using a suitable, and stable work surface, clamp the ghetto-buck down. The tailgate of a ’60 Chevy truck works splendidly, by the way.

For the “lip” part of the wheelwell, I used 5/8” thin wall tube. It was what was lying around, and just happened to be the perfect size/shape for this.

Place one end of the tube, so that it is held securely by the clamp, and bend it around the ghetto-buck. Bends MUCH easier than you’d think… and with the relatively gentle radius of the bend, there is little chance of the tube kinking. Just go slowly.

 

Step 6:
Test-fit on car, and mark the ends where they need to be cut.

 

Step 7:
Cut the ends.


I get a lot of questions about this saw… it’s a depression-era Supercraft dual arm “radial” mount (cuts compound angles), with a 40’s Porter Cable saw. Love this thing.

 

Steps 8-11:
After cutting the tube, I transferred the pattern to some 16ga sheet metal that was lying around. To keep with the full-on ghetto theme, the metal came from a 70’s Monte Carlo door. A couple minutes with some tin-snips… and some forearm pain…

Welded the sheet metal to the tube, going slowly to avoid warping. (forgot to take pics of that).
Ground the weld, hammered any imperfections out

 

Step 12:
Put a flange on the piece, so that it sits behind the fender, and flush at the face of it. Not having any other method of forming a flange, two pieces of s****, tacked together, and more hammering fun…
Hammer young man, hammer…

 

On the car:
The fill piece is actually perfect… the poor hacked quarter panels… yet more hammering.


Sorry for the odd angle of the pics on the car… there’s a tree in the way. Cant get the car into the shop area, as the ’60 Chebby truck is in the way… so did all this in the yard.
Tomorrow I’ll make the driver’s side, weld both onto the car, do lots of hammering and cursing of the previous owner, more hammering, more cursing, and hopfully it’ll be finished.
I’ll post a couple more progress pics, and the completed pics then…

So far, it took about an hour, with minimal tools… other than a MIG welder, nothing cost more than a few bucks.

 

Looks good. I've got to do the same thing to my '55 Plymouth on account of that whole area being fibergl***.

-Jeff