Small update, did some more work yesterday. My plan has been to roll the rear quarter panels, and weld them to the inner fender rather than make a new lip for the inner. Not OEM, but I'd rather have the extra clearance in case I find some nice wider/lower offset wheels in the future, I dont want to have to cut or bend metal to make em fit. I borrowed a fender roller from a friend, and quickly jacked the old subframe and trailing arms into place. Unfortunatley, my suspicions were confirmed, when I tried using the roller, I quickly realized the outer quarter panel just flexed outwards rather than folding the flange. This is because the outer was not welded to the inner. A fairly foreseeable issue, so I quickly abandoned the fender roller, removed the subframe, and reverted to the trusty hammer and dolly. Started the fold with pliers and then slowly went back and forth with the hammer. Turned out just how I wanted, and there wasnt much, in some places no, overlap between the outer lip and the inner. I also noticed higher up in the wheel well a plug in an access hole, so it should be easier for me to absolutely hose some pain into the fender lip, and later hose wax in there for rust proofing. Anyway heres some pictures!
Folded
IMG_0597 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Slight gap to the inner fender. I'd love to say I had this perfectly planned, calculating the bend radius of the outer flange, but I basically cut out the inner flange up to where it was solid, and it happened to line up well. Nice to get some luck now and again.
IMG_0599 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Welded
IMG_0600 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Close up, and you can see the access plug which I will use for paint/wax
IMG_0601 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Thats all for now, Will try to get this ground down next week, and I have to make a couple little filler pieces to close off the front and rear ends of this seam. Don't want to leave any caps for water/mud, I know with the welding in the area, I'm susceptible to corrosion as it is, don't need to encourage it!
