fiberglass fenders

[narfire]

I have found some used fiberglass fenders for the 72 project.
I had a fellow look at them and he said the are in decent shape and complete with lights ect. The valence is salvagable but still iffy.Grill is good
Anyone out there had experience with fiberglass fenders?
He wants to sell them with the hood(see my post in parts for sale) front valence and I get a driveshaft as well. I don't need the hood but if anyone wants to buy one.....
They came from a 70.
He wants alot of loot for all this but I need fenders ($500 cdn) car was $300
Maybe find a pass fender and adapt the light recess as I have a later driver fender and Vandor has the older turn signal bit that can be added.
Thanks for any insight.

[mdrburchette]

Do you think the fenders contributes to the integrity of the unibody? It seems you may lose some of that with fiberglass fenders.

[narfire]

Thanks Denise, I never thought about that
The fenders are pop riveted on but the spacing likely won't contribute to the integrity like a weld.
I did talk to the fellow last night trying to beat the price down as another fiat fellow looked at the parts for me and mentioned in his opinion he's asking a bit much for what he has.
I guess I'll be putting later fenders on and welding the turn signal part on.
BTW anyone have a lower part for the passenger side fender with the earlier built in turn signals? Vandor has the driver side for me.

[katsi]

I don't think that the fenders affect the body structure at all. If you look under there, their is a large box tube that sits on top of the shock tower and runs the leingth of the engine compartment. That is the structural point. Not the fender. That's just the pretty outer layer. I think fitting a new fender itself would be the most difficult part. If you have the skill to remove and fit a fender, shouldn't matter if it's fiberglass or metal. It's not like their just bolted on. Keep us posted.

[narfire]

Started to take the fender off tonight. Is there a secret to this? I have lots of practical experience with auto extrication,but not much is usable after the evolution.
Cut the front free with a re-cip saw and a fire/rescue blade from Lenox. I'm finding it a bit fiddly around the door post.
The sun went down then the bulb in the trouble light broke,went home & had a beer.
I have a die grinder and a 4 1/2 inch grinder,air chisel and the recip saw,wish I had a plasma cutter.

[manoa matt]

Taking a fender off is not an easy task, especially if you want to save the fender. In your case you can cut up the fender. I'd cut the fender off about 1 inch from where its welded to the adjacent panel to get the bulk of it off then you can fine cut where you need to. Send me an email and I can send you pictures of the inside of a fender panel that has been cut off. In my case I saved the fender from the car, so I cut the panel that the fender was welded to. You are going to do the opposite. My pictures may or may not help you.

Chances are those fiberglass fenders are just "skins" and you may need to leave some material along each edge that you can rivit to, hence not cutting it too close on the first pass.

matt.scarton@gmail.com

[rflegal]

I purchased some 'glass fenders from Bruces Parts Bin many years ago and am now in the middle of installing on my '78.
Fender removal is a definite PIA if you don't have the skills and tools.
The fenders are non structural, the shock towers take all the forces. I can not emphasize this enough, if you are going to remove your fenders, take advantage of the access to address any rot in your towers, I have sut all of mine out and repaired. Will try to post some pics.

Bob

[rflegal]

Sorry, pic was way too big, lets try ths one...

[rflegal]

Some more pics including unfinished passengers side and patterns used for repair

[spiderrey]

Ive taken many fenders off. Its a bit of work, used to ship them all over the place. I have a pretty nice one pass side on this 70 parts car.