Correct way to Patch Lower Fenders
 

I purchased two new repo lower fender patches for my Lemans that is going into the body shop next week. The new repos patchs are nice and come with the inner bracing. Question, my thought was that when you have a new patch w/bracing that you can but weld it to your existing fender. The body shop wants to use an overlap and then use filler. Is this common? Just thought the but weld would look and line up better and last longer but maybe this is not possible. Thanks

Butt joint seams are the way to go. they are the most challenging though. Overlap seams are hard to metalwork due to the added material thickness. Not to mention seams can trap water and shizam rust again!

Agree on the butt weld in this case - especially since you don't have good access to the back side after welding. There will still be a need for some filler unless you are really good.

I must have missed something, but are repair panels available for a 1965 GTO with the brace? If so, can you tell me who supplies them? Thanks

Bob, they are for a 71 Lemans. The Parts Place repops the 70-72 lower fender patchs now. They actually are quite nice for Tiawan metal. Heavy gauge stuff like original.

Butt weld. It is soo much quicker to lap the two together but creates that "how well was the job actually done question".

Filler hides alot.

The best way to do it is butt weld...but it is difficult to do it that way. I had a really good welder I know argue against having to butt weld a floor pan pretty hard. He finally did it. I started doing my own welding. I'm butt welding my lower rear quarters in right now. I would imagine that that overlaping the panels is how almost all of the body shops would do it without the owner insisting on butt welding. The panels top edge, where it meets the existing panel, is made with a indentation in order to overlap flush. In other words it is made to overlap.

I have used a flanger, and overlapped, but used GLUE , which is great on a bolt on part on a full frame car. the new glues, etched and they are a strong as a weld, NO warping, and the glue takes up any air space that could trap moisture. I like but welding too, but its tedious and warping and distemperment occur.

Formulabruce has a great point....butt welding of exterior body sheetmetal is pretty hard because of the warping that can easily occur with thinner sheetmetal....if you warp the sheet metal surrounding the weld area it is an absolute pain to straighten the resulting high spots and waves that result. I just went through this on installing a few patch panels via butt welding.