[north]

Here is a pic of a 69 GP, you can see the fenders bolt to the two "outer" holes in the tub plus one of the "inner" holes. They blocked the unused holes with black plastic plugs.

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by north

Here is a pic of a 69 GP, you can see the fenders bolt to the two "outer" holes in the tub plus one of the "inner" holes. They blocked the unused holes with black plastic plugs.

So do these A body repops fit the GP, or your saying the die that makes them aftermarket probably has the top half somewhat universal to fit more cars?

I suppose GM probably had one mold for each model car, hence just the two outer holes.

Is that picture from your endless 69 fleet? Amazing how far away the fan is from the radiator!

[Greg Reid]

No, I didn't take any specific pics of that. Pretty straightforward. I actually used the original holes in the wheelhouses. One hard part was holding the guard in place while trying to drill matching holes in the guards. I work alone here and I've got long arms but that was a bit of a chore. Holding the staples and trying to flatten them with something from the other side was just as bad.
I left them bare. So far, there is a trace of rust on the ends but not bad. It should be a pretty easy chore if you've got a spare pair of hands around to help you hold things in place.
I SHOULD have put it all on before assembling to the car!!!

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

No, I didn't take any specific pics of that. Pretty straighforward. I actually used the original holes in the wheelhouses. One hard part was holding the guard in place while trying to drill matching holes in the guards. I work alone here and I've got long arms but that was a bit of a chore. Holding the staples and trying to flatten them with something from the other side was just as bad.
I left them bare. So far, there is a trace of rust on the ends but not bad. It should be a pretty easy chore if you've got a spare pair of hands around to help you hold things in place.

Not too worried about it, I was just curious how you did it & was wondering how well the finish is holding up on them. makes sense that the ends would rust as they are probably cut off & bare steel on the tips.

As I get older I have become a gluten for information & enjoy taking note of how everyone does things. Can learn something new even on some of the smallest of details. In other words, I have become a putz.

But as an example, I just realized the ends of the staples would be bare steel. makes perfect sense why, but I would not have though about that without your comment.

[north]

It's one of mine! The inner fends don't interchange because the outlip is different to mimic the contour of the fenders. If you look carefully at original inner fenders you can see the line where the outer and inner dies met. You can actually see it on some original paint 69 quarter panels, the bottom half of the stamping die was the same on hardtop coupes and on convertibles but the upper half was different. Where they meet you can see the imperfection on the contour of a virgin panel.

[Heatwave]

Don't know if this helps but here's a few pics of the driver side inner fender and vacuum canister mounted. 1969 GTO Convertible.

[68ragtop]

Interesting! I never realized how different looking the 69 can & bracket is from my 68.

is that all original equipment?

[Heatwave]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

Interesting! I never realized how different looking the 69 can & bracket is from my 68.

is that all original equipment?

I can't say for sure how much is OE. Its been restored. My guess maybe 20 years ago. The engine is not #s matching but it does have a correct 400 and a 69 GTO Qjet. Since the engine didn't match, I decided to swap out the TH400 for a 4sp TH200-4R. You can see the relay for the transmission on the inner fender. Thrilled with the tranny upgrade.

[Greg Reid]

I've never seen a canister that looked like that. I've never had a '69 but I don't believe they changed it from '68...I could be wrong though.

[Heatwave]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I've never seen a canister that looked like that. I've never had a '69 but I don't believe they changed it from '68...I could be wrong though.

According to Ames, 69 GTO had a 4 rib cannister and alot of the aftermarkets have a 19 rib cannister.

[68ragtop]

Here's a picture of the one out of my 68 after bead blasting. I believe it's original to the car. I never really understood the rib count in the books. Is this 4, 8 or 9 ribs?

[68ragtop]

Thought I'd post a small follow up on the staples. I removed a couple of the originals & after looking at them decided to look in my basement.
I have a box of senco construction staples. 1/2" x 1-1/2" long, 16g a galvanized. To my surprise they fit perfect.

Only thing I noticed is when I cut them to the same length as the originals, then bend them over the ends are a bit long where they overlap each other. Might try another one, but cut them shorter than the originals. The original staples make kind of a messy looking arc that I have no way of reproducing anyway.

So then this got me thinking. I can get these same construction staples in stainless. Only downside might be that they could be brittle and break off when I bend the ends over. but they might hold up to one bend & thats all I need.

call it a hunch, but I am willing to bet these construction staples are the same thing they are selling in the kits, just shortened. nothing special at all it turns out.....

68RT

[Formulajones]

I make my own out of stainless paper clips. They stay looking nice and don't rust. Once you find the right wire diameter in the paper clips it's easy. I've done this for many restorations, including the cork air cleaner seal on baby birds, rubber radiator shrouds, etc...

[66beaumont]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

I found a picture thanks to google!

Here you can see all four holes. My originals only have the two near the inside edge.

I could use plastic plugs like the one used in the opposite side battery tray mount thats not used.
But for the life of me I can't see a purpose for these.

My car had the same holes with plastic plugs from factory,may have been 69 and later deal

[Formulajones]

I happen to be working on the inner fenders of my fathers 69 as we speak. It's an early Sept 68 build. I'll snap some pics today and maybe it will help you guys decipher early and late differences.

I can tell you it does have the rubber dust shielding on the lower portions of the fenders that was mentioned earlier.

[Formulajones]

Here are shots of the driver side inner fender. These are original to the car, 9C 68 build date. Has the 4 holes on top, the lower rubber dust shields, and has several dimples around the area where the vacuum canister would mount, but I believe it would be the 2 dimples perpendicular to each other on the outer edge closest to the fender. Also has 4 more dimples above the control arm area. Not sure why.

These pics should show all those dimples if you can make the pictures big enough.

[Formulajones]

I played around with drawing to highlight the dimples. Driver side inner fender.

The 2 on the right I drew a line between I believe would be for the vacuum canister if the car were equipped with hidden headlights.

The other dimples circled I'm not sure of their purpose.

[Formulajones]

And here are more dimples found around the control arm area. Again same driver side inner fender.

The 2 holes I drew a line between are where the factory had plastic wire loom holders.

[68ragtop]

Did you paint yours yet? Just sprayed mine last night. Can't decide if I like them or not. The ended up close to 30% gloss, just above a satin I would say. Seems close to original, but looks a little dull. I'm never happy though, so I have to try to take that into consideration....

[north]

If you find them a bit low gloss now you probably won't like them in a few weeks, gloss will recede over a few days and weeks.