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Fender to Valence fitment

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:21 pm
by todd lorber
I've done a bit of searching here but I haven't found what I'm looking for, so here goes:
I've noticed on my car and on some others, the point where the front fender overlaps the valence on the front of the car (just below the lower corners of the grill) it seems that the fender is too large, resulting in a gap of as much as 1/8" between the fender and valence. The attached pic is not my car but basically shows the area I am talking about. Has anyone come up with a way of shrinking this corner in order to reduce the gap? (maybe cut & weld to reduce the dimensions of the fender?).

I'd like to have a better fit & finish that was apparently done at the factory, or perhaps they relied on primer and paint to fill this area?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Front Cropped.jpg

Re: Fender to Valence fitment

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 2:06 pm
by notoptoy
I have an odd gap on my 67.5 where the valance and fender meet at the grill with a large gap at the same spot. I attributed it to a previous owner (Sins of the PO) changing the fender at some point and did not see an "easy" fix. The apron/valence appears to be made of Papier Mache as it is VERY easily bent into all kinds of shapes with little effort.

Re: Fender to Valence fitment

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:42 pm
by todd lorber
So for anyone interested, I did manage to close up the gaps here. I squared off the valence as much as possible, and then cut, hammered and welded the fender to a more appropriate profile. This removed appx 70% of the gap, and I left a little space for primer and paint.
Fender1.JPG
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Fender2.JPG
Fender3.JPG
Fender4.JPG
I hope this helps if anyone else has the same issue.

Re: Fender to Valence fitment

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:06 pm
by theunz
Nice work, it really tightened it up.

Re: Fender to Valence fitment

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:27 pm
by notoptoy
Agreed, well done!

Re: Fender to Valence fitment

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2020 8:29 am
by eye
I think cutting and grinding is the only way to tighten that up, just like you did. Perfect
Mine had some issues too. LOL