Looking at the photos I just took of my roadster, is this correct? First, the rear fender support hangs down below the frame when attached, next the top of the rear fender has a 1/4 inch gap between the fender and the turtle deck.
Fender bracket:
http://imageshack.us/a/img266/6366/photojun10164221.jpg
Fender gap:
http://imageshack.us/a/img266/6950/photojun10164233.jpg
Travis
Topeka, Kansas
Looks like a home made bracket. The curve of the fender is off too. Keep on with the body work.
I checked and I have the same brackets on my roadster rear fenders. As far as the gap on the top, no comment because my fenders are still off the car. I also checked the body location and my brackets will hang below the body edge as you show.
Thanks Tom! I just really looked over the brackets and I am very sure they are original.
The drivers side fender gap at the top I think I figured out how to fix, I will loosen all the bolts and make a 2x4 contour to the inside body edge and use a floor jack to try to push the fender up then tighten all the bolts. There is enough room in the bolt holes to do this I think.
Travis
Topeka, Kansas.
The passenger side rear fender is another problem... GRRR! OMG after 9 years of working on this car I am so ready to finish and paint this car already...
http://imageshack.us/a/img46/2483/photojun10195259.jpg
There is a 1 inch gap in the front of the rear fender. The back bolt holes all line up with little effort, the the running board bolts are in place, the bottom splash apron bolt hole lines up, but the top splash apron hole is where it all goes wrong on me.
The only way I can figure out how to fix this is to V notch cut the forward top inside edge of the fender and add a filler piece to make the diameter of the fender wider to fit?
What the heck? This all should fit because nothing is modified as far as I can tell, did they make the car this way or something?
FIXED
For future reference, the fix for the drivers side top gap was a 2x4 contour lifting the inside bottom of the fender into place then tightening the bolts.
The passenger side was solved by my 3 year old child. The key is the running boards. When he sat on it the fender gap grew to double its size. So I put a floor jack under the rear running board bracket and jacked the car up, as I did this the gap closed. Turns out the passenger side running boards were sagging pulling the rear of the fender out of wack.
Travis
Topeka, Kansas.
Travis
Original '26-'27 rear fender bracket. This fender is on a pickup so you see the pickup bed resting on the runabout frame rail.
Travis, These are right and left brackets on my 26 roadster they appear to be stamped c-channel instead of flat bar stock as has been shown. Maybe earlier or later than yours and Dan's. Jim
Both of my fenders have the bar stock brackets. I am wondering if the stamped came later.
Tom, I think you are right, but I have no proof. The bar kind are superior in my opinion. The stamped kind often (usually)break at the corner.
If you are going to do any re-shaping of the fender, be sure to fit it to the running board while you are doing the body work, before you paint it. I made a mistake and got the fender all smooth and fitted to the turtle back, and then when I tried to assemble the car the bottom of the fender was about 1 inch too far forward to install the running board. When I pushed back the fender it buckled on the outside edge. I figure next time I paint the fender I will fix it. That was 20 years ago and it is still not fixed. Paint is still good! I also put Model A fender welt around the fenders. It looks good, but is not original.
Norm
What's funny is that Ford seemed to use the same bracket logic on the Model A. On my son's '28, both the front and rear fender brackets are forged. My '31 on the other hand has stamped brackets front and rear.