D.I.Y. High Hood Tube Fender Build

[essexmo]

mhubacek
I would say the big question here is just how water tight are your welds?
If this is one of your first fab jobs there may be a good possibility there will be ample drainage??
It's your call Buba! "opinions are like ex wives, seems like everybody has at least one.":laugh:

Sometimes its like saying you need a roof on your house or your furniture will get wet That reminds me i gotta buy shingles

 

[mhubacek]

Seems like alot of controversy over whether to drill drain holes or not. It is one of my first fab jobs, so I don't expect it to be 100% air tight. Maybe one small drain hole at the bottom of the lower tube next to the fire wall? That is where I expect water to build up anyways. I'm off tomarrow, and Friday so I expect to have them mostly completed by then.

 

[mhubacek]

Got rained out on my days off! I did get some of the final welds done with the right fender though. Rebolted it to the CJ, and began cutting the hood. Welding knotched tube has been a real challenge for me. It's been hard for me to follow the curves. It's been good practice so far. I've had to grind quite a few welds down that looked hideous! I'm starting to feel that "Buzz," sound that you guys often refer to, and getting the hang of adjusting wire speeds and such.

 

[mhubacek]

Started bending and tacking the fender flare yesterday. I need a nice sunny day to get this project done. I'm leary about grinding in my garage. Too many sparks, and too much stuff to catch fire. I've just been welding what I can, and waiting to grind up all my welds and paint later at a later date.

 

[essexmo]

Welding is easy it just takes practise the more you weld the better your welds will be i still have my first welder it consists of a set of booster cables and a car battery and ive welded up to 3/16 steel with it using 1/16 to 1/8 inch DC rods I guess i should keep that quiet and not even mention ive spotwelded with it using two carbon brushes or Lincoln and Miller will get mad at me

 

[Petescj]

From the pics they look like their coming along nicely. I cant wait to see what it looks like on a Cj with the hood notched and all. :drool:

Started bending and tacking the fender flare yesterday. I need a nice sunny day to get this project done. I'm leary about grinding in my garage. Too many sparks, and too much stuff to catch fire. I've just been welding what I can, and waiting to grind up all my welds and paint later at a later date.

 

[mhubacek]

Made some progress on the fenders yesterday. The left side is primered and ready for black paint.

Cut the hood, but it still needs to be grinded, and I'm placing a black rubber trim on it to make the hood look cleaner.

Here's s pic of it bolted on without the front brace that I welded on later
It's still looking a little rough here, Needs a little minor adjustment and some cosmetic fixin!

Hopefully tomarrow I'll be painting it black, and addressing the hood.

 

[IOPort51]

you won't have any fender wells??

 

[mhubacek]

I'm probably going to use my old fenders, cut the fender wells out of them, and weld them on. I just want to get the fenders completed, so I'll probably do that in the near future. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to make them fit with the hi-hood issue. I might just get some sheet metal and see what I can fab up. Either way, I don't plan on leaving the engine compartment exposed like that. Not to mension I need some sheet metal in there to bolt the soleniod, and other things too. I needed to get this side done, so I can start working on the driver's side. Now I can take all the mistakes I learned from, and hopefully the other side will go much smoother and quicker. I also really wanted to get some paint on them, so I could bolt them on and leave them outside for awhile without them starting to rust. Right now I've been taking them off every night, and putting them back in the garage.

 

[73CJ]

Looking good. It isn't all that hard to sheet metal for the inners.

Keep up the pics!

 

[LongHorn]

Re: New Pic

Didn't get too much accomplished today. I had to work. I did however, get the top plate off, and cut and welded the side steel panel on the fender. I'm sure having fun with this, and starting to understand the welding process a little better. Thanks for the help in my other thread, "Tube Knotching."

They look sharp. Some louvers on the flat pannel to let out the hot air would be cool.

 

[Old Dog]

looken good.

 

[CoreyYoungCj577]

I really like those and the left one looks great, If I ever head up to washington, i wanna see your 5!

 

[mhubacek]

Longhorn-That's a great idea! I never thought about that! Coreyyoung-it's not much to look at yet, but I'm hoping it will be someday! A fellow Cj owner is always welcome at my place, so let me know if your ever in the area. Thanks for the compliments so far guys. I've been pulling my hair out on this project. My welds are not looking that great, and I've had to do lots of grinding. If you look closely you can see where the grinder did its work to deep, and it shows it through the paint. Is there a wheel out there for finishing work? Something that will smooth your work instead of gouging and taking off lots more metal? Or are my grinding skills just not up to par yet? Anyways I'm still having a blast, and learning alot about metal work. This is practically my first real welding project, and the metal bending is new to me too. Here's some pics of what I accomplished after work today. I got rained out mostly, but I did what I could in the garage.

I painted the left tube fender black, and got my rock slider painted to match as well.



I also cut the fender well out of my old fender, and started mocking up how I'm going to mount it.

 

[Jokenring]

Flap disks





Home depot, Lowes, local welding shop, they all have them from a heavier grit to finer grits.

 

[Petescj]

Re: New Pic

Ive seen some places have those for sale pre-made already. And welcome back from your hiatus. I like the way their turning out Mhubacek. No need to be so critical of your welds. Its gonna look sharp when their on and the hood is finished.

They look sharp. Some louvers on the flat pannel to let out the hot air would be cool.

 

[mhubacek]

I've seen the flap discs before, but forgot about them. I'm not sure if they would hold up to taking small amounts of metal off my welds though. Would they? I'm trying to take some of the welds down a bit, where my welds puddled up to high. Just working on the apprearance of my welds when I goof up. I guess it will look good anyways covered in mud. I'm pulling the CJ in the garage tonight, and I'm going to start bolting it up, since all the grinding and cutting on this one is done. I purchased a thin black door trim that is going to attach to the hood where it was cut. It should give the hood a nice clean look. The picture of the TJ shows the door trim I'm talking about. Petecj- some places are making them now, but haven't seen them made for pre 76ers. The experience welding has been the main reason for my purchase of D.I.Y. With all the grinding and cutting wheels, Flux cored wire, paint, and clamps, I probably spent more on the DIT then getting them pre-assembled!

 

[mhubacek]

Finished bolting the Left Tube Fender yesterday. There is a gap at the top tube near firewall, between the hood and top tube. It's because the hood curves inward and makes a gap. I'm going to weld sheet metal to the inside of the tube going up inside the hood to cover that gap like a lip to keep mud and debris from getting in the engine compartment. It should make that gap look much better.


Still have to remove hood hold downs, and replace them with hood pins. The hood will pull down about another 1/4" when secured. I'll post better pics when I get the CJ out of the garage.

 

[Petescj]

How about a good front view shot while the cameras handy.

Still have to remove hood hold downs, and replace them with hood pins. The hood will pull down about another 1/4" when secured. I'll post better pics when I get the CJ out of the garage.

 

[mhubacek]

I definately will, probably tonight when I get it pulled out of the garage. I could barely fit it in the garage to work on it. The front was butted up against some other toys, so I couldn't get a clear shot last night.