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BODY REPAIR, Front Shroud To Inner Fender Panels - RT-226

On March 02, 2012, H. Landon Hunter in central PA, USA, wrote:
"The crusty stuff ended at the hoop that is for the fresh air intake. Scary at first, but studying the situation a bit revealed a fairly straightforward series of layers. I know some others have had it much worse".
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel

On June 03, 2013, Mark Cox in San Francisco Bay area, USA, wrote:
"In between the inner-fender and the front shroud there is a vertical piece of metal which goes from the duct panel and arches back up and over to the rear of the inner fender. I suspect this piece is prone to rust. I have seen photos of people doing something similar but they have removed a pretty large section of the front shroud giving easy access. My plan-of-action is to drill out as many spot welds as I can find (preserving the inner fender section as that looks OK) but:

Is there a logical part of that curved piece to go back to in replacing it? It vertically spot welds to the rest of the inner-fender quite a way back but should I go all the way back there? (There isn't much/any rust back past where you can see in the photo). I was considering cutting the front shroud flange along the 90-degree bend and trying to form a flat-arc replacement piece to butt weld vertically in. Is this logical or should I try and make a patch that goes a little way past where the bend is and shrink/stretch it to fit? The second way might be better, but the nose section is so visible on the car it sorta terrifies me.
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel
Here is a stab at some photo-editing. My aim is to make this look just as original... but with the multiple metal overlapping parts and tight space inside the shroud I want to make sure I am going about this the right way before I start cutting anything.

Eric Russell in North Carolina, USA, wrote:
"I made a new piece to replace a rotted edge. I used a Harbor Freight Shrinker/Stretcher. I started with a piece of 18 gauge steel that I bent in a brake to a little less than 90 degrees. (eyeballed the angle to approximate the angle at the edge of the front shroud). Then I used the shrinker/stretcher to make it match the edge of the shroud. Before cutting off the rotted area I made a cardboard template of the bolt hole locations so I could locate them once the new part was installed".
"I used a MIG welder. Cut back to solid, full thickness steel. Weld with widely spaced short tacks. Grind the tack welds almost flush, then hammer/dolly to get everything back into good alignment, then add more short tacks - grind - hammer/dolly - etc, etc, etc. Before I cut anything off I like to make cardboard templates of the original shape. If one side is damaged I'd make a template of the opposite side. By placing the template over the area I'm working on I can more easily see if the shape is coming out OK or which way it needs to move to correct it".
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel
"I did replace the item you labeled #1. And the new support bracket I made for the radiator duct panel. For that part I made a simple hammer form with some scrap hardwood.
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel

On June 24, 2013, Mark Cox wrote:
"I thought I would post some update pictures of how the repair actually turned out. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting but did take quite a while due to being ultra-careful.
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel
front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel front shroud to inner fender panel

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