Things went so well with the fender lips, I got crazy and decided to fix the swiss cheese on the bottom of the fender under the bumperette as shown above. The completed repair is shown on the right. After this was done the car was put back in the storage side of the shop and the next PAYING job brought in the working bay. First chance I get I'll do the other fender lip and get it ready for priming.

Today was fix the fender lip day. I finally got to use the amazing magical shrinker-stretcher machine. The job I've been dreading took about 5 minutes to form the new lip and about 3 hours to cut, install, weld and grind. You can see the shape the fender was in after cutting off the rust and ragged edges left by a previous owner. The second picture shows the completed installation ready for epoxy primer and then a thin coat of body filler. After a second coat of Primer, a coat of sealer, a coat or two of sanding primer and it's ready for finish painting. Sounds a lot simpler than it's going to be but I'm making headway.

It's a day late but I got the tires mounted. I think one of the used tubes may have developed a leak at the valve stem. I checked them all thoroughly before using them. If you recall only two of the five I removed were the correct size, the others are new. Shoulda bought all new. Oh well send in another order. If any one is interested (assuming any one but me is reading this) the colors used on the wheels are Sunburst Orange metallic (2009 Dodge Caliber) and Creme Brulee (2008 Ford Edge)

I got the wheels back from the paint shop. They are sitting on the floor of the car for now. I'm hoping to mount the new tires tomorrow, if so I'll get new pictures.

This is the machine I've been working for. I have the pieces of sheet metal cut to size and bent into angle but haven't yet had the chance to try forming them into wheel well arches.

This obviously shows the side view of the hinges and the other shows the polished stainless "sex screws" that I used for the hinge pins. Upon final installation, I will use permanent grade Loctite on the threads. They have a T-20 security head on them which looks way cooler than a phillips head.

I know it's been a while since I've reported anything but I had to finish up a big Corvair job that will help pay for the shrinker-stretcher machine. More later on that. My machinist cousin finished the engine lid hinges and they look (and work) great as can be seen in the installed picture above. The other picture shows the contouring needed to seat on the curvature of the lid. If I remember it is an angle of 105 degrees off of square. See next post for more pictures.