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Old threads with pics now

againstherwill

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Indianapolis
Now that I can post pics and am no longer a code moron here is the write up with pics



MY XJ FENDER TRIMMING
I have read lots of write-up on fender trimming but hadn’t seen one the way I wanted to do it. So this is how I wanted to complete mine. My ultimate plane is to get a low center of gravity Family wheeler that will go most places I point it. This is the first step. Get as much fender space as I WANT. Notice I said I want. You can make your cuts how you want.



What led me to start this process was my driver’s side front fender.


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Figure 1


As you can see from the right side of the picture the fender has a small problem. My obsession (read my XJ) was bought with the fender in this condition from a yard. I purchased it from a yard because of the fender condition and front axle joints being broken. It looked okay but ran well and stopped well. Anyway, I took the fender off completely as I needed the proper angles to use a BFH to remove the creases. Taking the fender off is not the quickest way to make cuts but it is the way to get VERY clean cuts.


Taking the fender off involves no small undertaking in memorizing how it was put together in the first place. First rule in removing body panels is to find every point of attachment first. This rule will save you lots of hassle and needs to be repeated for the rear as well. The Second rule is that like any other XJ bolt hit it with rust busting penetrating spay several days prior to removal. The Third Rule is expect to loose more then 75% of the bolts due to rust. (Hey, if you are reading this you either know this from experience or you need the warning for your first project).


The front fenders are attached at the A pillar behind the door, the undercarriage just under the A pillar, the top of the engine compartment, an attachment panel to front unit body behind the grill and light bezels, a cross member behind the bumper, and lastly to the inner fender wall (see figure 2 right above the tire).


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Figure 2


I thought that the best way to show the attachment points would be to show them with the fender off. Basically if you look at the fender as a clock and start at the 7 o’clock position just under the A pillar of the unit body, there are two 10 MM carriage bolts here. Due to the fact that these bolts are only attaching two pieces of sheet metal and their proximity to the ground (READ rusty) you will more than likely have to cut these off. Next move up the clock 8, 9, and 10 positions behind the door at the A pillar. There are three #40 Torx head screws here. A word of warning here; have strong wrists or an adjustable screw gun with a REALLY long extension. Next go to the 12 o’clock position and remove the five #40 Torx in the engine compartment.


Now comes the time consuming part, removing the grill and light bezels to get at the unit body attachments panel. Notice I didn’t say hard part. The rule here is either get the camera out or put the screws in the holes they came from after removing the pieces. As you can see from the first picture I am NOT great with the camera so I put the screws back in the holes. Figure 3 is the before and figure 4 is the after. I know DUH!


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Figure3


313724314GJILfV_ph.jpg

Figure 4


The reason you must remove all of this is to access the unit body attachment panel located at 9 o’clock in figure 4. A word of warning in removing the grill, the hood latch is a #30 Torx, while the rest are # 40’s like the A pillar and engine compartment. There are three Torx on the attachment panel here, get that screw gun out again.


After removing all of grill, light bezels, and Torx for the unit body attachment panels you need to remove the cross member attachment bolts (10MM). Lastly, remove the inner fender attachment (figure 2). Now the fender is free and I get to start using the BFH to get out some of that pent up aggression and un-delivered road rage.


Prior to making any cuts I traced the stock flares with a red permanent marker (not show as you should have learned to trace template in first grade). The mistake I made, as you can see in figure 1 was not removing the flare prior to removing the fender. The reason I say mistake is the flare is attached with nine 10 MM bolts that are ALWAYS rusted through. If you remove the flare prior to removing the fender you will not bend or warp the thin sheet metal.


A word here about those bolts. After the mistake on fender number one I did try to remove the nuts on the rest of the flares and as GOD as my witness only nut per flare came off without breaking the bolt. So if you plan to ditch the flares get out the cut off wheel and save yourself some time.


Next, make your cuts to your satisfaction with the tool of you choice. I tried the sawsall but I didn’t like the shaking and warping it gave. So I stuck with the cut off wheel and shallow steady cuts. As you scroll down to view the end product remember the passenger’s side was creased and I used it as my test side. I figured I could always order a new fender for (100 USD) and have it shipped next day (20 USD). Figure 5 shows the pre-attachment phase of passenger’s front fender. This phase is necessary to get all of the lines to the proper setting prior to tightening the Torx. And to show ME that I needed more time with the BFH.


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Figure 5


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Figure 6


Figure 6 shows that I am starting to learn how to use the camera and that there are two final modifications need to complete the fender trimming. The first is to cut of the cross member that used to attach the bottom of the front fender. This item can be seen at the 9 o’clock position in figure 6, just behind the bumper. The second is to get out the BFH again and fold the inner fender pinch welds to dull the tire shredding sheet metal area as much as possible, seen in figure 6 at 3 o’clock.


Okay, okay already, you say; get to the stuff I really want to see, the rear cuts and welds.


So with flares removed all of the way around and the front fenders cut and reattached I moved to the rear. Remembering the first rule from the front fenders find all the points of attachment is the key to my trimming (Notice I said my trimming – if you don’t like my way don’t use it; if it’s helpful great, glad I could help).


All of the points of attachment in the rear are pinch welds so if you hope to cut more then an inch from the rears you are going to have to deal with these. I have read write ups where people did cut past the pinches and reattached with pop rivets. Now, done properly, in the correct number (not too many to decrease sheet metal rigidity and not to few to lessen structural integrity) this is an acceptable re-attachment process. And if you use stainless steal rivets it just may be as strong as re-welding. But I am an okay welder so it was my method.


So on to the cuts. Like I mentioned before I traced the flares prior to removal and used this as my cut line. My reasoning for using this line as my cut line was that I wanted to gain roughly five inches without loosing the all of the curve of the fender well and without cutting into the three ply rear door jam unit body welds. Agree or disagree this is what I did. I started by grinding out the pinch welds (see figure 7)


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Figure 7


As you can see from figure 7 not only was I going to gain inches but loose rust. I figured as long as I was cutting I should get rid of some of the body cancer. Moving on. My reasoning for grinding out the pinch welds prior to cutting was to keep as much of the inner fender well as possible as it was integral to my re-attachment plan. How I ground out the pinch welds was to use a .25” thick grinding wheel. I ground between the top and the bottom of each pinch until it glowed and then used a screwdriver to separate the two pieces of sheet metal. Yes, I repeated this process 25 times per fender. The reasoning here is two-fold. One, by grinding I am only removing metal that is going to the recycler, the outside fender. Two it is less time consuming and less destructive to the inner well then a drill. As pinch welds are just that, WELDS, drilling through them would take forever and use up many bits.



After the pinches are off make sure the inner and outer fenders are separated. I stuck a long screw driver in between them pried to separate. The KEY is to make sure you have enough space between the inner and outer to compensate for the cutting wheel depth. Finally cut your line.


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Figure 8


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Figure 9


Pictured in figure 9 you can see the new height of the outer fender and how the inner is separated. The vertical lines in the inner fender are relief cuts. I made relief cuts in the inner fender prior to making any bends as I needed to see how the metal originally formed. The relief cuts are made every three to five inches. The next step is to bend the relief cut to fold up to the new outer fenders (see figure 10). This can be done with a vice grip or channel lock and then cut the excess off.


313726785ygGNOf_ph.jpg

Figure 10


Next is to attach with welds. I used a vise grip to hold the new inner to the new outer. I tried two different methods here to reattach the two together. The first was to drill through the new outer well to create a clean attachment point for the welds to the new inner well. This method was time consuming and tore through bits quickly. After a short discussion with my dad the welder, I increased the gain on the welder and used the increased power to burn through the new outer wells. Be careful using this method as you can burn through both the outer and the inner (I did this a couple of times). While this method has risks, the mistake is easily mended by backing off the gain and using cooler welds to build up new metal to reattach the wells together. Figure 11 shows me fixing one of the complete burn outs.


313727171HMdYBl_ph.jpg

Figure 11


A word of warning here about prolonged welds. MAKE SURE ALL OF THE INSULATION IS CLEARED AWAY, pushing it back at least six inches from welding surfaces. Also when welding by the door jams make sure you remove the jam vent to not melt it or catch it on fire.



After your attachment welds are completed cut off the excess inner well metal.


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Figure 12


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Figure 13


Then grind off the excess welds and paint (figure 12 and 13).


I know that it is not the prettiest body work ever done but my plans are to put on new flares. So the re-attachment only has to be structurally sound and functional, NOT PRETTY. You can do pretty on YOUR time.



And for those of you wondering the wheels are stock, the tires are 225/70/15, and the springs are original saggers.
 
They worked for me, all I had to do was right-mouse-click on each of the red x's, then copy the url into another waiting browser window and view the picture. I don't see why that is inconvenient...
 
your bandwidth alotment probably took a dump on you...
 
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