Morning coffee

[djfordmanjack]

OUCH ! Joe !..... that hurts....literally shivers going down my spine seeing the cutting into sweet paint. Don't tell this to Jay, he will give you a good telling-off for doing that in the middle of the year.  But you are probably right. No cruises this year and you also have your sweet 39 to drive anytime. I will talk to Jay, so he will only give you a light beating on those fender cuts...

BUT...I reckon that those headlight assemblies and lower fender metal would be much easier to ship now than the full fenders, in case you still wanted to sell them?!

It appears that whoever installed the quad light assemblies, managed to retain the upper fender edge and folded lip. That is very good. This provides good foundation to retrofit the  patch panels. it appears as if you might get away with just spotting in paint on those new parts ? Are these NOS panels, they look to be a good fit and without ripples.
Are you going to use the original headlight assemblies and protruding OEM rings ore are you planning to recess them with F100 assemblies or sectioning the rings like others have done?
Are you going back to a factory grille and turn signals?
Good luck with the project !

[CobraJoe]

DJ, what I have left, I will give to Jay so that he can give (READ: free)  to you. Jay has helped me a lot and he speaks highly of you, so any friend of his is a friend of mine.

As you can see in the pictures,saving the lower fender metal was not possible as it was all brazed together from several pieces of metal that would not allow it to be removed in one piece.





They are all, 1958 parts though:




I had to grind away the body work to expose the work that was done. In the end it was brazed to the inner fender as well as the fender lip which was folded back for clearance. I worked this back a little at a time to return the lip to its original position so that I could mount OEM NOS headlight doors to it.
I should be able to salvage more of the passenger side assembly, now that I know how they did it.
Yes, I have original (used) headlight buckets and trim rings that will be installed to keep an original look to the car.
As far as the grill, yes, back to OEM, let me know if you want the tube grill and I'll get it Jay.

Test fit:

Before:


P.S. The grill will clean up but could use new plating or painting:

[hiball3985]

I for one will thank you for taking on such a project. Your car will be so much happier as a real 57

[RICH MUISE]

wow, Joe. Several things surprised me here, mainly the conversion surround had a FORD pn on it..........I thought those were aftermarket, like JCWhitney. Second is how well the nos original surround fits. You may not have any idea how badly the aftermarket surrounds are made. The ones I had to use (not ems) had about 1/4+ radius on the outside edge where yours have the square corners. Only way the aftermarket ones are usable is to hand work them as close as possible, cut off the back flange, then weld them on.
classic auto parts in OKC has the aftermarket parking light buckets and lenses, and sockets.

[gasman826]

x2 on the OEM fender extensions/headlight panels new or used.  I tried the old aftermarket ones and was just going to throw the whole fender away.  I did run across a pair of NOS and was dumbfounded by the difference.

[djfordmanjack]

Joe, thx for your generous offer! I will gladly accept that offer for the leftover 58 and headlight pieces ( even the cut down crumbled pieces, if only usable for patterns)!  I have no use for the grill and I want to think the you can easily sell the tube grill to somebody on this forum.
I was just asking about the grill, because I was wondering if you left the aftermarket and the set back turn signals in place after all the work you will have in replacing the oem 57 headlights. I was thinking about those cutouts in the inner grill splash panels. I believe you will have to metal repair the cut out pieces, because those grill pans are hard to find in decent condition. often rusted out or accident damaged.
When you first talked about going back to single headlights I thought that replacing the whole fenders like you originally intended, would make more sense. but now, seeing that all of that folded lip is still there and the fit of the oem panels is rather promising, I think you made a really good decision in leaving your own fenders installed. it will spare you the trouble of realigning and maybe also large portions of the paint can be retained!

[CobraJoe]

No problem, I will get them over to Jay.

I took some pictures for reference for you, if that helps.
Here is what it looks like with the headlights removed:



Here is the sheet metal they welded in to fill the void, not really nice work:



Here it is cut out:



Look how thick this stuff is:



I don't know what it actually is, its way too hard for regular body filler and it's real heavy.
Hey, it lasted over 30 years without cracking.   

Anyways,here they are, all reassembled.  I welded the pieces I cutout on the first one so it would be complete, the second one I was able to save.




...and this is as far as I got today:

[djfordmanjack]

wow, the fit of the oem inserts is great ! Judging by the Clecos, you were able to fully unfold the og lip and can directly attach your replacement sheetmetal to the og fenders? That'd be great ! From the beginnig I was fearing that you would have to fabricate and weld new lips, which would have caused a lot of distortion and also burn the remaining paint. Are you going to weld the patch panels or going to fasten with body bond and/or rivets? this could save you some welding and grinding and would eventually seal the seam.

[CobraJoe]

My plan all along was to use panel adhesive with  clamps and rivets; no distortion, no burning, peeling paint and hopefully minimal painting.

I will have to touch up the passenger fender on the body line where it meets the headlight door as it was welded at the top 1/4" of the seam. I was able to use the the grinder to slowly work it back to the edge while not causing the paint to heat up and peel.
Keep your fingers crossed, so far, so good.

[CobraJoe]

Sorry Rich, I forgot to reply to your post earlier... getting old sucks, or maybe it's the Jack Daniels???

Yes, I was well aware of the aftermarket fender extension quality, or lack thereof. When I first bought the car and posted that I wanted to change the quad lights to singles, you told me to look for OEM extensions or complete fenders. That's why I bought JPotters OEM extensions well before I started this project.

Thanks for the heads up on Classic Auto Parts, good to know if I have anything missing.

[RICH MUISE]

Nice neat work, Joe!
I'm sure you will or already have, but now is a good time to check fit on the front nosepiece.

[djfordmanjack]

Joe, another small issue you might want to consider now, while all is apart. If you really want to take it back to all stock looking frontend you should consider painting your front gravel pan Argent Silver, like it left the factory. personally I prefer that metal in lower body color though, as is on your car.

[Ecode70D]

Joe
     You certainly do keep yourself busy.  I personally know how much that you hated those dual headlights and I know how
much they bothered you.  It's nice to see that you found some good headlight/ fender extensions.  I know that you are going
to be very happy to have your beautiful 57 Ford all 57 again.  Knowing how you operate, you will have it done real fast.
      You got away from me too fast last week and I didn't give you the T shirt that I keep in my 57 from the archery shop
in Middleboro . Jay

[CobraJoe]

Thanks everyone, and Rich, it's been in and out about a dozen times already.

Guenther, I have given that some thought and am still on the fence, like you, I like the body color, The jury is still out on that one...

Jay, when I come down to give you your puller back as well as Guenther's new headlights we can get together.
As always, thanks for your help.

[Ecode70D]

I for one will thank you for taking on such a project. Your car will be so much happier as a real 57

    Atta boy Jim!    And when Joe is all done with it.  It will look like it was never a crossbreed.