I have a choice to make here and need advice.

I have a spare fender that is stripped of paint and rust free, but has a bunch of small dents in a few key places. It would take a bit of filler and alot of work to get them right.

I have my orignal fender that is rusted through in the normal place, at the bottom where it attaches to the structual support. I also have the Tabco patch pannel that is not the same thickness as the orignal fender.

So what way should I go about repairing this, I was thinking of these ideas.

1) cut the spare fender and weld it in place, using only the smallest amount needed.

2) Keep the spare whole, fix it and use it.

3) Keep the spare whole (what if they become NLA or the other one gets damaged) and just weld the Tabco part to the orignal fender.

Any other ideas?

Open to all sugestions.

TIA.

W

I would keep and use the new fender. Just start tapping the dents out with a hammer and dolly. A little filler (I mean very little) is better than any rust. Can you post pics of each?

I agree, you can always save your original fender with the patch panel in case you ever need it. I would spray an etch primer for bare metal and coat the fender with an epoxy primer after shaping all the dents up and then use a little filler to shape the fender up followed by a final primer.

I will also add that I have used Tabco panels on my car, they are not bad but do require a lot of additional work after welding. I still had to go to the hammer and dolly, a little grinding plus a thin skim coat of filler. So after all of that I would use the rust free part.

Here are some pictures, note the rust bubbles in the orignal fender as well. (more work I know!!!)

If the first pic is your existing fender, I would just patch it with some metal that is closer in gauge to the original material and not worry about the tabco panel. Now if the rust was more severe, then I would be looking at the patch panel or the other fender. The time involved might be less if you are not doing a lot of body work like is on the 'other' fender. Regardless of which way you end up going, make sure to get a good seal on the backside of the fender. I would bead-blast the backside of the fender, use POR-15 and then undercoat it - especially between the lower support and fender skin (where your current rust is and where the cowl drains down).

I'd cut out the rust on the existing fender, make a little patch or two and butt weld it/them. Keep as much of the original fender as possible. Like ZCurves said, make sure you protect the back side well!

Chuck