VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Bolting up '31 Front fenders

I'm in process of bolting up the front fenderes on my '31 Coach restoration, and notice it is quite a challenge to get all the components fitting perfectly. I now have the fenders and all the bolts hand tight and about where they should be, including the headlight bar. I have tightened the bracket bolts at the frame. As the profile of the fenders currently exist, there is about a 1/8"-3/16" gap between the innerside of the fender and the brackets for the 5/16" carriage bolts closest to the frame (2 for my car, a Canadian model with the extra bracket). I am reluctant to tighten these bolts further as it apears it will warp/dimple the fender. Thinking about making some steel shims to fill most of the gap before tightening. The rest of the connections appear to be about correct, not likely to need shimming. Have others encountered this issue?

I had the same problem both on my 31 phaeton and special sedan. My fix was to place somewhat large washers between the fender and bracket until the gap was filled. It is a little tricky to keep the washers in place so that the bolt will go thru the washer holes when you insert the carriage bolt. #18184

Thanks, that's what I was thinking I would do. Both fenders had about 1/8" distortion in this area when I removed them indicating a perfect fit was not achieved originally(or when first restored 50 years ago). Cheers.

Yep, I had to add "spacers" on my Landau as well. Some were metal and some were hard rubber.

The only difference in installation was that I kept the braces a little loose on the frame until I had ALL bolts and nuts inserted into ALL holes.

And I can't remember exactly which holes I did this to, but in a couple of them I used temporary LONGER BOLTS for the initial fit. That way you can use it for alignment, but it still gives you LOTS of room for adjustments.

When you attach the front fender to the running boards, I recommend that you use LONGER bolts first, and then after you finally cinch it all together, then replace them one-at-a-time with the correct length. This technique will save you a bunch of time - and it's so easy to do!!!

--Bill