VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Fender well cushions

Does anyone have a picture of the fender well cushions installed or can someone tell me if the cushions go across the well or run front to back on each pair of holes? I would also assume the rivets come up from outside the well into the pads. Is there a trick to get them installed nicely and spreading the split rivets easily?

Mine are gone but the witness marks are front to back.

Dave

Give me your e-mail address and I will send you pictures. Frank

32s are side to side and about 5 inches long ,riveted to the fender well. Split rivet the same that is used on the radiator welting.

Mine are on a 31.

Hi Dave,
Hardaground sent me pictures from his 32' but his car has two cushions in the well, one to the front and one to the rear. My wells have 8 holes drilled. 4 in the front and 4 in the rear of the well. I have two kits, one for each fender, and there are 4 cushions, 8 rivets in each. You are saying the cushions are mounted parallel to the chassis rails then (front to back) correct?

The '31 has four pads, two pairs (one top 1/3, other bottom 1/3). They are installed parallel to the well one pad on each side of the tire tread. Don't have my wheels out of the wells or I could take a photo.

I posted some photos in the member photo section, these are the pads from the Filling Station and used those screw type rivet things as didn't want to chance trying to buck a split rivet on my own and damage the paint. The rivets from the Filling Station that are too small and don't fill the holes drilled from the factory like the original rivets. The Rivet head is in the well and the split is on the outside, at least with the screw rivets there is nothing to catch a wash mitt when you are washing those wells underneath.

Hi Paul,
Thanks for those pictures. The fasteners you used are called "Chicago Screws". Used most often on horse bridles and available from most saddle shops. My holes are not that big for the rivet. You mention the rivet head was inside the well and it was split on the outside of the fender well. That seems like a bad GM idea! LOL

Chistech,

It sounds like you have the info.I bet they didn't wash that part of the fender much in the old days, except with a fender brush.

Dave

Questions about the fender well cushions have existed for a long time since the factory has apparently installed them differently by model year and by factory. Also, many of the fender well cushions have disappeared over the years due to wear from the spare tire.

I bet you're right Dave. So now the question is. If I put the rivets up from the outside and spread them on the cushions, is that a bad thing? I believe that's the way I'm going to mount them. Cleaner install and less chance for the young girls at the bikini car wash to get their hands scratched or cut!

I agree. I would install the rivets from the outside so that the heads of the rivets would be visible on the outside of the wheel well. That would also make a nicer looking installation.

I installed the FS pads on my '31 as you suggest, split end on inside where splitting it is not going to affect paint as pad is in between. However, it is a difficult 1-man job trying to hold rivet in place and split it. The old holes for mine were rusted a bit rounder than factory, so I filled them in and drilled new holes 1/2" away, proper size for rivets, hope no one notices. I also spaced pads a little further apart, see my note added to your members photos.

Got my cushions installed today. I installed as I stated with rivets from the outside in. I used some 5/32 brass tubing (from my RC plane hobby) to drill out the cushions. I sharpened the tubing on the inside with a tapered ream again from my RC hobby tools. My holes were spaced two inches apart on the length and the span of the holes was 3". I opted to cut the holes 5/8' from the inside edge of the cushions so the cushion would favor the outside of the well more.

To spread the rivets I ended up finding a very easy way to do it. I have a small pair of sheet metal bending pliers. The tip of those pliers have a "V" shaped nose which I pushed into the rivet while holding on the back with a piece of hardwood. These pliers only started to spread the rivet. I then used a hard plastic mallet on the head side and a body dolly on the split side. Tapping the head of the rivet while holding the dolly with some pressure but not super hard gave great results. The legs of the rivets spread and curled nicely with the tips sinking back into the cushion material. Only small taps with the mallet were required and I choked up on the handle almost holding the head of the mallet in my hand. Just before the rivet was completely seated I checked to make sure the legs were straight up and down, repositioned them if needed, and finished tapping them up solid. Made a very nice installation. Thanks to everyone here for their help. I've posted some picture of the cushions and some with the tire in the well. The BFG whitewalls fit pretty snug.