My front fenders have stress cracks after remounting, suggestions?

[Pestanza]

Hello All,

I am finally putting body parts back on, and have found that both of my front fenders have stress cracks in the exact same places on both sides. The cracks are on the flat front edges of the fenders where they will meet with the grill. Any thoughts on how to avoid this? It is getting close to making it through the bend and may be visible once the grill gets put on. Thanks for any input!

Pestanza

 

[broncopete78]

Not sure how good your paint is but you can put a small tack weld on those spots. The important thing is to put those bolts from the inside of the fender well to the fender back in. I have seen many people (including me) skip these and the front will sag and tear the tops of the fenders.

 

[cldonley]

You can also "stop drill" the cracks. Find the very end of the crack, with a magnifying glass if necessary, and drill a 1/8" hole. This relieves the stress and stops the crack (usually) without messing up your paint with a weld. As said above, it won't stop cracking unless you relieve the stress that caused it in the first place, like leaving out bolts, or over-tightening bolts, or having loose bolts, etc. Stop drilling is a common practice for us in the aviation world.

 

[DirtDonk]

...Stop drilling is a common practice for us in the aviation world.

Which is why, when you see the guy running towards the tail of the plane with a drill in hand, you grab the nearest parachute! ;D
That, or get ready to start your arms a-flappin' in unison.

Paul