BAYWATCH

> HOW TO FABRICATE A PAIR OF INNER FENDERS TO COMPLETE OUR SMOOTHED ENGINE BAY

- CHAD ATKINSON

FOLLOWING on from last month’s column on how to fabricate a flat firewall, we now turn our attention to fabricating a pair of inner fenders to complete a silky-smooth engine bay. Again, this isn’t so much a ‘how to’ guide as it is a little insight into the thought process and metal fabrication required for a job like this.

STEP 01

The rod frames we fabricated for the firewall design last issue now come in handy as a guide to see where the new panels will sit. Some scrap 0.6mm steel sheet serves as a template to get a correct line on the bottom edge. Decent card coupled with masking tape also comes in handy for this sort of work.

STEP 02

A much-needed visit from the blaster sees things taken back to bare metal, making the bay much easier and a whole lot nicer to work on. Once blasted, everything is coated in Oxytech’s Easy Phos to prevent surface rust.

STEP 03

With all the necessary templates in hand, things can now be marked out onto a sheet of 1mm steel. The sheet is then cut out and rolled to give it the appropriate curve. This can either be done using a set of sheet-metal rollers, or by using the English wheel with a rubber band on the top wheel. The rubber band will ensure the sheet can only curve left and right, as opposed to the normal situation of left to right and front to back.

STEP 04