Inner fender wells

[pishta]

Uh...do they unbolt? Or are they there to support the fenders. This sounds like a dumb question, but I have read dumber! '65 Barracuda needs some room for BB headers. It kinda looks like they will unbolt but I cant tell if the shock mount is tack welded to the top of the inner fenderwell or if it is just close. Of course I might be looking at the bolts that hold the fender on!

[plydus340]

not so dumb. i'd like to know also, in my 73 duster. thanks in advance...

[Hammer 74]

The inner fenders are spot welded on as part of the unibody. The only way to remove them is to cut them off or drill out the spot welds. The shock tower is not part of the inner fenders but when spot welded together become a structural part. I have seen cars that had the inners removed with and without a front roll bar added in but without either looks sort of flexible to me. Hope this helps.

[dirty dan]

Hey pishta
When cutting for header clerance .
Don`t get to happy whith the cutter..
If you are useing fender well headers go ahead and cut the
square hole up towards the back for the tubes.
If not ,and your going to cut the shock tower and beyond.
Then you better plan on adding alternate support.
Such as a cage and a bar down from it to the front of the chasie.
Remember these cars have no chasie,to speak of.
That square box of sheet metal /unibody can only support Just so much wieght.
Then your dumping all that tourqe from the engine as well.
I would not remove any more then I had to.
I once put a 440 in a 63 dart with elephant ears and B-body headers.
No fender well cutting required.

[Ausydad]

The wells are coming outin my Duster and using a thick wall 2" pipe bent to weld in and add support. But, this will not be done until the subframe connectors are in place to help support the whole unibody so the amount of flex after the wells are out is reduced as much as possible. Keep everything as level as you can and use plenty of footing where it connects...
You can see a great example of a cage and removed wells on this duster....
http://www.mindspring.com/~dusterdave/
Good Luck!

[pishta]

Dirty Dan, how on earth did you get B headers around your '63s steering box? If That is all I need to get it going That would make my YEAR! My problem is the center cylinder exhaust ports run smack into my shock tower about 3 inches away on pass and 6 on the driver side. The B fenderwells I got run straight out of the ports into my shock tower.

[DartGT66]

I sincerely doubpt that it's possible to put a 440 into an early A-body with some B-body headers. You can't do that even with the newer A-body, and they have about 1.5" wider frame rails & engine compartment. Except removing the inner fenders, I have also modified the chok towers for more width. There is no way of using decent sized underchassis headers even without the inner fenders. http://sr.lord-darksite.org/albums/album02/abq.jpg

[dirty dan]

Originally posted by pishta
Dirty Dan, how on earth did you get B headers around your '63s steering box? If That is all I need to get it going That would make my YEAR! My problem is the center cylinder exhaust ports run smack into my shock tower about 3 inches away on pass and 6 on the driver side. The B fenderwells I got run straight out of the ports into my shock tower.

Hey pishta
Just checking ,are we on the same page?
You say you have B fenderwell headers.
Am I reading it right ?
Or am I confused?

[ehostler]

There's a guy out here that is running fenderwells on his Duster. Once he made the holes and installed the headers, he reinforced the area of the holes and the made some sheetmetal covers that are held in with quick fastners. It looks really good and he didn't sacrafice the unibody.

[pishta]

Dirty Dan

I have B fenderwells but I have an A-body. When you put your 440 in your 63 Dart with B-body headers, Im assuming you were using regular headers, not fenderwells. The B fenderwells are very wide, so much in fact that the collectors are almost as wide as the tires! And they would be farther back than the wheel wells goes. They are deffinantly for parts only right now. If I ditch the steering box and go rack and pinion, then maybe I can use cheapo off the shelf headers.

[dirty dan]

Hey pishta
sorry to take so long to reply.
I have to report that I am
And in correct, so perhaps me is in order.
I had to find that car again to double check.
It turns out I was I had used b/body headers and made zoomies on that car.
Sorry to have lead you astray.

Dan

[teamhunter]

ok, so back to the original issue, I've got a similar question. My 70 charger has a "crinkled" right inner fender panel from an old accident, that looks like it's bolted in along the hoodline. It was "straightened" but still looks wavy and like crud. I'd love to replace it, but have heard different stories about the level of difficulty. Anyone know if it's major or minor surgery and where to get the part? Thanks!

[dirty dan]

the row of bolts youare referring to holds the fender on.
not the iner fender.
the iner fender is spot welded in.

[teamhunter]

Thanks Dan! (yuck, sounds like major surgery.) Any advice on where to find a replacement panel? It doesn't look like the "usual suspects" (paddock, year one) have them. Sorry about all the dumb questions, but I'm new at this...

[cuda66273]

..or see what we did ...

You can see where we formed and welded 1/8th plates to the radius on the firewall (Strongest point), fabbed tri-angulated brakets out of flat bar to fit over the shock mount bolts, then welded a tab made from 1/4 steel to the frame horns and bolted it in the three places...easy to remove to access the headers or pull the motor and makes it real stiff with almost no deflection (.010) on the drop it off the jack test.

[DartGT66]

In my new car, have just the big holes for the Hookers. To retain the semi stockish look, I will support the front from inside the wheelwells to the A pillar. That should be pretty strong too. In my old car, the bars went through the "fresh air container" with 1/8 paltes there and to the roll cage. That was pretty rigid too, although the bars were not straight because of our safety regulations. If you have a heads up collition, the bars will come through the firewall unless they have a bend.

[pishta]

Wow, that looks just like what I envisioned, but could you kick out the shock mounts a little more outboard for even more room?

[DartGT66]

You can modify the shock mounts above the upper control arm attaching points to get more room, and that's what I did on my '66

[cuda66273]

Sure ...why not...just be sure you don't end with shock interferance when the a-arm goes through a complete up and down cycle. I believe the 67 and up A body's moved the shock towers out an inch on each side to make room for BB installation with the same a-arm.
I didn't need anymore room so I left them as is, but I did trim back the excess metal from the ends of the shock mount.

[DartGT66]

The '67 & up had the frame rails about 1.5" further apart, and therefore the inner fenders etc. too. I have actually only moved the right side, since there is enough room on the drivers side. I also moved the upper attaching point of the shock a little outwards. This way I gathered about 2" more room for the headers at the tightest point.

[pishta]

Great, now I just have to get the courage up to attack those 38 year old fenderwells....

[Billydelrio]

Cuda66273, those pictures of your car's front supports are great. I still run inners, but will replace with supports like yours when I build my new set of headers. Could you please post a picture of how the supports connect at the front? I plan to bend the tube a little so it will attach to the front frame rail.

Billy

[cuda66273]

Thanks Billy....they just attach with a piece of flat bar welded to the frame, about 1.5x1.5x.25 with a hole drilled in it for the bolt.

We then capped off the end of the tube and put a spud on it to bolt through.

The bend Idea is a good one but I don't have a mandrel bender so straight was the best option for me.

Here's a another one of my highlt professional technical drawings

[Billydelrio]

Now why didn't I think of something like that?

Billy