Removing the Front Wings January 08

As the scope of the project continued to expand, it was
decided to remove the front wings (fenders) to see what
was going on in there. While the passenger side wing had
been replaced at some point before I owned the car, the
drivers side had never been off.

Both wings are already removed, it is not a pretty sight.
The debris build up at the bottom here is a breeding
ground for rust. Unbelievably the water from the bonnet
channels is actually designed to flow through this buffer
area and out through a space between the wing and
the sill at the bottom.

Almost 40 years of debris sees the light of day for
the first time. The area in the corner of the sill and
the door bulkhead had the worst rust damage.

This shot shows the top mount area near the door.
Some surface rust and dirt, nothing too bad here.

The top section of the buffer area. Note the hole
about half way down right of center, this is where the
plenum drain tube is routed. That's right, it drains
right into the buffer area also, or it would if the hose
hasn't kinked or the plenum isn't clogged up with
debris (it very likely is).

A shot looking straight down.

This shows the inner wing area overall. Most of the
undercoat is still intact

The passengers side looks equally bad.

Maybe half an inch of junk collected at the bottom.

A closer look at the crap, underneath there lurked...

A craftsman wench that I had lost about
15 years earlier.

A shot of the 2 wings, plucked.

This shot shows the bottom of the buffer
area of the wing, where it meets the sill.
There's supposed to be a space between
them to allow drainage.

The headlight area of the passenger side wing. Note
the small damage the the lip of the wheel opening.
This was caused by the lower A-arm bracket failure
discussed elsewhere in this blog.