70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ?

Posted By: Anonymous

70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/27/06 09:19 PM

Hopefully someone can help me out of a jam? I took my 70 HEMI Challenger to be re-painted and before I could stop them the painter smoothed out the fenders and even welded back the cut outs thinking one of the previous owners had done the rolling and cutting to clear some old tires. Now I am faced with rolling back and cutting the fenders back to the way the factory did it in 1970.

Can anyone help with some photo's or information on how Dodge rolled them back in 1970? It didn't appear to me that they used a tool back then other than a hammer to make them clear the tires? It was a pretty crude job of cutting and rolling from my recollection on what were factory original HEMI fenders.

Thanks.

Posted By: Mastershake340

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/27/06 09:25 PM

Here's a couple of a NOS takeoff factory 15" fender I have.
#1

Attached picture 2433522-2-26002.jpg

Posted By: Mastershake340

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/27/06 09:26 PM

Posted By: Mastershake340

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/27/06 09:27 PM

That fender is actually a '71 but I can't see that the lip rolling process would have been different between the two years.
It was pretty crudely done.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/27/06 10:56 PM

That lip looks really smooth compared to my fenders before they were accidently repaired. Mine looked like they were hammered as opposed to rolled.

Posted By: RestoRick

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 02:07 AM

Yes...they definitely had a hammered look!

Not the greatest picture, but should give you an idea....
also, there was no additional cutout... the cutout that your guy filled was also found on regular fenders.
The lip is just beat up...
A more careful tapping up will give the best results...
The drag about it is that even the most careful bending with give you some distortion to work out on the side of the fender.

Rick

Posted By: JDRacing

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 02:20 AM

Rick, that's really an interesting and great picture. What's particularly interesting to me is that it looks just like the fenders on my '70 Hemi Challenger, with just about the same length of the lip rolled as on mine. The pictures MasterShake posted on his NOS/'71(?) fender shows a much longer length of the lip rolled than on either my fenders or your picture.

This continues my suspicion that there was a difference in the "Hemi Fenders" between the two years, and the cars on the line (mine are the original fenders) in '70 go somewhat shorter length of rolls than the next year (when they actually started putting "Hemi Fender" tags on Challengers). I've never seen one of those tags on a '70 Challenger (Cuda, yes), but maybe others have.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 02:42 AM

The best and easiest way to roll them is with a baseball bat. Since they are tapered and round. You just have the car driven forward as you roll the bat between the tire and the fender opening. you can start out with a small roll and increase it as to your liking by moving the bat to the larger end.

Posted By: RestoRick

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 04:01 AM

Quote:

Rick, that's a really an interesting and great picture. What's particularly interesting to me is that it looks just like the fenders on my '70 Hemi Challenger, with just about the same length of the lip rolled as on mine. The pictures MasterShake posted on his NOS/'71(?) fender shows a much longer length of the lip rolled than on either my fenders or your picture.

This continues my suspicion that there was a difference in the "Hemi Fenders" between the two years, and the cars on the line (mine are the original fenders) in '70 go somewhat shorter length of rolls than the next year (when they actually started putting "Hemi Fender" tags on Challengers). I've never seen one of those tags on a '70 Challenger (Cuda, yes), but maybe others have.

The whole rolled fender thing is a bit of hit or miss thing on production vehicles... including 71...
I've seen many original paint Hemi 70 AND 71 Cuda's and Challengers without the lip rolled!

Don't even think about using a baseball bat!!!
That method is a sure fire way to end with a badly bowed fender...

I'd suggest working with the fender off the car on a bench or work table.
Using a roof rail dolly (comma shaped), on the backside of the lip while slowly and gradually softly tapping it over a little at a time, moving from end to end.
The tip of the dolly is kept a little inboard from the outside of the fender, this helps minimize distortion on the outside by forming a small shoulder.

Rick

Posted By: JDRacing

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 04:13 AM

Great information, Rick. Thanks very much.

Posted By: rocketresto

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 04:38 AM

Rick did a great job ansering. Here's a picture of some original wheelwell moldings off a 70 hemi Challenger. The roll matched these cutouts very well. Hope this will help.

Mike

Attached picture 2434952-DSCN0807.JPG

Posted By: rocketresto

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 04:40 AM

Here's another picture.

Mike

Attached picture 2434964-DSCN0806.JPG

Posted By: RTDaddy

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/28/06 06:54 AM

The factory didn't do the best job of rolling the fenders. The ones on my T/A appear to have filler in them where the fender lip was slightly distorted when it was hammered over. Either that or someone sand blasted the fender before they did it on their own.

"IF YOU'RE UNDER CONTROL, YOU AIN'T GOING FAST ENOUGH."

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 03/01/06 07:56 PM

Thanks for all the photo's and help.

Do any of you guys know what color black and what texture or paint to use on the top of the cowl? One of the previous owners repainted the engine compartment and painted the cowl the body color.

Posted By: RestoRick

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 03/02/06 05:10 AM

I've been using black Zero-Rust...
dries with the right satin black look IMO...

Rick

Posted By: ogopogo

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/11/14 02:41 AM

Im bumping this super old post to see if there is any new info in regards to which cars did or didn't get rolled fenders and trimmed wheel lip mouldings.i read somewhere that 70 hemi challengers did NOT receive WLM's as well??

Posted By: hemicar1971

Re: 70 HEMI Challenger fenders how were they rolled ? - 02/11/14 04:03 AM

Quote:

Yes...they definitely had a hammered look!

Not the greatest picture, but should give you an idea....
also, there was no additional cutout... the cutout that your guy filled was also found on regular fenders.
The lip is just beat up...
A more careful tapping up will give the best results...
The drag about it is that even the most careful bending with give you some distortion to work out on the side of the fender.

Rick

The picture that Rick posted has the same bend as my drivers side fender on my 1971 Challenger June door sticker built car. This bend starts at the brace and goes toward the front of the car about 4 inches.