A very depressing discovery today.

[michaelod]

While attempting to remove the rear fenders of my 1930 Buick Model 68 today, I discovered that some rocket scientist from the past has literally welded in ALL of the bolts on both fenders. There is absolutely no possibility of getting a wrench on any of them. There is no sign of previous accident damage on the car anywhere and for the life of me I am mystified why someone would do this. Any clues on how to remove these?

:mad::mad::mad:

Thanks,

[trp3141592]

Hi,

Why do people DO such things? Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Perhaps you can try a 3" cut-off wheel on an air or electric cut-off tool. Another possibilty would be an air-driven die-grinding tool, which is like a Dremel tool on Steroids. Both are available at Lowe's.

Last-chance desperation scenerio: melt and blow out the bolt heads with an oxy-acetylene torch. I don't like mixing fire with cars, but I think it could be done.

--Tom

[unimogjohn]

Michael, I think that you have two options, grind or drill. Grinding off the heads would probably be easiest. Drilling would require you get the drill started in the center so it does not "walk" off the center. Will be interesting to see if you still have the threaded portion in the body, and more importantly will you be able to use them as they may have been filled in by the welding process. If it was me I would grind the top of the weld away and be careful not to dig into the fender lip.

[Bhigdog]

If they welded the bolt to the nut it's not too bad. If they welded the bolt/nut to the sheet metal it's worse. In any event some time with a die grinder should get you out of trouble. It's really not that big a deal. Eye and ear protection are a must..........Bob

[stealthbob]

As someone who witnessed a nasty Die grinder accident I have to add caution.

Great tool but has to be used properly and with total patience. The one I saw was electric but the term "Dremel Tool on Steroids" was accurate.

Should be what you need though...just be dammed careful, a full face shield and good gloves are required in my opinion.

[F&J]

I am mystified why someone would do this. Any clues on how to remove these?

:mad::mad::mad:

Thanks,

Can you see from inside the car? meaning the back side of the wheel arch? I am thinking that someone tried to unbolt the fender and the body was rotted around each bolt hole area. This is common due to the fabric fender welt holding water. I am thinking that those might be "dummy" bolts that are there just to hide the original holes in the fender.???

Are there any signs of sheetmetal screws hiding under that fender? They may have found good metal in the area between each original hole, and just screwed or pop-riveted the fender on?

If they are dummy bolts, the big fender washer would be tack welded to the fender, as well as the bolt welded to the washer.

[F&J]

By the way; I have lots of cutting tools here including torches and plasma. I honestly would use a 4.5 electric angle grinder with a hard grinding disc...or if the welds are small tacks, I'd use the angle grinder with a 4.5 cut-off wheel on each weld spot.

A torch is brutal under a fender and you could damage the fender if you are not good with a torch.

[michaelod]

At least for those bolts that terminate in a visible area, I can see the threads projecting through the other side. There don't appear to be any dummies other than the individual whose handiwork I am trying to correct. The welds appear for the most part to end at the washers. Tried to get a pair of vice grips on the head since they are toast anyway, but the tool can't get enough grip to break the bolts loose before it spins. I believe the fender is still in good shape. At this point I am thinking about getting an air powered die grinder due to clearance issues.

Thanks,

[Dwight Romberger]

If the welds end at the washer and do not extend onto the fender, the question still remains: Why do it?

Maybe you could grind a couple of flat areas to grab with the vise grips?

Edited February 15, 2010 by Dwight Romberger (see edit history)

[michaelod]

Dwight,

Good idea. I may be able to cut/grind a couple of parallel sides on each bolt and get a wrench on them. I just don't understand what this welding effort was supposed to accomplish. Perhaps he was concerned that someone might attempt to steal his rear fender bolts. In a way it sort of reminds me of those one-way screws that you sometimes see in public restrooms.

Thanks,

[Guest Tarheel]

Michael, you might be able to weld a new nut on top of the weld blob with a spot weld on the inside of the nut . Then it will give you something to get a wrench or socket on.

[michaelod]

Well I bought myself a $12 die grinder with bits included (which worked great by the way) and with some effort was able to remove the rear fenders without any damage to them. Unfortunately I lost many of the fenderwell caged nuts during the process. Does anyone have a source for these? Bob's does not have these for a 1930. They measure 2 and 1/4 inches between the mounting tabs. Need about a half dozen. Seems like a good chance these would be common across the GM line, but not sure about this. Would appreciate any leads.

[Dwight Romberger]

Hi Michael,

Glad you got them off.

The Filling Station (www.fillingstation.com) has a 1933-50 Chevy car fender anchor nut that looks like yours. catalog # GM-1021.

I thought I would use them as replacements for mine.

Dwight

[michaelod]

Thanks for that tip Dwight. I will check it out. I was happy to get the fenders off the car but it turned out to be a mixed blessing. Started stripping the rear fenders and it appears that the passenger side is in poor condition. Don't know how it got by me but there was considerable damage from some time in the past which was hidden under an inch of bondo. Someone roughly beat it back it into shape to some degree and sculpted the rear 25% in filler. Guess I will be looking for a replacement which will probably be hard to find.

:mad: