Sorry guys, I should have explained myself better. I removed the fender to replace a stripped nut (front right strut). btw, the strut nuts are shouldered nuts! Inside the fender is a brace that extends from one side to the other and is wide/long enough to encompass all 4 strut mount points. Pretty hefty gauge too (10 maybe). That and the other thicker gauge mounting points are what what make up the heaviness of these fenders. That's also why they kink right at the rear strut when struck from behind.
The strut nuts are welded to this brace and the shoulder passes through the brace and the fender metal so they are flush to the outside of the fender. Nice design but what a bear to get off!
I don't have any milling equipment to make another and I don't want to be welding
anything right there (guaranteed to ruin the paint) so I am going to JB Weld together:
- some washers to fill in the thickness of the brace/fender hole
- a flat fender washer as backing
- an M8 nut on the back
- spray the parts black
I fit these pieces together last night and they are just under the original thickness of the nut/brace/fender so I am good to go. I plan on keeping the original nut so I can have one made whenever I find a machinist willing to take this on and not charge me an arm and a leg.
I will gladly entertain any better suggestions!!
Martin, thanks for the heads up. I'll check that this evening!
