Topic: Shock tower Inner aprons sheet Metal?

[66427]

Body shop just pulled my front fenders of my 68 Shelby.
On both sides where the front and rear inner aprons attach to the shock tower horizontally where they over
Lap there is a piece of looks like galvanized sheetmatal between the panels?
For example the inner aprons and shock tower over lap one another and spot weld vertically,but at the top where they make a 90 degree and overlap I have sheetmatal between the two?
Factory?All looks factory?
Thanks
Dave

[1967 eight barrel]

They overlap at the top, where the fenders would be bolted, but there's no additional metal between them. You have the shock tower with the front apron spot welded directly to the shock tower.  Even in arid climates like California, where my '67  Shelby spent it's life, they tend to rust between them and you wind up with rot that forces complete or partial replacement of the front aprons. Perhaps it was repaired by a previous owner who went the cheap route and welded, or pop riveted sheet metal underneath and used filler, or welded the hole up, and ground it smooth.

                                                                                                        -Keith

[J_Speegle]

Might want to post a picture to make sure we're all talking about the same thing. But if this is the lap over at the top edge (section that bolts to the fenders) where the inner fender panels over lap the shock tower and is spotwelded together there were only these two panels in that location - even on 68 NJ built car. This is an area often effected but rust developing between the two panels often producing an ugly rust bubble that rises between the spot welds and eventually rust through one or both panels creating a need for repair.

Without seeing pictures I'm guessing what your seeing is the results of a repair

[66427]

Jeff
so there are 4 overlaps 2 on pass and 2 on drivers side,1 infront of shock tower and one reward.
All 4 of my overlaps have sheetmetal shoved beween the overlaps?

[J_Speegle]

Jeff
so there are 4 overlaps 2 on pass and 2 on drivers side,1 infront of shock tower and one reward.
All 4 of my overlaps have sheetmetal shoved beween the overlaps?

Correct

Looks like you have in picture number one from bottom to top - shock tower, inner fender, home made plate , bondo  then paint

Guess the plate was to hide the rusted out section in the inner fender panel. If you smear bondo over just that it tends to leave a shadow where you can still make out the crater

[1967 eight barrel]

Correct

Looks like you have in picture number one from bottom to top - shock tower, inner fender, home made plate , bondo  then paint

Guess the plate was to hide the rusted out section in the inner fender panel. If you smear bondo over just that it tends to leave a shadow where you can still make out the crater

Jeff, I agree. It was a makeshift repair with filler. They slid the tin between the pieces. I saw a relatively solid repair done like this with Labmetal. Anyway, not the right way to do it, and certainly not factory.
                                                                                                          -Keith

[cobrajetchris]

Very common problem and most of the time not repaired correctly. I have repaired many by using the same gauge metal of the aprons. The shock tower part is much heavier and normally is not rusted through. I will cut out the rusted area and butt weld in patch panels. You don't want to do a lap weld as it will raise the thickness and will not look correct. As for duplicating the spot welds on top, this can be done with a spot welder or it can be MIG welded, then ground flush. There are several ways to duplicate the spot weld look. I will spread a thin coat of body filler over the area and when it's just starting to set up I will use a nail setter or punch the size of a factory spot weld and make an indentation with it and it passes pretty good.

[J_Speegle]

..........There are several ways to duplicate the spot weld look. I will spread a thin coat of body filler over the area and when it's just starting to set up I will use a nail setter or punch the size of a factory spot weld and make an indentation with it and it passes pretty good.

Just have to be careful sanding around and in that area   A wet pencil eraser inserted while the filler is setting up and spun ever so slightly works well if you go that route.
Other guys have made small presses - in areas with the metal is both the same as the inner panels I made a pair of vise grips with two shapes welded to the tip at each that can be squeezed and twisted to reproduce the look in metal producing the look pretty well. Think we cover a hand full of options in an earlier thread

[WT8095]

Looks like you have in picture number one from bottom to top - shock tower, inner fender, home made plate , bondo  then paint

Guess the plate was to hide the rusted out section in the inner fender panel. If you smear bondo over just that it tends to leave a shadow where you can still make out the crater

Sadly, he's likely to find this type of "workmanship" elsewhere on the car