Are the fenders supposed to be tack welded on? 355 5.2

Doing a resto on my car and had the fenders removed for paint.. What was weird is that they were tack welded on. Any ideas if this is factory?

 

Yep it is, they are tacked at the front fender to inner structure and at the rear top of the fenders there are tabs welded to the fender and then to the frame.

The fenders were painted after being bolted down and tack welded onto the sub structure.

 

Strange !

 

Which body panels are aluminum besides the rear deck lid?

 

hood/front bonnet should be IIRC

 

Have you ever removed them?

 

Yes I have

 

Difficulty in removing the welds?

 

Front wing removal is a right pain and I recommend you don't unless it is absolutely essential. In order to do it you have to remove the front bumper first to get at all the bolts.

Photos of the tac welds which I ground off, cut with a multitool etc. There is also a bead of sealant on the inside that is quite tough to remove.

Front bumper has to come off first
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One at the bottom
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One on the inside
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Not 100% whether I'm photographing correct area but there is one near the top the wing you access with the door open.
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Fabulous pics!

 

There’s no turning back now .


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Are the welds all at the rear of the fender near the door or is there one towards the front near the bumper?

 

There's a few more for sure on 355s. It's been a minute since I had a fender off

I'm away from home at the moment but I could show you all the locations I know.

For sure there's one i didn't see on the 348 pics above, it's on the front corner of fender on the inside edge near the headlight Bucket. Basically need to take out the headlight to get to it. There's a small spacer welded in that spot you have to see how those Carbon fenders sit because you won't be welding them.
Maybe some panel bond?

Can't recall if that area near lower bolt hidend under the front bumper is also tacked

There's also seam sealer on the fender if yours has never been off before you'll find it.

 

Seam sealer.


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These are the mounting holes in the door jam area. Probably not necessary to re-bond unless you simply want to seal the gap between fender and chassis. The wheel well portion shown above will be covered by a fiberglass fender liner.

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