Forming curved flange

[Tom Welch]

How? Is there a tool that can form curved shapes? I have not seen anything anywhere that will do this. Any suggestions? I am trying to graft 72gto fender vents into my first gen firebird fenders. Want to reproduce a similar flange to the original fender. No, I don't have the gto fenders to cut up.

[astroracer]

do a search on shrinker/stretcher

[Twentyover]

Also look at hammerforming

[dontlifttoshift]

I have a vague idea of what you are talking about doing but hammerforming may be the best choice here.

[jlcustomz]

Googled pics to try to see what exact shapes you need. You will need a combination of several methods to do this. For the rear of the vent where it angles back, you may as well just cut 2 slits in the metal for the lowerportion to just bend down. You will not do that much stretch by yourself. you will then need filler strips welded back in or overlapped from back & glued in with 3-m automix . The rest of the flanges just to recess the edges could be bent downward a little at a time with mostly pliars. the cornors will be the hardest. Make a template of fender shape to make sure you don,t lose shape. you will also need to do some hammer & dolly work to correct shapes.
Getting in over your head yet? Something like this is hard even for a professional, But could WELL be worth the effort. I,d suggest calling body shops to see if they have some older 20 gauge body part you could have for practice, even a pro may sample something like this first.
Another alternative for this to try sampling is to do a perfect cutout of where you want the part to drop in. Rough up the backside of metal coursely with grinder. Tape the back of the vent up tightly with blue or green masking tape & wipe a little vaseline or something on tape as a mold release agent. Then tape the vent to fender from front at correct height. Then from backside , apply something such as USC or Evercoat all metal filler in stages to hold part in place. Make thick enough for strenght, remove vent , solvent clean release agent Bodywork, adjust depth as needed. None of this will show when installed & if done correctly , no one will know. Here,s a few fabrication pics for inspiration.

Start practicing

[Tom Welch]

I think I have hit on an idea that may work for this. I'm going to try using steel tubing to suround the vent. Weld it to the opening to soften the edge between the parts, then build up as stated in the above post to hold the vent in place. Been practicing, alot.

[Happyfunballs]

This is what you need.