Just realized I never did get the supports from the front fenders to the frame. Are they a must?? Seems solid to me.
I just removed mine when I had the frt valance off to touch up some rust spots, install ac cond, paint all the stuff I had off including the fender supports. I drove the car a few times w/o them or valance. I wud'nt put them in the catagory of a must but I wud put them back on. I wud make some "easy enough" if I did'nt have them.
I suppose thats likely the best route. just make up some bars at work I guess. Dont think I'll be finding any good ones up here in the rust belt.
You work in the auto service industry; you really don't have any reason/excuse not to replace them. I wud assume the materials necessary are laying around the facility somewhere. Better-off w/them than w/o them. JMO
Your right. We have lots of goodies lying around between us and our body shop. I'm sure one of the guys in the body shop owes me a favor or two by now.
I have good ones on my Comet, but several that I have seen down here have rusted off, and I am nowhere near the Rust Belt. This is while pulling otherwise-solid valences off of cars. I doubt they were painted very well.
I'd make em out of 1/4" or so steel rod. More clearance for bigger front tires during turns and such, and plenty of support. Look cleaner as well. If you have the ability...you could even go stainless for not much money.
I think that running the supports are a good idea. They probably keep the valance from beating up the flange where it attaches to the fender. Road vibration over time could be like bending the metal back-and-forth, to the point where that area could stress crack. I am planning on running a front spoiler, and now that we are talking about this, I may fab some better ones myself. I am liking the idea of making them from 1/4" rod.