Fender work on the 550

I said screw it tonight and decided to get on the rear fender. It's holding the whole show up for finishing the rear end. Like I said, the radius of the fender was too big for the size of the tire I have. It was even kinda big for a big fat Avon Mark II rear.

Forgot to take a before shot, but this photo works. You can see the gap near the bottom


Just drew out my radius on a piece of cardboard.


Then drew the radius of the tire. It needs to come in about an 1 1/4"

Made about a total of 4 slices on each side with just a cutting wheel.

Some stretchy tape helped pull it in. Measured both edges, everything was still squared up.


I used the tig and tacked the edges first.


Looks good to me, weld it up!


All welded up. I started from the inside of the slices and worked my way to the edge. I was welding on the outside of the fender and I noticed it was starting to pull outward, back to its original radius! I decided to then finish my welds on the inside of the fender and it pulled right back to where I needed it. I was expecting shrinkage but not for it to shrink outwards.


I grinded the welds down and then used an orbital sander to clean everything up.




Looks good to me. Just those 4 slices on each side pulled the fender in exactly an 1 1/4". The cuts and welding were subtle enough the overall radius isn't disrupted. The sisybar is next.