A trimmed and polished front fender.

     This one bit me, more on that later. The 70's chrome fender is definitely period, and not entirely in the cafe-racer style it had to be fixed. Again, in the spirit of my build, modification of the existing part is more desirable than a purchase of a fiber-glass replacement. The fender was showing age related spotting on the chrome to just outright rust.

     First, as can be seen, i measured the fender, electing for something trimmed at both ends and half its current length. The initial cut lines can be seen on the picture above. Cutting something that you cannot undo is quite daunting at first, so i started with a straight trim along the lines and then slowly cut into the line i traced from the original front piece. The rear of the fencer has a den in it, so had to do anyways.

     With my trusty 4.5" grinder, i cut away and shaped. For smoothing out the curves, finding a pivot point for the fender and keeping the grinding wheel stationary and pivoting the fender produced so very satisfying results. You can see from the pictures. I have found that my 4.5" grinder has been invaluable. So, after shaping i ground out the rust, using the wire wheel attachment. It bit me. I t was my fault, trying to hold both the grinder and fender. The grinder skipped and dragged itself across my stomach, producing a rather nice road rash and and ouchy. Something you only do once! Lesson learnt. After checking I had not been disemboweled, the underside of the fender edges were filled with metal filler, removing the sharp edges and masked off for painting. 2 coats of primer and 2 of the gun metal wheel paint. The fender looks good:

     The tape removed and a final polish was done. I may try some type of chrome restoration on the fender, but for now, job done:

     Front end is now almost complete. Pictures and a video will follow.