Aftermarket fender arches?

[myotis1134]

Gentlemen,
I'm finally getting to the body restoration phase. While working on the rear suspension, I discovered the rockers were moderately rotted, and a 2 inch diameter hole has rusted through in the rear driver side wheel well, as well as the fender arch on the same side. I have ordered new outer rockers, but was unable to find any of the Ford engineers involved in the creation of the SHO or Taurus, so rebuilding the inner rockers will be a project. I'm waiting on the rockers to get here, and in the meantime, I've begun analyzing the fender arch with the hole in it:



As you can see, the rust area is extensive. I have not done any research on shaping metal for a new arch yet, but rather I'm looking around for some bolt-ons, which brings us to the crux of this post. I have only been looking around for some pocket-style arches for a few days, but most of what I've found is either for trucks or on sketchy sites. I've found no detailed walk-through on what and where to measure to determine what size arch to buy. Has anyone ever looked into aftermarket fender arches? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

 

[zak]

Unless the car has a great deal of sentimental value it’s just not worth the labor. Be sure to check the body where the rear of the front subframe bolts to it they rot there as well. You can buy a 95 SHO with a mint body and nearly mint paint for 10 K, see my for sale ad. Unless you are an expert welder those kind of repairs cost a fortune.

 

[zak]

To answer your question there were color matching wheel arches Ford Motorsport sold for the mid 90s Mustang that I saw one or two SHOtimers use on GenII SHOs

 

[luigisho]

Unless the car has a great deal of sentimental value it’s just not worth the labor. Be sure to check the body where the rear of the front subframe bolts to it they rot there as well. You can buy a 95 SHO with a mint body and nearly mint paint for 10 K, see my for sale ad. Unless you are an expert welder those kind of repairs cost a fortune.

I'm guessing no matter what car you get up there will soon be trashed if it's a daily. I grew up in the salt belt and I agree with you but AK might be a different beast

 

[myotis1134]

@zak Thanks for the heads up on the arches. Unfortunately, this car has a lot of sentimental value. My life would be a lot easier without it, but I can't get rid of it. I also intend to become an expert welder for this phase.

 

[Tbird6]

As posted above keep looking. The rust you see is only the beginning! The Taurus was a cheap middle range Ford and was built as such.

Can you post any pictures from under the car? Just to get an idea of how much repair is needed.

You might be better off buying a parts car from down south with a good body and a bad drive train?
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