Strange coincidence? Sill trim dents on both sides

[ebruns1]

Very strange coincidence...or is it?  There is a nice crease on both sides of my sill trim plates in exactly the same place.  They are both located right at the leading edge of the door hinge and cowl seam.  Do you think this is caused by the door and cowl flexing when the door is opened to full stop?  One other thing I noticed, if you look straight down from above it looks like the sill has a long bow in it and is not a straight line.  Both my sills have a 1/2" gap or more in the center and does not sit tight to the rocker panel.  I assume they should be tight to the rockers without any gap but it sure looks like they are going to have a nice big "bow" in them once they are reinstalled.  Is this correct?  I don't want to pay to have the dents hammered out only to have them reappear again. 

 

Thanks for any insight fellas!

 

PS - My cheap $12 Harbor Freight Dremel tool came in handy to cut the bolt off my mud guard!  I was surprised it actually worked.  It was not very powerful however more importantly it was very small and because it was such a tight fit it was perfect for the job!  A full size Dremel probably would not have cleared the tight quarters I needed to get the tool into.  As I mentioned in a previous post the nut was just a blob of rusted metal and no chance of removing it without cutting.

[JerseyHarold]

In my experience, the way the paint has flaked-off the car indicates a repaint.  Is there a paint ridge under the moldings (or paint on the trim itself) where a second coat was applied?  The car may have been hit head-on at some point and the back part of the front fenders spread out a little bit due to the impact, causing the rocker moldings to kink.  Just my .02.....

[Hickory]

how tight are the fenders mounted on bottom, maybe they are flexing while driving down the road and bowing outward. kinda like the checks of a running basset hound.

[DonaldSmith]

There's supposed to be a strap to pull the bottom of the front fender, at the rear of the wheel opening, closer to the frame.  Here are a before and after, with a view of a turnbuckle to pull the fender edge inward.  The turnbuckle is temporary, until I fabricate a less elaborate strap. 

 

[ebruns1]

Thank you Don problem solved!  That is the perfect explanation.  When I get home from work tonight I am going to set up a similar jig to see what it does.  Once it comes back from paint I will fab up some kind of permanent strap like you are doing.  I guess the original straps rotted away and/or were never replaced.  I imagine they collected all the spray and road salt from the NJ/PA winters and took a real beating.  I'll have to go check my sheet metal handbook and see what the originals looked like but it seems like an easy solution. 

Thanks again!

[DonaldSmith]

Trying to figure out a permanent strap, I might take half-inch EMT (electrical metallic tubing)  and flatten the ends and bend them over.  I might want some way to adjust the effective length.  Something threaded, that would pull the fender in. .  Time for some enginuity? ingenuity: (the quality of being clever, original, and inventive). 

Edited July 8, 2019 by DonaldSmith
typo

[Plymouthy Adams]

not sure of your model but this is a fender stay that connect at the front cowl support bracket of a P15

 

 

[ebruns1]

So, after work I went out and attacked the sill trims.  Had to grind off one of the bolts but I got them both off eventually!  While I was in there I took a photo of the inside of the wheel well and there was a little bracket towards the back but nothing near the edge of the fender to pull it in.  Please post a photo of what you finally decide to go with so I can possibly learn from your experience when I go to make mine up.  I like your idea of an adjustable brace so you can pull in the fender as needed.