The first step was to put down new rubber weatherstripping in several locations. This was done on the fender support brackets to cushion the fender where it might receive pressure.
More weatherstripping was used on the flange at the rear of the interior side of the fender as well. This helps seal the inside of the fender from dirt and moisture.
Finally, a strip was placed on the car body that should match the strip applied to the fender. The two strips together should fill the gap between the fender and the car. It should be noted that a good closed-cell weatherstrip should be used. Any other kind might absorb water and cause rust problems in the future. I used Frost King rubber closed-cell weatherstrip.
New inner-fender mudflaps were purchased to replace the long-since disintegrated units that must have been lost long ago. The absence of these flaps likely contributed to some of the rust issues I had in the rocker area.
Returning the fender to the car was not difficult, but alignment and positioning took longer than I expected. After "hooking" the fender over the flange running down the engine compartment, I made several adjustments fore and aft to get the fender lined up with the door and the rocker panel. The car went up and down on the lift a few times as I got things into position. Once I was happy with placement, I loosely threaded a new set of stainless fasteners before fully tightening anything. When it came time to start torquing the bolts, I started with the lower rocker mounts, then moved to the cowl fasteners, door mount, then moved down the engine compartment lip. I did spend some time cutting up a few of the stainless washers so that they would fit properly on the fender lip; I had noticed that this was done to the previous washers as well.
After tightening all fasteners on the fender (I didn't use a torque wrench, just tightened to what "felt right"), I moved on to the passenger fender.
Once the passenger fender was installed, it was time for the headlight assemblies. I replaced the seals that keep them water-tight from the inner fender area; the previous rubber gaskets were definitely no good. As I began to install the driver's side headlight, I had a difficult time getting the fasteners to line up. After trying a few times, I realized that the trim ring around the headlight had been installed incorrectly by someone in the past. I don't understand how this was installed before as the ring was interfering with the fender; I couldn't get it in position at all. I pulled the trim ring around the sealed beam and rotated it until the all mounting points lined up correctly. Once I figured that out the headlights went in easily.
The headlight buckets, sometimes referred to on message boards as "sugar scoops", came next. This is where I was disappointed in the stainless fastener kit I purchased from ZCarDepot; none of the fasteners for the headlight buckets were usable as they were delivered. The washers on the bolts were too small and the nuts that secure the bucket to the fender were too large. I ended up using the old nuts and added larger zinc-plated washers to the mounting bolts. The fender to cowl fasteners also came with useless washers too; I found some nickel-plated washers in my stash that I used for that area. After some quality time in the wheel well, the buckets were installed.
Next up will be to install the valences.
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