I'm trying to find out what exactly the fender is bolted onto behind the wheels. I had to rip it off cuz the bolt was so rusted and it took part of the rusted metal with it whatever it was connected to. Was it the floor pan? I'm not sure i need to know what it is so i can either replace or weld more metal on there. The same thing is happening on other side and i need some help with this one. Thanks Alot

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, it is a small round "nut" welded to the back side of the pinch weld that runs along the rocker panels on the underside of the car. Pics would help if you could get them. If you have someone hold the fender in line with the door while you look under there, you should be able to see where it lines up at. It seems to be a common rust point on these cars as the one on my driver's side had to be repaired and a lot of the ones I see in the yards are rusted in the same spot.

Pretty sure it's part of the pinch weld... It's usually destroyed by people misreading the jacking instructions and jacking under the fender tab instead of the more load bearing, but still lousy jacking location further towards the front of the car. Here's a couple snapshots, hope they help... Ignore the early rust, I'll get to it eventually.

So how should i go about fixing this? Because now that i can't secure this part of new fender, the door rubs up against fender everytime i open door? Also, any suggestions on a complete clean up of the under body? Thanks alot

Find a donor car, cut out the piece you need, patch it into your car. Again the hard part will be finding a car that hasn't been jacked up under that tab.

I think the tab may have been screwed up by jack cuz if i remember correctly the tab wasn't down like that it was more horizontal (like it was bent in and squished)... so is it just that tab or what part is that tab too?

I would try to see if you can get a *GOOD* set of vice-grips on the metal and try to pull it out and back into place. Much easier than welding in a new piece and as long as you are not in the north, you should be ok. If its a car from the rust belt, well, there might not be much metal left to work with. Just try to make your part look like the pics that Drew took, and you should be ok.

I understand what your mentioning, but i believe when i had to rip old fender off way to much metal came off, like im pretty sure that the majorit of that ledge came off with the fender when i had to pull it. So do you guys know if the ledge just had a hole for that bolt and you nut on the opposite side, or was it thick metal that was predrilled with grooves? And is there another bracket or something i need to attach fender to that piece with?

For some reason, I want to say that side panel (46) comes all the way down to where it overlaps the (20) body pan, and those parts make up that pinch weld. But that's just my best guess. Look around on the forum, you're going to want to look at various rust repair and body/paint threads. You should be able to find pics without the fender with the tab intact.