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Could someone walk me through the process?
I got the clips from Restoration Supply. How do they go on? The fender or the body? Is there a fastening point on bottom of fender?
Does the ventilation tube fasten to fender from inside or top of fender?

Not sure what you mean by clips. Are you talking about the bolts that secure the fenders to the body?

I am not sure what clips you are referring to either. As I recall there are only 3 clips per side that have anything to do with holding the fenders on. Those are at the rear edge of the fender. If you mean speednuts along with clips then there may be a couple more per side used in place of nuts at the front brackets but any other clips will be used in holding trim strips to the fenders.

Fenders on the Clipper based bodies mount in several places. How they go back on depends a long way on how much and what was disassembled when they were removed.

If everything is apart, then referring to the parts drawing, first and foremost will be replacing the radiator cradle and particularly its mountings to the frame. There is a large bolt with rubber cushions and shims at the bottom center of the cradle along with two side braces all of which mount to the frame. Those spots are labeled (A) in the illustration. The height of the cradle as determined by the rubber cushions and the shims at the bottom of the cradle along with the braces to frame on the sides have a huge effect on the rear fender gap at the cowl and door. If the car has been disassembled and cradle removed you may need to spend some time and even have the fender on and off a few times to get the height close.

Once the cradle is at about the right height the fender mounts at the front to a bracket on the side of the cradle. Bolts and nuts (or possibly speednuts) are used. The rear top hangs from a bolt with a large washer and rubber cushion that threads into a captive nut at the top side of the cowl. Those spots are labeled (B) in the illustration.

The spots labeled (C) are sort of carriage bolts with the heads held in sheetmetal slots at the rear edge of the fender by a retaining clip. Those bolts stick in holes in the cowl and are held by nuts and washers accessed behind the kick panel. There is a long rubber cushion and weatherstrip that also goes on before the fenders get bolted down. The retainers only gently hold the bolt in the slots. One of the real issues with that mounting is if the nuts rust to the bolts then the head or rather the square under the bolt head starts to spin in the slot. The retainer clip does nothing to prevent that and there is almost no way to get anything back in the small space available to hold the bolt to keep it from spinning. If you are putting the fenders on fresh I suggest using stainless steel bolts and nuts and maybe even a bit of antiseize to prevent rust from becoming an issue.

After the fenders are mounted and reasonably straight the inner fender sheetmetal can then bolt to the ledge on the fender at the top (D), to the radiator cradle at the front and to the frame (E) at the bottom. There are also interconnections between the inner fender pieces. It is kind of a tossup whether it is easier to mount most or even all the inner fender and air vent items before installing the fenders on the car or after. There is plus and minus to both approaches.

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There is also a slotted tab at the lower rear corner of the fender for a bolt and washer to thread into a captive nut on the body.
The vent tube has a bracket with captive nut that lines up with a hole in the inner fender splash panel for a bolt and washer.
The vent tube is also held in place by sponge rubber lined bands at either end.

The bolts that are on the fender are held on with these clips. I got them fromRestoration Supplies.

Howard,
Thank you for this information, it really helped me understand what is involved. I am anxious to get the front clip installed. My last big task after restoring the car for 15 years. Packard Info has been a great resource for me.

Thanks for this info. This makes it clearer to me now.

I think he's referring to U nuts, speed nuts, or nut retainers depending on what one prefers or type. They "clip" on.
Some has integral thread pressed in and the others have a cage for the square nut.
Common auto body part.
Today it's difficult to get the proper panel edge length in some of these. Have to reuse the OEMs.
The clip usually go into or over a hole in the fender where the bolt passed through to engage the threads.