OBehave

Well i'm getting ready to start my winter project flaring my rear fenders and after numerous discussions w/ lots of different people,I began marking and cutting as discussed with the owner of Bertha,Darkside! I met his at Tass's tech session and was very impressed with the quality of his mod.I should have written down my conversation with him because I'm having an issue with the rear section of the flare.Check it out and see what you think.This is my parts car so I figured I would practice on it first.

perrys4

Why the cutting? I have seen this done by hammering out the flare. Do you plan to weld it all back up? Whats your plan of attack?

John Struthers

Not sure if was Abby-Louisiana-, or, our oft missing South Africaner's 'Bully' but should be similar pics
in the archives.
I'm lazy...so I'd fit after market something or others .
That's a LOT of work.
Rust...the horror, the horror, don't forget to radius those cuts to prevent cracking.

OBehave

Well the theory was to find the desired radius at ride height,swing the arc,make 2 inch wide cuts to make forming the shape and finding desired overhang,weld in filler pieces to bring it all together and grind smooth.
The problem that I'm having is I don't like how the rear part appears to be smaller and diappears faster than the fron section.i think i'm going to have to add metal outward in the rear to make it more symetrical. This is the exact reason I wanted to try it out on the parts car before I render my car FUBAR!
P.S I'm doing this to fit my Kinesis 17x11 with 315/30/17 Yokos on my 84s 5spd which now rub but look and handle really good.

darkside

Your getting it... Manipulate it some to get exactly what you want. I probably spent about 2 hours getting it how i liked. After you get the shape you like trim off what you don't need and make the ridge.
Good luck man I think you'll get it.

OBehave

Ahhh I see,I wasn't sure if I was supposed to remove material or not.What did you make your lip out of? Round bar,tube stock,bent sheet metal????
I also forgot the 1 step which is grind away old paint and bondo first and don't forget the underside of the fender too!!It's not that easy to grind after making all those slices,kind of flexi.

Ragnar Joensen

I am not a welding kind of guy, but I have seen some work done. In order to obtain an arc line that is "controlable" and durable, You may want to use a solid 1/4" steel bar, bend it into the shape that You want the arc to be, anchor it in the front, and in the back if possible, and weld the cut-out tongues and filler prieces onto this solid bar.

See the attached picture for clarification. The solid bar is red on the picture. The car on the picture ended up with 18" X 12½" wheels IIRC.

Either way, best of luck with Your project.


Ragnar

OBehave

So the 1/4" bar is the fender lip?Did the flare transition look or feel flat spotted?I ask only because there are so few slices in the fender I was wondering if it squares it off some.Any more pics?Thanks,Ed.

belgiumbarry

why all that work? cut away the metal "in the way" and rivet the 928M wide body kit . It won't come cheaper , easyer and if a damage ... just rivet another one...

mark kibort

and those look so good too!

mk

mark kibort

Lets see some pic's of the front fenders! what is the plan there?

Also, it might be better to bolt on the big wheels and tires on the rear while you are sizing things up.

mk

Glenn M

Kevin Michael has used a front fender grafted onto the rear to create a nice flare. Maybe he will pipe in.

Glenn

OBehave

I thought I read that somewhere but I couldn't find the thread of the actual mod.I plan on doing the slice cut along the top of the fender and pull out and add a pie shape filler.Although I might try the same method I'm doing in the rear on one of the front fenders of the parts car just for informations sake.

dr bob

O,

Remember that the front fenders ar aluminum, and that's a lot of welding to stitch up all those wedges. I suspect I'd be more likely to widen the fender in the front by adding a spacer strip down the middle of the horizontal top section. Wedged at the ends so the back end still meets the door and the front can still join the bumper.

For you guys thinking of doing this-- Get all the crud, undercoating, paint, etc off the metal before you start cutting. Easy to do with the metal relatively smooth and intact, a real chore after it's sliced up like this. All that junk on there makes it tough to get a clean weld on steel. For the aluminum front fenders, cleanliness is an absolute requirement for welding. No forgiveness!!

OBehave

Well heres some more pics after a little dolly work and the wheel and tire I am using.The only problem is that I have 21mm spacers on my red car which I plan to use but this car has short studs so you don't get the full effect.The ride height is clos to 30" at the lower part of the door handle which is were my other car is at. Time for a
P.S I think I will grind off all the paint and crap and start welding up some of the pieces to get a better look at the big picture.