More on flares

[dscoff]

After more f'ing around with the fronts (well, the left front at least) I determined that the peak of the fender above the headlight was at least 1/2" too short (as in the section between the turn signal and where the fender contacts the front clip). My plan is to get the front sorted out and work towards the rear where there's less intricate fit issues, so I needed to fix this first.

Because it's a fairly basic shape (more or less a 90 degree corner with no compound curves) I made an small exterior form with some 2X4 chunks, a little foam, plastic sheeting for releasing and a couple of F-clamps. If it were a more complicated part I think it would have been more appropriate to make a plug with foam from the original fender and proceed from there.

Anyway, the 'glass is curing right now so we'll see how she looks in about an hour. Because of the fit issues with this piece I've been thinking about Kristian's method of bonding 'glass flares to steel flanges but also seriously considering fabricating flared steel fenders from a second set if I can find them. Has anyone really gone to town with one of those fender-rolling tools (the ones that bolt to the hub and have a threaded roller so you can progressively increase the amount of flare)? The other steel method would be to make a flare out of sheet metal and weld it on, but I think surpasses my welding capability.

As for the rears, I'm pretty much ready to go! Just waiting for the rivets to arrive (same as Kristian, 1/8" countersunk pop rivets) then it's go time with the recip saw!

Jonathan

PS: I know the car looks high in the rear with these flare, but it's sitting on stock springs... not for long though.

[dhs]

I have experience with creating flares for my car but it is Matt McGinn of SCR in Connecticut who really was the one who made it possible to do the flares. He has extensive experience in creating and putting on flares. I can try to answer some of your questions.

There is not enough metal to stretch the fender out to the 'alpina' shape in a standard flare. Also, as you stretch the metal, it distorts down stream of that area so you wind up with a junk fender. The technique that was developed by Matt was to put a fabricated flare fitted to a fender with 85% of the fender cut away. So the fender 'frame work' did not have the distortion from the creation of the flare and when all welded up it became one solid piece that was able to be fit to the car.

I can 100% say it is not an easy job to create them and it is a time consuming job to put them on 'right'. BUT they are metal sooooo I started out with fiberglass and wound up with metal, so I know where you are coming from with.

Matt at SCR used to be willing to sell the flares to people who would then install them. I don't know if he would still do that because of the complexity of the installation job.

[KB73]

Here's how I resolved the rear slice in the back fender. I'll use rivets along the top edge on the inside (I can't weld upside down without flaming balls of metal landing on me), then hit everything with seam sealer.