Fender flares
Posted: 19 Mar 2012 23:22
Hi all,
My TR7V8 project has progressed. Engine and drivetrain is complete. No I am onto body work. I put on larger wheels and the rear arches look way out of proportion. I started looking to buy a set of fiberglass flares. However, I really didn't like any of the rally ones available. They were either too wide (I am only looking for a one inch extension) or just plain ugly (to my eyes).
I did order a spoiler and front flares from Robsport. Have to say that I wasn't overly pleased with the fit or finish of either ones. The front spoiler fit after I added a 1/2inch spacer in the middle when I joined it up again where they cut it for shipping. It might have been able to spring out, but I hate it being under tension.
The front flares really don't fit very well at all. I'd have to stretch them at least 1.5" at the bottoms to get them to fit and even them I probably would have to do some major modifications to get them to fit snugly. Oh well. The joys of living on the west side of the Atlantic.
Mike Perkins, who is building a lovely rally semi-replica to run in the Targa Newfoundland rally, has a set of "narrow forest" rear flares that he got from a gent in Belgium, that I really like but doesn't have any spare ones to sell. A pic from Mike:
So finally I decided to make my own ones similar to the narrow forest rear flares. First thing I did was make a template out of cardboard.
When I was happy with the basic shape, I covered it with spray insulating foam to make a plug that I will use to build the flare on.
Then I trimmed the foam to shape.
Next I covered it in a layer of body filler to make a rigid plug to build on. FYI - I put a layer of masking tape on the car before I foamed it. The whole plug should peel off the car without too much trouble.
I did the same process on the other side of the car yesterday. Tomorrow I will start to sand it to the final shape I want, hence all the plastic to keep the dust to a confined space.
Then it's a heavy coat or two of wax and fiberglass layup. As the flares will be painted to same colour as the finished car, I'm trying to decide if I should just build one set on the plugs and not worry about gel coat, or should build molds off of the plugs and do the layup from the molds. Decisions, decisions.
More pics once the shapes are finalized and ready to fiberglass.
M.
Martin
[url="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BxOL0HRH5pDeNWRlOTVhZjgtMWE1Mi00ZWNiLWE3ZGYtOWNiODU1Y2JjOGQ0&hl=en_GB"]My TR7v8 Document Repository[/url]
My TR7V8 project has progressed. Engine and drivetrain is complete. No I am onto body work. I put on larger wheels and the rear arches look way out of proportion. I started looking to buy a set of fiberglass flares. However, I really didn't like any of the rally ones available. They were either too wide (I am only looking for a one inch extension) or just plain ugly (to my eyes).
I did order a spoiler and front flares from Robsport. Have to say that I wasn't overly pleased with the fit or finish of either ones. The front spoiler fit after I added a 1/2inch spacer in the middle when I joined it up again where they cut it for shipping. It might have been able to spring out, but I hate it being under tension.
The front flares really don't fit very well at all. I'd have to stretch them at least 1.5" at the bottoms to get them to fit and even them I probably would have to do some major modifications to get them to fit snugly. Oh well. The joys of living on the west side of the Atlantic.
Mike Perkins, who is building a lovely rally semi-replica to run in the Targa Newfoundland rally, has a set of "narrow forest" rear flares that he got from a gent in Belgium, that I really like but doesn't have any spare ones to sell. A pic from Mike:
So finally I decided to make my own ones similar to the narrow forest rear flares. First thing I did was make a template out of cardboard.
When I was happy with the basic shape, I covered it with spray insulating foam to make a plug that I will use to build the flare on.
Then I trimmed the foam to shape.
Next I covered it in a layer of body filler to make a rigid plug to build on. FYI - I put a layer of masking tape on the car before I foamed it. The whole plug should peel off the car without too much trouble.
I did the same process on the other side of the car yesterday. Tomorrow I will start to sand it to the final shape I want, hence all the plastic to keep the dust to a confined space.
Then it's a heavy coat or two of wax and fiberglass layup. As the flares will be painted to same colour as the finished car, I'm trying to decide if I should just build one set on the plugs and not worry about gel coat, or should build molds off of the plugs and do the layup from the molds. Decisions, decisions.
More pics once the shapes are finalized and ready to fiberglass.
M.
Martin
[url="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BxOL0HRH5pDeNWRlOTVhZjgtMWE1Mi00ZWNiLWE3ZGYtOWNiODU1Y2JjOGQ0&hl=en_GB"]My TR7v8 Document Repository[/url]
