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Posted by: joea9146 Oct 23 2003, 01:22 PM

I have seen some pictures of 914's with Screw on Flares.
Is that a special flare that is designed to screw on... What is the material
is it FG? What is the fit like ? Anyone have close up pictures of what this looks like and
what is the process to install ?

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 23 2003, 01:26 PM

just generic FG-GT flares. someone was either too lazy to glass them in or they like the looks of it ...

when you glass in flares, you actually screw (or rivet) them on first (with glue between the flare and the body), then, when the glue has dried, you remove the screws or drill out the rivets and then glass over on the outside, smooth and finish ...

Andy

Posted by: Air_Cooled_Nut Oct 23 2003, 01:30 PM

Joe, I love your avitar. Please don't ever change it.

JUBBLIES!

Posted by: Scott Carlberg Oct 23 2003, 01:44 PM

for the 3rd time!

Posted by: synthesisdv Oct 23 2003, 01:47 PM

its not just laziness. On alot of racecars, makes it easier to repair. And we repair bodywork alot.

dr

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 23 2003, 02:01 PM

ok, ok, it's only the lazy racers then ...

Posted by: BravoHotel Oct 23 2003, 02:01 PM

you mean like this?...


I think it looks COOL!


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Posted by: john rogers Oct 24 2003, 11:23 AM

I pop riveted mine on the race car so I can get them off to replace one easily if it needs replacing. Much easier than having to cut it off, redo the bondo, etc, of cource if I had the facilities like Brumos does I would glass them on. I used ones from Jim Patrick like in the picture posted above and they fit great.

Posted by: Scott Schroeder Oct 24 2003, 11:36 AM

Lazy?
I seem to recall it taking me quite a while to get all of the flanges shaped the same and to get the flare to lay flat on the car without adhesives and rivets. I was actually pretty surprised at how poor the fit was out of the box. I am sure they are all this way as I ordered two flairs from Performance, one from Pelican and one from GT racing because of inventory issues.
As well, my car came out the way I wanted it - nothing lazy about that...


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Posted by: joea9146 Oct 24 2003, 11:47 AM

Scott.... or anyone else have any close up shots of the fenders.
Also any in progress shots and how the fenders are finsihed under the flare.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Oct 24 2003, 11:51 AM

Hum.. Mr. Patrick's main hoop is not LEGAL. His helmet is even with the top of it. Nice car however.

I think Andy's choice of words (lazy) was a little harsh. But Andy's english is mostly learned from this site...LOL

B

Posted by: Dave_Darling Oct 24 2003, 11:57 AM

Screw on flares? The main problem with that is that they keep cracking... I mean, they're not designed to support the weight of two people!!!

--DD

Posted by: Randal Oct 24 2003, 12:01 PM

I used the Patrick Racing flares, bumpers and valances on my 914. If you are seriously considering going down this path I have some hard learned advice that will make the process much less frustrating.


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Posted by: seanery Oct 24 2003, 12:05 PM

Share it Brother!

Posted by: joea9146 Oct 24 2003, 12:11 PM

Randal:
Definetly interested in what you have to offer from past experinece....
I love the look of your car do you have any other pictures

Posted by: J P Stein Oct 24 2003, 12:14 PM

Joe:
Are finally gonna put some tire under that thing?

I like that look also....but they'd look better in primer

Posted by: john rogers Oct 24 2003, 01:03 PM

Jim caught a lot of heat about his helmet sticking above the roll cage and has corrected that. He couldn't get the seat any lower and he had to replace/modify the cage loops. And then he sold the car to a shorter driver and it didn't matter!!

Posted by: tdgray Oct 24 2003, 01:08 PM

LMFAO

I had to read that twice to get it .... man am I ready for 5 pm

Posted by: Brad Roberts Oct 24 2003, 01:09 PM

JohnR,

What are you working on right now ?? Are you kicking everyones ass in HSR West ??


B

Posted by: Randal Oct 24 2003, 01:26 PM

OK, but I have strong opinions on this subject, which won’t be seen as PC.

Being a novice fabricator I didn’t even attempt to install the Patrick Racing flares/front bumper/valances. But knowing what I learned from the process, i.e., (first) going to the wrong people, the easiest, least stressful and most financially prudent approach - to get it done right the first time out of the box - is to have Tony at TC Design put them on.

Alternatively tow your vehicle down to Phoenix and have Jim Patrick install them.

Either of these two approaches will make you a lot happier and again, from my view, there is nothing like a road trip as compared to a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

However, if you’re a competent body fabricator and are going to do the work yourself, here are some issues:

First the basics: Recognize that putting the entire package on the car is more art than science. Even Tony at TC Design, who absolutely knows what he is doing, noodled on the front bumper and valances (a lot) before beginning the exercise.

Also he didn’t install them separately as per conventional wisdom. He did a lot of cutting and shaping and made the front one piece by pop riveting the bumper and valance together. It did come out nice as all his work.

The second thing to note is that putting the flares on the car has a difficulty of say 1. Matching the flares to the bottom valance changes this difficulty to 3. Matching the bottom valance to the front and rear bumper/valances changes the difficulty to 6.

If you move anything it affects the fit of another piece. Not easy stuff.

The flares can fit nice, but you need to get the “new” trimming instructions from Jim Patrick. They helped. BTW Jim communicates well and provides as much information as he can, but there are no written instruction.

Also to do the job you’ll need to get a set of cleco fasteners and pliers. These fasteners hold the flare/bumper/valance on temporarily when you making adjustments.

I also believe the only way to ensure that everything fits correctly is to mock up the entire project (cleco fasteners) to see that everything is perfect. The added wrinkle is that d-zus fastners will end up holding the front bumper and valances; getting these integrated into the mock up is challenging.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Oct 24 2003, 01:48 PM

I recall the first phone call from Tony on your flares:

I said to him "let me guess, they dont fit worth a shit" Tony: "howd you guess".

The world would be a much better place if Roger Sheridan bought ALL the fiberglass companies and re-made the moulds.

Roger's history: I wanted Fiberglass parts that fit, so I built my own moulds and my own parts out of much better materials than any current supplier uses.

I personally dont understand why we put up with such CRAP pieces from these people.


B

Posted by: Mueller Oct 24 2003, 02:03 PM

'cause it's for a race car !?!?!?

Posted by: joea9146 Oct 24 2003, 02:05 PM

JP

Yea I am getting the bug to do something.... not sure If I should take a BFH
and start banging away
or a more sublte approach... and screw on some glass. I like the look of both
Maybe not the preimer look but I do like the 2 tone look with the bolt on fenders.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Oct 24 2003, 02:06 PM

So.. the words "race car" give business' the right to make shitty products that dont fit ?? How about we raise the bar a little and complain.


B

Posted by: joea9146 Oct 24 2003, 02:09 PM

Brad

Are there any Fiberglass parts that fit better than others or are they
all pretty bad...... do they all come from the same source.
Who would you get ur parts from ?

Posted by: Brad Roberts Oct 24 2003, 02:11 PM

I buy from Roger Sheridan if we are doing a race car. He doesnt make GT flares however. He offers complete kits and some individual pieces.

B

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 24 2003, 02:12 PM

two words:

Roger Sheridan

Posted by: Randal Oct 24 2003, 02:13 PM

"I personally dont understand why we put up with such CRAP pieces from these people."

Thanks to Brad I found Tony.

But I still think it would be great to have a vendor rating system, based upon member votes.

BTW where does someone find Roger (better late than never) - I might be going to f/g doors.

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 24 2003, 02:13 PM

i'm sure if there was enough demand one could convince him to get into flare-making as well

Andy

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 24 2003, 02:16 PM

http://www.ultimate914.com

Posted by: Brad Roberts Oct 24 2003, 02:16 PM

Here you go:

http://www.ultimate914.com/MOTORSPORTS_WE/Sheridan_Motox.html


B

Posted by: Steve Oct 24 2003, 02:55 PM

I bought a set of fiberglass rear flairs from AIR.
There fiberglass does require fitting.
I am lazy and just riveted them on without any fitting.
You can see slight openings in some spots between the flair and the car.
The deluxe paint job is courtesy of pep boys spray cans.
I didn't bother flairing the front since I didn't want to run anything bigger than 205's anyway.
In the rear I'm now running 245-45-16" tires.
They do a good job of keeping my 3.2 motor to the ground.

regards,

Steve

Posted by: synthesisdv Oct 24 2003, 03:51 PM

the guys at air cooled racing have a few differnet widths, styles of flares. The rears actually extend to the lower edge of the rocker, covering the stock rocker area.

I don't know if they make these themselves or source them from someone else.

dr

http://www.aircooledracing.com/


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Posted by: seanery Oct 24 2003, 03:58 PM

those look similar to sheridan's "standard" body rears