F'glass Flare Fit, Lip fit under body? Options

[andys]

I was test fitting my f''glass flares on the rear, when I noticed somthing I never gave thought to. The flare has a lip on it that I'm assuming rolls under the body, like in the pic of the front of the flare at its bottom. What are you guys doing to deal with the distinct bump in the line of the body panel along its' lower edge? Any pics of this area would be great. Thanks,

Andys

[andys]

Here's a view from under the car.

Andys

[effutuo101]

My flares are pulled in from the inside of the body and not mounted on top. Then moulded in. i did a quite a bit of triming to get it to work right for what I did. I know a guy who mounted his on the out side with zues fasteners. I will ping him and see what he did.
Chris

[jasons]

I would guess they leave that there so you can get your flares fitted where you want them. Also, no 2 cars are "exactly" alike so they put some slop in there to account for that. Once you get them where you think they should be, I would guess you just trim the excess off.

[tanner]

Duct tape and Bondo LOL, just kidding they have to trimed and fitted to each car

[andys]

QUOTE (tanner @ Sep 12 2005, 08:05 PM)

Duct tape and Bondo LOL, just kidding they have to trimed and fitted to each car

I figured that there'll be some "fitting" necessary, but if the bottom were trimmed flush to the bottom of the existing panel, then you'd also end up trimming away the structural portion of the flare at the wheel opening when extending the line back. This doesn't seem right to me. Anyone with f'glass flares that's mounted a set that can shoot a pic or describe what they did?

Thanks,

Andys

[URY914]

Here is my story...

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=...19&hl=gt+flares

[URY914]

QUOTE (andys @ Sep 13 2005, 07:36 AM)

I figured that there'll be some "fitting" necessary,....

"some fitting" is relative. There WILL be fitting required.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smash.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/sawzall-smiley.gif) will also be needed.

Paul

[andys]

QUOTE (URY914 @ Sep 13 2005, 07:47 AM)

Here is my story... http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=...19&hl=gt+flares

Paul,

Thanks, that's the sort of info I'm looking for. Nice work!

So what did you do with the rolled under portion of the flare. Did you leave it and simply raise it until it lined up with the bottom of the existing panel, or grind it even with it? It's not clear what you did with that on the rears. Also, with regard to the fit of the rear wheels; I see you're running 8" wheels with 225's. How much clearance do you have between the tire and the inner fender? Your post said 1/2" on the outer flare side.

Thanks,

Andys

[URY914]

QUOTE (andys @ Sep 13 2005, 08:16 AM)

So what did you do with the rolled under portion of the flare. Did you leave it and simply raise it until it lined up with the bottom of the existing panel, or grind it even with it? It's not clear what you did with that on the rears. Also, with regard to the fit of the rear wheels; I see you're running 8" wheels with 225's. How much clearance do you have between the tire and the inner fender? Your post said 1/2" on the outer flare side. Thanks, Andys

Whatever doesn't fit right you just trim it off and form it in with f/g mat. All f/g fender need to cut and worked on to get them to fit right.

My offset on my wheels maybe different than yours 'cause I'm using 3/4" spacers to move the wheel out to the fender.

The single most important issue I found is you need install the flares the same on both sides. Check clearances and layout over and over by mocking them up on the body. Find the center of the flare and install it on the center of the wheel opening. And measuere up and down and fore and aft.

P

[andys]

QUOTE (URY914 @ Sep 13 2005, 08:48 AM)

QUOTE (andys @ Sep 13 2005, 08:16 AM) So what did you do with the rolled under portion of the flare. Did you leave it and simply raise it until it lined up with the bottom of the existing panel, or grind it even with it? It's not clear what you did with that on the rears. Also, with regard to the fit of the rear wheels; I see you're running 8" wheels with 225's. How much clearance do you have between the tire and the inner fender? Your post said 1/2" on the outer flare side. Thanks, Andys Whatever doesn't fit right you just trim it off and form it in with f/g mat. All f/g fender need to cut and worked on to get them to fit right. My offset on my wheels maybe different than yours 'cause I'm using 3/4" spacers to move the wheel out to the fender. The single most important issue I found is you need install the flares the same on both sides. Check clearances and layout over and over by mocking them up on the body. Find the center of the flare and install it on the center of the wheel opening. And measuere up and down and fore and aft. P

Paul,

Got it! I was just trying to avoid going in the wrong direction, and learn from other's experiences.

With the wheels, I was more interested in the clearance you have on the inner panel to get a sense for just how much tire will fit the entire space. Yes, my wheel/tire combo is different than yours (255x17 on 9" wide). I measured everything, and it does seem like a rather tight fit.

I set the car level at ride height, and maked the body/fender with a plumb bob centered on the wheel center. I think I'll fit the rockers and rear 916 bumper as references as well.

Thanks,

Andys

[effutuo101]

From my friend Scott in Colorado:
Hi Chris!
I bought the fiberglass GT flares, got them lined up on the car and marked everything. Then I spent a bunch of time on a very large table top drum sander getting the exposed outer edges of all four flares to all be the same shape and as smooth/straight as possible. They all had very different amounts of "over hang" material. I also had to reinforce the rear flares as they seemed to have a slight bow to them. After all of this, I was very pleased with the decision not to bond them to the car as in my opinion they didnt lay nice enough and would have always been under stress.
After they were all cleaned up, I figured out my hardware spacing and mounted them up. I marked the inside lip and cut the body with a jigsaw. I primed, painted and undercoated the exposed metal where I did my cutting and drilling. I painted up the flares and reinstalled them using fender welting from a VW bug. Make sure you get the "heavy duty" fender welting as the bead is bigger.

The hardest part of all of this was the re-shaping of the flair - that took me a good week and a half working after hours at the old Volant Ski plant (we had some coooooool tools). The only thing I wish I would have done different was to bow the flair outward so I could have fit 9" rear wheels.