So I bought a set of fiberglass flares. I have seen a few flares done with rivots. Also I've seen some with an allen head bolt/nut combo. What have you done? I am going to go with a 2 tone look & have my flares blacked out on my orange v8 914. I'd like some pics of yours & how you did your install if possible. Thanks

Big head(1/2 inch) pop head rivets.
Drill the right size hole & have at it.
I've bought/sent the proper rivets to a few 914 fellas if you can't find any.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/hapages/camloc4002.php

Dzus fasteners. Pics in my blog, but I can you you better ones if you need them.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?aut...blogid=383&

Dion

Nice car Dion & a perfect example to give me. I think my orange is pretty close to yours. What did you put on the lip of the flare all the way around?

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...hl=bolt++flares

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...hl=bolt++flares

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...taching++flares

Theres a blue car that comes to mind. He attached his flares with panhead allen bolts and inset them. It looked great.

Randals looks nice. Still looking for the other blue car.

Thanks. Actually, it's guards red, but does look kind of orangish. That beading around the lip is good ol fashioned VW Bug fender welding. My first car didn't have that with the bolt on flares, but I like the look better on a street car.

Dion

Sorry . It's so dang hard to distinguish red in pics. Depending on the light it is even harder. I guess mine is closer to Phoenix red than guards red. Still I thank you for the picture. I think I will go with the bug welting also. I also plan to keep my flares black. I dig orange & black! Yeah I am an Oregon State Beaver fan & that just happens to be our colors .

The other benefit to the rivet on flares is if I decide to go to metal flares later. There is still enough metal there to work with. My flares should be here wednesday

Yes. there should be plenty of extra material for metal flares. I've had the same thought, but I gotta tell you, unbolting the flares and working on the suspension pieces or brakes is very nice without flares in the way!

Dion

Better pic.....

Click to view attachment

Hey Dion what rockers are those? Also what DZUS fasteners did you use?

I had never been a fan of the glass flares because I've seen a lot of pics of them cracking at the bond point... but I gotta tell ya, I'm digging the rivited look, especially for a track car.
Jamie.. I think the DZUS (black a possibility?) on black flares with black welting on you orange car will look awesome! I'm thinking DZUS like Dion said, for the usability.

What kind of Dzus fasteners are they?

I was thinking flairs but I as going towards Tangerine Racing flairs.

I also like the look with the fendor welt, but I wouldn't do rivets. They would be a pain in the ass. Aluminum and steel don't like each other side by side, especially when there is moisture involved. Not to mention drilling them out when you need to take a flare off.

I would do dzus or inset allen bolts (may require some additional fiberglass) and weld some nuts on the backside. Make sure that everthing that can get wet will drain well, is properly coated, and you should be good to go.

Jamie, Install like these. Easy and no drilling or welding required...












.

somewhere there's a thread of Dr. Gary's 914 6 with riveted steel flares.

Rothsport installed them and did their typical great job. They look great!

I, on the other hand, installed 'glass ones myself and didn't shape the interior edges (just painted them and riveted them on!) If you don't shape and clean up the interior edges, you'll have the bulging edges like mine. It is a track day car and I don't mind.
Click to view attachment
Rivets are available from Pegasus Racing, BTW Have a couple of bags 'o them!

I really don't plan to take them off to often. I am fine using rivets. I hear you on shaping the inside of the flares so it will sit nice against the fender. I want them to look good but am not expecting great. Still some Dzus fasteners are a apossibility.

Done right, they don't crack. I put an offset in the metal, shrunk it back till the glass was as flush as possible, then used rivets to attach. The DAPO had just set them on and used rivets, only cut one of the original fenders back at all, and not enough at that. Bondo was about an inch thick to hide the rivets, really raised the fender line... (I passed on the Fakes he had on it, with 4-5 lug adapters...)

The secret ingredient is called Vette Adhesive, it's made for bonding glass to metal and it remains a little flexible. Second trick is to make sure the paint for the fenders is mixed with a bit extra plasticizer, so it won't crack either. Mine still look fine after a lot of years as a DD. Still, I did manage to crack one in the garage while moving a rack-mount PC, took a big chunk out right at the seam. 30 lbs concentrated on one corner will do that though...

Mine have been on the car for 5 years like this - no cracks at all. I agree that it is critical that the metal edge is formed to meet the glass flare, and visa versa. The dzus fasteners are good old quarter turn type that are black anodized. The rockers are GT rockers.

Here is a closer pic of the dzus setup including my fender mounted oil cooler for the 3.2.


Dion

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

I glassed mine on. i know you said rivet or bolt, but glassing was not that hard to do.
It only took a weekend , about 5-6 hours a flared to do.
(not including dry time for glass and glazing putty)
Click to view attachment

But I would rivet them next time though
Nice big 1/2 head rivets is what i would use.
I think dzus maybe over kill for flares-do you guys remove your flares that much?

That looks nice!

mine....

They are on with round headed machine screws/nuts, using a rubber washer under the screw head.

Hey Scott any issues with the screws or nuts backing off or becoming loose? Any chance you have a closeup of both the outside & inside?

vw welting and exposed rivets

Click to view attachment

IMHO, I would so much rather do this welting and rivet version than molding in way..

Ive done the molding way... I hated it and you second guess yourself the whole time.

I will do the VW melting. Stuff is cheap & I like the look of it. It also looks like it will give a little. Making the shaping of the backside a little easier.

d914 man you weren't shy with rivets. Definately doesn't look like it is going anywhere though. I was hoping to space them out a little further. I was thinking like 6" between? How does that sound?

Be careful on the spacing unless you want that look. I've had two 914s like this, and the first had them spaced closer. It was a PAIN removing all of the dzus fasteners when I did want to remove the flares, and that was a dedicated autocross car where that happened a lot. I thought I needed extra strength for some reason, but with the spacing I have now, I can sit on these flares with no issues. If I were to build another dedicated race car, I'd have just enough fasteners to hold it on the car at speed, and that's it. My Formula Vee had 4 dzus fasteners to hold the entire body on.

d914 looks like a part off of an airplane.

DionClick to view attachment

I ordered the vw welting. What do you use to cut the fender? Sawzall? Skill saw?

Is there a specific blade you use?

How much metal do you leave to bond the fender with the rivets?

I think I will be measuring & cuting this weekend. Do you use tape & cut through the tape?

Little jig saw with an 18t metal blade and the line taped you are cutting so it doesn't chip the gell coating. That should keep a pretty clean line.



I haven't bonded glass flares in years. They are really time consuming to get right, more so than steel flares. If I ever did glass flares again, I would bolt or rivet them on with the VW welting. It looks agressive and can look really good if some time is spent on the edges and lines.