I'm considering doing a wide arch conversion to my fourteen and was weighing up the options.

Does anyone have pictures of the 914 with Rabbitt (Golf) flares?

Ideally I'm looking to get 17 x 7 or 8 at the front and 17 x 8 or 9 in the rear.

I remember seeing those somewhere...

Does anyone have any finished car pics?

This isn't bad looking.

I have pics (it was done by my business partners body shop), but I dont have access to them right this minute. Give me a few hours today and I will locate them.

B

Ok.. here is where Jason got the idea: This is Cockroach.Ed and Jan Mayo's autoX car that was built orginally by Rich Lambert. The pic was taken at the 1999 Mid US Ramble. Jason's "painted" pics are on another computer to far away from me right now to get them. I thought I had posted them on Pelican..but cant seem to find them.

Jason and I test fitted a 17x9 under the flare (Porsche 993 stock rear wheel) It looks awesome and will work very well. The car has a killer updated look to it without being gawdy. It looks normal. All Euro built cars use a round fenderwell lip mounted high the body. Jason opted to have these mounted higher on the car to give a lower looking stance.. it worked.

B

so, Brad, I've got 951 fuch's 8's for the front and some of TRE's 16x9's that look like 10's, he builds these from 2 16x6's, for the rear.

Do you think they'll fit?
Track car, I wanna run 225/245 fronts and 245/265 rears, any problems?

thanks all, this looks like an intersting way to get steel.

I know which wheels the TRE's are. We have not checked the rear yet on Jason's car. The key behind using these flares: they are everywhere in the junkyards. Jason paid 20$ for them from Pick-A-Part. I personally would cheat and not weld them on, but instead use the plastic black strip they normally have covering them. The black plastic screws to the steel and covers it.... Sooo you could just skip the steel and cut your fenders for the plastic pieces and just screw them on (the screws go underneath and would not be seen)

B

What years will work?

Is it rabbit/gti - 85 ?
golf/git 86-92 ?

hey man, can you change your avatar?

It's making me think about Sheridan's narrow body too much!

That is Sheridans WIDE body..LOL

I dont recall the years.. I'll ask Jason.

B

Guys,

Thanks for the pictures so far, if there is any chance of posting any more pictures with rear arches/side/front/rear angles would be great.

Rabbit (Golf over here) arches should be easy to come by as they are/were common place in the UK. That is unlike the 914, were we only have about 200 cars in any condition.

Cheers

Crawf

Crawf,

I'll have some more pictures for you later today. I'm making the owner go out to his garage and shoot some pics for me.

B

Cheers for your help Brad, now that's what I call service. Now what's all this about you being an a-hole?

Just a thought. What do you think about using the plastic that runs across the bottom on the 90 and later VWs. It fits on to the bottom part of the plastic flare. I have a 91 jetta and Brads idea of using the plastic sounds really good. Of course you would have to shorten it some.

Also if you just smoothed out the plastic and painted it I think it would look pretty good.

Cheers for all the info so far.

Brad - is there any news on the further pictures yet?

Am I right in saying that these are mk1 rabbit flares? 76-83, are they off the GTI or any rabbit. I'm gonna go to a breakers and have a hunt around so I need some help in what I'm looking for. Also as mentioned before I was looking to fit 7.5x 17 (f) and 9x 17 ®, I am planning on doing a five lug conversion and wanted to know what offset/backspacing and wheel options were best for this scenerio.

Crawf

btw. jason used the front rabbit flares all around.
they have a smoother arch, the back one's looked kind of funky.

sooo, front rabbit flares for all 4 corners ...
looks great!

brad, where are the pics ????

Andy

Jason hasnt shot the new pics. The ones I shot are sitting on a computer in Scott Yeamans garage collecting dust. I need to get the computer from Scott. We have the suspension off of Jason's car for the conversion to 5 lug so.. you dont have a good reference for the pics.

I spoke with Jason about 30 minutes ago and he said he didnt know what year the car was that he pulled them from.

B

I found 'em.

Part 2

Let's try adding the pic this time....


Part 2 take 2

Last one...

Thanks Chris,

for all the response it received, I was HOPING somebody downloaded the pics.

The pics dont do it justice. It really came alive when we fit 17X9 993 wheels/tires on the front and rear. The 17's fit the new wheel arches perfectly. Really brought a modern look to a car with classic lines.

B

That last shot ROCKS. Damn I'm good. (I shot the pics at the body shop)

Wait until we get the car rolling on the 17's. Brings a whole new meaning to the words "bad ass 914"

B

OKAY OKAY!!! I'll take pictures!!! Can't a guy have some time to do Tai Chi?? Give me some time and I'll wipe the three inches of dust off the car and snap a few for you guys. It's still gonna look kinda funky since I still have cookie cutters on the car as she sits now, but for what it's worth the paint looks killer! Thanks Scott! As for the year of the Rabbit which I cut these flares off of I couldn't tell you. All I can say is that most (if not all) years of the VW rabbit share the same flares. Some have different types of plastic or AL moulding on them, but the shape underneath is the same. As Brad noted, the shape of the flares from the front to the rear of any one rabbit are a bit different. This is because the fender curves differently on the front of the car than it does on the rear, so if you try and spot weld these differently curved flares to the comparatively flat fender of the 914, the fronts will fit well and the rears will distort and not following the roundness of the tire, which is important only aesthetically.

Jason

Damn! too slow I guess. At least I don't need to take any picts now.

Found 2 more. Yeah I bet with some bigger meats under there it will look great

Now if you could just channel all your Tai chi friends into coming over and helping you finish the car.... LOL

Sell the Jeep. Sell the Jeep (both of them) Free up space/money.


Sell the Jeep.


Come to the light...


B

This should complete the thread.

You don't want to meet my Tai Chi friends, they're almost more goofy than my 914 friends... BRAD! LOL.

Oh and I WILL NEVER SELL MY JEEPS! When war breaks out and we all need to fend for ourselves, we'll see who's laughing!

J/K

I wont need a Jeep. (especially a 1941 Willy's) I have already dug a hole in the side of the hill behind my house.


I hear you. I used to tell Lyressa and myself: "I will NEVER sell this one".. total bullshit. They are inanimate objects that can be replaced at any time in life. This came to me when I lost my first 914 to that guy who will get a bullet in his leg one day. I'll find another yellow 1971 914 when the time is right.

B

Yes but you will never find a yellow 914 that's been through a war and back.

Awe Heck. Let's forget our differences and have a drink:

Brad Jay

Once again thanks for all the info, I'll do the 4 to 5 lug conversion in the next month and then it's on to the flares. I'll post some pictures as I'm going, now it's time to find some suitable alloys.

Crawf

Crawf,

Did the pics help ?? Lord knows we went through heel getting them..LOL

B

Brad

Yep the pics helped big time, in a way it was good to see the car with the 15 inch Fuchs as that is what my car has and helps put the arch size in perspective.

I'm planning on doing this in conjunction with my friend who runs a body shop and it depends when he has space - hopefully within the next month or 2.

This site is v. useful as there are so many knowledgeable 914 people here. We have a 914 registrar meet this weekend I'll mention this site to them.

Cheers

Paul

Are these flares cut off from a junkyard rabbit or aftermarket units?

Are they steel? I remember some that were plastic material, and screwed to the wheel well/fender. Am I high?

those are steel. old fender cut out and then welded in.
he got them from the junk-yard ...

looking good, eh?

Andy

Dave, I think on the GTIs there was a little black fender extender, or maybe the lip was just covered in some sort of black stuff. These were steel and IIRC they were purchased from a boneyard. I've had my eye on this project... looks pretty cool.

I can't tell if you're high from here either by the way...

OOps! SirAndy beat me to the punch!

Here is the key: Some of them did have the plastic..but guess what it covered ?? It covered what you see here. Jason has the plastic that came off of these. Luckily the plastic screws in from the inside lip of the steel flare.

Glad we could help Paul. The new classified are in place and the European comunity will have a place to put their ads next Monday. We will go live with the classifieds this weekend (Feb 1st).

B

There's actually quite a few different trim pieces that were made for the rabbit. There was both a very small metal trim peice, and a couple of differnt plastic trim peices. The metal version was VERY small (natural aluminum color) and it covered only about 1 inch of the lip, of the flare. There were three different plastic versions. One was black and covered 95% of the flare, then there was one that was smooth and painted to match which was also 95%, lastly there was a very small platic trim peice like that seen on some of the 1980's style 911's, it was only on the rear flares and it was only on the leading edge, black in color.

Jay

Question about installation for those who've done it. . .

How much of the Rabbit fender do you need? Is it similar to the factory M471 kits? Leave a couple inches 'round the edges?

Also, on istallation, do you cut exact and booty weld them in? Or do you overlap the flares on and lap weld them?

Ed Mayo's racecar looks like it has 16x7 fuchs on it. . . were there spacers involved there? Or was it bolted right up. . . I just got a set of 16x7's and would like to run 225/50's on them w/ a cheap set of flares. . . of course, by the time I calculate time spent . . . welding them in, it'd have been cheaper to buy a set of fiberglass fenders. . . oh well, work harder, not smarter .

-'Chung

225's on a 7x16 is too wide IMO
The tire will flex all over the rim when sideloaded
The grip you think you will gain with the 225's over 205's is lost in the deflection of the tire
I'd even dare to state that it handles worse with 225's than with 205's

YMMV...

Jeroen

i dare to object
i run 225/50 x 15 on my 7" and they fit perfectly. even under heavy side-load ...

mhmmm, i don't have a closeup foto of the tires, that's the best i can get:



Andy

Interesting. . .

From looking at the tire specs, seems 225 is pretty standard on a 7" rim. Most tires seem to specify 6"-8" rims so I'm cutting it right down the middle w/ the 7" fuchs. Tread width is 7.9" on the bridgestone Potenza's. I've got 215/40 R16's on there right now, and they look like they could stand to come out 10mm no problem. Street car. . . a little extra rim protection is not a bad thing for me.

These just need to get the car on the road and hold me over 'til the fiberglass and 345/35 15's go on the back Already have the rims and tires for that. . . just can't afford the body panels just yet.

-'Chung

911's with 6's and 7's had 225's on the rears, right?

My 86 951 had 205's on 7's and 225's on 8's (FUCHS), I plan on running at least a 225 on the front of the 914 with the 8's from the 951.