Fabbing 1g widebody front fenders?

[eclipsh]

Well, I took a road trip to Grand Junction on Wednesday and picked up a body kit, and a freebie stock 1gb front bumper cover and fender. The fender has a few dents in the front that I'll have to work around for the molds but I am at least a little closer to my goal.

I've been playing with design ideas too. The lousy drawing below is an attempt at explaining my most recent thoughts. I'd like to set the fender up so it channels some of the outgoing air down the hollow where the door trim goes right now and then back into a rear fender cover that would go over the cabin vents and up into a rear spoiler replacement.

I have seven weeks left until graduation and then I'll be getting to work on shaping this fender and getting rolling on molds and supplies.

 

[SpooledGSX98]

Personally I think that widebody's should try to still flow with the stock body lines, but to each his own.

This Supra here at work sports HRE 19x15's in the rear with 355/35/19 tires. You can see how the stock body-lines were kept in mind while making the kit.

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[11secDSM]

^^Did that car ever sell?


I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but why don't you try going with a Porsche 944/951 style flare. They already sell the fiberglass kits for those so it wouldn't be too much work to get it adapted to fit our cars. Plus, they have perfect lines for the boxyness of ours cars.

 

[eclipsh]

Personally I think that widebody's should try to still flow with the stock body lines, but to each his own.

I fully intend to accent the stock lines as much as possible. As described in the above post I am trying to incorporate the side trim channel (with trim removed) into the fender work. I will also be looking into incorporating the rear deck spoiler after I make the front sets.

I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but why don't you try going with a Porsche 944/951 style flare. They already sell the fiberglass kits for those so it wouldn't be too much work to get it adapted to fit our cars. Plus, they have perfect lines for the boxyness of ours cars.

Thanks for the suggestion. I kooked at a few different styles of the 944 and I like what they've done but they are a bit too angular. I want to accentuate what little "curveyness" our cars have.

 

[THE REAL DEAL]

Personally I think that widebody's should try to still flow with the stock body lines, but to each his own.

This Supra here at work sports HRE 19x15's in the rear with 355/35/19 tires. You can see how the stock body-lines were kept in mind while making the kit.

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isn't that guy from tucson? i remember that thing from a few years ago. i always thought that blue was just primer.

 

[11secDSM]

It was primer. He had if for sale with the intention of letting the new owner choose the paint color.

 

[SpooledGSX98]

I work with the owner, yes he's from tucson, yes the blue was primer. but its about ready to get paint as we speak.

 

[Dorifto]

Anyone thought about using body parts / designs from Starions/Conquests?

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I can see a lot of 1Ga/b in there.

 

[DarthBulk]

Now THAT I could do with sheet metal! Actually, I was considering just modifying the existing 1G fenders by cutting along the seam where it transitions from the vertical side to the horizontal top edge and welding in a filler strip, basically pushing the entire fender out. That way the stock fender flare is still intact. The car is just wider. The difficulty would be in blending the front and rear portions back into the car lines.

 

[eclipsh]

The Starion flares are too angular for my tastes. Like I stated above, I'd prefer something smoother that accentuates the few curves or cars have.

 

[roadrunner2176]

eclipsh
Your drawing for your fender flares wont be that hard to dublicate on your fender. You might run into a problem with your marker lights, having to either notch the flare for them, or make a short buldge there. Either way, it wouldnt be that hard.
Im still working on the right up for the flares. If I would have taken pictures when I did them, this would have taken no time.


DarthBulk
Cutting the fender and pushing it out would cause alignment issuse. The sheet metal would have to be stretched for any flare to form. After being rolled, you would still need a piece of sheet metal to fill in the seam you cut as well as another piece to fill in between the seam and the face of the fender. Hard to explain, but when you push the fender out you would be pushing it away from the body at the same time pushing it forward of the seam leaving you with 3 seams to repair, one being a right angle.

 

[DarthBulk]

eclipsh
Your drawing for your fender flares wont be that hard to dublicate on your fender. You might run into a problem with your marker lights, having to either notch the flare for them, or make a short buldge there. Either way, it wouldnt be that hard.
Im still working on the right up for the flares. If I would have taken pictures when I did them, this would have taken no time.


DarthBulk
Cutting the fender and pushing it out would cause alignment issuse. The sheet metal would have to be stretched for any flare to form. After being rolled, you would still need a piece of sheet metal to fill in the seam you cut as well as another piece to fill in between the seam and the face of the fender. Hard to explain, but when you push the fender out you would be pushing it away from the body at the same time pushing it forward of the seam leaving you with 3 seams to repair, one being a right angle.

I think you misunderstood what I said. I would cut the fender, move the outer portion out as far as I want, and then weld in a filler piece along the seam I cut. There is NO rolling of anything or stretching of anything required with this method. I would not be replacing or reshaping the fender flare in any way. As I said, it would require blending of the front and rear portions of the fender back into the body.
I am no stranger to sheet metal work on cars. This is just an idea I have been debating, to try and fit my 17x9's under the flare better.

 

[roadrunner2176]

DarthBulk

Where would you be making your seam cut? The length of the fender, heigth of the fender, or both?

I probably misunderstood you, but your not making yourself very clear. Just pushing something out means that the sheet metal will be pulling in other places unless it is stretched, or relieved by cutting and welding a bunch of stress reliefs. Unless your planning on putting in a piece of sheetmetal that is not straight to fill your seams.

 

[DarthBulk]

I guess I didn't explain my idea very well, sometimes I have a clear picture in my head but don't put it into words that well What I would do is cut the fender somewhere along the top edge, lengthwise, parallel to the gap between the hood and fender. There is no clear transition line here, I know that. I would choose a place to make the cut where I believe it would be easiest to fill in the seam with a strip of metal. I would not simply "push the fender out". After making this cut, I would have the entire fender detached from the car, and move the entire fender, intact, outwards. Then I would fabricate new attachment points, and weld in a fabricated strip along the cut I made parallel to the hood/fender gap. I realize I would also have to modify the inner wheel well to accommodate this, and then blend the front and rear portions of the fender back into the body lines. I would not modify the stock shape of the fender flare around the tire.

 

[eclipsh]

That would be stupid easy to do with fiberglass and a mold. I may just do exactly that with a few simple additions.

 

[DarthBulk]

Cool, I would like to see some pictures if you do

 

[eclipsh]

Well, school is out (forever!) so I got started on my fender design. Here's what's cookin' so far. I changed the line on the rear of the fender so I popped the blocks out and replaced them. They weren't quite ready to grind down when I took the pictures.

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The section popping out where the side trim goes is supposed to stay something like how it is now. I intend to channel air from the fender well down the side of the car through the trim channel and into a back fender flare. It probably won't do much but I like the effect.

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Looks like I've got a new sponsor. I'm driving a Foamula car

 

[eclipsh]

Here it is roughed out with bondo. It needs a lot of sanding but I wanted to get it painted to see what I thought of the shape. I'd be happy to receive any constructive feedback you all have. Right now the flare adds 1.25" out past the original fender. I can still add more.

I think it really needs a bumper extension but I will wait on that.

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[gma0408]

its gettin there...

 

[RipperXX]

At least someone is trying to do something with it. Which I am very glad to see.


And you know I honestly dont see why our car's are not more populer. There affordable, have great potential, and well I duno with there potential I just have I hard time understanding why so many people want to rice out a econo box vs having something that can really give V8's a run for there money.

 

[eclipsh]

I was hoping for something a little more constructive What do you like/ate etc. about it?

After a long discussion about fabricating whole fenders I've decided to make this a shell that can be glassed onto the fender instead. It will allow people to adjust how far the flare sticks out and how they blend the lines into the fender. Plus it will make them affordable. Any thoughts on that?

 

[JOEY A]

So....Anymore progress?

 

[eclipsh]

More progress? WTF I just posted those pictures up two days ago and I've gotten no feedback on the design yet. I'd like at least some before I make the molds as they will require a lot of work and are not easy to change after making them.

Regardless, I'll need to wait a few more days before I can start working on the mold just due to my being busy this weekend. In the meantime I could sure use some constructive criticism on the design. Hell, if the advice is good I'll even knock some cost off the flares for that poster if they want to buy a set.

 

[mavisky]

It's a little hard to see the work due ot the black paint. It would also be nice to see a straight on shot from the front to compare one side to the other.

 

[RipperXX]

I would also like to see a shot of the face.

just me but I would rather have a whole fender... but does depends on price. Again though I pat you on the back for a good job!