I know there are a couple older threads but there isn't much in them. I'm getting to the point where I need to start figuring out adding flares to my 86 and curious if anyone lurking around here has fabricated any or have anything to add? I'm not looking for the imsa style widebody, just looking to exaggerate the factory wheel wells as cleanly as possible to cover what I've done

 

Flares are only really required to cover the tires if required. How big are your tires? With proper rims, you can stuff a 10.5" wide tire under the stock fenders.

 

I mini tubbed the car years ago and was running a 12" wheel and 335's on the back and had fit 10.5's on the front.

Since then I've changed everything and my track width is looking to be about 5-6" wider than the factory sheetmetal, maybe more depending on some variables. So on the front at least I'm looking at a 2-3" flare past where the factory wheel lip is located depending on final wheel selection and suspension settings.

 

This was just goofing off and fitting the old 18x12 with a 335/30 on the front to see how it would clear. Surprisingly it fit and cleared everyting except the tie rods when turning but the steering arms need to be shortened anyway. I think this wheel and tire sits 3" past the fender lip but the wheel offset isn't right for the front suspension design

 

I was just about to start a new thread on this, but I'll piggyback on yours and maybe we can get the right info...

My mate sent me a video for flaring "any" guards from Eastwood that made it look super easy if you're willing to cut into the car, and this is what I'm looking at doing.

I have an 85 TransAM with a 4th gen rear in it which already sits a bit out of the guards.
I then have a set of 0 offset (4.5" backspacing) 18x8" rims with 245 55 18 tyres on them and I have the front tyres rubbing on the fender and the rear right fender cutting into the tyre.
I'm planning on doing the Eastwood cut, extend and shut to get the flares over the tyres, but I still need to check if the wheel will have sufficient spoace underneath to clear.

The other issue is, this is happening on the current springs, and I just bought a set of 1.5" lowering springs to bring the ride height down which is going to need even more clearance.

 

Sorry, it's 0 ET /4 .5" Backspacing and 245 x 55 x 18 tyres.

Has anyone actually done the above method before from Eastwood?

The only ones I've found on the forums so far are either bolt on plastic crap or full custom jobs with 100s of hours of work.

 

You can look at my thread "homebrew road racer" here in the fabrication forum. It shows in great detail how I cut and flared the front fenders about 2" per side, maintaining the stock shape of original wheel opening and wheel lip.

 

in finished form

 

I just started doing rear flares because I added a C6 rear suspension/transaxle to my build. I have to use Corvette rear wheels and that requires changing the fender lip height and an extra 1" clearance needed.

 

If you have any pics of the rear fenders as you're cutting them it would be great!
I just want to see what's behind it exactly so I can know what I'm cutting into and how deep I can go without hitting anything I shouldn't.

I found my front tyres are hitting on the rear edge of the wheel well when I'm at about 10-15 degree of turn, so I'd either have to completely rework the front fenders or I was going to try a lower profile tyre for the fronts, and go from 55 to 35 to clear it.

The rear I have to grab the panhard bar to pull them 4th gen rear ends back into even spacing and then get to work on cutting the guards, but as I said, would be great to see some in pgoress pics of a firbird preferably, but any thirdgen to see what it looks like behind the panel.

 

The only behind the fenders is air. The wheel tub in the rear is hemmed at the fender lip. You need to cut that and then flare the fenders and fill in the gap to the inner tub. I would suggest to purchase pre stamped fender flares and weld those. They carry multiple sizes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26427017259...mis&media=COPY

 

Going to bring this one back up. So I've had almost no time to work on this but did get a little experiment started. Started with a fender and have the main flare tacked in and will be tieing it back into the lower fender below the center body line of the fender
the hurdle right now is what to be with the ground effects. Im thinking about trying to make them out of metal as modifying the factory pieces isnt that easy.

 

 

what you've done so far looks great. I was going to suggest pulling the front of the fender out at the bottom to cover the tire, but you've already added the extension to the bottom of the flair. Still looks good though.

 

It's looking awesome. I haven't started on mine yet but will hopefully get to it after xmas. Mine's on an 85 Firebird so I'm doing the C5 brake upgrade, 18" wheel upgrade, and flares at the same time and just for fun doing a complete teardown to rewire the body harness and then after everything is done a respray, so it'll be a fun "little" project.
I'm thinking I might have to invest in an english wheel or whatever they're called to get the curves in the metal to match up to everything.

 

Love when someone does good construction modifications without asking how to do it.

I would say you did a lot of english wheel work to make the flares from scratch.

 

id love to say I made them from scratch but im using universal ones I found that are close to what I need and altering them as it go. So far they are working out quite well!

 

Modifying a universal part to make it fit is even better. Nothing is a direct fit.

 

potential link to the universal ones?

 

An update.

I couldn't figure out what I wanted for the side skirts so i took a break a couple months and spend some time brainstorming. I did some experimenting and made 2 versions.



This would get the job done, but it was too square and I didn't like how it clashed with the otherwise rounded styling.

 

this was the 2nd version. I liked that it remained closer to the body and kept a body line just under the door GFX, but its still a bit square. I experimented with adding a raduis to the bends by making 2, 45degree bends 1/8" apart from each other and that really helped make the 90 bends (closer to 80 or 85) look better.

Still not happy with this one, but it was a step in the right direction.

 

I made a 3rd version last night and added a large radius to the bend under the door. It completely changed the look and I loved it immediately.

I went outside this morning to clean and had an idea to add another rounded bend at the bottom to finish off the lip and it work and I think this one is going to be it!.

 

This is the end profile and my "jig" for the last bend.





Now I need to make the underside piece to reconnect back to the body on the bottom of the car. Ill likely add ribs inside to add some stiffness and need to add material in tye doorjam to match the thickness of the original pieces where they attach to the sill.

Next i need to redo the rear of the front flare extension to meet this piece and exten inward to the fender more.

Any progress is good progress!

 

 

I totally agree on the third design. The rounded edges give it a more finished look. Have you left yourself room to get a floor jack under the side of the car? Anyway the flares and gfx look great. Very good craftsmanship.

 

Oh I didn't forget the floor jack! These rockers are about the same height as the rear most part of the factory piece at the rear wheel well, so they do sit lower in the front but are just about the same height as the fender tab, so the floor jack will still fit and reach to the front subframe under the firewall.

You can kinda see the little C-clamp im using to hold the fender tab to the body in the last picture.

 

Today's progress.
I made a new lower extension for the wheel well and fitted it with the new rocker GFX section. The plan is to cap the end of the gfx once the lower portion is made and have 2 screws/bolts through the lower wheel well flare into the gfx for support.




I will need to make the small fender gfx piece, just not sure if i want to make it a seperate bolt on section or extend it to the new rocker gfx and weld it together as one piece.

 

I started making the fender piece, need to make the filler for the door jamb side but it came out better than I had imagined for the first shot




I think im going to weld it to the rocker section, so I also need to add a couple mounting studs to the backside.

 

Not sure if I like the "floorboard" look but the fab work is amazing. Can't wait to see the finished result.

 

I'm excited to see how it turns out! Looks like you're making good progress.

And my god that looks like a ton of tire for one of these cars. I approve

 

I started the passengerside fender today, excuse the mess, there is an order to this chaos.

This is how I layout the flare on the fender before cutting. I have a nibbler for a drill that I use to make the cut after tracing around the lip. Then just repeat the same clamp process and tack in place.

 

I was able to fit together quite a lot today, this same work took months to figure out on the other side, lol. Glad to see progress.



I need to verify some measurements from the other side and make sure things are an symmetrical as possible.

 

dude! you are making great progress. Metal working to that level is damn difficult, well done

 

Started the rear flares today and I nearly cried when the cutting started but what can I do.





I was suprised the flare sat perfectly on the quarter, above the body line at least. I need to work up the extensions and cut a bit more but things are moving along still.

 

Can't wait to see the final product. Fab work is very clean. Its an interested approach to solve the problem with the wide sills sticking out... Are you (or passenger) going to have to worry about hitting/stepping on them while getting in/out? Doesn't look like the would be able to support much weight. The front shot on the pass side makes me think you need a much bigger wheel/tire combo... lots of room!

 

I dont have an issue getting in and out but yeah, you need to be careful. The rocker section will have an underside as well that wraps back to where the factory pieces attach amd I plan to add a couple ribs inside it and will also bolt to the flares through the wheel openings. it will be quite sturdy.

The wheels will be 19x12.5 on the back and 19x11 or 19x12.5 on the front (they will fit so why not, right?). Tire height will be close to 28" so they should fill out the wheel wells nicely. Only thing I will need to check is whether the taller front will clear my powersteering coolers that are tucked under the driverside battery tray.

 

Sounds good, last summer I put on some 19x9.5s wrapped in 285/35r19 tires which are 27" tall. I had to clearance the fenders and the door jamb/firewall near the fender rear vent (on the TA fenders) for them to clear. I also had to remove the fender liners as I'm lowered. I went from 275/40r18 which is 26.7" to 27" and had to do a good bit of trimming to clear. I prob should have trimmed before with the 26.7" tire but it wasn't required. I couldn't imagine running 28" tall tires up front. I did have 28.1" drag radials in the rear and it was tight. Your flairs look like they are bigger than the factory openings so you should be fine, what about the inside structures at the rear and front of the fenders?

 

The wheel openings are wider, so that helps but the big thing is that the distance from the balljoint to the face of the WMS is closer than factory, the offsets are significantly different in the wheels and the track width is also a lot wider so the wheel doesnt "swing" as much when it turns. There is a picture earlier in the thread where I have a 18x12 and 335 tire on tye front turned to full lock and it didn't touch the factory wheel openings at all, just barely rubbed the gfx where they wrapped into the wheel well.

 

This is what the underside is going to be.




The ends will be capped and bolted to the flares from inside the wheel wells for support.

 

Did a little work on the driverside, got the rocker section capped and bolted to the wheel well. Did the same for the passengerside.
Also made the fender vent. The plan is to open the wheel well in tye vent and add a screen like factory.

 

 

Working on figuring out the front fender gfx section. I felt i needed something to tie it in with the styling of the rocker section. Ended up with just a little wedge piece where it transitions to the flare. Made the rest bolt in like factory. I will need to make a piece for the underside.

 

Roughed in the rear passengerside quarter flare and rocker section.





Needs a few tweeks but its getting there