Rabbit flares, installed

[Keith]

There are always lots of questions about flares, and the Rabbit ones don't get discussed as much as the Omnis. Hopefully this will serve as a bit of a how-to for future modifiers.

I decided to go with Rabbit flares on my car for a couple of reasons. One, I could find some! Omni flares seem to only be available as junkyard parts, and there are none anywhere around here. Two, I think they suit the shape of the car well. My track is about 4" wider than the MG, so even with stock-size tires I had a lot of extra coverage needed. Actually, my tires are a bit smaller in diameter than most MG ones, they're around 23" total diameter.

The flares themselves were cut out of some patch panels from rabbitparts.com. I used the flares from the rear of a two-door, and the panels were $48 each. Easy to find and good quality, much easier to work with than old metal. In the rear, the fit is fantastic. I didn't have to really do any trimming. I simply cut the flare off the patch panel with an angle grinder and trimmed the cut with a belt sander.

I placed the flare higher on the body than some other folks have, so I did have to make a simple fill piece to mate up to the body above the step in the side. The higher placement was partially dictated by that wider track but also because I wanted to make the car look stock instead of looking like a modified, lowered car. This was easy enough to do, I used tin snips to cut the piece from the leftover patch panel bits.

The flares have a curve where they meet the body of the Rabbit. In order to keep the profile good with the fill piece, I flattened out this curve before attaching the flares to the MG. Just a few taps with a hammer on a flat surface. There's also a little rib in the body of a Rabbit that the flares meet, but some hammer work took care of that as well.

I also have a set of flares from the front of a Rabbit, but I've decided the rears would work best on the front due to the shape of the wheel cutout. I've ordered another set of patch panels so I'm just waiting for them to show up. I'll update this thread at that time.

Tacked on. This is seriously an untrimmed Rabbit part, the fit is that good.


Fill piece in place.


In order to get full clearance, I rolled the inner lip flat.


On the car before any filler work. That's just metal right now, and I still have some final shaping to do.



Total time to get both rear fenders to this point: about 3 hours. It was a really quick and easy job. The MG wheel wells had already been cut and patched.

[rficalora]

Looks great Keith.

[MGBV8]

Yeah, they look like they were made for that car!

[MGB SS]

Keith

I was looking your car over some last night, very cool project.  The Rabbit flares look great another option for making our Bs look better and getting rid of the bicycle tires that are stock on our cars.  

I will be digging a little deeper on the other sites you are posting your car on looking especially at the front end/suspension set up.

Joe

[mgb260]

Keith, Thanks for sharing your build here and  on the other MG forum. Have you thought about using the early Euro style tailights?

[Keith]

Joe - that was the intent. The Omni metal is hard to find, the Rabbit stuff is easily available. Plus I like the look! http://www.slowcarfast.com/MG/tags.php?tag=suspension should give you pretty much all of the suspension information.

Jim - I'm actually going to install a set of early taillights right now I have a set off my parts car, and the one missing lens just showed up yesterday.

[bsa_m21]

Keith,

What year and model Rabbit were the flares from?

Martin

[Keith]

They're from the rear of a two-door. Model year is "whatever the original generation of Rabbit was". I'm sure Wikipedia or a VW nerd could clear that up. Here's the source of the parts I used:

http://www.rsjparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29_30&products_id=70&osCsid=137376d293791959b52eff2e6f0fa410
http://www.rsjparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29_30&products_id=71&osCsid=137376d293791959b52eff2e6f0fa410

[Keith]

The fronts were more of a challenge than the rears. I ended up putting them on the same sides as on the Rabbit, but if I'd been putting them a bit lower on the body flipping them left to right might have been an option. I used rear patch panels again. They're just shot in black primer right now with a quick grind of the welds, there's no filler.

[kerbau53]

Keith,

Looks very good. I'm about a month away from the same exercise. Any traps to avoid?

[Keith]

Not really. The rears were incredibly easy. The fronts were more of a challenge, so start in the back to get comfortable. I also removed the springs from my coilover suspension so I could run the suspension through the full range of travel - this let me make sure there was enough clearance for the wheels no matter what.

[kerbau53]

Keith,

Thx. for the info. I'll make sure to run things full up without the coilovers. Looks like you have plenty of room. More pics here or on your website. I'm following your lead on this!

[kerbau53]

Keith,

Thx. for the info. I'll make sure to run things full up without the coilovers. Looks like you have plenty of room. More pics here or on your website. I'm following your lead on this!

[castlesid]

Wish I'd thought of those, I quite like the Omni flares but the VW ones would be much easier to source in the UK and seem very reasonably priced.

Did you have to add any additional metal?

The full sebring kit is in my opinion are too big for a road car and requires the use of excessively wide wheels and tyres to make it look right, the VW ones look just right and almost as if they were original bodywork.

Look forward to seeing it once the car is repainted.

Kevin.

[MGB-FV8]

For the purpose of comparison, does anyone have photos of two "MGB" one with Rabbit flares and one with Omni flares?  Also, which one gives you the bigger opening?

Jacques

[Keith]

Here are a couple more shots. Don't mind the lumpy side trim, it's just foil tape at the moment. As you can see, the weather isn't good right now so the car's spending most of its time in the garage. I'll get more pictures online as I go.




I've personally never been a fan of the Sebring flares, and wanted something that looked like it could have been added at the factory. It's not hard to find pictures of Omni-flared cars (try the Dan Masters gallery on British V8), but Rabbit cars are much more difficult. That's a big reason I started this thread! The only other pictures I've seen are this red car, and it apparently uses Rabbit in the rear and Omni in the front.



I did have to add extra metal both front and rear to deal with the fact that the flares went above the crease in the body line. I don't think that would have been necessary in the red car above. The extra metal was easy enough, just an arced shape that was easily sorted out on the car. The front was more challenging (of course) but the rear gave me good practice.

[MGB SS]

Keith
I am wondering why you think the Rabbit flare is more difficult that the Omni?
I will agree that installing either of them above the body line is more difficult but not sure the difference otherwise.

This has Omni Flares.  I will try to find a better picture for the Comparison
Joe
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[Keith]

I don't think the Rabbit parts are more difficult to install, they're just less common so it's harder to find pictures. That's what I said in my last post. Heck, I don't think it would be possible to have an easier install than the Rabbits on the rear. I've never installed a set of the Omnis (they're much harder to get!) so I can't comment on the actual difficulty of installation.

[MGB SS]

Keith
Sorry for the above comment. After re-reading your post I see what you were saying.  I think that the Flares are very similar and what ever one you can get your hands on would be the ones to use.

As I have mentioned in other posts you have a great project going there.

Joe

[302GT]

Was it necessarey to make any modifications to the inner fender wells, and did you weld them to the flares?

[Keith]

The stock wheels on the B tuck up into the wheel wells, of course. If you're using a wide enough tire or wide enough track to require flares, you are going to have to cut the wheel wells. Here's what my car looked like with the wheel wells cut out far enough to clear the wheels through the full suspension travel.



I have not added any extra metal to join the inner edge of the flares to the car. There's not really much need as they're rock solid.

I've been told that Rabbitparts no longer has the rear patch panels available. Seems I got the last pair in my last order, although I expect they're replenishing their stock. However, Rockauto does have them for around $27 - killer price.

[MGB-FV8]

If the demand was higher, I'm sure that someone would offer a direct fit steel flare for the MG.  The old supply and demand always control the availability of a product.  Flaring fenders is a modernization that brings the old saying "it's a two cutting edge sword".

If too radical, I feel that the original "MG" appeal can easily get lost; this is why I prefer the soft look of a steel flare grafted from a donor car design.  The other side of the coin, the higher horsepower V-8 demands traction and a wider track; can't be done without flares

To someone, it may depart too much from the traditional look and to a different crowd it may be acceptable as retro-modern.  I personally would like to see more sellers get involved in offering readily available modified body sheet metal.  As an old school mechanic, I really don't feel comfortable with body work/modifications and if I can help the situation by buying an already made part then I'll do it.

With all of the familiar sellers that advertises on this website, I wonder why can't someone acquire some of these (still available)Rabbit flares and modify them to facilitate the wider/modern tire.  I for sure would buy a set/kit.

Does anyone have any experience using the "WheelRite" tool?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PHP-01201

[denvermgb]

Keith,

I'll be in Junction Wed and Thurs, perhaps we could meet?

Brad

[Keith]

Brad - responded via PM.

Jacques, there's always going to be bodywork involved in adding flares to a car. You can't unbolt the rear fenders of a B and bolt on new ones, so welding is required. I'm not sure it would be possible to make the rears any easier to install, especially given the tendency for every V8 MG to be built a little differently. The fronts are a bit more difficult, but if you have enough skills to install any flares, you'll have enough to install these. If you don't have enough bodywork skills to install the easiest flares, then you should be able to find help.

As for width to clear "modern" tires, I think the Rabbit flares will clear a 255-section tire or more without problems. There are 195s in the picture, and that's on a car with a 4" wider track than normal.

[BlownMGB-V8]

We'll have something entirely new to look at in the way of rear flares when the MG-Roadmaster gets back from paint. I think it will be a flare design that a lot of people are going to like. But of course, these flares were hand formed on the english wheel so it's a custom part. For a knowledgeable wheel user though it'd be an easy piece to make. With that thought in mind, it might be something that could be run in small batches at a fair price to the builder if we found someone willing to do them.

JB