Has anyone found a good source for flares? I found an old thread where Rampant was looking for some back in 2008 (link below). His conclusion at the time was to fabricate his own. Any advancements since then? I like the look of the green Spit in this thread below, does anyone know whose car that is?
http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?137311-flares-needed-for-my-spitfire.
well omni will work if you can get em.and there is a set from an early ford escort british version that are called bubble flares and gary at retro motorsport on the turbosport.co.uk site has used them with success but they cost a friggin fortune and the shippping is just as much from the uk.$2000.00 by the time they get here.looks like i'm making my own.how big a flare are you looking for mogans? here's the bubble flares on a jensen healy.similiar to a spit.
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I believe that you were refering to the car owned by Phil McConnell shown in one of his construction photos. Those flares are hand built and he describes the process pretty well in his how it was done article here. http://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/PhilMcConnell.htm
Here's the finished car, really nice.
PhilMcConnell-Triumph-Spitfire-AB.jpg
Hi guys,
Actually that green car, which I saw on the other website I linked, is exactly the kind of look I'm interested in for the 78 Spit. I see from Rampant's comments that it's actually not a Spit, I thought it was when I looked at it on the other site. So I'm looking for something that is more on the subtle side. Rampant, I'm not sure about sizing, I'm still very early in discussing my project. If you're going to make some for a Spit, let me know how that goes. Sounds like having them fabricated is the only way to go if you don't want to pay $2,000 plus shipping from the UK, which is a bit too rich for me.
thanks
Mogans
Datsun Z ZG flares. $200 for four. You can fill in holes and blend. Here's pictures:
IMG_7765.jpg
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I suggest "Rock Auto"(USA), VW-Rabbit, rear=widest, steel, called "wheel arches"). approx $40.ea/us. Good Luck, roverman.
i checked em out at rock auto aswell shipping is still a deal breaker.i am in the wrong buisness .gonna open a shipping company be a freakin millionair in a week.lol the datsun flares look like a possibility for some but the rears will have to be wider on my car but not as wide as phil's car.my car also has a corvette diff but the width is alot narrower than phil's.i use a norrowed c3 vette rear while i believe phil's is a full with c4 diff.
Check eBay. Do a search for used Rabbit, Omni, Horizon, etc parts in eBay motors. It'll be obvious when someone is parting one out. Use the 'contact seller' to see if they have the body shell & want to male a few extra dollars off of it vs just scrap metal value. That's how I got most of my Omni flares. Avg. cost if I recall was in the range of $30 or maybe even a little less (per flare) including shipping. Check craigslist too
Gary, most of the time the outrageous shipping charges are because of using UPS or FedEX and all the customs paperwork involved. If you have a friend here in the states they can order the parts and have them shipped to a US address and then rebox them and ship them USPS as used parts to Canada for very little and avoid customs duties. Yeah, I know it's not completely kosher, but it's been done a few times.
Gary another thing you can do because you live so close to the US border is have the flares shipped to the closest Fedex Ground terminal in the US and go and pick them up and do your own paper work. Just stay away from UPS as they are rip off artists.
Classic Datsun Motorsports C production flares. $330 for four they have a EBay store. Look like the large bubble flares.
CP-flares07.jpg
my wife is from the states and i have all my stuff delivered to my mother inlaws house.i can see the states from my bedroom window.lol the shipping i speak of is to a u.s.a address.buying off ebay the shipping was more than the fenders for the rabbit ones from rock auto.if it wasn't for the fact that i have to buy the whole rabbit fender x4 it would be alot easier and cheaper.still better to make them i think.i like the look of the glass ones but i want an all steel car i think.
making them won't be too difficult. Take a look at my project page... I made pieces to widen the Omni flares on the rear of my car. Used poster board to get the shape figured out, then transfered to steel. Used a slip roll, some hand twisting at the ends and a little hammer/dolly (didnt take much). I matched to the inside side of the Omni but you wouldn't have that constraint. Then weld on wire or similar to finish the edge.
Gary F, how much tire width are you running on that JH ? They look WIDE ! Cheers, roverman.
235/50/15 on a 15x7 rim.
who makes a 235/50/15? I found a few 225/50/15's when I was looking but no 235's.
sorry my bad,they are 225's.it was real early after a nightshift.lol
Gary, Here's an old trick for steel flares. VW beetle rear fenders cut to fit around the opening. Actually you could probably use new Beetle ones also. Here's some on a Z:
VWflaresonZ.jpg
i did think of that already actually,but thanks for the reply jim. are the ones on the z an old or new design?
Probably older but, don't know for sure.
Another Z with steel VW Beetle flares:
vbflaresmain5me.jpg
That's great looking. There are a few Z's with engine swaps around me. All turbo'd modern I-4's & very well done by a local shop.
i am thinking of using some very wide motorcycle rear fenders like those used on some of the choppers with very wide rear tires.now this will be just a starting point for the finished fender but it has the correct shape and the edges have a nice rounded shape.the fender is 29" long and 12" wide and will allow me to spilt it down the middle and get two flares out of one fender.now this is the good part they only cost $79.00ea. from kc cycles.this idea isn't carved in stone but it is a viable idea.
It's hard to picture how that will work. Seems like they'll stick largely straight out. You might want to make a template out of poster board to see what it's going to look like before you buy those & start cutting.
like i said it's a starting point.mostly for the round shape and the nice lip around the edge.of course they will have to be tapered into the body to give the correct look but that can be designed with poster board and tape till i get the shape i want then transferred onto steel sheet and cut and rolled /english wheel to fit.these fenders are a great place to start from as they are strong (14 gauge)and uniformly shaped .i tried to find some old volkswagon fenders and when i did they want a fortune and they still need to be cut up and shaped anyway so these as a starting point may be the way to go.
i ordered the wide chopper fenders today so i will have them in a few days.they are actually going to be replacing the inner fender well aswell as act as a starting point for the flare.i will split them down the middle and add whatever i need to get the correct width for my purposes.
bikerearfender.jpg
That should work really well for the inner if the radius matches up. Check out the job Terry's boys did on the Roadmaster's rear fenders. I had worked up some tin on the wheel but they re-did them and the results are surprisingly close to what I did on my '71 RD.
Jim
i bought some volkwagon rabbit front fenders to cut up and use for the front on the spit.in my case they will need widened but if you were just looking to add a small flare they are perfect and almost fall onto a spit.very litlle messing with to make them look right.as i said i have to make them wider as my front track is wider.i found them on the local want adds.brand new and i got them for $120.00 for the pair.
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Gary F., If that is your Jensen Healey, would you please complete a "How it was done". JH 's need more coverage here. Thanks, roverman.
not my car m8.that was a pic sent to me from a fella on the turbosport uk site. he did the flares on the jh.the flares or arches as they call them in britian are from a mk1 ford escort rally car.those flares are still made and sold by expressed panels but would have cost me $2000,00 by the time i got the four of them shipped here to canada.a fellow by the name of gary from RETRO MOTORSPORTS did the work.he is an awsome fabricator to the lenghts i cannot describe.check out the site if you want to see some out of this world resto work of some extremely rusty cars.