I decided to build a race car this year. I wanted a classic Mustang and I wanted it to be as close to an original 60's vintage race car as possible. One key component to the body was going to be fender flares. There were various flavors of fender flares used on the Shelbys and Mustangs and my friend Larry Siebert has several books and I used them as reference. I thought it would be easy, I'd call up a vintage race car place and buy the templates and make them. I've got 30 years of metal fabrication experience and armed with the templates and some sheet stock, I'd be on my way.
Well, first of all there are no templates to purchase. I thought that was odd at first but after a bit of investigation realized that virtually every fender and quarter flare is specific to the tire size and wheel offset you use. I did find pre-fab fiberglass flares, but they were one size fits all. They would have looked incredibly silly on my car and were a bit pricey.
Now what. No pre-fab flares that I liked. No flare templates available. No flares, right? Not exactly. I had all the visual information I needed in the books I borrowed from Larry. The trick was to scale the flare from the pictures to my car. Well I also work with computers and computer graphics and scanners. I was able to take several digital scanned images of a 67 Mustang Trans Am car from different angles and views and scale the flares for the tire size on that car. I then found out what size the tires actually were and was able to translate that to the tires I was going to use. Presto changeo, fender flare data. From the data I made a set of templates for my car.
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The quarter flares presented the biggest challenge. There are actually two pieces to the quarter flares. There's an inner flare that makes up the outer edge of the outer wheel house and an outer flare that is the cosmetic style piece you see. The inner quarter flare shape is critical since it makes up the clearance for the rear tire. Once the tire size and wheel offset are known the quarter and outer wheel house can be cut away. The inner quarter flare is installed to the re-shaped wheel house. Templates are used to insure correct curvature and angle so the outer flare will fit properly and be correct cosmetically. The inset picture is the driver side rear flare. The flares are sheet metal and are welded complete so there are no voids in the seams. Once both the rear flares were done, it was on to the fenders. |
The fender flares presented a new set of problems. The rear tires are for the most part, stationary. There is a bit of side-to-side movement under heavy breaking and acceleration through corners but for the most part the movement is minimal. The front tires however, are a different story. At any point during cornering the tire can be in a turned position and the suspension under load. This means that the tire clearance must be checked in every position for freedom of movement and the appropriate clearance. The pictures below show the flares temporarily attached. This allows for test measurements and clearance checks. Lots of Cleko pins, vise grips and clamps are a must have.
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| Here's the finished product. Let's go racing. | |