Flared Fenders

[Devian]

So one of the things I want to do is flare the fenders on my 73 2002. Kinda like and E-30 M3. How dificult is this?

[SteveJ]

Like these?

Quite a bit of work. If I were to do it again, I would make sure the donor car already needed bunches of bodywork. It doesn't make sense to do this to an otherwize clean 02. The front fenders were bolt on. The rear fenders involved cutting, test fitting, glueing and rivets. The panel goes from the door jamb all the way to wrapping around the back corners of the body. There are an awful lot of body lines that need to be matched up on that back panel. I was amazed I didn't end up with cracks after we shot it out.

[Devian]

Yeah, the car's been rear ended (90s Mustang got screwed) so there's a bit of buckling on the rear fenders. Your's looks good and pretty much exactly what I had in mind. Did you do it yourself or have a shop do it? Cost? I'm trying to get an idea because I want my car out of the graveyard its been in for five years by Oct...

[SteveJ]

The situation was that I ended up working part-time at a bodyshop with the sgreement that we would do the fenders and paint my car. I would do general clean up, mixing mud and spraying primer. When things calmed down in the shop, I would do some stuff on my car. I did A LOT of the grunt work. The owner, Rich, would come by, run his hand over a panel and say, "do it again". It would take me a couple of days to get it right. I'd get it close, then he would spend 10 minutes and have it done. So, I have no real good idea what the actual cost would be. It was a good deal and a real education for me.

However, the one quote from Rich, "Steve, we do this one because you are a friend. If you ever bring another one of these back here, you are a customer."

If you can buddy up with a body guy, you can do a lot of the work yourself. The end result is mostly dependant on the amount of time invested. If you are unable or unwilling, be prepared to open the wallet w i d e to pay for this as it is a custom job.

There are quite a few people here with paint and body experience, much more than me. Ask away!

[us4736]

steve i'am also looking to do flares on the M2 i.am builting .do you remember who make those flares and who sells them .are those the schnitzer flares you have ?

[Guest Anonymous]

As for the amount of work involved to "do it right," check out Bob's car at www.oftenlastracing.com. Click on the 204 link, then scroll down, and follow the progress of the car's build, including flaring and blocking. Not the exact flares, true, but you'll get the general idea of what's involved. BTW, if you ever get to see Bob's #204 car in person, it's well worth the experience. It's absolutely beautiful.

[SteveJ]

The fender flares were made by Z-products in Oregon. They were fiberglas reproductions of the Zender box flares. I wanted fiberglas as opposed to ABS because just about any joe at a body shop can fix fiberglas, ABS repair is a different animal.

The fronts were bolt on. I modified the rear flares to use the short point bumpers (they had indentations for the long points), and deleted the fuel filler opening and moved the filler to inside the trunk. (Custom little job using a VW oil neck welded to a 2" pipe with a flexible coupling, and an 02 oil cap.)