clarksonrx7

HI, im trying to make louvers on my fenders. i had an idea bout cutting a line with a wheel on a hand held grinder, then taking the visegrips that have a big flat mouth on them and giving a twist. then apoxying grill mesh behind them. would this work, or are there better ways?

wwilliam54

no.....just......well......no

J Oliver

I am a bodyman and yes that will work BUT... If done wrong you just screwed 2 fenders.

wwilliam54

even if done right the fenders are screwed

RXTbone

Dude - I think that's nuts, it would be a bitch to finish off right. But... there was a thread here about fender grills. Some guy was selling an RX on eBay with them. I personally thought it was pretty sharp, but a lot of the guys thought it looked like crap. To each, his own. I emailed the seller and he said he cut the fender and inserted BMW Roadster grills. Food for thought... If you're a body guy, you know more it than me. Good luck!

anthrax

What RXTbone said sounds good to me.

Find a grill inert that you like and cut a hole to fit the insert. it will look much better because using a grinder to caut a line is a bad idea at best.

Use Metal Shears.

I have made large meta lovers for HVAC discharge fittings and they are NOT made like that.

A metal frame is fabed, and the each lover is spot welded or pop rivited to the frame. Nothing like what you are talking. Each lover fabed to have the identical pitch when complete, and there is no deformation where the lover meets the edge, like there would be in what you are talking about..

Any way just another bit of input.

Good luck

anthrax

clarksonrx7

it doesnt deform anything, as long as ur careful they will all come out the same, i have seen it on other cars, and it looks really cool, not so much where the bmw's are but more behind the wheels and a little bigger. it wouldnt be hard to finish, i dont see why a grinder with a thin cutting blade on it wouldnt work, using metal cutters would bend the metal some. if there are any other body guys out there, any other ideas would be appreciated. cutting a whole and inserting a piece doesn't sound bad, but the trouble would be finding what i want.

calvin

the guys that do it regularly are artists. They come out consistent and nice. they also have pleant of special tools to work with. Talk to an old timer body guy at a hot rod shop. I am sure they know people who do it and ask them the details.

Ultralights

Putting Louvers in metal is usually done using an Hydraulic press and a male and female die set that will cut and shape the louvers in one hit!

MarkPerez

a dremmel with a cut-off wheel works wonders.
first draw the pattern on paper, then make a templete,
tranfer on to the fender, cut, paint.

Max7

We have a louver die at work, does a 5" x 1" x .25" louver, sadly its small in open area, no body parts from the car will fit it. trust me I've tried, wanted to do the panel between the headlights, you would have to do strips and then cut and weld them into whatever you want, also its a pain to setup the die so I only use it when we get orders, once or twice a year

Cody

I wouldn't suggest the ghetto way of "cutting slots and trying to bend them with vice grips" as....that will only bend the metal awkwardly, and if bent enough, will tear the metal.

I can't say it would look bad, as I bought the urethane fenders for my Honda Accord (seen in my pic) which don't do anything, but sit there. They're non functional, but so are the BMW ones. It's just decoration.

Every Import magazine has the pieces you want to insert into the fenders, that resemble either the Z3 look, the M3 look, or various other holes and scoops that come out every few months to keep the market busy.

It would be quite easier to mold those pieces into holes you cut out on your fenders, rather than practicing metal work, and hoping it turns out pretty.

toxic_d

clarkson are you still frequenting the other forum? I am in Plattsburgh ny... Hope to hear from you and see your car soon.

Toxic