Hey there! I was gonna wait until I completely finished my car before I put up some pics but I figured what the heck. it's a '80 SA. I've done everything myself, including fabricating everything minus the respeed coilover and rear springs and adjusters, and sway bars of course. But the 8 point, third link, panhard, fender flares, roll center spacers, and a bunch of other little junk is all mine. Just let me know what you guys think. I'm gonna post part II also, with some other miscelaneous pics.

 

Part II Some more pics of my project. If any body has any questions or comments please by all means. I trial fitted everything and made everything adjustable including the lower arm brackets so that way when the time comes I can set up roll centers and instantaneous centers, the whole works. My number one concern is I sure hope I didn't ruin the nice rearend housing by welding on it. It's a GSL-SE rear ( I got the front suspension while I was at it too.) I did take super extra precautions, but that stuff still worries me. Thanks and later!

 

That looks like a nice project and I bet you cant wait to get it all back together. What do you plan on doing with the car?

 

Wow those fender flares look great. Going to throw a fat set of wheels under those flares!!!! I like the look of fender flares and a wider stance on SA/FB's

 

all of it looks good....except i think the front flares MAY be a little too extreme. would need more pics to decide though. great work!!

 

Those flares are pure sex.

A set of 13x8's would look sick under there.

 

Pics of the flares from more of a top view. They are a very modest 1.5 in wider than stock, but it makes a huge difference. My wheels are 15X8 with 225/50 and they come out ot be 1/2 taller over all than stock. Backspace is about 5 inch or +15mm offset so they have a nice lip. I can't wait to get it back together, I'm just waiting on rear and front wheel seals and some plastic sleeves for the aluminum ones on the respeed coilovers. Then It's ready for body work and paint once I can roll it around. And final assembly. So I'm hoping about a month and I'll be driving. Thanks for the input, and please keep on. Thanks.

 

niiiiiiiiice!

 

i retract my statement. the fronts look good.

 

Nice fab work "kid", how old are you?

Where did you get the fender flares?

I like how you made the rear all adjustable, theres a show on spike tv this wkend with the crazy bald headed dude showing how to adjust a tri-link set up.
The third link he's using is spring loaded.
http://www.afabcorp.com/AFCO_Dynatec..._Code=ct_lm-tl

 

When it comes time to fill and smooth the new flares to the fenders, I recommend finding an Evercoat product called Fiber Tech, part# 100633. It's a reinforced fiberglass filler that is the toughest product I've ever found/used. Sanding/shaping must begin within 5 minutes of initial set. If you wait 24 hours, you will need a side grinder with 24 grit paper to cut it, that's how tough this **** is.

Use this for the base of the filling/smoothing process and you won't see any deep cracking for many many years. It's pricey, 18-19 bucks for a 4.79 lb tube, but well worth the money. I've used it to bond expanded aluminum mesh to the inside of fenders to fill the holes left when removing the side markers for that shaved look.

Follow that with shorthair glass reinforced body filler and top it off with a glazing putty.

Your welding skills far exceed mine. Last time I stitch welded a fender lip like that on a rear fender, I warped the sheet metal all the up to the 1/4 glass. What did you use for your metal flares or did you fab them yourself? Work is looking very good so far, can't wait to see the final results.

I'm assuming on your rear fenders that you are/will be trimming the outer and inner lips up for more tire clearance. I've posted pics somewhere on how to do this. I believe they are posted in a thread about using VW plastic overflares. Don't recall who started the thread.

 

Keep us posted on this build it looks great!

 

Thanks for the props, and suggestions. specially trochoid. I was just gonna use short strand fiberglass filler. but that stuff sounds gnarly good. thanks. Three of the 4 flares will take very little body work besides at the seam . The other one was my first attemp and the steel was a little softer than what I used for the others. It took me two times before I had the technique of the english wheel down, then it is actually quite easy. Thus they are my own creation.! the sheet metal is from old hoods we had laying around. I made an english wheel so I could shape some dual radii into them. It was fun. I actually already sewtured up the rear fenders. I just cut them and ended up welding the edge all the way around followed by POR 15, sealer, and then black industrial paint, before the POR 15 could completely dry. Then I just coated it with rubberized undercoating for noise purposes. Worked pretty good. quite a bit of the integrity depends on those fender wells. and I think they might even be stiffer than before.

I guess I'm not really a kid anymore. I'm 23 but I sure feel like a kid. Anyway thanks stevan i'll have to catch that episode on spike. I've just been reading some handling books to get the grasp of things. I will keep everyone posted. Hopefully like I said , a month I think I'll be done. Of course I'll do some posts along the way. Please keep the suggestions and critiscisms coming. Thanks again.

 

Very cool project. Those flares are awesome. I am at the point where I need some flares as well. I have an english wheel, but I am not sure about where to start with the flares. Could you give me a basic rundown about how you designed/made the flares?


Thanks,
Devin

 

I'll try to do this in some steps.
Tools you'll need:
english wheel, shot bag and plastic mallet, air shears(air nibblers would be great too), pliers, angle grinder or rotary grinder(air), a welder(mig, tig), some good scissors, and numerous measuring devices(ruler, tape measure etc..)

Supplies required:
A few Large tag board sheets, masking tape, permanent marker, some sheet metal ( mine is from old hoods, new stuff would be better though. flatter the better. )


Part I MAKE SOME PATTERNS

Note! This is the most crucial step. You only need to make two tag board flares, one front and one back. they can be flipped over to make left and right sides. You can use the back patterns for the front but they will need to be slightly different near the nose of the car. The width will end up being the same though.[/SIZE]

This is one of the most important steps. Your finished flares will nearly exactly ressemble your paper patterns you used to trace onto the sheetmetal. The better and more accurate your tag board flares are the better they'll turn out. I thought I could just get a rough pattern for my first flare and kinda work out the "kinks" in the metal as I went. WRONG! make your tag board flares exactly as you want them as if they were the real thing. Of course the only thing you can't replicate with them is the dual radii you put in the metal with the English wheel. But that really has a small effect on fitment.

Firs thing is decide how big to go. Mine are about 1.5 inches wider than stock. I just wanted to fit 8inch wheels comfortably and have a subtle but mean stance. when you figure out how wide then whip out the Sharpie or magik marker and draw a curve around the fender opening where you imagine your flares will end up connecting to your fenders. The tighter or closer you draw the line in relation to your fender lip will determine how steep or gradual your flares look. Take into effect the inner fender wells and their dimensions. Because your gonna want your new $5,000, 3 piece wheels you're putting on to clear once you cut your old fender lips off for clearance and get the new ones on. my lines were about 3 inches above the top arch of the fender lip and about 1 inch farther to the sides. simply putted just follow the natural "flares"on the car and draw your own line around them. Cances arfe this will take a few tries and hairspray removes permanent marker.

Get out your tag board and start cutting. This is the hardest part. This will take a few tries guaranteed. They cannot be just "U" shaped because the side of your car is most likely not flat. it has a radius or arch to it. So your paper on the side will end up looking some what like a lazy "U" and on the ends they will almost start curving the opposite way, this will be because of the curve at the bottom near the rocker panels. keep in mind this is what the pattern looks like when it is laying flat. use masking tape along the way to attach the tag board to your line that you drew of where your new flare is going to be welded to the fender. Don't worry about the inside where the fender lip will be on your paper flare right now, just malke sure it is wide enough. just get the fitment to the car by trimming and taping as you go. The curve of the paper needs to be smooth so trim just a little at a time and and don't cut to much off at once or you'll have to start over.

Now once you've got your paper flare taped to your fender, it's time to shape it to the width you've decided on. I hope you left enough tag board to trim. once again I can't stress the importance of cutting accurately and smoothly to get that perfect curve. If you mess up at this point and cut to much off or don't like your curve, don't throw your pattern away and start over. Trace the curve you worked so hard on that will attach onto the fender, onto another piece of tagboard, and leave yourself some more material. Then tape it back on to your fender and get trimming. Remember it needs to be exactly how you want it to look as a finished product. Wow that was long.

Part II CUTTIN SOME METAL.

Now you've got your perfect patterns you just spent hours on. Time to trace. Lay your pattern flat on your sheet metal and trace around it with permanent marker. Flip it over and trace another one out. Now you have a left and a right. Now do the same with the other pattern you made( remember one front one back). you should have four now.

IMPORTANT: on the face of each traced flare( where the fender lip will be you need to draw another line about 3/8 to 3/4 of an inch all the way around on the outside. This will be your lip. It will be "extra material" and will be more metal added to your pattern. Remember the paper flare was how your flare will look, but only after your lip is folded under.

Ok. Now use your air shears and cut out your sheet metal patterns you just traced. Be sure to be as accurate as possible and don't cut off any extra material this usually means cutting right to the exact inside of your marker line or on it. But keep the metal exactly the same size as your paper flare. Besides the extra lip you put on it, that HAS to stay. Don't cut it of on accident either.
Ater you're done cutting them out compare them and grind off any differences. Now you've got your flat metal flares woo hoo!

Step III FITMENT AND SHAPING (Wow those are siiiiick!! Yeah.. I made em..)

Super important: the initial curve of your flare you give it when you trial fit it to your fender will stay, from now until your finished so make sure you measure the gaps at the bottom from edge to edge, so you can keep it as you shape it.

Fit your flat fares to your car and get that imporant curve. Time to beat the flares on the shot bag with a PLASTIC MALLET. You can beat them pretty hard, just make sure to keep the curve of the fender that you bent into it by checking it every once in a while and controlling it with your hands. Once you beat a nice rounded shape to it now you can smooth it out on the english wheel . Pay attention to the radii on the wheel anvils so you can recreate the bend and curves onto the other flares. On the English wheel make sure you go back and forth both ways, width ways and lengthwise. I didn't do that on my first one and its gonna take alot more body work than the other three. I'm not gonna explain how to use an english wheel you have to figure it out. It's simple.

Once you've compared the flares to eachother and got them pretty close to the same your ready to prep your fenders for welding.

NOTE!!: Remember the extra lip you left on your metal flare. Well Hope fully the marker line that seperates them from the body of the flare is on the outside!! This will make stuff easy when it comes time to bending your lips in, cause you'll just follow the line with your duck bill pliers or whatever you choose to use.

Tack your flares to your car with a welder if they fit how you want them to. If they need some trimming and bending just use your hands and a disk grinder. The back wheel wells will have to be cut out and sealed back up before attaching the rear flares completely. the fronts can be cut out afterwards.

Once you have your flares tacked on you can bend your lips inward with duck bill pliers, by bending gradually and a little bit at a time. i folded the tops of the wheel arch all the way back in and almost around so I could run my tires a little bit closer without hurting them. After your lips are bent you can take your flares off for prep and cutting or anything else you want to or need to for. the lip and the curves keep them ridged and they'll be nice and stiff.

The rest is history! It's now just some routine body work. Good luck and I hope this helps some one.

 

awesome job man. that looks similar to what id like to do eventually, but it would be way to big of a project for me to tackle right now.

LOOKS GREAT!!

 

Thanks for the how to, that was good. I'm sure it's harder than you make it sound, but if I had an english wheel I might try that! Good work, I can't wait to see the finished product. I'm working on a project, and I will probably use fiberglass instead. I have a ton of respect for the all metal body mods though!

 

thanks for the write up. That is exactly what I was looking for!

Devin

 

Kid,

What spring rates are you running front and rear?

Great job on a great build. This is the kind of stuff that inspires fellow rotorheads to turn great old cars into unforgettable masterpieces.

Keep the photos coming!

 

wow, got some skills. nice write up. its been a while since I have seen somebody do the metal work, good job.

 

Thanks very much. I hope someone can get something from my project. I've been using this forum for the last couple months for the priceless info it contains. there is so much combined experience on here it is silly. So thought I'd try to give back a little you know? The fronts are 350# afco and the rear are 150# blue coils. Both front and bck are fully adjustable. When everything goes back together it's gonna be many hours of suspension tuning, but It should all be able to be dialed in. i had this car 5 years ago when I was 18 before the AF and drove it a little while with the 12a. I fell in love with those things. sadly because of money and time this car is getting a 5.0 ford with Iron heads. That i had and rebuild a while ago. But I am looking forward to that torque and after everything is said and done she will maintain the 50/50 weight distribution. Other wise I will not be happy with my build. I haven't burned any bridges and someday this car will have a wicked cool wankel in it. I can't say wich engine I'd prefer, the engines are just too different, but when all in all this is going to be one sexy car. And I'm very happy with how it is turning out. I still can't believe how easy the first gens are to modify. It's as if Mazda designed them to be modified into race cars. It's great. Wish I had like 5 or 6 of the little buggers. Thanks again, and any questions I'm happy to try to answer. -rob

 

"sadly because of money and time this car is getting a 5.0 ford with Iron heads"
- Kid


in a way... Thats still a nice car. Great work your doing, keep it up man. God bless

 

Very impressive work. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

Great work. I'd love to get my hands on an english wheel and a hammer just to play and learn more about metal forming. It's an old school skill that has lost it's flavor with so much fiberglass work being done now days. I worked as a blacksmith briefly when I was working in the repair shop for the railroad. A very interesting craft and they had some fun toys. 750 press that would form 1/2 of the end of a box car in single press and steam hammers that were built in the early 1900's. With practice, one could crack a boiled egg and not break it, or drive a quarter flush into the anvil base and not deform the face of it. Forge welding was an interesting process, developed long before arc welding was invented.

 

Finally completed most of my body work. Everything but the doors, and a few small panels. took about 60 hrs. I'm happy with how it turned out. These flares look so sick with the 15x8's and 225's out to the edges it makes me pee my pants alittle. yeahhuh!!