how much work is it to add widebody fenders to a fc, I know the fronts would bolt right on but the back seems to be all one big piece all the way around the car so do they need to be cut out and have the widebody ones welded on??

 

Yes the rear needs to be cut and molded in.

 

the old fenders need to be cut out yes... and possibly some weliding of the body to the fenderwell, depending on the condition of the car.

If you get steel overfenders in the rear, you can bond them on, but welding is better IMO. NAPA is selling a metal to metal bonding agent now, i believe mady by Loc-Tite, that is like the super schiznit. We had a guy come into the shop with his truck box bonded to the metal of the truck bed with that stuff... I put a 4x4 on a jack and lifted the side of his truck up by the bed box... is some good schnit. However, you'll need to use a lot of clamps top get the fenders on there right.

If you get 'glass or Fiber fenders, the HAVE to be bonded.

in either case, there is a good bit of body work to be done afterwards where the seems are.

this is NOT a weekend project unless you have a body shop and a good technician at your disposal. Most people that do this, do it as a "winter" project... planning on having the car down for several months anyway.

 

yea a good amount of work is needed!

 

dam that sux i wanted to buy them and hoping to be done in like a month and repaintinmg my car.

 

same here I'm buying an rx7 to be a track and weekend car. and I know i will eventually want wider rear wheels and also in the front I figured car would be out maybe a couple days and then couple more for paint. i may rethink the way i want the car to be built now

 

Im planning to do a widebody kit only because my fender damage is soo severe that my body shop said it might be better to just cover it up. I wish the the whole rear fender piece was removable, I see a bunch of clean rear ends at the bone yard....

 

widebody eh?

 

im doing this too and if your getting them off ebay they are polyurathane not steel so you cant weld them on, you really dont have to cut out the rear fender, alot of people leave their original fender on the back and get that one riveted and then molded on as how they do it at a bodyshop. it would be stupid to cut the rear fender out since (duh) you can weld metal to poly. plust if you cut out the rear fender for those you loose structural integrety wich means the bondo will crack when your car is flexed. oh and yeah i have a dent in my rear panel thats why im doing widebody, and plust i got 9.5 inch wide wheels going int he back

 

well wide body is an enormous under taking...

I am not aware of the cost of the "kit" you guys are talking about from ebay but I will almost guaruntee - well no actually I can guaruntee - that UNLESS you do all, I mean ALL of the body work, panelbonding, priming, leveling, final sanding and such that a body shop will charge you anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 dollars to install and paint one of these on your car. I only say that because the last widebody 240 I painted I charged the fellow 3950 + tax.

The only way to make it remotely economical is have a bodyman friend and frequent trips to the beer store........do it ALL yourself, with frequent trips to the beer store........and then use the body shop for PAINTING only.

but either way a widebody'd FC is ALLLLLLLright in my books, so best of luck to ya

 

but wouldn't the purpose of widebody be to eliminate the stock fender to be able to fit wider wheels??

 

I don't think you can really "eliminate" the fender since its one massive piece. From all the kits I've seen they just overlay the existing fender. As far as purpose, it's cosmetic, unless you argue that it reduces air-drag when you install wider wheels. Just my opinion bro.

 

rough...I wanted to put 9 inchers in the back and 8.5 in the front. since i allready have 8 inch wide rims on my civic and find that they handle like a dream. I figured an rx7 with more power would require wider wheels

 

I have 9" wheels on my stock unrolled fenders on my FC. They fit fine, just use the right backspacing. Fronts can fit 8" wheels on stock fenders, but wider front fenders are easy.

Also you DO remove a large piece of the stock fender when you put widebody fenders on, that's the whole point. Otherwise you'll bottom out the fenders on the wheels.

 

thanks alot this is exactly what I wanted to hear. thanks for the info. so as i understand it you put the wides on the existing body panels and then go inside there and cut the stock fender up to where the wide body one goes on. and do custom inner fenders need to be built??

 

ive got 9.5'' wide rims going on the rear of my rx7, and 8" wides going up front. that is why i have to get a wide body or the wheels will stick out like a mexican ride....

 

wait a minute.....did someone jsut say there were metal over fenders availible?? and if so where from?? depending on price i think it;d be better to run metal than glass as glass shatters and cracks and what not where as metal doesnt but also what would the metal ones end up weighing??

 

I installed a widebody kit on my 1st gen, I had 3/4" clearance between the tire tread and the fender lip on my 15x9 Eplsilons, I had to cut the fender lips out. I have photos of the entire process, which took a good 2 months for me to do. This was my first serious fiberglass project and came out very well.

There is a way to trim out the fender lips and reweld them back together and I did have to make new fender liners.

PM me if you want pics.

 

I have almost 1" of clearance from rim to fender with my 9" wheels. I can guarantee (I've measured, throughout the suspension movement) that 9.5" wheels will fit with the proper offset. Getting tires wider then 265 on there might be a challenge though. You could roll the fenders and be fine though.

Gravy_83,

Typically you just hack out the old fender up about 4-5" so the wheels can clear throughout the suspension movement, then weld the inner/outer fender (this is the stock parts, not the widebody fender) back together and seal up the seams to prevent rust. No new inner fenders needed. The stock inner/outer fender is retained, just cut.

 

I have the exact same scenario Matt. My rear quarter panel got damaged so I'm considering widebody fenders.
assuming the rear widebody fenders offer 30MM extra clearance, then what size rims, tires and what type of offset should I be considering in order to utilize widebody upgrade most efficiently?