flaring 2nd gen Trans am fenders

[Schroeder]

I want to flare my 77 Trans Am fenders and quarters. As I run the process brought my head I can not figure out a way to make the factory style ( I will actually be using year one flares) flares work. The flare that I make in the metal will either not mate with the own style lower flares or it will require adding material to the face that mates to the quarters and fenders to bring the flare out to match the metal flare I will be making. If I stretched the entire panel I think I could get the factory style flares to bolt on with little to no modification. I was hoping for the flared look though. I looked through the "big booty"thread on here that shows a bunch of wide body cars. There are 1 or 2 Trans ams and they have big bolt on flares it appears or their wheels stick out past the wheel wells and flares. One of the cars is that European racer one. I believe making 4 of these flares out of sheet metal would be very complex and nearly impossible to make symmetrical. Does anyone have any advice for me?

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

My Vengeance Flare kit fender flares actually kindof work with a 70 Firebird(as I have one and tried)

[Zspoiler]

I t depends on just how wide you want to go.I have the 1980-1 Camaro Z-28 / Trans Am factory fender flares on my 1979 Camaro Z-28 RS Pro-touring car. Then you can look at the 1970-81 IMSA /SCCA road race cars.Then there is the Roadsters Shop 1970-3 Camaro Race car "Rampage"

[Schroeder]

Venegence, not looking for a bolt on deal. I want the actual wheel well to be deeper to fit a tire all the way in it.

Zspoiler, besides the red car it doesn't look like any of those are flared. I do not like the red cars race care body either.

I want to flare 2" max on either side. I took some pictures of my car. I'm gonna replace the quarters and I thought about "practicing" the flare on this junk quarter before I remove it. The upper line that spans across the whole DS quarter goes through a couple contours. Is this the right spot to cut to stretch? The PS white marker line is another spot I considered cutting at to stretch. Not sure on the stretch yet. Definitely wanna flare though

The blue tape lines are where I think I would cut to flare AND stretch. Does anyone besides idea me thinking fitting the oem flares up would require much more than a little reshaping with a die grinder? The pic with the flare shows how I think it would fit after I flare the fender. It may not require any modification

[Schroeder]

Had to add in a different post

[Olav]

http://www.speedhunters.com/2014/12/...stlane-camaro/

[NOT A TA]

[Schroeder]

That's olav. Good read and example. What he did with the doors is cool. I'm not gonna flare that much though. 2"/side at the most. That looks like some hard work and blending he did on the door and tail panels.

Not a TA, doesn't classic industries sell a part like you have mocked up? Are you modeling a bolt on deal there or are you going to open the wheel well to the shape you have modeled.

No one seems to have flared and still utilized the factory flares on the bottom of the wheel wells. I was hoping to do so. will I be the one pioneering this?

[sccacuda]

You can wheel out a skin and get the flare you want. The body line will allow that. On mine, the body line does not, so it's cut and weld....20 ft. of weld per side to get the 2" flare.

[NOT A TA]

The pic is an old one I found years ago somewhere on the web. Not my car and I have not ever dealt with those. The ones in the pic were sold back in the 70's - 80's IIRC. There were also fiberglass fenders and quarters with a similar flare sold back in the day that occasionally pop up on Ebay. It's difficult to get a flare to look right because of the way the stock flares are and the lower ride heights we want now. To get enough wheel travel the flare needs to start higher on the fender so the top of the flared arch ends up about the same height as the original arch. I'd considered trying to do something like Craigs Cuda shown above.

I'm installing flares that mimic the look of the factory ones in front of the wheels but install behind the wheels. I think I bought them from Classic about 20 years ago.

[Schroeder]

Thanks a lot guys. NOT A TA, I do not want to add a flare like that in the rear of the tire. I want the rear of my tire exposed as it is on a factory quarter. Also, those flares are cosmetic and do not actually increase the wheel width capacity of the wheel well. Sccacuda, do you mean I can English wheel my fenders and quarters to get the flare? How do u no my body line will allow for it? Did u also have to add metal to the bottom of the quarter in order to maintain the body line? How much clearance did you build in with the tire wall and the fender lip? How did you decide where to cut and add? It looks really good

[sccacuda]

...do you mean I can English wheel my fenders and quarters to get the flare? How do u no my body line will allow for it? Did u also have to add metal to the bottom of the quarter in order to maintain the body line? How much clearance did you build in with the tire wall and the fender lip? How did you decide where to cut and add? It looks really good

It will work, because you can wheel out '67 & '68 Camaro's and your body line is similar. You can search for James Shipka's One Lap Camaro thread and see how it's done.

My body line is way different, above the wheel opening. So this is how to get 20' of weld. I started by cutting the body line, front to back. I left the top alone, as its now the body line reference. I cut the lower half in the center and pulled, cut, and shaped it how I wanted for clearance, adding metal filler pieces where needed. I then smoothed off the top of the lower piece and welded a 2" filler the entire length. Leave it very wide to wick heat. So picture the lower part of the quarter flared out under the body line, but with a filler piece that now sticks up above the bodyline. The top was your body line reference, so transfer that to the lower piece and cut off the excess. Now the lower becomes your body line reference. Start on the top. Pull, cut, add and then do the filler again. Trim it to the lower reference and weld the two together, making the new, flared, bodyline. Just the fillers and body line is over 12'.

[aronhk_md]

This 2nd gen bird had some incredible flaring done to the original skin. Its worth the time to page through for the pics. https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...turbo+firebird

[aronhk_md]

Heres one of the pages showing it. https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...ers#post701069



I think they only got 1.25" but it was done so subtlely its hard to notice. You could probably do more if you dont mind pushing things, plus rolling the fender lip. And there is always clearancing things on the inside....A-arms, swaybar etc to get more room under the fender.