ST flares/etc info needed

[tobluforu]

I'm "thinking" of going the ST route flare wise, but not sure do to cost/work so I have a few questions:
1. My 72 has fiber glass front and rear bumpers from GT racing, will I need to purchase new ones to fit with the ST flares, I think the answer is yes?
2. Parts- Getty, rennspeed or GT racing-who should I go with? My car is a 5 foot car meaning it looks good from 5 feet so I'm not trying to build the perfect looking car here (no metal). I will buy complete front fenders and fit them myself, then send each off to paint. The car will be sent off to the same shop for the rear flare install at a later date.
3. Paint shop. Does anyone know of a good paint body shop in Chicago or the out skirts that can color match and do flare work? I do not mind driving the car up to two hours away.
4. Wheels- I would like to keep the fuch look, but don't want to pay the price as I will powder coat them all black. Who makes replicas and what is the widest wheel I would be able to fit?
Thanks for any help.
P.S. This would be a slow project as I will have to hide most of it from the wife, that means buying one front flare, fitting it, buying the next and so on and so forth. In all honesty, it should not take very long for the fitting as the front fenders are easy to take off as well as the bumpers.

[TRE Cup]

Not wanting to help contribute to possible marital discord , but it sounds like you are on a tight budget

So.... if you after fairly accurate ST flares for your car , front and rear, then in this country only GT Racing currently makes the flares in fiberglass.
Complete front fenders from Getty are turbo flared= wrong profile
Complete front fenders from AIR ( ie- Rennspeed) USUALLY need a lot of fitting to make them work- but the profile it correct
You have omitted a lot of information on how your car is currently configured, so not easy to comment on your bumpers.

We make a ST early front bumper (for the 9" ST flares with no S lip) and also have the slightly later S lip version as well.
We make rear bumper ST extensions that you could bond to your existing fiberglass (or steel for that matter) bumper so you can match the contour to the rear ST flares (also 9") This way u can mod your own rear bumper and save some out of pocket too

wheels- fake fuchs? then go with 4) 8 x 15's , run bigger tires and a spacer on the back to lend the offset look desired

[MarKoBrow]

I installed a set of RennSpeed ST flares front and rear on a project car as well as their bumpers, I thought the overall fit was very good.I did not however have the same luck with their whole fenders which I sent back for poor finish.

[tobluforu]

Wow, thanks for all of the info and yes this will be a budget build so to speak. The car right now has stock flares (72). The front bumper is a RS 's' bumper and the rear is just a stock fiber glass one as well so I think I would need GT racings nine inch bumpers? Here's a profile of the car that shows the front bumper, but not the rear. I can't remember if I bought the rear bumper a a RS one or not, but if I did would it have fit the stock fenders as the one I have now fits perfect.

There are replica fuchs, right?

[MotoSook]

I'm not sure how "correct" of an ST replica you want to build, but if I were you I would consider SC/Carrera flares in the rear and fiberglass fenders in the front.

O'hare Auto Body is a good shop, but they are very expensive. Most shops these days can do color match with modern technology. The problem is finding a shop that has experience with single stage German paint. If you don't really have to have that, then you'll save a lot of money. Some of the Maaco paint jobs have been impressive for a road car (as oppose to a concours car).

Welding on flares....you can do that yourself, REALLY. It's not as difficult as you think if you are patient and plan your work well. I did it with a $150 Harbor Freight mig welder, and it was my first welding job. You're welcome to come out and see it. I'm cutting the quarter panels off my '76 so you can even flip it over and see the weld.

I'd recommend practicing with the fender pieces you cut off before you start welding the flares on the car. I practiced on an old catalytic converter and some other misc metal pieces laying around, but I should have practiced with my sheet metal.

I think I got something like $600 quoted for the flare job from a local hot rod shop (Midwest Hotrod in Plainfield). I opted to learn to weld and save the money for parts and paint.

[tobluforu]

The problem is that I do not have the space as I live in a condo and share a garage with two other people. I ripped apart the front suspension and had to do one side, turn car around and do the other. Needless to say, the neighbors were not that happy.
I really don't care about period correct as you can tell by my car, and this is a driver so perfection is not what I'm looking for (if you saw my car up close, you would see what I mean). The paint on there now is a single stage dupont centari and I have extra paint as I did most of the body work, but I don't think it would match anymore
If I do this I would definitely go full FG front fenders, and for some reason I really like the ST look as its kind of funky.

[TRE Cup]

Here are your two ST options for the front bumper with ST flares. REAL ST steel flares are very expensive, hence my recommendation for the fiberglass

These are just loosely placed on the car, not mounted or fitted yet. If you are interested pm me at tremotorsports@gmail.com
thanks








THIS bottom pic is our new molded piece with the non S lip