Do-it-yourself steel flares (no welding)

John Kelly · 05-01-2003, 04:52 PM

Please forgive the cross-post if you are on both 914 BBs...

For those thinking about do-it-yourself flares, I'm working on a possible kit of tools and instructions with templates to make your own flares.

I've got a car lined up for the experiment to see what is possible, but the plan is to make flares similar to my weld-in flares that require lots of elbow grease but no welding.

This would be accomplished by using a small hand held leather bag full of sand (shot dolly), and a mallet. You stretch the metal into the shot dolly raising many small stretched bumps. The next step is doing a little smoothing with a slapper and dolly, then use my shrinking disc (part of the kit) to heat and shrink the high spots closer to the ideal surface (see my drastic shrinking album). Do some more stretching with the mallet and shot bag, and repeat until you have the shape. I won't do the kit unless I think it is a fairly intuitive thing for the average do-it-yourselfer.

I will document everything with lots of pictures. Making flares for 914s is slow going for me with my other work, so this is a way to get more people into flares without having to wait so long ( I'm about to start my 4th set) This method requires a lot of repetitive processes, and will be hard work, but I think the reward of building your own flares will make it worth it to some folks.

The kit will include a shrinking disc, a shot dolly already filled with sand, and possibly a mallet, and slapper as well. Other tools needed would be a grinder for the shrinking disc (the higher the rpm and amperage the better) a couple of dollys, and maybe a body hammer, a bulls eye pick (see my shrinking disc album). Also with the kit would be steel templates to help with the shape, and pictures with text describing the the techniques used.

I will be working on this for next few months, and then I will have an idea what is possible, and what the kit will cost. Here is the link to my albums:

http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?ownerid=9990093068868

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

JmuRiz · JmuRiz's Garage

Sounds great! By the way, do you have any pics of a 914 w/ a set of installed and painted flairs on it? I'd love to see what it looks like so I can earmark some more $$$ for future projects

Nathan

bander · 05-02-2003, 07:22 AM

John, How is the Shrinking Disk used?

If I understand corectly, It smoothes out lumpy sheetmetal after a hammer and dolly are used to pound the desired shape. It does this by heating the high spot by friction alone. The Al disk does not wear the steel much, it just rubs and gets hot.

So the high spot gets (red?) hot and as it cools, it shrinks? Or, is the hot high spot hit back down with a hammer? Is it safe to say, that sheet metal tends to shrink a little bit every time it is heat cycled?

I keep thinking of flairing the rear fenders a little, but I probably will never get to it. But if I did, I would like to know what I would do.

John Kelly · 05-02-2003, 08:14 AM

Hi Nathan,

Sorry, no one has gotten that far with an installation of my flares yet.

Hi Bander,

Most of what you asked is in the shrinking disc album. You have to click on the individual thumbnails to ge the text.

The disc is made from stainless steel. The metal is heated by the friction of the disc going over it. Red hot is way too hot. I use the disc just long enough to where the metal steams when you quench it with a wet rag. Once in a while a a small high spot will turn blue which is a sign that it is plenty hot enough, so you stop and apply the wet rag. You are correct, the metal shrinks each time you use the disc. In the "drastic shrinking" album, I applied the disc about 50 times in the same area to gradually shrink down a serious bulge.

For do-it-yourself flares the disc is used to correct over-stretching with a mallet which makes getting a nice smooth shape easier. Much like using a planishing hammer or english wheel to smooth, but coming from the opposite direction...smoothing by shrinking instead of smoothing by subtle stretching.

Originally shrinking discs were used for metal-finishing....shrinking minor high spots that resulted from hammer and dolly work. I use it as a much more versatile tool for shaping.

If you email me directly, I will send you the instruction sheet that I send out with each disc if that will help. It is a word document. My email: ghiafab@msn.com

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

We're going to be carrying the steel flares currently produced by AA. At about $180 each, it's tough to justify the homeade approach. Factory flares are now $2600 though...

-Wayne

Andyrew · Andyrew's Garage

John how much are you thinking of charging for your kit? I will be doing my 5 lug very soon (within the month) and need to figure out some way of flareing, your way works with me, so... if you want to do this publicly, cool, if not, adalen@pacbell.net

Wayne, 180 a fender? man that Is cheap. too bad though.

Kevin Powers · 05-03-2003, 07:32 AM

john, i sent a email to g.s. this am. please check and see if you recieved it.

kevin in tacoma

John Kelly · 05-03-2003, 07:46 AM

Hi Wayne,

That's a good price, and I hope you get lots of takers. The flares I sell cost a little more, and will be more work to install than yours since you have to weld to the existing wheel opening flange. Plus, I can't possibly supply all of the folks that want them in a timely manner.

The do-it-yourself route is completely different in that the labor is to make the flare, not install them as you would with the AA flares, or my custom flares.

This is an alternative for folks who don't like the factory flare, or can't afford the initial price and labor to install, but have a lot of time and patience. People who want the factory look won't be interested in my kit.

It would be less than classy to compete for business on this board with the owners of the board, so if you think my kit might cost you business, I won't bring it up again. Just let me know. This is a great forum, and I plan to buy from Pelican when I need something for my project.

Andyrew,

I'm not sure what I will be charging yet. It depends on how many tools are needed that a home shop might not have. The instructions might run into small book type length. At a guess, I would say $200-$400 for the tools, templates, and instructions with pictures of the work in progress.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

ss6 · 05-04-2003, 06:35 PM

Go for it John, whether the project is flares or not, your toolset and instructions will make body work less intimidating with a higher probability of success.

bravohotel · 05-04-2003, 08:03 PM

John,

was it you who made some "domed" aluminum(?) covers/"lenses" that went in place of the 914 turn signal lenses? I am looking for something similar to take the place of the ugly side marker lights. Just a round convex/domed replacement that I could paint body color and bolt in place. Have you done anything like that...would you be willing to? and for how much?

Thanks
BH

ss6 · 05-05-2003, 06:39 AM

BH, I suspect you were referring to John Kelly, but thought I'd chime in on this one - have you tried looking for plain old "hole caps"? They are little domed doodads with snap fingers on the bottom that you just pop into the hole you want to cover. Try Home Depot's hardware dept or Reid Tool Supply on the web.

maf 914 · 05-05-2003, 07:56 AM

BH, The front turn signal domed covers I think you're refering to were made by Zeke (Milt). Very nice. John Kelly and he traded posts concerning these. Do a search for Zeke and you'll probably find the thread.

Mike

John Kelly · 05-05-2003, 09:55 AM

Here is Milt's thread:

More Metal Work

Sorry BH, I don't have time to take on any other projects....I'm spread a little thin as it is.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

bravohotel · 05-05-2003, 05:43 PM

ss6,

I am using those "hole plugs" in my antenna hole and my windshield washer holes. The problem is there are 5 holes that need to be covered up.

John Kelly,

No problem, I understand.

ss6 · 05-05-2003, 06:27 PM

BH,
I've never removed my side marker warts, but I suspected there might be more than one hole in there. A good German engineer never uses only one hole when there's room for more (but 4 different diameters for chrissakes?!?)

.

In absence of the custom solution you were looking for, you could still use the hole cap idea, just get two: a smaller one to fit the center hole, and a larger one big enough to cover the outboard holes. Flatten the fingers on the large cap, and JB-Weld it to the smaller cap. Or, just get the larger cap and "J-B" the head of a machine screw to the center of a cap and use a fender washer on the other side of the body. Then you can have zits instead of warts...