If one wanted to flare the front fenders of his 52 Hard Top, is the only option trying to find an original pair from a 50s doner car? Or might there be something available after market?
There are lots of fender flare like patch panels for rusty cars and pickups, usually for the rear fenders. Although you may not find any for a car as old as yours. I have made fender flares out of electrical conduit tubing, formed to shape and welded on. A favorite trick was to bend the flare to the shape of the front fender flare only a little smaller, to radius the rear fenders. By copying the front fender line you got a nice, matching effect.
I am not aware of any front wheel lips available on the aftermarket. I believe you need to start scouring eBay, Craigslist, and/or swap meets for a pair of front fenders to cut up or make flares from scratch. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Hey guys thanks. Yep Rusty I think it's what you think it is! I've seen it done a number of times. Actually the HAMB famous Bob K. has the front fenders flared on his 51 convertible. It's a perfect look and may also help with a tire rub on a lowered car? Maybe I can send him a message and ask what he used. Dom
Conduit only belongs in one place, and it certainly isn't on a car. Talk about crudeness. The factory front fenders on the big Chevy full sized cars like the Caprice will give a nicely formed and shaped lip to act as a front or rear "flare" that can be cut into a lot of different cars sheet metal and welded in properly for a smooth looking job. They work especially well on the rear of the tri-five Chevys. Much nicer and far less crude than the conduit and mud routine.
Well for years on many projects I've modified openings using both Square and Round of many size steel tubing. I've never tried conduit due to galvanize coating and the fact I tig weld and metal finish. There is no need for a Mud coating if you can do good metal work. Here are a few shots of my latest project. It's 1" by 1/2" .065 rectangle tube. It's welded on the inside radius edge of the tube then welded back into the body. I did this to get 32" X 18" race slicks off with out dropping any suspension parts. I also wanted a semi stock shape to the opening. The Wizzard
I didn't realize using conduit for metal body work was such a sin. It seems like a lot of specials had bodies framed with conduit and rod stock. I've welded lots of conduit to make things over the years. As for the galvanizing, it's very thin. If you soak it in warm vinegar it'll fall off in a day. Cold vinegar takes 3 days. Sandpaper takes it off right now.
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what you did here......is there a filler piece added to the cut out line....or did you just relieve that panel a bit to get the extra curve ? ? Nice metal work regardless.....it's beautiful.
Also.....do you guys have anyone local with a fender roller ? I don't know how much "flare" you are looking for....but I have leased a fender roller that mounts to your wheel hub....and has a large hard rubber roller adjustable to your fender lip. With pressure added it allows the lip to be reshaped for tire clearances. Similar to the ole' rolling of a baseball bat between the tire and fender lip....but with much better results. Eastwood sells them....but they are a bit pricey solo. (Ignore late model fender) The one I leased seemed to be a bit fancier with different heads and attachments. No clue how Eastwood's works specifically. It's a bit different. Mine had a sort of pneumatic ram attachment.
local welding supply shop stocks some steel, they have 1/2", 3/4 and 1" od 16gauge mild steel round tube. For comparison, 1/2" EMT is 7/8" od. We used 1/2" to do the radius on the rear of my Chevy II. It's easy to bend it around a tire or something to get a nice radius.
Just FYI, The ID of 1/2" EMT "conduit" is 0.622" (almost exactly 5/8") while the OD is closer just over 11/16" at 0.706" & the wall is 0.042" thick which is 19 Ga. The exact thickness of my car's body.
Pretty cool idea. This looks like something a guy could easily build, particularly if it only had to fit one car.
Quote "I'm still trying to figure out exactly what you did here......is there a filler piece added to the cut out line....or did you just relieve that panel a bit to get the extra curve ? " What I was doing is keeping all factory accent lines and contour while opening up the wheel opening. If you look at the rusty stock body I started with there is a sharp crest starting at the talilight going horozontal above the wheel opening, continueing through the quarter panel and the center of the door skin and on through the front fender. There is also a pretty good curve above the crest in the quarter. I kept all the lines but adjusted them to allow the new larger wheel well. All the seams are edge welded and metal finished so that No body filler was needed. There is no filler piece, just a wedge cut out above the radieus and the horozontal crest. The 1" tube was used to match the factory line that fadded out below and forward of the factory wheel opening. Trust me, I'm still trying to figguer out how I did all that. The trick I use to get new lines I like and get both sides matching is to use 2" wide 22 gauge 6' long and fold a 90 degree. Use my shrinker/strecher and create the new shape. Then a wood buck, in this case I used 3/4" plywood. Then bend the tubeing around it. The top to bottom arch is done with a block and rubber mallet. The Wizzard The Wizzard
Wow...it just looks like there is more of a "flare" with the larger opening too. It's amazing the lines you have in the finished shots. You do great work man.
Ulu you hit it right on the head. The sweep of the tool is its own limit, as well....some wheel openings have improbable arcs. The flared effect varies greatly with these things. Depending on the reach of the tool and the design of your wheel well lip arrangment.....there is no uniform flaring shape possible for every car. Obviously....those good with heat and hammer....as well as fabbing their own custom spat length....the sky is the limit. I would love to see an experienced metal man play with one of these. It's a fun tool to mess around with.....especially if your car is one of those lucky ones.....conducive to this thing.
Thanks for the complement kidcampbell71. Here is a photo of the finished car. You can see how the front and back look like an actual set.
I know it's a zombie thread, but I just had to say... Nice AMX!!! I drooled on the old magazine ads of those cars when I was a kid, ten years after they were made. I LOVED having all the old hotrod magazines as a kid! http://www.gentrylane.com/s/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/69amx_lftfrt.jpg
The A.M.X. is not exactly H.A.M.B. friendly or I would have done more build photos as I went. Your right Miguello, they are pretty KOOL. Thanks for the complement 31 Vicky. It's all fun stuff and I enjoy showing different ways to get a job done. The Wizzard
Better tell that to George Barris, Darryl Starbird, Gene Winfield and all the other hacks who built whole car bodies framed with conduit tubing. No doubt they will hang their heads in shame once you tune them in, and show them the right way to do bodywork.
My bud Johnny (owns Bob's Foreign Auto in Merced) made one from 1/2" steel plate, and an arm from heavy wall 2" square tube. Johnny used a wide hard rubber-tired skate board wheel, a 5/8" bult thru a welded nut for adjustment. The 'wheel plate' has circle bores of 5 on 4.5", 4.75", 5.5", and old VW. Very useable, my wife flared her '66 VW bug fronts after she dropped it severely. Excellent tool. Oh, conduit? Used it for years, for its shape (and available diameters) Hell, I used it (sanded down to remove galvanized finish) with my oxy-acet torch, before Bondo was available. We always had to weld and finish metalwork. I like shapes, for bodywork...also small shapes, light aluminum, for scale Control Line aircraft. Shapes flow...
I've made odd stuff with emt conduit & a torch (not car bodies.) But I've seen it done. I like to gas weld it & it brazes fine too. I don't recall arc welding any. I wire brush, s****e or sand the zinc off then wash with vinegar or Jasco prep & then water rinse. BTW, The AMX isn't HAMBish but it's a rare dog to me. I was working at the AMC dealer in Ogden when they got a shipment & 3 were AMXs. All were special order, or pre-orders or something, because we didn't have them more than a day. I got to "pre-deliver" them. Normally the lot boy did that but I was the most junior mechanic (at just 19) & I didn't have anything on the rack when they showed up, so I got to drive all three. About 1/2 mile each.
I did some slightly extended, more squared off, fender lips on an OT car. The techniques would be the same doing them on an older car, if you're interested, I might be able to find pics, but I don't want to catch any **** since it's a newer car! If you wanna see'em, say so, or I can Email them to you.
Dom: I just found this post and the answer to your question is 52/54 Ford or Mercury, they fit perfectly inside the stock Chevy wheel openings and also gave the effect of lowering the top of the arch about 2 inches. BB
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