Fender Cutting and Flares

A couple of my wheel arches are starting to develop rust. I've held it at bay so far by using POR15 and other similar items, but I know the only way to really get rid of rust is to cut it away and replace the metal. Which leads me to my next project:



I want to cut away the area around the fender that's currently in black. I was going to go with some Bushwacker Cutout flares, but I wanted to save a little on the budget, plus have something more custom. I'm thinking along the lines of flat piece of sheet metal with a lip of around an inch or so. The lip could be bolted to the fender above the cut line, with the leading and trailing edges rounded off and the outer edge covered in some kind of molding. Where I hit a stumbling block is how to make the lip and still radius the flare for a smooth arc. Would a machine / body shop be able to pull off something like that, or am I looking at needing get a piece custom molded and formed?



(I'm going for this type of look around my wheel wells.)

An alternative is to 'notch' the lip evenly so as to relieve the flare so it can be bent smoothly arched, and then the lip will fit inside the wheel well.

As always, pointers, tip, tricks, and other suggestions are welcome.

Actually, yes. There is a special tool for rolling the edge of cutouts. A good body / custom shop will probably have one. You could also buy one, but for a single use, that probably isn't too good of an idea, plus you would probably want some practice using it but then again practicing on your own truck would work. Who is going to complain /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> .

Good luck,

I have been battling rust there for a few years; I will remove plastic type quarter panel splash shield screws & bolted to lip area and then cut away inner fender to get @ rust on 1/4 underside side.



1 8237840 Body Side Outer Panel

2 376838-S2 Nut and Washer (1 Req'd Each Side — F-Series Only)

3 57041-S2 ***** and Washer (1 Req'd Each Shield — F-Series Only)

4 28370 Rear Wheel Splash Shield

(2 Req'd Each Side)

5 381801-S55X ***** (2 Req'd Each Shield)

6 — Body Side Panel Front Brace (F-Series) (Part of 992860)

7 9928370 Shield Assembly, Rear Wheel Splash

8 — Body Side Panel Rear Brace (F-Series) (Part of 9927726)

9 N606676-S36 ***** and Washer (1 Req'd Each Shield — Bronco)

10 N621906-S36 Nut and Washer (1 Req'd Each Shield — Bronco)

If I need a patch panel someday, I'll attach it w/Body Adhesive or try what my pal Malcolm has tested, PL Premium!

Metal Bonding Adhesive Source: by Ford Motorcraft® fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com

& http://fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/main/category.asp?select=%5BCollision%20and%20Body%20Repair%5D

Anti-Corrosion Coating

Isopropanol Cleaning Kit

Manual Dual Cartridge Applicator Gun

Metal Bonding Adhesive

Metal Surface Prep

Plastic Bonding Adhesive

Pneumatic Dual Cartridge Applicator Gun

Premium Undercoating

Rust Inhibitor

Seam Sealer

and by our Sponsor here; Jeff's Bronco Graveyard

Rear Wheel Arch Panel Right 39in x 13in 87-96 16 gauge $35.00



Inner Fender pic in 87-96 $40.00



Inner Rear Wheel House $70.00



and for tools;

Body Panel Flanger Set Regular And Extra Wide; "...Make flush repairs with Flanging Pliers. Both adjustable, locking flanging Pliers produce a step deep enough for flush repairs in 18 ga. or thinner metal. Extra-Wide Panel Flanger 31090 flanges into corners or long straight sections, producing a ****** 2-1/2"" long by 5/8"" wide. The Panel Flanger 19092 steps straights and curves and produces a ****** 5/8"" long by 5/8"" wide. For strong rivet repaired, clamp repair panel to the stepped are, drill 1/8"" holes for rivets (use Steel Countersunk Rivets 31019 in steel; Aluminum Countersunk rivets 31020 in aluminum), and use the Dimpling Pliers 31089 before installing rivets to strengthen the joint and minimize filler. We recommend the Panel Holding System 19074 for holding panels together for welding..."

Source: by eastwood.com $71.99

or.. make one..I have a bunch of Vise Grips incl one that has wide, flat jaws.

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For some flare options, see my site @ http://www.broncolinks.com/index.php?index=459

for hot Links to such as;

Flare, Modification; "...i used flares off of a 98 ford explorer sport 2 door; 4 door wont work. the fender radius is almost the same. only mods i had to do was where the "V" shape is towards bottom of truck i had to slightly mod the flares by cutting them with a die grinder. the ***** holes along the fender lip also matched up nicely. it tooka couple of days of trial fitting but they look nice. and along the top i instaled small bolts so they look the pocket flares made by bushwacker. this was necessary to hold them tightly to the body. it cost me a total of 50.00 to put these on. flares where 30.00 at pull a part auto wrecking..."

Source: by shad351 NO PICS!

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Heres what jeep flares look like, i went to the junkyard and they let me have 8 for 30$ and i only used 2 on the back, just marked it for the flare contour, got out the old air nibbler and i like the way it turned out....but my main reason was to cut off the rusted thru parts of the quarter



by sparkysmotorsports

.. see more incl Bushwacker install Instr Links

GL!

Unfortunately, those parts shown in the picture don't fit an 80 - 86. However, these will http://broncograveya...onco-80-86.html . It all depends o how much you want to do. Replacing the inner rear wheel housing is a bit of work and you will need to cut all the welds to get the old one out, some what a PITA with the 1/4 panel on. If you want to see drastic, take a look at these pictures http://www.supermoto...istry/212/76163 . Sorry I haven't gotten around to adding comments to them yet but I will soon.

Thanks for the tips guys. I also want to make room for larger tires, so repairing the body panels probably won't happen. I just thought cutting out the fenders a bit would **** two birds with one stone. The flanging tool looks neat, but it looks like it won't give me the lip I need around the homemade sheet metal flare to attach it to the remaining fender.

I just looking to bolt a new piece of metal around the wheel wells to end up with a look like this:



I think my plan of attack will probably be to see if I can have a local body / custom shop bend the metal for me.

We'll see how it goes.

OK, got ya, that's cool. About the only way I could think of off hand is to make it a little wider and cut tabs into it that could be bent up and attached to the side of the truck.

Good luck, and don't forget to post some pictures of the finished product. Looks like you both used the same bucket of paint ^_^ /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> .

Going the tab route was my Plan B.

But for some really good news, the lady I'm doing some construction work for is a metal artist and has a complete metal shop in her garage, including shrinker and stretcher tools. Plus a plasma cutter and now I have an open invitation to make use of them. With a 4x8' sheet of 18 ga sheet metal running about $45, I think I'll be making these a lot sooner than I had expected.

And that truck actually gave me the idea of using Rhino liner as the outer paint.

Bebop Man said:

Going the tab route was my Plan B.

But for some really good news, the lady I'm doing some construction work for is a metal artist and has a complete metal shop in her garage, including shrinker and stretcher tools. Plus a plasma cutter and now I have an open invitation to make use of them. With a 4x8' sheet of 18 ga sheet metal running about $45, I think I'll be making these a lot sooner than I had expected.

And that truck actually gave me the idea of using Rhino liner as the outer paint.

Click to expand...

Can't get any better than that / . You ought to be able to make any design flares you want with her tools, probably can get her help too. Rhino liner is a great idea for a tough off road machine.