ZR5 Flare Mod, Skidz cut

This is the place for all those mods

Moderator: F9K9

fallvitals
Crew K Elite
Crew K Elite
Posts: 1132
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:34 am
Location: Dunbar, WV
Contact:

ZR5 Flare Mod, Skidz cut

Post by fallvitals »

I said I would write this up when done, so here it goes.

The front flares are held on by a handful of phillips screws and double sided tape. Remove the screws, I short stubby phllips head screw driver will be helpful here. After the screws are removed slowly work the flare off, the tape does a good job of keeping it on.

The rear flares arent as straight forward. There are two phillips head screw drivers at the bottom of each side of the flare, (two total on each flare) remove those.

You will see pop rivets on the inside lip of the flare, DO NOT DRILL THOSE OUT! They do not hold the fender on!

Image

In the fender well there are 5 nuts, 2 are exposed, and 3 have plastic caps protecting them.


Image

WARNING! These bolts are small, and rusty. Hit them with PB blaster for a few days before. Each flare has 5. I snaped 4 bolts on each flare removing them. If they break, it can be fixed. (further down).

After those nuts are removed, the flares slide off.

Image

Image

If you broke some studs when removing them, pay attention to the position of those bracket/studs. All use the center hole of the bracket except the two lowest ones. Keep this in mind when reassembling. If you had some break, or plan on painting, drill the rivets out, and remove the brackets.

Now you will start your Skidz Cut on the fenders. I would suggest using a few layers of masking tape as I did to protect the paint from the recipricating saw when cutting.

Image

Now its time to sand those flares, if you plan to paint them.

I uses 220 gritt to do my sanding, which turns out it was too rough. My front flares have visible sanding marks. I painted the front flares first, then rear flares. I wet sended the rear flares at 400 grit, and they turned out better. But couldn't get all the sanding marks out from the heavier grit. A sanding block is very helpful.

Image

I lost the measurements I had taken for these cuts. Of course they are gonna be slightly different. but basically, just line everything up, make your mark on the flare where the highest point of your skidz cut is, mark it on your flare, and there ya go. Mark it over the same distance at the bottom as the template says.

Image

Now with a Skill saw/jig saw, Make your cut. Keep in mind you will have to trim the holes at the bottom for the fender support brace bolt some. It will be best to take the cut into the curve of the flare, but dont go all the way through!

Image

Image

Now time to test fit.

Get you some clamps, and clamp it as pictured to get everything lined up.

Image

If you are satisfied with everything drill a hole in the flare for a rivet to hold the flare in place. A short 1/8" rivet will work nicely. If not, move up to a medium length rivet.

Image

Picture of the short rivets.

Image

As you can see here I trimmed a bit too much for the fender bolt brace support cut outs.

Image

All riveted up, clamped into place. These flares are ready to be mounted back if you dont want to paint, or round the edges up.

The back of the flares are gonna have a little bit of gap after this mod, but its no big deal.

Image


Now the real time consuming part. Rounding up the cuts you just made.

Im not sure what the best product is for this. I decided to use plastic epoxy to fill in the cuts. A tube is .8 oz, and $5 a tube. I think it took me 6 tubes to do it all.

Fill the cuts in, its a long process that will require lots of filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding. Till its just right. If you sand your rivets too they wont be as noticable when paint is applied.

Image

Image

Image


Once you finally get all those rounded up its time to resintall the mounting brackets on the rear flares. If you broke some studs, you can dry drilling them out. I had a heck of a time drilling em out. after I got the stud out, the head of the stud still stayed. I got some new bolts from Fastenal and had my buddy spot weld them into place. If you play it right, and get lucky, you can place these new bolts in one of the 3 other holes, while still lining them up correctly.

See the position of the brackets/studs in the pictures above! As I said, I had my buddy spot weld the new botls in, because I couldn't find any studs. And they all lined back up perfectly, I didn't need to drill any new holes in the fender to get them to mount up.

Now its time for paint. Clean the flares up, wash em, let em dry, clean em up with alcohal or whatever cleaner you like. Spray the flares with a plastic primer/adhesion promoter. I couldn't find any locally, so I had to order online (after ordering online I found plastic primer at lowes of course). Rustoleum Mettalic Midnight paint, available at lowes, Clear coat, and 2000 grit sand paper.

Image

Spray the primer, then your paint following the direction on the can. My paint was VERY rough. I think becuase of the glitter in the paint? Because of the roughness after many coats of paint I wet sanded with 2000 gritt sandpaper. Made it nice and smooth. Then clear coated. and 2000 grit wetsanded the clear coat for a smooth finish.

Image

*these images are too large, so they are linked*

http://photos.imageevent.com/rc_racer_0 ... lares1.jpg


http://photos.imageevent.com/rc_racer_0 ... lares2.jpg


http://photos.imageevent.com/rc_racer_0 ... lares3.jpg



Word of caution, when you have your flares done, and are mounting them especially the front ones. be careful when tightening the screw around your cuts/filler. Both of mine are devolping a verticle crack in the filler from stress of being mounted. I suspect it will get worst, but still be better then no filler. I added a few washers behidn the flare, and on the screw to keep the flare from pushing in so much, minimizing stress. The rears shouldnt be as big of a problem.

Hope this helps, I hope I wasn't too confusing, if I need to add/edit anything let me know and ill do so.
[/img]
User avatar
rlrnr53
Crew Elite
Crew Elite
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:04 pm
Location: Prosperty, West Virginia

Post by rlrnr53 »

Nice job on both the flares and the writeup
[size=75]Mitch
2001 Polo Green Metallic, no mods,(can't afford any)[/size]
User avatar
HenryJ
Admin K Elite
Admin K Elite
Posts: 12705
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 9:14 pm
Location: Ontario, Oregon
Contact:

Post by HenryJ »

Nicely done!

I wonder it there isn't another product that could have been used as filler and less prone to cracking? Maybe something that remains a little bit flexible.

I was thinking the urethane at first, but that may be a bit too flexible. Seam sealer might work. I use that on body seams and it is sandable.

"Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary does." - Richard Hammond
"Speed is just a matter of Money - How fast do YOU want to go?"-Mechanic from Mad Max-
If at first you don't succeed - Don't take up Skydiving!
- ThunderII KE7CSK
User avatar
Horsehammerr
Crew Elite
Crew Elite
Posts: 779
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:03 pm
Location: Kimberling City, MO.

Post by Horsehammerr »

The end result sure looks good. I'm not going to hassle with the filler though. When I made my flare cuts I simply held the flares in the wheel well opening and scribed the opening to the inside of the flare. I fallowed that scribe line on the back side of the flare, cutting from the back side on my band saw. This made the cuts real close to the actual finished opening. You have to look pretty close to even see the cuts. I painted the rivets black and there you have it. I know " lets see it " ! I'm working on the camera thing I promise. I still have no need to elevate, maybe some day, at least I know where to find the answers to how to do it right.
[size=75]'02ZR5 YellowCruzCab-Airbox chopped,Quadlights,Intake defuser chopped,Precat chopped,HD Bilsteins, 9x16 '84 Corvette wheels, NEXEN 245/50 tires, front & rear Sway bars, All Poly bushings in full suspension, front lowered 3 1/2", ZR2 rearend with 5" suspension lowering , FUN FUN FUN
User avatar
14x4
Crew Elite
Crew Elite
Posts: 316
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: Northwest Indiana
Contact:

Re: ZR5 Flare Mod, Skidz cut

Post by 14x4 »

fallvitals wrote: Image
I love this picture. I want my crew to look just like that. Nice job fallvitals.
User avatar
F9K9
Mod K Elite
Mod K Elite
Posts: 6183
Joined: Sun May 30, 2004 12:26 pm
Location: London, Kentucky, United States

Post by F9K9 »

Nice job!
[size=75][b]"For those who have fought for it, [i][color=red]FR[/color][color=white]EE[/color][color=blue]DOM[/color][/i] has a taste that the protected will never know."
[url=http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=73349]GUIDE TO SEARCHING. [i] (Some of the forum software is different but, it has helped me a lot.)[/i][/url][/b]
[b]"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Edmund Burke[/b][/size]