Built my own "Artic Truck" fender flares

[Alaskastreamin]

Thanks guys!!
My wife and I build crazy cars as a hobby. We get them cheap and spend the looooong winters dreaming up super cool things to make to modify them.

Were in Southeast Alaska just above Seattle off the Canadian coast. It rains ALOT!!!

We have property in eastern Washington and move some of the cars there once we finish one and enjoy it for a while up here.
What you see was one months work. The running boards are fiberglass and are going on today.

The foam is urethane so fiberglass resin won't eat it. I spray glued tin foil on the outside before glassing to ease in removal of the foam.
Once it was all laid up (three layers of mat and one cloth), I pulled the flare off and pulled out the foam. (A wire wheel on a drill works awesome removing foam and tinfoil remnants) then I had to glass the inside seams. After that, I could trim the outside edges and make caps for the ends.

The rear door flare took the most time. I'll post some pictures of the details.

To be honest, I wasn't sure how my first post would be accepted showing off a "non offroad" 4runner. :uzi:

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

To be honest, I wasn't sure how my first post would be accepted showing off a "non offroad" 4runner. :uzi:

Your first post included:

Suspension lift
body lift
mud tires
arctic style flares

"non offroad"


Great fiberglass work!

 

[Alaskastreamin]

Here's some close up picts of the rear flares.

Front flare:

Running boards:

I will be making the visor soon and will take more pictures so you can see the process.

 

[fish0281]

I am thoroughly impressed. I personally LOVE the look of those arctic trucks! Your body work is incredible from what I can tell in the pics... wanna build another set and send them to me as a birthday present?! ;-)

 

[xcmtb83]

WOW... those things are sweet! You have skills my friend. It is nice to finally see new and truly unique mods around here. Especially ones that require the dedication and skills like your flares! Props!

 

[BrianSD_42]

snow pics? :spider:

 

[thor999]

SOOOOOOOoooo Awesome!!!! :shocked:

 

[Alaskastreamin]

Thanks again for the nice comments !!

40's and rain still where we live. It just never stops!! We will get a little snow in Feb/ March.

Once I learned about this foam shaping, a whole new world opened up for creating cool body/ interior parts. If you look thru the car build pictures on our "fun" website my wife put together, you can see other things I've made with fiberglass including a whole car body. Home Page

 

[TOY2G]

Super cool... Do you still have the molds for these? Or did the foam remain part of the final product? I'm sure you could sell these, you clearly have a knack for fiberglass.

 

[TOY2G]

Thanks again for the nice comments !!

40's and rain still where we live. It just never stops!! We will get a little snow in Feb/ March.

Once I learned about this foam shaping, a whole new world opened up for creating cool body/ interior parts. If you look thru the car build pictures on our "fun" website my wife put together, you can see other things I've made with fiberglass including a whole car body. Home Page

ever think of making snorkels?

 

[Wrench Slinger]

Great looking work! They would be destroyed on the tight trails that I usually run my rigs through.

 

[99 sr5 highlander]

That 38 chevy is awesome. Quite the metal work by the previous owner! Haha, looks like they were in a bit over their head! Flares look sweet too. X2 on building snorkels!

 

[audiness]

Nice work! !

 

[Alaskastreamin]

Never thought about a snorkel. Hummmmm...

Yea, that '38 had a very cool theme going. That's why I bought it. The bondo in the rear was over 1 1/2" thick!! I bought it cheap!! And used it as a mold as I couldn't save the metal. I finished all the body work with sheetrock "hot" mud. It's on a rack waiting to get finished as time allows.

I thought about pulling a mold off these flares but they would have to be two piece molds because of the mounting flange around the outer edge of the flares. This makes the mold more time consuming and the parts cost more.

I was getting really burned out on this project because of the detail in capping the ends and the backing plates for the rear door flares.

I have a '37 chevy sedan delivery I need to get going on (restoration) and a 24' Bayliner I just bought, I need to rebuild. This Toyota is just a "filler" job to keep me busy over the holiday season.

A Visor, bumpers, and maybe a 4.3L V-6 will be about it for this project.

As long as folks are interested in this project, I'll post pictures of the progress and tell more on how I'm doing it.

My main reason for posting this was to show folks how to make pieces that either aren't available or are too expensive to buy.

 

[ryhi]

Nice work & love the color!!

 

[TCMach]

Funny that people are talking about a snorkel. That's currently what I'm working on and why I asked if you dissolved out your foam. Mold it with foam, layer it with a composite (Kevlar and Carbon fiber sandwich for me) then dissolve the foam out with a solvent like acetone.

 

[TOY2G]

As long as folks are interested in this project, I'll post pictures of the progress and tell more on how I'm doing it.

My main reason for posting this was to show folks how to make pieces that either aren't available or are too expensive to buy.

Stick around, and post up progress, its cool to see.

let us know where you end up on that snorkel thing.

 

[Alaskastreamin]

You could use a blue foam board and shape it like you want then either cover it with tinfoil or paint it with latex house paint. Either way, the resin won't come in contact with the foam. After the glass dries, pour gas in the end and the foam will melt out leaving the foil or latex paint against the inside.
Another way is to use epoxy. That shouldn't eat the foam. I will caution you about epoxies though. It does soften when exposed to heat so take that into consideration depending on where you live.

 

[Alaskastreamin]

I started on the roof visor this weekend.
This is the foam I started with. It has a tar paper on both sides.

A stiff putty knife releases the paper.

Tracing the curve of the windshield

Tape foil to protect paint

Glass mounting pads

Shaping foam

I wanted a "soft" contour to compliment the roof lines. Hot glue and stir sticks created a shelf to hold in place.

I had to weigh down the edges till the fiberglass dried.

The recess areas are where the mounting bolts will go.

I still need to cut out the air relief slots and glass the rest of the visor. At least now, the visor will hold the shape of the roof. I will take it off tonight and glass on the work bench.

I also started making the front bumper. Didn't take any pictures yet but got the top plate cut using the factory bumper as a template for the inside cut.
I'm looking at using multiple angles off the top plate just to be different. Our Dodge has a Road Rhino bumper and I like the 22 1/2* ish angle plate between the top (flat) piece and the front (verticle) plate.

 

[Alaskastreamin]

Lastnight I got the rest of the outside fiberglassed with two layers of mat and a cloth. I am cutting out air slots between the mounting pads tonight.

This is the top plate for the bumper.