GR4 Conversion

Here's a shot of the rear end with the flare mounted....

I'm getting fat, old and tired but what fires me up is when my son comes in the garage and asks if he can help me. I'm hoping he steals my wifes minivan at 15 for a joyride instead of my Pantera. Gotta get another hotrod for my other boy or else they'll fight over the one car.

Special thanks goes out to Sam Civello for his help with my conversion.
W

Whos flares do you use? How do they fit? Did you measure how much wider they are front and rear over the stock fender?

Lookin' hot, Will! Love the flares.

great bunch of Pantera guys

Will,

Looking good, what color will you paint it?

My '74 is at about the same point as your last photo, flares mounted up and exhaust area infilled... unfortunately its been at that stage for the past 18 months.

Julian

quote:

Whos flares do you use? How do they fit? Did you measure how much wider they are front and rear over the stock fender?

I used Hall flares but they are all made by Bob Byers. The flares extend 2 3/4" in front and 4" in rear. Takes alot of balls (or lack of brains) to take a zipsaw to a perfectly good $50k car. My neighbour walked into the garage while I was cutting and said "you're f@$ked", then walked away.
Do they fit? Hell no. They are glass and can be manipulated with some physical persuasion. Good thing I'm in top shape and svealt like a cheeta. BAWAHAHAHAHA!
Paint colour? Not sure, but it will be dark. Not black. Black is the meanest colour for a Pantera but I can't live with the maintenance again.With my last black Pantera, I had to carry a rag around in my back pocket to wipe off fingerprints and I started to feel like Chachi (sp) from Happy Days.
I was going to fill in the rear exhaust holes but decided to replace the entire rear panel with a new piece.
Should be ready for paint by the end of December.
Will

I grabbed a few shots whenever someone took the cutter away from me ...
Wayne showing some metal who's boss -

Custom 4" backspace, I'm watching for Will to start selling these on e-bay -

And no, Will wasn't just standing around barking orders and taking pictures, he was in there chopping up his car like the rest of us. It's gonna look great when it's done, but there has to be a lot of vision and guts behind making the first cut.

Love the photos! Seems like you got the rear flares to fit really good. The tire clearance looks damn near perfect I would say. Can't wait to see your car painted.

The new headlights are gonna look great when the car's done

quote:

Takes alot of balls (or lack of brains) to take a zipsaw to a perfectly good $50k car.

Agreed, I agonized, measured then re-measured, looked at it some more, before getting the cut off wheel out. My measuring wasn't helped by the fact the car was stripped down with no suspension to use as a reference point. The flares don't go where you'd first think just looking at the two wheel well edges. But once the cutter hit the first fender it was all go from there.

Did you just screw the flares on or bond them? I'm using a product from Lord Fusor Adhesives that Bill Gaino (LPB) put me onto. Mine will be blended to the body.

Julian

I'm going to bond them with 3M panel adhesive. No smoothing in. You'll see the flair lip just as in the GT5's.
Will

Like this....

Nice. Got more pictures of that car?

Now isn't it a problem painting the car with the flares bonded on? There isn't a natural place for the paint to end? It needs to bridge the gap?

Hey LPB?

Great job, Will.

Man, I must have caught the same bug from you: I can't stop taking my cat apart, either!

Keep us posted!

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
Nice. Got more pictures of that car?

Now isn't it a problem painting the car with the flares bonded on? There isn't a natural place for the paint to end? It needs to bridge the gap?

Hey LPB?

Just like the red car, there will be no gap. I would expect the glue would squeeze out of the gap, get hard, be trimmed, sanded, primed and painted. Better rough it up good to start with, both sides. First you need to make sure that you have no tire rub to cause a re-crack. I have never put on flares like those. It would be easier to blend them in with the qtr, but that's a different look. I belive I would do one first before I jump all the way in. I see then attached like that all the time so there must be a procedure. WILL, Your flares don't have that little flat edge like the red car. I have attached lower side skirts with tiny headed rivets in countersunk holes, and then filled over the rivet heads.Looks like Your gonna have your work cut out for you finishing the edge where it meets the qtr.