How would one go about radiusing the front wheel wells NASCAR style?

Brock Samson · May 05, 2009, 12:16:05 AM

I've allways wanted to do that and I'd just like to know what's involved,.. the best way to go about it, and how much it might cost...

thanks in advance.

Ghoste · May 05, 2009, 07:59:23 AM

I'm sure it's not the way you want to do it but I once saw a picture of Dick Landy doing it by shoving a baseball bat between the tire and the lip of the fender opening and then sort of rolling it around up there. Crude but effective, in fact, I think I may have once seen it as a Car Craft tech tip a long time ago too (which means it also works on Camaros)

devilgear · May 05, 2009, 02:30:36 PM

I have it in a mag too..people have used base ball bats with success, but I think the CC method was to cut the inside of the wheel lip with a saw at a few places and hammer and dolly them back...This way you don't risk screwing up your paint or body panels...Oh and my article came out of Hot Rods Paint and Body special form Feb 15 2005..

mopar_nut_440_6 · May 05, 2009, 02:44:55 PM

Eastwood makes a tool which "apparently" will do it. It bolts to the hub.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=6159&itemType=PRODUCT

PocketThunder · May 05, 2009, 03:35:24 PM

Quote from: Ghoste on May 05, 2009, 07:59:23 AM
I'm sure it's not the way you want to do it but I once saw a picture of Dick Landy doing it by shoving a baseball bat between the tire and the lip of the fender opening and then sort of rolling it around up there. Crude but effective, in fact, I think I may have once seen it as a Car Craft tech tip a long time ago too (which means it also works on Camaros)

Aint that the truth!

Mr.Woolery · May 05, 2009, 03:49:22 PM

Did rears ever get radiused as part of NASCAR prepping? I've also considered this mod to my car.

BTW, Brock if you're in Southern California...I happen to have an Eastwood fender rolling tool if you'd like to use it. It'll make for really nicely radiused/rolled fenders, and you're more than welcome to stop by and use it.

daytonalo · May 05, 2009, 05:57:06 PM

In no way is that Eastwood tool going to duplicate the #71 fender they must be Fabricated

Rolling_Thunder · May 05, 2009, 07:12:02 PM

yep - the eastwood tool merely rolls the lip in... the nascar fenders are cut to almost match the contour of the tire... the rears were as well i believe.

Mr.Woolery · May 05, 2009, 09:50:57 PM

Quote from: Rolling_Thunder on May 05, 2009, 07:12:02 PM
yep - the eastwood tool merely rolls the lip in... the nascar fenders are cut to almost match the contour of the tire... the rears were as well i believe.

Cue the raspberry buzzer... BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!

Actually, you CAN use the Eastwood tool to pull fenders (in a limited manner). We've done so using it on other cars (mainly imports to fit big rubber when just rolling the lips isn't enough). Anything you can do with a baseball bat, you can do with the Eastwood tool, only MUCH cleaner.

Foreman72 · May 05, 2009, 09:52:35 PM

Quote from: mopar_nut_440_6 on May 05, 2009, 02:44:55 PM
Eastwood makes a tool which "apparently" will do it. It bolts to the hub.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=6159&itemType=PRODUCT

i was flipping thru that catalog this morning...that was the first thing i thought of too...

SFRT · May 06, 2009, 01:35:58 AM

figure out what size wheel and tire your going to run, then bring it over to the shop.

Cooperman · May 06, 2009, 04:27:53 AM

I have an Eastwood fender roller too, and as great as it is, it cannot remove four inches of fender! There's a whole lot of fabrication involved

Mr.Woolery · May 06, 2009, 10:41:39 AM

^^

I agree with that, that's why I said the Eastwood tool does have abilities with limits. Ideally, a radius would be cut, then you can use the Eastwood tool to create a flared lip. Obviously a full on fabrication shop will do a much more thorough job of radiusing a fender though.

Brock Samson · May 06, 2009, 08:23:50 PM

yeah,.. well runnin the pic of the K&K '71 Daytona is probably not the best example,.. after all that car was seriously prepped to run the salt flats at 200 + MPH,.. here with the hills and driveways that I like to take at 20 MPH

I don't think that's really a look i could shoot for...
Highbanked Hauler's got a fiberglass front clip with round front wheel wells,.. courtesy of an accident,..
Now that might be a way to go, but i belive he's got the only Charger street driven car I've seen on this site, maybe ever,.. that ain't a full on race car...
i'll try to find a pic of Hibanks charger 500 one of my Fav. cars on this site... it's near to Petty Blue too, it don't git much more bitchen then that in my book.

Mike DC · May 08, 2009, 08:28:42 AM

I think I remember hearing one time that in the 1960s somebody tooled up a stamped fender flare piece and sold them to everyone in NASCAR (all makes). Like it was just a steel flare a few inches across, and you'd attach it to the edges of a severely hogged-out stock wheelwell opening in a stock steel fender.

Usually you see the front fenders fully reworked, and then the rear wheelwells either left stock or just slightly rounded out larger at the top. You don't often see the big flared round holes in the back like you see on the front.

---------------------------------------------

Doing this now, I would get a set of rusty used fenders and do the whole 9 yards like a NASCAR.

I would go to the junkyard and see about finding some other (probably modern) car's fenders that could donate some metal to get the nice flared & round shape that looks right.

But the early NASCARs were so heavily lowered, like the entire floor/chassis was a few inches higher up into the sidewalls of the car body . . . I don't think a stock unibody'd Charger would even be able to truly replicate that stance even with the wheelwells totally redone. You just couldn't get it low enough with stock parts.

Maybe dropped spindles would get you closer to it. But even then, you'd still be worrying about the chassis dragging over bumps. You'd probably need to reach some kind of compromise for a street car with a stock unibody. Some lowering of the ride height + some raising of the wheelwells, but neither one quite as far as the real NASCARS had them.

SFRT · May 08, 2009, 11:43:01 AM

doing the front is easy. like he said, get a pair of AMD front fenders, we can make the flare. radius the back is easy.....

airsaw and a piece of 3" pipe is all you need.....

suntech · May 09, 2009, 12:21:03 AM

I think that car looks freak´n awesome, and the stance is just right, for a nose-coned /winged car.

IMO it looks a lot better like this, than what it does with "factory" fenders and rideheight.

On a "normal" Charger i think it might look a little bit to radical, and out of place, but a happy medium........

If i was going to build a Daytona clone, this would be the direction i would be going. Hard core purpose buildt!

daytonalo · May 11, 2009, 09:54:21 PM

my Next Daytona clone is going to be as close as I exact duplicate of the # 71 car , right down to lowered chassis and roll bar and goodyear slicks , and yes it will be street driven

bull · March 03, 2010, 11:51:19 AM

Didn't Highbanked Hauler do this to the front of his C500?

Brock Samson · March 03, 2010, 12:20:38 PM

his 500s' clip is fiberglass and one of my top favorite cars on this site..
still a mod I concider often..

Highbanked Hauler · March 03, 2010, 06:51:56 PM

Quote from: Brock Samson on March 03, 2010, 12:20:38 PM
his 500s' clip is fiberglass and one of my top favorite cars on this site..
still a mod I concider often..

NOPE, its all steel and if you are serious I would do it a little different than mine.

Brock Samson · March 03, 2010, 07:05:24 PM

so it's just the hood that's glass?..

and how did you do it?..

Highbanked Hauler · March 03, 2010, 07:14:43 PM

no, the hood is steel also. It was damaged in the front and I cut the inner frame away to straighten it.

Brock Samson · March 03, 2010, 07:17:15 PM

$:-\$ wow,.. i was way off then, sorry I maligned your 500...

Highbanked Hauler · March 03, 2010, 07:21:00 PM

Quote from: Brock Samson on March 03, 2010, 07:17:15 PM
$:-\$ wow,.. i was way off then, sorry I maligned your 500...

NOT TO WORRY, most people think it is glass and its easy enough to do the hood. the fenders are a little more of a pain but I think its an easy fix but I haven't tried it yet.
ABS sells a repair panel for the wheel well area of an 87 Ford PU bed. It looks like about the right flare angle to do a charger fender. It looks like it would be close to the 71 car fender.

Brock Samson · March 03, 2010, 07:38:03 PM

lowering the front of the car would be a part of that i would think, after all,.. isn't that a large part of why the wells were currved to begin with?..

Highbanked Hauler · March 03, 2010, 08:00:49 PM

right, since they have drop spindles now that would be the way to go. Before that I was going to bring the frame rails up in the nose about an inch or two which you would have to take the aprons out to do but I never got that far. You definitely want the ride height set and tires and wheels on that you are going to use before you cut the fenders. depends on how far you want to go.

69bronzeT5 · March 03, 2010, 08:09:00 PM

Like Dave, I'm a huge fan of your 500......could you share some pictures of it? I never get tired of seeing it

Brock Samson · March 03, 2010, 08:16:59 PM

i have several great pics on a memory stick but when i looked for them earlier today I couldn't find them...

anyhow, as far as doing it to my ride,.. i feel it would be a shame to carve up my good fenders and it really rides so well now I wouldn't want to screw it all up.
but I am amazed with all these clones being built no one has done it yet.
If i was getting into building a charger or a daytona now instead of a quarter century ago,.. I'd sure do it.

Highbanked Hauler · March 03, 2010, 08:17:33 PM

Thanks,My son is supposed to set me up with an easy way to post pix. as soon as he does I will put them up.

Someone had a 68 charger on ebay that they were modifying for a Daytona Stocker which was half done. He had cut the fire wall and had the tubing in on the nose already.

tan top · March 03, 2010, 08:33:23 PM

Quote from: 69bronzeT5 on March 03, 2010, 08:09:00 PM
Like Dave, I'm a huge fan of your 500......could you share some pictures of it? I never get tired of seeing it

..........

Highbanked Hauler · March 03, 2010, 08:51:01 PM

Thanks again, people either like it or hate it, there isn't any middle ground. I've gotten the (how could anyone do that to a 500) also.The thing most people don't realize is those parts went on because of the wreck in 97. The tin that is on it was going on the stocker I was going to build.

Patronus · March 04, 2010, 12:49:05 AM

that car would need to looses 6" in ride height to get that low
no way your runnin' that on the street, not in Anytown, USA
bag it maybe

Brock Samson · March 04, 2010, 10:33:09 AM

my charger was two inches lower front and back when i was running the SB, of course the headers were pancaked the very first day, the wheels rubbed the front fenders even minus the wheel well stainless,.. and jumping a steep hill here in SF with five friends aboard I actually cracked a 904 trans in half... this all happened back in '84 the first week i got her on the road. I went thru another 904 before i adapted a 727 and raised her up an inch.

That low it cornered like a slot car though.

Brock Samson · March 04, 2010, 12:21:50 PM

found the pics I saved... of Highbanked haulers' Charger 500.

lisiecki1 · March 04, 2010, 01:15:27 PM

^ that is one SICK 500!

SFRT · March 04, 2010, 02:02:50 PM

that car rules

200MPH · March 04, 2010, 05:02:43 PM

WOW thats is Cool like the color !

Mike DC · March 04, 2010, 08:34:29 PM

Yeah, the car looks great.

As for the NASCAR ride height, that's not truly gonna happen on an intact production unibody. The racecars had the entire undercarriage sunk farther upwards into the sides of the body.

Highbanked Hauler's C500 is about as close as you can practically get without hacking the unibody to shreds.

Ryan · March 04, 2010, 10:16:15 PM

Quote from: Mike DC (formerly miked) on March 04, 2010, 08:34:29 PM
Yeah, the car looks great.

As for the NASCAR ride height, that's not truly gonna happen on an intact production unibody. The racecars had the entire undercarriage sunk farther upwards into the sides of the body.

Highbanked Hauler's C500 is about as close as you can practically get without hacking the unibody to shreds.

You maybe able to get close if you were to get the engine and tranny up higher, and tuck the exhaust up out of the way..... obviously it would still require a lot of floor work, but its doable. A NASCAR styled charger is on my list of project cars...... Hmmm.... maybe that 68 r/t on the side of my house could be a good candidate.

Mike DC · March 05, 2010, 12:28:59 PM

If you're gonna cut up the flooring & raise the motor . . . I would just go all the way and do it like the old NASCAR teams did.

Highbanked Hauler · March 06, 2010, 06:45:14 PM

Quote from: Mike DC (formerly miked) on March 04, 2010, 08:34:29 PM
Yeah, the car looks great.

As for the NASCAR ride height, that's not truly gonna happen on an intact production unibody. The racecars had the entire undercarriage sunk farther upwards into the sides of the body.

Highbanked Hauler's C500 is about as close as you can practically get without hacking the unibody to shreds.

I think what they did was after the firewall and cowl are cut out was to bring the front frame rails up into the nose a couple of inches and that will drop a car at the cowl about the same amount as it uses the wheel for a pivot point. That way the motor stays at the same hight and the body drops over it with the least amount of work. I can't prove it but I think that is what they did.

Brock thanks for posting the pictures of the 500 Some day I'll learn how to do it.

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How would one go about radiusing the front wheel wells NASCAR style?