Wide rear arch, how to do it

[Mopedmark]

Hi Zedders, as many of you will have found out many of our beloved cars suffer from the dreaded rust on the rear arches.There are a few things you can do, leave it do nothing and eventually your car will look really bad.Get it fixed with cutting and filler etc DIY, or get it done professionally and and have cut out re welded and re painted but it Will cost, anything from £300 plus just for starters per side and then you are hoping they done it right.

Well now there is another option, fit Tarmac Sportz 50mm rear bolt on arches.i had the dreaded rust and fettled it every year but I knew I had to do something, well Chris @Tarmac@TarmacSportz Came up with the idea of me doing what I am about to show you and fit these rears to my beautiful car, after about 2 seconds flat I said ok let’s do it.this is first mock up I used masking tape to just hold it in place and roughly marked up and spaced out the potential holes for the bolts, The first thing was to cut the hole for the aerial, then I would say I spent around 1.5 hours to fettle the both ( I am a little picky on this, an hour would probably do) sanding blocks big files and little fettling files are what I used, you just need to get a couple of the edges straight and away you go.

i measured 20mm all the way around and th spaced the holes for the bolts, a 6.5mm drill for this but a smaller pilot hole is advisable to use first. 

So with prep all done it’s time for Primer,With the weather very hot I painted the panels with 3 coats and left them to dry for 24 hours, next morning I wet sanded with 1500 grit ready for colour which in my case is Blade Silver paint code KY0 So after a further 3 coats of colour and 3 of clear, it was just down to time for them both to dry, after another 24 hours the final result was very pleasing and I could then start the cutting.The day came when it was time to start the cutting, first off I had to mark up the holes for the bolt holes, as I was using 6mm Rivnuts as these fit into the body and the back pulls up and locks you simply screw your 6mm bolt into them like a fixed nut.With all the holes drilled and rivnuts fitted it was grinder time.The side was taped us and I cover the car with old covers because of the sparks, you will notice 2 lines on the arch, cut the lower one as this splits the double skin, this is important, you then do the second cut which is very important NOT to cut through the second inner skin.This is what you are left with and you can see some rust on the inner arch which you cannot get rid of without cutting the outer arch, I did some grinding back and treated this a little before the next stage.

This is the important bit as I have seen some of the Rocket Bunny boys in the States Not Do, I marked the inner arch and then cut them upwards with very sharp metal snips, you then have to panel beat them all upwards and fix them back to the outer arch, this may take 2 people, one to hold one to drill and then pop rivet to hold into place.On these photos I have dropped the air suspension to make sure I have done it all correct (which I had) I rounded the ends a little also, you really have to take your time doing this and it’s the most time consuming part of it all at least a couple of hours per side. You do have to cut a little bit of rear bumper but you do not have lose the fixing which connects and holds the bumper to the body, the ends are then fettled with the dremmel to smooth out and get a clean look.I used some P40 fibreglass body filler to seal it all then coated it all with some under body seal.

50mm spacers from Chris @Tarmac@TarmacSportz We’re added to give the finishing look and make the wheels fit the new arches.Finished apart from the  Hexis Super Chrome Vinyl to be added, and the finished article is Complete Thanks for looking I hope it all helps any problems fitting give me a message thanks

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Mopedmark

[evilscorp]

Ideal way to do the job if you don't have a welder.

[OnlyAfro]

Ooh, Crown Carbon Crafting style overfenders. 

Prefer these over RB / VS as they complement the curves of the Z to give a natural widebody rather than protruding from nowhere.

Could do with some front overfenders to match though and some proper wheels not 50mm spacers 

[Ekona]

It's not to my taste, but personally I think you've done a cracking job there and that's a truly excellent guide for others to follow. Good job sir

 

The only complaint I could make is that they do not fit very well at all at the bottom of the light cluster where arch, light and bumper all meet, as you can still see a massive amount of original arch there. That kinda ruins the effect, especially on the nearside where the stripes go right through it. Did you ever consider modifying that part to go right up to the join?

[Mopedmark]

5 hours ago, OnlyAfro said:

Ooh, Crown Carbon Crafting style overfenders. 

Prefer these over RB / VS as they complement the curves of the Z to give a natural widebody rather than protruding from nowhere.

Could do with some front overfenders to match though and some proper wheels not 50mm spacers 

I don’t want front because if you look the car is my own build I don’t want it to be too wide on the front as it will handle like sh#te I also like my wheels for now, everyone has deep dish and guess what it ain’t like everyone’s 

[Tarmac@TarmacSportz]

 

Great guide thanks @Mopedmark

 

Looks awesome 

[scobie140]

Great way to deal with the pesky rear arch rust, would have saved a fortune on getting a bodyshop to do it

[Humpy]

Great guide Mark, very helpful for any of those that go down that route. 

[SHEZZA]

Yes a great guide mate, and as the Hoff would say “ I like it “  if only you had done it sooner. Haha who am I kidding   

Edited June 21, 2018 by SHEZZA

[Mopedmark]

1 hour ago, SHEZZA said:

Yes a great guide mate, and as the Hoff would say “ I like it “  if only you had done it sooner. Haha who am I kidding   

 now you know you wouldn’t have gone that route  

thanks for liking the write up mate, just trying to help anyone out that may want it  

[veilside z]

Absolutely spot on procedure.  100% Transformation.  

[veilside z]

This procedure Mark has done is 100% to the book, if there was one on this application.

With Tarmac supplying these panels and with the knowledge of Mark's fitting as a guideline, things can only progress on further. Very well done  

[Mopedmark]

Thank you Mr Veilside and you certainly know your wide Zedds   

[lmc]

4 hours ago, veilside z said:

This procedure Mark has done is 100% to the book, if there was one on this application.

With Tarmac supplying these panels and with the knowledge of Mark's fitting as a guideline, things can only progress on further. Very well done  

Not entirely true is it. Doing it by the book you would weld inner & outer arch together. That said if you don’t have a welder this is the next best thing.

[veilside z]

3 hours ago, lmc said:

Not entirely true is it. Doing it by the book you would weld inner & outer arch together. That said if you don’t have a welder this is the next best thing.

More than adequate for this type of application. Strength can be gained through glass fibre resin over sealing, bonding the two units together. but prior to this, filling the cavity with Expanding Foam/Tiger Seal or Windscreen Sealer. All 3 would undertake a strong enough attachment as the Welding id a filthy job and nine times out of 10 will result in Welding Splatter.

[Mopedmark]

1 minute ago, veilside z said:

More than adequate for this type of application. Strength can be gained through glass fibre resin over sealing, bonding the two units together. but prior to this, filling the cavity with Expanding Foam/Tiger Seal or Windscreen Sealer. All 3 would undertake a strong enough attachment as the Welding id a filthy job and nine times out of 10 will result in Welding Splatter.

Well said Mike, the fixing of the inner back to the outer arch is the most important issue and welding would be a perfect fix but the fibreglass and underseal is good enough for me,

[veilside z]

Who would have thought a few years back that Staggered Rims would be popular as they are today. In my opinion, then why can't we have a staggered car. Wider on the rear to match the aspect of the domed rim, with standard set up on the front matching the oem wings.  Makes clear sense to those who have vision.

[Mopedmark]

A rather great photo from the Ace and not even a wide rear to be seen  

[Mopedmark]

Another nice photo from the Ace with Khelers in attendance 

[Mopedmark]

Thank you Martin

[Mopedmark]

Wide canards now, ,  we had a great time mate a pleasure working on that car of yours

[Payco]

We certainly did and I love them. 

[Mopedmark]

A better photo of those bottle tops I knocked up, no welder, fibreglass , or angle grinders were harmed in the making of them

[Mopedmark]

Just now, Payco said:

We certainly did and I love them. 

It’s not my car and I love them

[Payco]

You are the ONLY person I would let drill 6 holes in my Nismo bumper.