One of the most asked questions to me has been "When are you gonna paint those fenders?"

Well to answer this question, It'll been soon..... I guess an exlpanation is in order..

In the photo's my fender appear to fit fine, but there are a few spots that are not up to my desired look. Here's an example of what I'm talking about, where the fender lines up with the body pillar it doesn't quite match, plus the gap between the door also is too wide;

 

This is the other side after being reworked;

 

I had zip ties pulling and tugging parts of the fender to get the fit better, but in some area's the mounting tabs needed to be cut off completely then remoulded to work;

 

Now the new mount with the added tab to hold the cover that goes under the headlight in place;

 

Since fiberglass takes quite a long time to fully cure, the fenders comming out of a mould will warp and need to be reshaped by either forcing it into place or re-glassing area's. When I mounted the fenders, there was quite a bit of stress put on them. What needed to be done was wait for nature to run it's course and let the fenders settle to their new shape. Once all the zip ties were cut off and the fender stayed put it was finally time to start the finish work on them. After I get the final shaping and mounts done, I will be able to prep the fenders for paint. There's a few stress cracks in the gelcoat that need to be repaired, then my 4Runner goes in to get painted. It'll probably be another month or two before this happens....

If I had painted the fender right after installation, they would have cracks in them by now. By waiting this long, the fender have settled and now when I get them painted, the finish should hold up.

 

Nice Bruce.
I gotta hand it to you man. You go after stuff and you get it done.

 

Yup same issues with my tacoma flares . They actually fit better than expected , they were purchased used on ebay for $100 . I just primed them black cause My truck is black . Mine need attention in the A pillar , headlight and parking light areas . Fiberglass is a messy deal to work with . I also bobbed my bed 14" , filled the tail lights and added oval trailer lights in their place and plan to use fiberglass as well to blend everything together . Any tips on fiberglass ?

 

Use Acetone for clean-up.....
Try to keep the amount of resin mixed to the least amount needed to work one area. The strength is in the actual fiberglass and not the resin, so work in as much glass as you can.

When I do glass repairs, I'll take my grinder and cut out the inside around the crack, then patch the area. After this dries I then grind from the outside, all the way to the new glass and patch this area. What this does is bonds the broken pieces together with the most strength, without adding excessive material. When I get done patching broken pieces, you can't tell where the original break was. As for strenght it is just as strong as the rest of the part. I used to do quite a bit of glass work on a NASCAR southwest tour team, I remember one fender that had been repaired so many times that there wasn't much of the original fender left, but it was just as light and strong, as a new one.

The biggest mistake I see done is too much resin and not enough glass, this will lead to a very brittle piece prone to breakage and not very flexable. You can get this spiked roller to press down the glass and force out the air bubbles when working with larger pieces. I just got so used to doing by hand that I never bother with one.

As you sand, the glass fibers will get all over, this can be very itchy for people who don't have much experience. When you take a shower, use cooking flour, wet your body and apply the powder. It will help in pulling the glass fibers from your skin, I also use an abrasive sponge to scrub with(the type with sponge material on one side and scouring pad on the other)

 

Finally got some time, so here's the final product. I ended up hand laying glass to make the inner fender wells, moulded directly to the fenders. After final fitting, I primed then finish sanded them.

 

Then came the 2 step process of painting. First the color coat, then the clear coat. BTW, it was a PITA to shoot the clear, you have a 15 to 20 minute window between the color coat and clesr, so you get proper bonding. When you spray the clear, it'll start giving you an orange peal effect until enough paint is applied, suddenly it'll all flow smooth. At this point you cross your fingers and hope you didn't apply too much and it starts to run.

 

And the final finished product. I was pleasantly surprised the color match was so close.

 

Wow, very nice Bruce! Great work.

 

Quality workk as usual Bruce. I'm sure this has been asked elsewhere, but I'll ask here.

Do the glass fenders give you more clearance at the firewall side (tire scrub), or just more covereage for the new stance from the A-arms?

 

damn bruce, you got some impressive skills. can't wait to see that in person!

bob

 

I had to go with the fiberglass fenders, because of the wider stance with the Long Travel suspension. As for more clearance, I had to trim back the fenders another 2" so they wouldn't hit the tires during hard landings, body flex. During the Pismo trip, I hit hard after going off a razorback, the impact busted both fenders, even though they cleared under normal flexing.

 

Truly impressive. Asthetically, mechanically...damn, I'm speechless.

 

Thanks guys! It's taken me much longer than expected to finish the fenders and hopefully I'll have a chance to get the Line-X done on the rocker panels soon.

I recently went on a run with the Goldcoast cruisers and had an opportunity to jump my rig. After the first launch went very smooth, everyone wanted me to do it again. With 3 digital camera's snapping photo's, I had launced my 4Runner 5 times and nobody got a decent shot I only got a few feet off the ground, so the suspension absorbed the landing with ease. Afterwards, I inspected my riig for any signs of damage, none of course, but one section of pinch weld did show signs of rubbing. Time to do a bit more hammer work, but that's okay, since there was no place else that the tires rub against, even at full lock/stuff.

Now to see how the fenders hold up out at Pismo.....................

 

Bravo! Great job, looks terrific from here