fender flares for ea81

[86hatchback]

I had way to much time to kill at the pick n pull today. I've been racking my brain trying

to figure out a flare that i could use if I put ea82 arms on my hatch without moving the mounting ears, so i can do a five lug swap and fix the bad caster angle at the same time. Looks like mid 80's s10 4x4's fit the bill pretty sweet. The are flexable easy to trim and could mount with sheet metal screws.

 

They move the opening about 3" forward and an inch or two higher depending where you

Place it.

Luckily where the bottom doesnt quite match in the front I'd plan on trimming the lower part of the fender off and building a custom bumper. In the back some creative trimming and the mudflap covers it

Edited August 22, 2012 by 86hatchback

[ferox]

Nice, I was just wondering about this.

[turbosubarubrat]

just saying but if your going to cut it like that it will look off centered so take off the fenders and do the five lug swap then trim the fender where need and then put those fender flares on, cant wait to see how it turns out more pics:popcorn:

Edited August 22, 2012 by turbosubarubrat

[86hatchback]

Well if I left the wheel in its original location then yes it would look lopsided, but I want to use ea82 arms in the stock location. So it would move the balljoint forward about 2.5" and 1.5" out there by fixing the negative camber and the positve caster set by the factory. I didn't think it would move it that far forward but since the blazer wheel opening is 30" and the subarus is 25" at the bumper line. It should be pretty easy to center up.

 

The ea81 arm is on the bottom the ea82 is laid across the top. So numbers are pretty close.

 

My biggest goal with this is to minimize the lift need for the bigger tires. I always look at the hardcore cars the have six or eight inches of lift and think if you just moved the wheel forward you wouldn't have to go as high. Problem had been if you moved it forward and cut the fender you could see it in the change of body line. I like this flare because you can hide that and make it look clean. That's the plan anyways. Once funds allow i'll see how it works out.

Edited August 22, 2012 by 86hatchback

[jbbvw]

I like the flare idea. Looks like those with work good. When I put EA82 arms on mine I just trimmed and reshaped the fender opening and tried to keep it somewhat factory looking. Here's a before and after of mine with tube bumpers. It made a huge difference with tire clearance. I extended the radius rods 2" when I did it.

Here's a shot before bumpers and final shaping of fender to better see how far forward I trimmed.The tires are turned slightly, but I did go a little to far forward.

 

Jesse

[86hatchback]

Nice so what tire size lift combo are you running with that set up? Also hows the handling with the adjusted camber caster angle? I dig the white pugs I've got a set on my hatch now. When I go five lug i want keep the wheels white good look on these cars.

[jbbvw]

27-9.5 SSRs w/ 4" lift. It handles pretty good. The only bad part is the caster angle is a little to severe so going down the highway it kinda fights you the first 1/4 turn of the steering wheel then turns easily. It's really not that bad though.

 

Jesse

[86hatchback]

Nice, silly question but did you spin the strut top hat around? Gives it you a 1/2" of adjustment. Are you running powersteering?

[jbbvw]

Yes I did spin the top hats. It needs to go probably another inch to correct the caster. I was going to move the upper mount forward to correct it, but I've gotten used to it so I never did. I do have power steering.

 

Jesse

[86hatchback]

Right on, thanks for all the info on your wagon. Pretty cool to see something I've been designing in my head already road tested and proven. Now to figure out how to compensate for extra castor maybe with top hat from a different make of car.