GRP WINGS

cobraboy

Well-Known Member
Next on my to do list was GRP wings.
The reason for the change is to allow me to build some arches to house the new Minilite wheels on the way shortly.
I have the fronts fitted and they came out quite good, panel gaps are fair and will be fettled at paint stage. They were not straight forward as when the top was right the bottom ended up short and the sill angle was wrong, I ended up cutting off the lower 2" and re bonding it in the right place and in filling the gap.
I have started on a rear and it is proving to be quite challenging, the shape is wrong at the door and I had to cut and shut the panel to get it to run with the door, also the area around the rear valance is way out.
It will come together, but will take a lot of effort.
You may be able to see the side exhaust in the is pic that has gone on in the last week, it has made the car a real hooligan :)
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Rear in progress.
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With a fair wind the wings are now fitted, any further fettling will be done at paint.
Inside of rear wing showing brackets to replicate original mounting and bolts bonded from the rear. Grips are to hold the skins whilst the P40 goes off after slitting and drawing in top edge.
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Gaps came out as good as stock and alignment fair.
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Bonnet to door gap to be addressed later ( S1 bonnet onto S2 car.
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Rear lights were a PITA to fit.
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Ooooh!

What size wheels are you going for? Will the arches be little or you going all the way with bubbles?
 
With a fair wind the wings are now fitted, any further fettling will be done at paint.
Inside of rear wing showing brackets to replicate original mounting and bolts bonded from the rear. Grips are to hold the skins whilst the P40 goes off after slitting and drawing in top edge.


Gaps came out as good as stock and alignment fair.

Bonnet to door gap to be addressed later ( S1 bonnet onto S2 car.



Rear lights were a PITA to fit.


Well done with the GRP wings.
Extra effort has made them fit better than originals.

Mark.
 
Thanks Guys
The plan was 15 x 8 on the wheels but tyre choice in 15" has dwindled to non existent, so reluctantly I am going for 16 x 8. The wheels have a 98mm backspace which puts the front face @ 90mm further out than stock.
This makes the tyre stick out @ 50mm further than the stock arch, so arches will be made to suit. I have a dummy wheel made with a tyre on, the rolling diameter will remain the same as stock.
I first saw JXC 808D in a magazine in 1984 and ever since I wanted to build a likeness. I found a replica for sale recently and spoke with Andrew Strachan at AWS Racing who did the build, he has prepped the original car for competition and the owner allowed the car to be copied.
I asked Andrew if he would run me off a set of wings from the moulds he made from 808D but alas the owner has stipulated that no others are to be made.
So in answer to the question I am making my own to be as close as the current style on 808D.
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When I first saw that replica I also contacted the very friendly Mr Strachan to ask if he would be able to sell replica flared arhces and rear door skins. As Cobraboy says he's been bound over by his client not to make any duplicates. I've always wanted a street version of a P6 that looks like that! :rolleyes: Maybe not with the alloy plate front spoiler, just the little 'Police' spoilers.
Cobraboy, if your self-fabricated efforts come out as nice as the ones in the pic above, perhaps you could sell further sets yourself!? I would've thought there'd be a market for them. I'd take a set, I reckon, in fibreglass, if they weren't astronomically expensive. Seriously.
Alternatively, the same shape as the muscular wheelarch flare on the naughty high performance Audis of recent years would work grafted onto P6 wings, I reckon. Not quite as OTT as the works racecar flares. No idea if they're available as GRP arches though.
Are your 16" x 8" Minilites going to be the same as the blue racecar, or are those 15" in the pic? Your car is going to be wicked either way.
 
Thanks for the positive comments.
I assume that 808D will still be running 15" wheels as they were fitted in period.
It is a tough call on further panels being produced, either moulds would have to be made for all 4 complete wings or just for the arch sections. Whichever way was chosen the set up costs would be quite high I imagine and I would venture that not very many people will be wanting to 're work' their cars this much.

I took the car to a small village show yesterday which had a lot of old British classics mostly with pristine finishes and original sales receipts etc etc I could see people wince as they came across the Rover, and give it a wide berth............ I laughed like a drain :)
 
That'll look great when you've done the arches. I have thought of flares on mine - to allow bigger tyres to be fitted, but I'm still not sure about it yet, I don't want to upset the purity of the original design. But I do like fat tyres. Decisions, decisions :).

The set up costs for the moulds won't be that great - you could take simple fibreglass moulds, which wouldn't be that expensive, but it would take quite a lot of time.
 
To make a panel that would bolt on would be a fair amount of work as there is internal reinforcing and mounting to add as well. I knew what to expect from a GRP panel when I ordered and I knew they would not fit, I also knew that I would be able to get over any probs.
To make a decent panel you need a decent mould with a steel frame, that's just for the outers, then there is the second inner skin.
I am not poo pooing the idea totally, but to offer a quality product ready to fit is I feel not viable with the likely uptake.
The other way to go would be to just make the actual arch area itself to bond onto either an existing steel wing or a replacement GRP wing. The risk with GRP /steel is the possible movement between the dissimilar materials in the hot sun.
 
The other way to go would be to just make the actual arch area itself to bond onto either an existing steel wing or a replacement GRP wing. The risk with GRP /steel is the possible movement between the dissimilar materials in the hot sun.
That was what I was thinking of - moulding the shaped flared arches, ready for bonding to a separate GRP wing. A full panel mould would be a whole different prospect.
 
I took the car to a small village show yesterday which had a lot of old British classics mostly with pristine finishes and original sales receipts etc etc I could see people wince as they came across the Rover, and give it a wide berth............ I laughed like a drain :)

I would be surprised if any of those turning up their noses actually knew anything about cars. First thing I did when I bought Sparky was take him to a local show, warts and all - and all I got was interest.

But then I do like to see all classics, whether they be pristine, roadworthy, or bit of rust on a trailer.

My first attempt at decluttering went ok but back in the 80's when I did it, I was very short of money.

Thunderdog

Looking forward to seeing this beasty :)
 
Love the wings!

We run 15x7 (205/65-15 tyres) under "almost" standard body work, some chopping around the inner part of the rear wings and bottom of the D pillar but the outer panel stays standard and where it normally is, it's very tight but as there is essentially no rubber in our rear suspension a miss is as good as a mile :)

Tim
 
My Vitesse wheels are 6.5J 15s with 205/65 R15 tyres. I had to 'adjust' the O/S inner D Post but everything else is stock.

Richard
 
Quattro
That Thunderdog was a hoot, nice one.
Tim
I am going for wideness so there will be some D post surgery, I plan to feel my way into it and see how it goes. I know the fears about strength being lost and I intend to put metal back, but I have seen pics of 808D's rear arches and it is all cut away and that car does not appear to have folded in two.
Wheels ordered today :)
 
Hi,

I was looking for a good pic of the D post surgery but don't really have one to hand, this is the best I can do. We moved the lower fixing up as the bit of the D post it normally bolted to wasn't there anymore :) We thinned the lower corner of the door as well as that's the next bit that limits the wheel width. Fitting big arches would have been a nice way to go but it limits the events that we can compete in as some don't allow such modifications, our goal was to squeeze in as much wheel as possible within the standard bodywork.

Note our car runs with Jag IRS rear suspension.

Tim
 

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Very interesting thank you.
When I bought the Rover a neighbour popped into the barn one day to say hi, he is a Canadian living over here and has 'done' a fair bit in his time. He has been involved in racing for many years and has been at Indy, Daytona etc etc, he is very laid back.
He works for a race prep shop in Norfolk and mentioned to his boss that some idiot had bought a Rover that had not been run for 30 years and was going to make an attempt to make it look like one of the comps cars.
His boss then reveals that as a boy he worked on 808D and has got a few pics of it and would I like to go over and visit the shop and take a look ?
Well what would you do ?
A very pleasant afternoon followed drooling over the likes of Lotus 23, Brabham's, and other Loti.
Anyhow I am pretty sure that is where I saw the pics of the rear arches all cut away on 808D, this is not to say that they may have beefed up the base unit elsewhere.
I will try to track down 808D this summer and get a sneaky peek.
Meanwhile thank you for the pic.
 
I asked Andrew if he would run me off a set of wings from the moulds he made from 808D but alas the owner has stipulated that no others are to be made.
So in answer to the question I am making my own to be as close as the current style on 808D.
These days, a few hi-resolution pictures from different angles would be enough to get it as near as damnit to good.
It would be handy if you could get a handheld 3D scanner, but that's getting into the realm of expensive.
I would be forced to dig my old girl out from under the junk in my garage to do something like that to her.
 
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