hey

i bought some flares for my mini last week, but i need some help because i need to cut my front guards to make them fit.

so could anyone send me a template to use or give me some photos and measurments to use.

or someone esles post on here, on how to do it but i couldnt find one with some photos or measurements

much appreciated guys

what type of mini have you got, what flares did you buy etc etc

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

78 clubby and i think they are the sport pack flares, the ones that are held on by the chrome strips

Sportspack... chrome strip? Not likely. Group 5's perhaps.


Here are the templates for cutting guards..... to suit MOST wide arches, but not all.

You need to print them all out, then line up the marks and tape together.

Only drill the marked mounting holes if you are fitting sportspack arches.

-right click on the link, save as..... 4.5meg
http://www.niallsimpson.plus.com/images/Plans/Sportspack%20arches%20fitting%20templete.zip

If your arch is held on with a chrome strip, cutting the guards will probably not work at all..

This next page may help you to know exactly what arches you've got.

http://www.customminis.co.uk/id33.html

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

no arches are held on with a chrome strip either, they are just a finishing touch.
anyway you could take a pic of the arches or find a pic on the net?

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

i thought you only had to modify guards if you were running a different wheel/tyre set up due to clearance problems. If you are keeping the same wheels/tyres but just fitting flares, you should be able to just fix them to the guard without modifying.

I put 12" wheels with 165x55/12 tyres on my car and had the clearance issue. To solve I removed the esisting flare, flattened the lip, drew a line through the fixing screw holes of the precious flare (with the flare shape as a guide) to remove about an inch of material from the very front where it was rubbing. I then cut and reformed the lip and put the flare back on.

Cutting sounds scary but it was a piece of cake. I just used tin snips. Old proverb applies though, measure twice cut once.

chris

you dont need to cut the guards for 165 55 R12

sportspack arches are designed to be fit with a cut guard, but have no chrome strip at all.

afaik no flares require cutting the guard to fit them.

you only cut the guards to fit 13" wheels or very wide rims.

mine were rubbing bad when i moved up to 12" wheels, 5" wide with anything over about 1 deg castor. could run with less castor but real crap handling. a quick trim has solved all the problems.

chris

I've got 12 X 6 and group 5 flares, i didn't need to cut anything out of the guards.

Steve

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Classic Not Plastic

sorry i havent replyed been busy doing things over the weekend, these are the type of flares i have so i dont know wat they are called

the wheels that i have for it are a set of 13*6



i downloaded the templates and put them on the car to get an idea how much i have to cut off



then i put the flare on (held by sticky tape)and tried to get it into the shape of where it should be, but on the a pannel i couldnt get it to shape the out line on the paper



has anyone help problems when cutting the arches bigger like this, i have drawn where the line is because my printer is very low on ink

The printed template does not suit your arches, plain and simple.

Yours would be "Cooper S" or maybe "LS" or possibly "Group 2" arches, which are meant to suit an unmodified guard.

I would suggest fitting all the running gear to the car first, sit the car at the desired height, turn the wheels lock to lock so that you can find the fouling points, mark the guards to clear those fouling points, then offer up the arches to see if they suit/cover the required modification.

No point doing the arch modification until you know how much you REALLY need to have removed.

*edit - it also seems that your arches have compressed a little bit, as the curve seems a bit pointed towards the top. The front edge needs to be pulled closer to the bumper bar, which will flatten out the top of the arch, making the curve a bit more even.

As a point of interest, the template cut outs are still not quite enough for 13x7 wheels on a lowered mini. Even 13x6's can still possibly rub (in areas forward of the centre point). Aim to have around 40mm removed mainly from the TDC of the arch forwards, leaving it so that any part of the panel rear of TDC is unmodified. This should be adequate. There will be no fouling issue for the rear half of the standard wheel arch, even with 13x7's.

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

yeah those look like clubby S flares, you need the lip to mount them, which you will have to cut a lot of it off for the 13" wheels.

i recommend getting screw on flares, there are types that screw on and also have a lip built in for the chrome strip.

the alternative would be to create a new lip after you had cut the guards.

your going to have to buy sportspack arches or group 5 arches (there are other types aswell) the arches you have are ls/cooper arches and your wheels are still going to stick out heaps, so it wont be legal.
also your going to have to cut your front gaurds, so those flares wont fit afterwords either.
those arches will suit 12x5 superlites with disc brakes fitted and also 10's with the correct offset ie. cooper wheels
they will also work with 13x5

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

i just noticed the car doesnt have the extended lip required to mount those flares.
they'll only fit on a leyland mini S, LS or possibly GT which have the wide lip on the guards for mounting them.

you can either weld on a new wider lip by possibly cutting them off another mini which has them or use screw on flares of which there are plenty to choose from.

you wont need to cut the rear edge of the guard, only the front edge.

Try to get a set of these group 5 arches, they are screw on and they are 3.5 inch at the top.








Steve

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Classic Not Plastic