(Finished Pics posted from#247) 19x14s under flared quarters - my '02 Ram Air...
looks bad ***, yeah keep me informed on the kit you guys are making for the camaro, also op i was wondering where you got your aeros from, did you get them right from i forged?
I'm kind of on the fence about the fenders. You get points for doing the custom body work instead of just ordering parts and bolting them on. I love the deep dish rims and I'm fond of the idea of not having to tub the rear. I think this fender shape works well on the 4th gen Camaro, as it's more slab-sided than the Trans Am. For that matter, it works on the current Camaro and Corvette Z06/ZR1 as Chevys tend to have more of a geometric, sharper, aircraft form language.
The Firebird Trans Am is much more organic and flowing in design. As such, it has large hips which I already view as fenders, so this feels a bit like a-fender-on-top-of-a-fender to me. I agree that blending it is important for the final look, but I would be blending the flare as far as possible to the door seam and rear bumper for a smoothed-in look. I know this is a lot more material and work we are talking about here, but I think that would work better with the factory lines of the car. Anyway, I'm still interested in how the final design will look, so I'll withhold definitive judgment until then.
I actually have some pics at home of an R/C car body with flared front fenders for more of "an exaggerated muscle look" that I think would look great translated to the full sized car (granted, it would need a lot more finesse to look more sculptural in full scale). For something that comprehensive, however, I would think a whole new fender profile and hood would be the way to go.
The Firebird Trans Am is much more organic and flowing in design. As such, it has large hips which I already view as fenders, so this feels a bit like a-fender-on-top-of-a-fender to me. I agree that blending it is important for the final look, but I would be blending the flare as far as possible to the door seam and rear bumper for a smoothed-in look. I know this is a lot more material and work we are talking about here, but I think that would work better with the factory lines of the car. Anyway, I'm still interested in how the final design will look, so I'll withhold definitive judgment until then.
I actually have some pics at home of an R/C car body with flared front fenders for more of "an exaggerated muscle look" that I think would look great translated to the full sized car (granted, it would need a lot more finesse to look more sculptural in full scale). For something that comprehensive, however, I would think a whole new fender profile and hood would be the way to go.
EB110America: Man, I remember the first time I saw the HPI Trans Am body. I was in love. But it didn't take long after examining that this could never be had using a stock body. If you look how high the fenders and quarters are cut, you'll realize this is how the car gets 95% of it's stance and look. I actually did try what you were recommending by starting the flare at the rear of the door, even on the door, but it just wouldn't take. Yeah it was a wide quarter, but two areas were hugely problematic. If one were to look directly atop the quarter panel, you'll see the body is still moving outward compared to the forward part of the tire. In other words the outboard quarter panels are not parallel - they continue outward until about the last 1/8th of the rear part of the tire before they start their return back inboard to tie in with the bumper. Why this was problematic was how dramatic the return would need to be modified (for 3" wider per quarter). If one were to make the the quarters parallel to ease the return, the intended lines were simply lost and it did not look right.
The second problem area is the actual body line transitioning from the door to the quarter panel. Being only six inches long at most, if you move that guy just a tick and you jack it up severely. That's why I actually started that type of flare mid-door but realized the door handle/key hole would have to be shaved or relocated outboard. Lastly, it still required the dramatic return back to the bumper. In other words, you end up with the green wide body T/A scenario, which during this endeavor, have found many aspects in the design he went with to be below my standard. Google it, and you'll see what I mean (e.g. door body line transition, and just an overall bloated look.)
Yeah man, driving around an HPI body life size T/A would be freakin' awesome. You'd have a very "Le Mans" look for sure. But it just isn't practical to perform on a stock body T/A. One would rather build a life size glass/carbon HPI shell on a custom frame, I'm sure when comparing the involvement of work.
The second problem area is the actual body line transitioning from the door to the quarter panel. Being only six inches long at most, if you move that guy just a tick and you jack it up severely. That's why I actually started that type of flare mid-door but realized the door handle/key hole would have to be shaved or relocated outboard. Lastly, it still required the dramatic return back to the bumper. In other words, you end up with the green wide body T/A scenario, which during this endeavor, have found many aspects in the design he went with to be below my standard. Google it, and you'll see what I mean (e.g. door body line transition, and just an overall bloated look.)
Yeah man, driving around an HPI body life size T/A would be freakin' awesome. You'd have a very "Le Mans" look for sure. But it just isn't practical to perform on a stock body T/A. One would rather build a life size glass/carbon HPI shell on a custom frame, I'm sure when comparing the involvement of work.
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EB110America: Man, I remember the first time I saw the HPI Trans Am body. I was in love. But it didn't take long after examining that this could never be had using a stock body. If you look how high the fenders and quarters are cut, you'll realize this is how the car gets 95% of it's stance and look.
I actually did try what you were recommending by starting the flare at the rear of the door, even on the door, but it just wouldn't take. Yeah it was a wide quarter, but two areas were hugely problematic. If one were to look directly atop the quarter panel, you'll see the body is still moving outward compared to the forward part of the tire. In other words the outboard quarter panels are not parallel - they continue outward until about the last 1/8th of the rear part of the tire before they start their return back inboard to tie in with the bumper. Why this was problematic was how dramatic the return would need to be modified (for 3" wider per quarter). If one were to make the the quarters parallel to ease the return, the intended lines were simply lost and it did not look right.
The second problem area is the actual body line transitioning from the door to the quarter panel. Being only six inches long at most, if you move that guy just a tick and you jack it up severely. That's why I actually started that type of flare mid-door but realized the door handle/key hole would have to be shaved or relocated outboard. Lastly, it still required the dramatic return back to the bumper. In other words, you end up with the green wide body T/A scenario, which during this endeavor, have found many aspects in the design he went with to be below my standard. Google it, and you'll see what I mean (e.g. door body line transition, and just an overall bloated look.)
Yeah man, driving around an HPI body life size T/A would be freakin' awesome. You'd have a very "Le Mans" look for sure. But it just isn't practical to perform on a stock body T/A. One would rather build a life size glass/carbon HPI shell on a custom frame, I'm sure when comparing the involvement of work.
The second problem area is the actual body line transitioning from the door to the quarter panel. Being only six inches long at most, if you move that guy just a tick and you jack it up severely. That's why I actually started that type of flare mid-door but realized the door handle/key hole would have to be shaved or relocated outboard. Lastly, it still required the dramatic return back to the bumper. In other words, you end up with the green wide body T/A scenario, which during this endeavor, have found many aspects in the design he went with to be below my standard. Google it, and you'll see what I mean (e.g. door body line transition, and just an overall bloated look.)
Yeah man, driving around an HPI body life size T/A would be freakin' awesome. You'd have a very "Le Mans" look for sure. But it just isn't practical to perform on a stock body T/A. One would rather build a life size glass/carbon HPI shell on a custom frame, I'm sure when comparing the involvement of work.
I see what you mean about the door trim line extending onto the fender and having to blend it out over such a short distance. Going into modding the door skin would be an even larger task, but would help smooth out that area.
I've always wanted to delete the horizontal splitter from the OEM ram air hood nostrils and have the center line up with the bumper properly. I have a wrecked WS6 hood in pretty decent shape except for the nostrils, rear corners, and unfortunately the support structure underneath. It's a project I've been wanting to do for a long time, but I always have other projects on my plate, so the hood just sits there. Anytime I start thinking about things I'd change on it, I have to keep myself from getting carried away and wanting to fab up new panels. Ideally, I'd like to change the hood nostrils, make the sides of the TA wing less organic (especially in top/plan view), and clean up the lower section of the doors/side from the rub strip down to the ground. I don't know if I'll ever get around to it, but at least I'm building other cool stuff like furniture, computers, and whatever else I get into. For now, my next plans are to go with wheels and tires and then attack the suspension and maybe put a 6LE splitter on there which I'll customize a bit. Anyway, my point is you're not the only one who thinks about these crazy things.
...Those HPI bodies are built to fit a generic chassis, so some of the proportions won't be the same. The dash-to-axle ratio is longer on the HPI and the wheels are larger, which you have to do as the scale gets smaller, otherwise the wheels don't look big enough. As such, the fenders have to sit higher but if you look at the far side of the first image I posted, you can see that the fender also kicks out much farther than say the image in my avatar, especially in relation to where the hood cutline is. It would be a lot more work than simply tacking on a fender to achieve this look, but I could see a one piece front end or muti-piece kit being feasible. I mean most people put ram air hoods on their cars and many go for ground effects or bumper mods, so bolting on a new set of fenders on top of that wouldn't be completely out of the question. Now getting the popup headlights to work with everything would take some ingenuity....
It's tough to see in these pics, but trust me, a TA has that line from the factory. I was forced to exagerate that line to continue the flow. If you look at the passenger side pic you'll see the rocker panel (side skirt) that was brought out in the same fashion. This was necessary to pull off the wider look otherwise a HYOOGE amount of tire would be exposed, and not that that's a bad thing, but wouldn't be to my standard being left untouched. Overall, this will be executed very nicely. If anything, the rear bumper mod will exagerate the overall wider stance, which is a good thing in my book
Just try not to focus on the smaller parts that are all different colors n' stuff. This care will flow nicely, I promise. BTW I appreciate the comments!
I though this may come up...
It's tough to see in these pics, but trust me, a TA has that line from the factory. I was forced to exagerate that line to continue the flow. If you look at the passenger side pic you'll see the rocker panel (side skirt) that was brought out in the same fashion. This was necessary to pull off the wider look otherwise a HYOOGE amount of tire would be exposed, and not that that's a bad thing, but wouldn't be to my standard being left untouched. Overall, this will be executed very nicely. If anything, the rear bumper mod will exagerate the overall wider stance, which is a good thing in my book
Just try not to focus on the smaller parts that are all different colors n' stuff. This care will flow nicely, I promise. BTW I appreciate the comments!
It's tough to see in these pics, but trust me, a TA has that line from the factory. I was forced to exagerate that line to continue the flow. If you look at the passenger side pic you'll see the rocker panel (side skirt) that was brought out in the same fashion. This was necessary to pull off the wider look otherwise a HYOOGE amount of tire would be exposed, and not that that's a bad thing, but wouldn't be to my standard being left untouched. Overall, this will be executed very nicely. If anything, the rear bumper mod will exagerate the overall wider stance, which is a good thing in my book
Just try not to focus on the smaller parts that are all different colors n' stuff. This care will flow nicely, I promise. BTW I appreciate the comments!
