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Thread: Bike Fender Options

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    Senior Member JOP33's Avatar
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    Bike Fender Options

    For those that are far enough along and have chosen to use the Bike Fenders, how much space are you allowing for between the tire and fenders?

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    33' Hot Rod Coupe/Roadster (GEN 1), Fendered, Ford 302, 350hp, EFI, AOD, 4-Link, Double Adjustable Koni Coilovers, Split Rear Exhaust, Electric Power Steering, AC/Heat/Defrost, Moser 8.8"-3.55, Willwood Front/Rear Brakes, 18" x 8" Fronts/20" x 10" Rears, Ordered: 1.26.17, Arrived: 3.29.17, First Start: 7.2.18, Go Cart: 11.4.18 Paint/Body: 2.23.19, Back Home: 11.24.19, Completed: NEVER!; View More Pics @ https://starmobileone.com/

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    Senior Member AJT '33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JOP33 View Post
    For those that are far enough along and have chosen to use the Bike Fenders, how much space are you allowing for between the tire and fenders?

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    The rears set themselves based on tire size and shock adjustment. The fronts are a different thing, I set the clearance based on the wheel diameter (mine are ~26", Nitto 245/40R18) and the inside fender diameter. In my case what ended up fitting very well by chance was a pair of hose that were about 3/4" in diameter which I placed in the two grooves of the front tires which allowed me to set an even space and also allowed me to slide the fender side to side to center it on the tire and make sure the gap was even. Once centered I went ahead and used 1/2" plastic pipe and cut them to length to get the spacing needed between the mounting bracket and the fender (If you use individual spacers they wont be the same length if you want to have the fender view very even over the tire). I dry fit it all and then once I was happy with that went ahead and drilled through the fender from the bracket side. Be careful not to drill into the tire! Did one side then repeated it for the other side.
    Here are a few pics of how it ended up.
    20180428_113749.jpg 20181023_200803.jpg 20181201_142803.jpg 20180428_113912.jpg

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    Seasoned Citizen NAZ's Avatar
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    I set-up the front fenders so that they would just clear enough to get the wheel & tire off and equally spaced side to side with my wide tires. The skinny tires have approximately the same outboard clearance to the fender lip but there is a great deal of inboard clearance. I have two sets of front tires depending on what I'm doing with the car. The skinnys up front for drag racing are M/T Sportsman S/R 26x6-17 mounted on Weld S71 17x5.0 with 2.20" BS. The front road & track tires are Toyo Proxes R888 255/35ZR18 mounted on American Racing Torque Thrust II 18x9 with 5.00" BS. Setting up the front fenders this way was a compromise so that I could run fenders with both sets of front tires.

    My rear fenders had to be significantly bobbed to run 30" drag tires and really look out of place with a 25" tire like the car was designed for. Yours will be different but you will want to ensure you have enough clearance on the rears that your tire doesn't rub at full compression, And if you have a solid axle you need to also be aware that the total travel is affected by the angle of the rear axle. For example, if the right side is a bit shy of full bump and the left is at full bump the left side will travel farther in this state than it would if both sides were at full bump.

    It's best to pull the coil over springs and adjust the damping to the lowest setting and actually operate the rear axle through full travel with the frame supported. You will find that the axle is not centered in the fender and that you don't have the same clearance on both sides.
    Dart Little M 406" SBC 800 HP N/A & 1,100 HP on nitrous, 2-spd Powerglide with trans brake, 6,000 RPM stall converter, narrowed Moser 88 3.90:1 spool with 35-spline gun-drilled axles & Torino bearings, custom parallel four-link, custom tube chassis & roll cage NHRA certified for 8.5-sec (only two FFR Hot Rods have this cert).

    33 Hot Rod Super Pro Drag Racer Build: 33 HR NHRA Cert Roll Cage Build

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    Senior Member JOP33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NAZ View Post
    I set-up the front fenders so that they would just clear enough to get the wheel & tire off...
    Do you what that dimension is? Have you had issues with them rubbing ever? I've heard that many of the cars set up with the tight fender clearance are not for driving just show. I like the look of the tight clearance, however I don't want to be ripping them off as I am driving.

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    33' Hot Rod Coupe/Roadster (GEN 1), Fendered, Ford 302, 350hp, EFI, AOD, 4-Link, Double Adjustable Koni Coilovers, Split Rear Exhaust, Electric Power Steering, AC/Heat/Defrost, Moser 8.8"-3.55, Willwood Front/Rear Brakes, 18" x 8" Fronts/20" x 10" Rears, Ordered: 1.26.17, Arrived: 3.29.17, First Start: 7.2.18, Go Cart: 11.4.18 Paint/Body: 2.23.19, Back Home: 11.24.19, Completed: NEVER!; View More Pics @ https://starmobileone.com/

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    Seasoned Citizen NAZ's Avatar
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    a.jpgb.jpg

    The average minimum clearance between the tire tread and the fender is ~3/4". Also if you can blow up the picture a bit you will note that I attached the mounting brackets flush with the fenders and used spacers to adjust the lateral fit. I actually used high strength thread couplers to attach the steering arms to the spindle and then high strength studs and aluminum spacers to adjust the offset. This is a very robust mounting system that minimizes deflection even at high speed so the fenders are very steady. There is absolutely no way these fenders will contact the tire even while drag racing as there is sufficient clearance and very little flex from this mounting method.

    Sorry I couldn't upload photos of the wider front tires. I have a couple races this weekend and have the car in race trim right now. I'm working in my shop this morning and have limited computer capability. But you can follow the link to my photo album and see a few shots of the wider Toyo tires with front bike fenders.

    Insurance2.jpg

    OK, back in the office and found a photo of my front bike fenders with the wider front tires.

    I actually like the look without fenders, especially with the drag tires on the front -- looks more old school but the fenders solve two problems: 1. I live in the country off a cinder road and the sticky Toyo tires throw cinders all over the car (that's why the front fenders are left with little trimming -- form follows function in this build); and 2. without fenders the car more closely meets the "altered" type of car than a "full bodied" car rules the car was built to. Altereds require a very different roll cage and I didn't want to go there. If this was a street car only I'd probably stick with the skinny front tires and no fenders.

    Headed to Wild Horse.jpg
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    Last edited by NAZ; 02-04-2019 at 01:20 PM.
    Dart Little M 406" SBC 800 HP N/A & 1,100 HP on nitrous, 2-spd Powerglide with trans brake, 6,000 RPM stall converter, narrowed Moser 88 3.90:1 spool with 35-spline gun-drilled axles & Torino bearings, custom parallel four-link, custom tube chassis & roll cage NHRA certified for 8.5-sec (only two FFR Hot Rods have this cert).

    33 Hot Rod Super Pro Drag Racer Build: 33 HR NHRA Cert Roll Cage Build

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