marcusbest
Active member
My 2005 Sprinter 140 conversion has slowly been progressing. I spent much of my spare time last winter designing and building a motorcycle-carrying bumper (I'll post more on that another time), but recently I've been making a set of fiberglass window flares for the van. I was inspired a while back by Midwestdrifter's window flare post and decided to tackle the project and develop some fiberglassing skills.
I considered purchasing a pair of window flares from Flarespace, and now, knowing the time and expense involved, the Flarespace option seems to be a fair price and it would have been way easier to go that route. But there are a few reasons that I didn't think the Flarespace product would work for me. They don't offer an extra deep flare for the T1N, so I don't think they would provide enough width for me. I am 6'2" and like a little extra space above my head and below my feet. Also, I will be installing a Tern Overland window in the passenger side flare, and the privacy shade/insect screen mechanism takes up almost 2" of interior space, so the flares had to be extra deep. I wanted more defined edges and corners on my flares to match the style of the T1N rather than the soft edges of a larger radius. Also, it looks like the Flarespace flares are really designed for the rear panels of a 170 and can be modified to fit the longer rear panel of a 140. This means adding a spacer in the channel around the panel to make the forward lip of the flare sit flush onto the panel itself where it needs to. This to me is a compromise that has an unfinished look.
So, I read through Midwestdrifter's excellent DIY Flare post, watched lots of youtube videos on fiberglass work (mainly from the boatbuilding community), and ordered materials. The rough plan was 1) Create plug in the shape of the flare 2) Prep the plug for the molding process 3) Form the mold over the plug 4) Use the mold to create the finished fiberglass piece. I started with the passenger side flare because it is the smaller of the two, limited in size by the sliding passenger door. I repeated the process for the driver side, having made many mistakes and learned a lot on the first go around. Below I use photos from both flares to illustrate the process.
THE PLUG
This step proved to be the most challenging and by far the most time consuming. I think Midwestdrifter knows what I'm talking about here. The design of my flares is similar to that of the flares on the Winnebago Revel. I like the sharp curved lines, which not only look good but provide more stability to the flare, rather than a flat panel.
I was planning on adding a wide window to the passenger flare, so I kept the horizontal dimension of the panel face flat. It only curves on the vertical. The driver side panel curves in both dimensions.
I used styrofoam as the foundation for the plug shape. To help guide the cutting of the styrofoam and insure a uniform curve to the flare, I cut 1/4" masonite spacers between the layers of styrofoam. The width of the masonite decreases as you move towards the top of the flare, creating a uniform curve. The top edge of the masonite is curved on the driver flare.
I used a plywood blade on the table saw to make the initial cuts on the styrofoam and glued them together with spray adhesive. One the second flare, I glued them with wood glue, and it worked just as well. On the first flare, I cut along the guides with a hacksaw blade, which worked fairly well but made a mess and left some voids in the foam. For the second flare, I made a foam cutter with a 22 gauge nichrome wire attached to a car battery. A lot faster. A lot cleaner.
I also made a template of the curvature of the panel surface and glued up the styrofoam/masonite sandwich with the pieces seated on the template so the plug would sit flush onto the panel, important for the next step.
Next was to create the flanges on the perimeter of the flare that will seat into the channels around the van panel. Continued in the next post. . .
I considered purchasing a pair of window flares from Flarespace, and now, knowing the time and expense involved, the Flarespace option seems to be a fair price and it would have been way easier to go that route. But there are a few reasons that I didn't think the Flarespace product would work for me. They don't offer an extra deep flare for the T1N, so I don't think they would provide enough width for me. I am 6'2" and like a little extra space above my head and below my feet. Also, I will be installing a Tern Overland window in the passenger side flare, and the privacy shade/insect screen mechanism takes up almost 2" of interior space, so the flares had to be extra deep. I wanted more defined edges and corners on my flares to match the style of the T1N rather than the soft edges of a larger radius. Also, it looks like the Flarespace flares are really designed for the rear panels of a 170 and can be modified to fit the longer rear panel of a 140. This means adding a spacer in the channel around the panel to make the forward lip of the flare sit flush onto the panel itself where it needs to. This to me is a compromise that has an unfinished look.
So, I read through Midwestdrifter's excellent DIY Flare post, watched lots of youtube videos on fiberglass work (mainly from the boatbuilding community), and ordered materials. The rough plan was 1) Create plug in the shape of the flare 2) Prep the plug for the molding process 3) Form the mold over the plug 4) Use the mold to create the finished fiberglass piece. I started with the passenger side flare because it is the smaller of the two, limited in size by the sliding passenger door. I repeated the process for the driver side, having made many mistakes and learned a lot on the first go around. Below I use photos from both flares to illustrate the process.
THE PLUG
This step proved to be the most challenging and by far the most time consuming. I think Midwestdrifter knows what I'm talking about here. The design of my flares is similar to that of the flares on the Winnebago Revel. I like the sharp curved lines, which not only look good but provide more stability to the flare, rather than a flat panel.
I was planning on adding a wide window to the passenger flare, so I kept the horizontal dimension of the panel face flat. It only curves on the vertical. The driver side panel curves in both dimensions.
I used styrofoam as the foundation for the plug shape. To help guide the cutting of the styrofoam and insure a uniform curve to the flare, I cut 1/4" masonite spacers between the layers of styrofoam. The width of the masonite decreases as you move towards the top of the flare, creating a uniform curve. The top edge of the masonite is curved on the driver flare.
I used a plywood blade on the table saw to make the initial cuts on the styrofoam and glued them together with spray adhesive. One the second flare, I glued them with wood glue, and it worked just as well. On the first flare, I cut along the guides with a hacksaw blade, which worked fairly well but made a mess and left some voids in the foam. For the second flare, I made a foam cutter with a 22 gauge nichrome wire attached to a car battery. A lot faster. A lot cleaner.
I also made a template of the curvature of the panel surface and glued up the styrofoam/masonite sandwich with the pieces seated on the template so the plug would sit flush onto the panel, important for the next step.
Next was to create the flanges on the perimeter of the flare that will seat into the channels around the van panel. Continued in the next post. . .
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