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rally vents....again!!

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maxwedge5281

maxwedge5281

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i have aluminum fenders on my bn6 and wish to install a set of rally vents...also aluminum. the vents do not have a flange. i am not planning to have the car painted anytime soon but wish to cut openings for the vents to improve air flow in the engine compartment. i already have louvers in the hood. the car has a sbc engine. i was thinking of cutting the openings smaller than the vents initially and then cutting the vent openings to the proper size when the rally vents are installed. any suggestions as to how much extra material in the fender cutout that i should leave to allow for some fender adjustment as well as for proper placement of the vents. i am not overly concerned about having unfinished openings but rather to allow for some additional air flow beneath the hood! thanks for pointers or suggestions!
 

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MaxWedge, That would be a hard question to answer without see the vents. If the vents have no flange then it seems to me at this point that a flange should be created with the fender material. As if the outer perimeter of the vent would altimately fit over the inward turned flange on the fender. The vent being fitted from the inside. If that were to be the case, I would leave at least 1/2 to 5/8th perimeter material inside the fender cut out to eventually turn in to make a flange. If the perimeter of the vent would ultimately fit around an inward turned flange from the fender then the vent could ultimately be held in position by pop riviting thru the perimeter of the vent and into the flange created by turning the fender inward.
 
You could secure the vent with bonding adhesive. It will last forever. If this method was used you would not need much flange. you could hammer and dolly a turned flange of about 1/4 to 3/8th of an inch in the fender opening and fit the vent over that and then glue it with bonding adhesive on the inside. Then bonding adhesive can be sanded like fibreglass or body putty and smoothed to show no joint. It is very strong, i have used bonding adhesives to build up edges in Corvettes so as to be able to sand a good panel fit. The different formulations of bonding adhesives are made for fibreglass, wood, metal, aluminium, etc. Also the universal bonding adhesives do it all. Don't know why they need so many formulations. Some is about speed though and atmospheric conditions.
 
Where did you get your fenders? Most of suppliers offer them with vents installed as an option. I was thinking about this mod myself. Keep us posted on progress.
 
The main thing to watch when cutting the fenders is that you miss the inner fenders when the vents are installed. I would vote for allowing 1/2" - 3/4" play in the opening. You can always trim some more off.
 
55modified said:
Where did you get your fenders? Most of suppliers offer them with vents installed as an option. I was thinking about this mod myself. Keep us posted on progress.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you're thinking of buying aluminum fenders with the vents already installed, but you will probably find it is easier to install a vent in a steel fender than it is to try to get the ali fenders to fit correctly.
 
i got a good price on the fenders from another member of the forum who decided not to use them. yes i wish that they had the vents but not so lucky. i did want the flared rear fenders for larger tires and wheels. and, yhes, steel fenders probably would have been easier to deal with. thanks for the input....
 
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