Anyone have any pics for front fender brace mods?

[sickred72]

Looking for front fender brace modifications for bagged trucks. Pictures please!

[CHIZZLER]

hey jerald,i dont have any pics yet but i can snap some tom.what we did is left the brace on and cut it in place.then we raised it up and made some extension pieces and tacked it in to see if it would clear.once that was done we took it out and welded the rest and painted it.we re used the center piece we cut out to keep the arch.hope that helps.also there is a guy selling a 1980 firebird 10 bolt in oregon city for about $550.it is disc and should be posi with about 3:08 gears.same rear i used.his add says gen 2 on cl auto parts.good luck.chizzler

[sickred72]

Pics would be awsome! thanks for the heads up on the rear end, im going to call him today. what's the word on wider fenders or mini tubs? we took the rear end out this weekend and i cant get my rear wheels up in the fenders.

[mr48chev]

I have never cared for Chev trucks with widened fenders and think most guys would go with the mini tubs for tires that big.

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by sickred72

Pics would be awsome! thanks for the heads up on the rear end, im going to call him today. what's the word on wider fenders or mini tubs? we took the rear end out this weekend and i cant get my rear wheels up in the fenders.

If your tires are hitting the outside of the fender mini tubbing will not help you. You will either have to run wider fenders or narrow the rearend. You may have to mini tub depending on how much you narrow the rear.

Mini tub use is for when the calipers, drum, or tires are hitting the bedside. Widen fenders are used for when the tires are hitting the outside of the fenders or you can use a narrower rearend.

550 is a lot for a 8.5 rearend in my opinion. I brought mine for 200 with disc, posi, and 3:42 gears. You may want to have a look at the Ford explorer 8.8 rearend that will give you a 59 1/2 wide rearend, 3:73 gears, locker (posi), with disc brakes. You can have the axle and rotors redrilled to a chevy bolt pattern and still come out way cheaper than 550, plus the ring gear is 8.8 inches instead of the 8.5 inches of the Chevy 10 bolt which makes it a bit stronger. They are plentiful in the junkyards.

[xpickup]

I used a 8.8 in the 54 pickup I was working on. It worked out great. Last week I bought a 8.8 for my 54 project for $70. And it was 3:73 posi with disc brakes. I got a great deal. I paid $350 for the disc braskes on my panel truck for the weld on ones so I could not go wrong on it.

Shannon

[xpickup]

I totally forgot that I have pictures of the inner fender braces I made on the pickup threads. They were made out of 1"x1" 1/8 wall tube. They are pretty tight up against the fender.

Shannon

[mr48chev]

I'd have to agree with Kabwe in that 550 seems terribly steep for an 80 Firebird 8.5 rear end. The exception might be if he has the documentation that it has new bearings, brakes, rotors and what not.
There seems to be a bunch of guys selling pieces on Craigslist lately that try to get better than top dollar out of certain pieces like Firebird and Ford 9 inch rear axles. I've seen a few over priced 8.8 Ford rear ends locally too. I'm hunting a 9 inch Ford pickup or Bronco axle for another project I have and locally they have been priced like they are gold plated around here.

[robin58]

Depending on how much extra width you need, piecutting the fender isn't that complicated. I widened mine about 3" at the rear and left the front intact so it still fit to my runningboard.