What's involved in fitting Dallara body kit

DanielForest

DanielForest

True Classic
I'm trying to consider my options. I want to use wider wheels. I need flares. But I was planning more to just cut the wheel surround than to replace the entire fender. But I also like the look of the Dallara fenders. How much work is it to fit on a car that isn't needing a new paint...

Daniel Forest
Montreal
 
Pretty sure you need to cut the fenders off

not just trim them back, but I have never done it myself. I checked Jason Greenwood's site, but it doesn't look the same as it used to. Seems there were more "in progress" pictures a couple years ago.

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http://www.ferrarikillers.com/x19.htm

Matt used to sell these kits, but I do not see the kit on his site right now. Try contacting Jason to see if he has any more info for you.
 
Wheels

I had 15x8 and 7 on a stock fender with the edge rolled. I had a008 195x45x15 all around > I also had it lowered 1 Front and 1 1/2 rear. It is doable with out flares. I also just got done with the conversion and a lot of body work (body shop).
Hope this helps.
 
Well....

Expect the kit to have flaws and even have cracks when it arrives. Most of the kits are made from pretty thin fiberglass and will most likely need repairs.

Also, do not expect them to be even from side to side. On my race car, there is about a 1" difference in width from the drivers side to the passenger side. You can't really see it, but if you look at the wheels, one is just at the wheel arch, the other is about an inch recessed.

Finally, the wheel arch may not align correctly. The older version I have required me to offsent the rear wheels back about 1"

Expect it to take time and lots of trial and error. But it sure looks good in the end.

Eric
 
I have installed Jason's flares

Jason's flares are of high quality. They do not have cracks and they fit. The lines are not off and the wheelbase is correct. I should know as I am Jason's father and was there every step of the way. I have personally done 2 cars and are currently working on a 3rd car. If you want the racecar look just trim them a bit and rivit them on. If you want the finished look then blend them in and repaint your car. The front fenders just require some trimming. The rear you must trim and then reattach the inner fender well to the outer fender. I weld them.

As far as Matt not selling them anymore, that is correct. Jason has a boat specialty shop make them and he then used to ship them up to Matt. It costs less if we just ship them direct. So if anyone is interested Matt just sends you to us directly.

Matt has them on his new race x. Also at his last get together Jason's car was there so you can see it in Matts pics.

The car handles much better with the track width used with these flares.
 
Both myself and Paul Silva...

drove over from Tampa a couple of years ago to see Jason's car. His car was spectacular and I can vouch personally for everything Derek said above. The car was just magnificent with the Dallar kit...truly outstanding and I'd recommend his kit. Without putting words into Paul's mouth, my impression was he aslo was greatly impressed with the quality.
 
derekgreenwood said:
Jason's flares are of high quality. They do not have cracks and they fit. The lines are not off and the wheelbase is correct. I should know as I am Jason's father and was there every step of the way. I have personally done 2 cars and are currently working on a 3rd car. If you want the racecar look just trim them a bit and rivit them on. If you want the finished look then blend them in and repaint your car. The front fenders just require some trimming. The rear you must trim and then reattach the inner fender well to the outer fender. I weld them.

As far as Matt not selling them anymore, that is correct. Jason has a boat specialty shop make them and he then used to ship them up to Matt. It costs less if we just ship them direct. So if anyone is interested Matt just sends you to us directly.

Matt has them on his new race x. Also at his last get together Jason's car was there so you can see it in Matts pics.

The car handles much better with the track width used with these flares.
Click to expand...

What a timely post then. I am currently trying to mount one of Jasons fender kits on my car and we're having a fit trying to get the front facia to line up and look right. Also seams that the two front fenders are a little offest wheel arch wise front to back and still line up with the front facia.
Maybe we're not using the right lines in the front nose or something. Is there possible some detailed picks you could post of what lines you guys use in the front that gets everything to line up and look right with wheels, front facia, and headlight? My body guy and I are going nuts. Matt couldn't help much. The Ferrarikillers website seams to have half the pics on it then it did right before I bought the fenders and Jason was only able to breifely e-mail without much more info.... must be busy.
We're just scratching our heads and about to break out some saws and grinders with some more fiberglass. Perhaps if we had some more pics of the fenders being mounted before filler and moulding we might be able to figure it out.
Thanks
 
There is always custom fitting involved...

All of the fiberglass panels require some cutting, fitting and adjustments. The only exception I have seen are very high dollar items from Mercedes or BMW. These are parts that are maybe four or five times the cost of the stuff we might use. That is, a fender panel is four times the cost of a complete Fiat kit. I recently did an Aston Martin kit ($10,000 for the kit) that still required a fair degree of fitting. The kit came from Japan and was purported to be "perfect". The average body shop is used to perfect fittment with new parts or some adjustment with cheap aftermatket parts. That is why they may complain about the fit. The boat or fiberglass guys think nothing of it, because that is what they are accustomed to. In the end, if it is the look you want, then do it.
By the way, the parts from Ferrarikillers look pretty nice!

Bob T.
pridebody dot com
 
Hello, this is Derek, I am Jason's Dad. There is some trimming to do. You need to trim back the bumper mounts if you are using a bumper shock car. Also the "teeth" that hold on the grill have to come off. I also cut off the spoiler lips on the front of the front fenders.

In order to keep the price low we only do the rough trimming. Also if your car has ever been inan accident boudo itt will shift things a bit.

I rivited The fenders on my racecar and only put a spot of bondo at the front of the fender to blend it into the noseband.

If you have any questions Just email me or checkout the website.
 
Oh I have nothing bad to say about the kit. It is very good quality.

I'm just having a hard time figuring out what are the main points of mounting and what main lines on the car are being used to line everything up. Seams like you get one part of the kit to fit together just to have another part not fit any more. And the key may be What was just said about the bumper mounts and all. I haven't cut those off the car yet. I've been trying to trim the fiberglass to go together and fit.... but then when you mock it up to the car things just don't seam quite right.

Is there possibly any pictures someone could share showing how... and what has been cut off the car before mounting the kit? And maybe one right after the kit has been mounted before any blending or filler is applied?
 
dallara kit installation

I recommend
1- --very important--fit the dallara wheels and tires to be able to center the fenders.(most of the kits have poor fitting and need trimming and adjusting)
2- trim fender wells about 2 1/2" all around, trim front nose and back on rear fenders.
3- mount fenders with screws and bond fenders to body with epoxy adhesive (grind both parts first), then remove screws
4- secure fenders and spoiler with brackets, lots of them! or kit will crack and break.
5- finish with bondo, primer and paint.
Hope this helps
George
 
Here you go guys some close up pics of whats involved. Note cutting of the guards/ front nose piece's and bumper supports.
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The secret of getting the lines right is to assemble the whole front nose cone together before pop riveting the body into place.
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To install it properly you will need three people two to support the nose cone and one person drilling and pop riveting the cone on. Once this is done drill out the pop rivets and apply glue then riveting it into place again. Its a very time consuming process and would i do it again probably not no.
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more pictures

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I hope these help john made this look easy he fitted the kit in roughly 4hours but thats the easy part of the process the hard part is blending the guards in. Also be very careful what glue you use as most will crack the glue you need is reasonably expensive. I cant remember the name of it.

You will need alot of time and money to make a dallara kit work factor in about 100hours to blend it properly for someone doing it for there first time. Then paint wheels / tyres etc and the costs are quite high for a car that wont be worth that much in the end anyway.

But is it worth it if its what you want of course it is its what i always wanted so i dont regret it but i probably wouldn't do it again.

Just my advice/opinion hope it helps
 
DanielForest said:
I'm trying to consider my options. I want to use wider wheels. I need flares. But I was planning more to just cut the wheel surround than to replace the entire fender. But I also like the look of the Dallara fenders. How much work is it to fit on a car that isn't needing a new paint...

Daniel Forest
Montreal
Click to expand...

It all depends upon what your goal is...
Mine is quick access & easy service, so we used Zues fasteners...


With the kit off


The kit off


The kit on

When I take my time it's a 10 minute process to transform from closed wheel racer to open...

If I had a car that didn't need paint I would be temped to get one that does as your going to cut off a lot of the steel... And when your done you will want to paint everything to match.

After owning a car with a Dallara kit I would not use it on the street. My ultimate street car will have stock fenders.
But that's just me...
 
Chris, if you don't mind me asking...

What's the final weight of your machine?

I'm wondering if a totally stripped chassis like yours can be roughly equivalent in weight to a tube-frame.

Thanks,
Pete

PS I think they're spelled "Dzus" fasteners, in case anyone should want to search for them.
 
Pete Whitstone said:
What's the final weight of your machine?

I'm wondering if a totally stripped chassis like yours can be roughly equivalent in weight to a tube-frame.

Thanks,
Pete

PS I think they're spelled "Dzus" fasteners, in case anyone should want to search for them.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I couldn't remember the spelling...

This car weighs 1440 with fuel & Nationals trim, it's a bit more with the fire bottle & the 'Can I go for a ride in this thing?' seat. I would have to check my notes, but that's more than what I am allowed with the driver, including the dropped floor weight penalty, in my class.

If I was to do it again & would just use the tub & tube frame for suspension pick ups, and I would drop the heavy Fiat suspension to something like Formula Atlantic. Unless they changed the rules since I last looked I would still be in Dmod with an undersized motor, and I would rather ballast up to the weight. But that would take $$$, something this Fiat guy is a bit short on. Besides, I still set most top time of the days with the guys I run with, & you really can't beat that! But they try...
 
Thanks!

Thank you all for the tips and pics. My car(s) is too clean to cut it that much. I may do it in the future but with another body in needed of work and/or paint. I also do not have the time presently to do a job involving that much work. In the meantime, I have to figure out if I'm going to stick with stock rolled lips fenders or if I'm going to bolt the faza stradale flares...

Daniel Forest
1987 white Bertone X1/9
1980 black Fiat X1/9
 
sorry to take this off topic, but what flares are available? i'm in relatively the same position as the op..
 
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