Spats

Post by **TheLaird** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:11 pm

Hello there,

I'm currently restoring my 1958 4 door and was wondering if anybody had an inkling on constructing rear wheel spats. The idea that I've had is to construct them out of aluminium as this is quite light weight. I have no idea how you would go about attaching them to the wings or any details really as information on this appears to be a bit thin on the ground.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated as I'm scratching my head in confusion

Dan

Post by **jonathon** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:14 pm

Do you mean wing extentions, if so then they are available in glassfibre

Post by **PSL184** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:15 pm

I know someone who makes them out of vac formed plastic for lorry applications. They attach with simple clamps holding the lip of the spat to the lip of the wing. The company is called "Spatz" and is in Birmingham if you need to talk to them about the possibility of Minor ones....

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:20 pm

I have to ask - Why ?

Post by **stevey** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:24 pm

They keep the muck down and give the car a different look i suppose.

Post by **tortron** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:24 am

check out the tech section of the HAMB
has a guide on how to make them

Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:18 am

I have seen this done once on a moggy and it did make the back end of the car look "heavy". Might be worth mocking one up before you do it for real just in case you do not like the final look.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:03 am

'Heavy' ? I would say 'ridiculous'!

Post by **TheLaird** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:42 am

Hello, hope your all enjoying the snow ;)

Thanks for the replies, it's certainly given me some options to think about

Sorry I'm not sure how the quote thing works ( I am luddite )

bmcecosse

Posted: Feb 02, 2009 - 08:03 AM
'Heavy' ? I would say 'ridiculous'!

I happen to quite like how they look on the back of a minor when done nicely. They may not be to your tastes but different strokes for different folks and all that.

Dan

Post by **plastic_orange** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:19 pm

How wide do you need them to be, and is it for both front and back?
Conventional way to do them is to pie cut and then bend the wing outer flange outwards, then reweld, fill and paint. For the rears on high cut wings you can weld a flange on to the wing lip, shaping to what you require covered. Alternatively, rear wings come in 2 and 4 inch oversize.
I never found suitable aftermarket 'spats' (wheel arch extensions) for a Minor, but Jonathon at JLH may do them.
What size of wheel/tyre combo are you needing to cover?

Pete

Pete

Post by **jonathon** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:28 pm

Pete, we do indeed

Post by **PSL184** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:56 pm

I thought he meant this type of spat ?

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Post by **jonathon** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 5:58 pm

Ahh, maybe time to clarify

Post by **plastic_orange** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:09 pm

I've seen a traveller up here with these. It was fully wooded out at the rear, and had an A40 devon bonnet fitted - was very nicely done.

Pete

Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:41 pm

PSL 184 that is the type of spats i was thinking of, is there another type?

If you have seen it done and you are happy with the look go for it I just would hate you to do a lot of work and then not like the final look.

Post by **tortron** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:28 pm

mock it up with cardboard

then use the cardboard to make 2 wooden templates

clamp some sheet steel between the 2 templates and hammer to make an edge around one side of the template - hammer, cut and shrink to suit

- all done (you could add some curve in there if you wanted too)

Post by **PSL184** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:46 pm

charlie_morris_minor wrote:PSL 184 that is the type of spats i was thinking of, is there another type?

I think others were confusing with "flared" arches - as in Mk1 Escorts

Post by **stag36587** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:39 am

interesting idea - how are they attached to the wings though?

Post by **TheLaird** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:16 pm

PSL184 wrote:I thought he meant this type of spat ?

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( I figured the quote thing out, hurrah!

)

Indeed! thats exactly what I meant

tortron, that sounds like a good method of construction but like stag36587 says, I'm not sure how they attach to the wings. From what little I've seen there seems to be a spring mechanism on the lower corners, I'm wondering if just simple clips could be used around the top edges to hold it in place around the inner lip of the wing?

charlie_morris_minor wrote:
If you have seen it done and you are happy with the look go for it I just would hate you to do a lot of work and then not like the final look.

Hopefully it'll look ok, my metal working skills are.. lets say passable at best, I just like looking for ways to over complicate matters ;)

Dan

Post by **IaininTenbury** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:49 am

I made a few sets when I first started doing metalwork. Based on a period photo in on eof Ray Newall's books. I did them in aluminium (just because they were lighter) with a wired edge for stiffness. They had three 'tabs' on the back, spotwelded on that went up inside the wing, and another tab at each end that you can see in the picture, where a screw could be screwed up into the wing flange to hold them in place. Never sussed out a better method than that. Looked neat enough, but a fiddle to do a tyre change at the roadside I guess...

Think I made about 3 sets, two went to California and one to a guy in Scotland (you know who you are!) so its a fairly exclusive accesory! Never seen any 'real' period ones... Good luck with making some!