17 replies to this topic

[Hegnirst]

Quick question lol

Just wondered if anyone knew of a guide to fit miglia arches?

Thanks!

[Hegnirst]

anyone?

[Alex_B]

I thought you just fiberglass in some brackets and then bolt brackets to car? Don't know of a guide though

[retroracer1275]

did you not get the brackets will? arc angels do them, or just make some L shaped brackets

[Hegnirst]

did you not get the brackets will? arc angels do them, or just make some L shaped brackets

 

brackets arent the problem just dont really know the best way to do it, need some one to talk me through it or do it for me

i know the idea behind it but i dont realy want to rivet the brackets to the body!

[Hegnirst]

I thought you just fiberglass in some brackets and then bolt brackets to car? Don't know of a guide though

 

i dont want to fibre glass through it takes to lost to be honest :/

[Skortchio]

You could drill holes in the arch and rivet the brackets on or tiger seal them in place, then tiger seal them to the body of the car.

 

As for fitting; get yourself a small sander, a mask and a ton of patience. Offer the arch up and draw a chalk line on the body where it will sit - you need this so you can put it back in the same place each time. Then look for any points that aren't even and sand them until you get a uniform contact along the length of the arch. Then affix.

 

Simples

[Hegnirst]

You could drill holes in the arch and rivet the brackets on or tiger seal them in place, then tiger seal them to the body of the car.

 

As for fitting; get yourself a small sander, a mask and a ton of patience. Offer the arch up and draw a chalk line on the body where it will sit - you need this so you can put it back in the same place each time. Then look for any points that aren't even and sand them until you get a uniform contact along the length of the arch. Then affix.

 

Simples

 

the bit i dont get is thatthe brackets would be straight and the arches are bent, so how am i going to get the angle the same? grrrr

[mike.]

Don't think theres a guide out there, but i'll tell you how I did mine. 

 

Firstly you need to get the arches fitting nicely to the car. Hold them to the car and look at how well they match the line of the body. Mine were miles out - Some areas fitted flush, where as others there was a 5mm+ gap! A lot of them are supplied like this as they are designed to be made to fit the car, and also you can choose how wide you want them by sanding material off. For the front arches you obviously need to make a cut out in the arch for the seam before you can hold them flush to the car. Put some masking tape in the rough location of the seam and hold the arch in the desired position and make a mark either side of the seam. Then using a dremel (or I suppose a file) you can make an approx 10mm deep slot in the arch to fit around the seam. 

 

When the slot is made you can get the arches sanded to match the bodywork. This is trial and error and can take hours depending on how perfect you want them - I spent the majority of a day before I was happy. Hold the arch to the car and look at the gap from above, note the high areas which stop the rest of the arch sitting flush and then use coarse sand paper or a dremel to sand the high spots down. Continue until the arch matches the bodywork fairly evenly for the length of the arch - Don't worry too much as the rubber trim fitted between the arch and body will take up a couple of mil slack. 

 

Once you are happy with the fitment you need to decide where to put the brackets. You need 4 or 5 per arch, spaced around 6" apart, at the front 4 in front of the seam and one in the A panel. You will need one fairly close to where the arch kinks around the front panel to hold this area close to the bodywork, otherwise you'll get a big gap there when the rest of the arch is buttoned up to the car. At the rear you need to take care not to position a bracket where it can't be accessed from the rear of the quarter panel - i.e. where the rear seat panel is! Mark the arches where you want to place your brackets - I used masking tape again. 

 

Then for brackets/rivets/bolts screwfix is good:

 

http://www.screwfix....ack-of-50/20034

http://www.screwfix....ck-of-500/13747

http://www.screwfix....ack-of-50/77568

http://www.screwfix....ck-of-100/61824

 

You want some quite long rivets so they can reach through the arch and the bracket and still have enough protruding to clamp up and hold the bracket. 

 

Then you can mock up where to drill, you don't want the L brackets to be flush with the arch edge, set them back a few mil, otherwise the brackets will bolt flush to the body before the arch. Next drill the arches for the brackets - Use a pilot drill first and take the final drilling slow with low pressure to avoid cracking and splintering the fibreglass/carbon. Once drilled you can pop rivet the L brackets to the arch - Obviously ensuring you keep the bracket square. 

 

Next step is to drill the car - Hold the arch to the car and place some squares of masking tape on a wing/quarter panel. Get someone to help if need be, hold the arch exactly where you want it and press it against the car. Then mark through the holes of the L brackets, onto the masking tape so you know where to drill the car for the brackets. Then you can drill the car to whatever size you need, I think mine are 4mm holes and i've used M3 bolts. Finally you can fit your rubber arch trim (I would advise against glueing it on, if you've got the fit right the arch itself will keep it in place) and you can bolt the arch to the car. Use washers and nyloc nuts. 

 

Oh and also - Where a mask and goggles when sanding fibreglass!

 

 

 

[Skortchio]

 

You could drill holes in the arch and rivet the brackets on or tiger seal them in place, then tiger seal them to the body of the car.

 

As for fitting; get yourself a small sander, a mask and a ton of patience. Offer the arch up and draw a chalk line on the body where it will sit - you need this so you can put it back in the same place each time. Then look for any points that aren't even and sand them until you get a uniform contact along the length of the arch. Then affix.

 

Simples

 

the bit i dont get is thatthe brackets would be straight and the arches are bent, so how am i going to get the angle the same? grrrr

 

 

I cut my own brackets from some 1.5mm steel, hammered it into and L shape then once bolted to the arch/ car flexed it into the desired position :)

[Hegnirst]

Don't think theres a guide out there, but i'll tell you how I did mine. 

 

Firstly you need to get the arches fitting nicely to the car. Hold them to the car and look at how well they match the line of the body. Mine were miles out - Some areas fitted flush, where as others there was a 5mm+ gap! A lot of them are supplied like this as they are designed to be made to fit the car, and also you can choose how wide you want them by sanding material off. For the front arches you obviously need to make a cut out in the arch for the seam before you can hold them flush to the car. Put some masking tape in the rough location of the seam and hold the arch in the desired position and make a mark either side of the seam. Then using a dremel (or I suppose a file) you can make an approx 10mm deep slot in the arch to fit around the seam. 

 

When the slot is made you can get the arches sanded to match the bodywork. This is trial and error and can take hours depending on how perfect you want them - I spent the majority of a day before I was happy. Hold the arch to the car and look at the gap from above, note the high areas which stop the rest of the arch sitting flush and then use coarse sand paper or a dremel to sand the high spots down. Continue until the arch matches the bodywork fairly evenly for the length of the arch - Don't worry too much as the rubber trim fitted between the arch and body will take up a couple of mil slack. 

 

Once you are happy with the fitment you need to decide where to put the brackets. You need 4 or 5 per arch, spaced around 6" apart, at the front 4 in front of the seam and one in the A panel. You will need one fairly close to where the arch kinks around the front panel to hold this area close to the bodywork, otherwise you'll get a big gap there when the rest of the arch is buttoned up to the car. At the rear you need to take care not to position a bracket where it can't be accessed from the rear of the quarter panel - i.e. where the rear seat panel is! Mark the arches where you want to place your brackets - I used masking tape again. 

 

Then for brackets/rivets/bolts screwfix is good:

 

http://www.screwfix....ack-of-50/20034

http://www.screwfix....ck-of-500/13747

http://www.screwfix....ack-of-50/77568

http://www.screwfix....ck-of-100/61824

 

You want some quite long rivets so they can reach through the arch and the bracket and still have enough protruding to clamp up and hold the bracket. 

 

Then you can mock up where to drill, you don't want the L brackets to be flush with the arch edge, set them back a few mil, otherwise the brackets will bolt flush to the body before the arch. Next drill the arches for the brackets - Use a pilot drill first and take the final drilling slow with low pressure to avoid cracking and splintering the fibreglass/carbon. Once drilled you can pop rivet the L brackets to the arch - Obviously ensuring you keep the bracket square. 

 

Next step is to drill the car - Hold the arch to the car and place some squares of masking tape on a wing/quarter panel. Get someone to help if need be, hold the arch exactly where you want it and press it against the car. Then mark through the holes of the L brackets, onto the masking tape so you know where to drill the car for the brackets. Then you can drill the car to whatever size you need, I think mine are 4mm holes and i've used M3 bolts. Finally you can fit your rubber arch trim (I would advise against glueing it on, if you've got the fit right the arch itself will keep it in place) and you can bolt the arch to the car. Use washers and nyloc nuts. 

 

Oh and also - Where a mask and goggles when sanding fibreglass!

 

 

 

wow thats brill thanks! althought links didnt worklol

 

thanks a lot for that! so you reckon, riveting the brackets to the car and drill the arches onto the brackets is the best way?

[mike.]

No sorry, rivet the brackets to the arch so they are fixed, and then bolt the arch to the car. The brackets will never need to be removed from the arch so rivets are ideal. 

 

Links are working ok for me so not sure what happened there, but either way just search L brackets, pop rivets and M4 allen head bolts and nyloc nuts. 

[Hegnirst]

No sorry, rivet the brackets to the arch so they are fixed, and then bolt the arch to the car. The brackets will never need to be removed from the arch so rivets are ideal. 

 

Links are working ok for me so not sure what happened there, but either way just search L brackets, pop rivets and M4 allen head bolts and nyloc nuts. 

 

 

So hold the arches in place after preping, mask in the right place, then draw around it, take of the arch, rivet the L bracket then screw the arch to the l bracket? should i  bent the L bracket to the curvature of the arch?

[mike.]

Rivet the L bracket to the arch first, then your left with the arch and its 5 permanently fitted brackets. Then you can bend the L brackets to the angle of the car, drill the car and bolt the arch on using some small bolts from under the arch

[mymini007]

Still toying with the idea of fitting them to mine, so if I do I will post up some pictures