6 replies to this topic

[Tremelune]

First I bought a set of GAW117 standard arches and was happy with them until they cracked in a few places near the screws and fell off.

Then I bought a set of MS134 arches in the Wood & Pickett style hoping for a clean fit. I can't say I'm thrilled about it. At "rest" the arches are way off the curve of the wheel well. If I bend them a bit to fit, they kind of squish the shape. It's doable, but not great.

 

Am I doing it wrong? Any fitment tips? Are there higher-quality arches somewhere that I don't know how to buy?

 

Is this really the best available for popular arches on a car that hasn't changed shape over 50 years?

 

 

 

Edited by Tremelune, 25 April 2024 - 12:41 AM.

[Tremelune]

Random side question: Has anyone ever used rivnuts instead of sheetmetal screws? I have some small M3 rivnuts and stainless screws I was going to use...

[mab01uk]

Some info in link below:

 

Wood and Pickett Wheel Arch experiences?

https://www.minimani...rch_experiences

 

The original W&P arches were quite a good fit but most on sale today are copies of varying quality.

The early W&P arches were made of metal when fitted at the coach builders workshop but their later and aftermarket arches were fibreglass. The copies available today are usually fibreglass or ABS plastic but as with most things the quality and fit drops as more copies of the original design are turned out at a lower price...

Edited by mab01uk, 25 April 2024 - 08:06 AM.

[panky]

Random side question: Has anyone ever used rivnuts instead of sheetmetal screws? I have some small M3 rivnuts and stainless screws I was going to use...

 

Yep I did with button heads

 

[Bobbins]

Random side question: Has anyone ever used rivnuts instead of sheetmetal screws? I have some small M3 rivnuts and stainless screws I was going to use...

Be careful using aluminium Rivnuts with SS screws, I did this and a number of the screws seized into the rivnuts due to galvanic corrosion, same where I used Rivnuts for the grill. Stainless steel, aluminium and water is not a good combination.

Probably not what you want to hear, but I was so unimpressed with the available arches (of the ones that I would choose) that during my rebuild I’ve gone archless and have bought wheels to suit.

[cal844]

Go archless. Less rot points and also alot cleaner.... Slightly faster too 😉

[wile e coyote]

Thread intrusion - but my car has currently got the vanilla "mini special" arches on and I'd like to give it a bit of a styling "lift" - I like- and want to keep the wraparound tuck  to  the valance at the rear but none I can find online seem to have that  and preferably I don't want to put anymore holes in the car -  is there currently a decent quality arch set in the same dimensions and fixing points as the special arch but in a gloss or carbon finish...? (I've seen some on a car locally that are exactly what I'm after but owner bought the car like that and has no idea where they came from...)