Body Flares!

[_flarespace_]

flarespace.com/collections/flares/products/ford-e-series-flares

[Oly11]

Would love to see some additional pictures of flares installed from different angles and further away. Love the idea but not sure about the look.

[Wisco150]

Here are a few pictures I took while dry fitting the flares prior to sending them to paint.

[chasejj]

Flarespace needs to make those into a gullwing storage box. You could have you're whole kitchen fold down out of those!

[b. rock]

And it'd be a little rain cover when flipped up. That's a neat idea.

[ravensix]

Please share your pictures as you fab on sheet metal, this looks way interesting!!

[b. rock]

Well almost a year later, I am finally starting the install process.

Conversion windows are out. Donor sheet metal has been cut out of a van from a junk yard. Fitting that it was an HVAC van as that's what puts food on our table (albiet indirectly).

Plan is to trace out the patch needed, use a flare tool to crimp the patch piece, then spot weld from inside the van. Alternative idea is flush mount rivets. The Smyth Ute conversions rely heavily on these so they're a possibility too.

Taking the conversion windows out was shockingly easy. Also shocking is what hack job their cuts were on the inside.

From there, figure out placement for the flares and make the cut. Since the conversion windows made such a mess of the interior bracing we have some flexibility on where they will go. Will do a mock up of the bike storage + bed location before picking a final spot.

Will also see if the flare tool makes a big enough crimp that the flare would sit inset into it, much like it would with a factory window on a passenger van.

Edit: yes I am aware my garage is a mess. If I don't have 6 projects going on at once, I don't know what to do with myself.

[Lilnuts2]

Man that was a big window! It's like having a sliding glass patio door in your Van

[b. rock]

For sure. It's almost like one of those open air tour vehicles at the moment.

[IanF]

Following... if somehow the stars align and I end up keeping my van, removing the giant conversion van windows would be one of the future tasks. When you cut out the donor sheet metal, did you get the structure ribs as well? Any plans to reintegrate them into your van?

For me, the windows are a catch-22. Having them made the giant van a "station wagon" (i.e. - a "car") in the eyes of Penn DOT and thus significantly reduces the annual registration costs compared to truck registration for a vehicle this heavy.