Hey guys, my brother got a new digital camera today, and was able to save the old memory card....sooo....I have a few of the installation pictures of the louver installation. Tomorrow I'll get some close ups of the finished body work.



in this picture..getting ready to drill the holes..

 

holes are marked...and drilled

 

louver area is cut....notice the frame rail....that's what gave me sooooo much trouble...very very very tight squeeze...

 

louvers are mounted....car is in primer in this picture...will have pictures of the finished louvers tomorrow I had to take my hood off....my inner fenders, and loosen every bolt in the fender to complete this project...is was a PAIN....

 

boy..paint sure makes a HUGE difference. I also shaved my antenna...if anyone wants to see how that was done, let me know. My dad thought I was crazy for taking 2 perfectly good fenders....welding...cutting holes.....and all of that good stuff...I think it looks great...and it made a great addition to the 91..(will have close-ups of the finished louvers tomorrow)...one slip of the die-grinder...and I would have been a goner...

 

That does look good. I wonder how hard it would be to a used fender, cut out for the louver and install it, and then make a mold of just the part that's on the outside of the louver. That way, you'd have a part that just applied to the outside.

 

That would be a good idea....there would be SO much less work involved. These louvers are ment to be functional...and I was going to do that..but because of that frame rail....it was pretty much impossible. Flynlows louvers had to be shaved down quit a bit for them to be functional...and I didn't want to shave mine down that much. MY original plan was to make these louvers "seamless" but.....they are made from aluminum...sooooo...I couln't weld them into place. I didn't want to use any body filler if I couldn't weld them into place. They would have cracked for sure for the first test drive.

 

very brave, but it looks like you pulled it off. It would be hard for me to cut into my fender

 

:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:

 

those pictures will help me out a lot, im gonna do that as soon as i can find some vents. if anyone has some they want to get rid of let me know, i wanna get cutting already lol. looks good man

 

here they are...can get more if anyone want's....

 

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Do you have a closer pic of this area? Or even where the louver takes up the whole frame?

 

shaving the antenna...

 

I can take one if you would like. Why do you need a close up if you don't mind me asking?

 

It's just that in the wider shots, you can't really see how the flat part of the louver blends in with the body. In the last few pics you posted, it looks like it sits seperate above the fender. So I was just wondering how it attached, and how it would look close up, if it blends with the body lines or if you can tell that it's been a custom addition. If you don't already have one like that, don't worry about getting one, if I do end up doing this, it won't be for a while.

 

I see what ur saying. Well....like you said....from further shots....it seems like there is no line or "seam" at all...but on close shots....you can see a "seam" which makes sense. It also depends on the color that your car is. It does set separate above the fender about a 16th of an inch.....if they were able to be welded in.....there would be no seam at all....but since they are unable to be welded in...there will be a seam.....just depends if you are close or not. The louver attach's from the inside of the fender. The louvers have about 6 studs on the inside of them..I just used self tapping nuts to mount them from the inside.

 

What are the louvers made out of? I thought they were metal or fiberglass on the back. If they're fiberglass, couldn't body filler or something similar be used to blend the edges? (Not that I did my own body work, so if this is a totally stupid question, sorry)

 

I don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but here is that area on my fenders, although mine are done different you get the general idea.....

They are not fiberglass

 

Thanks for the pic, flynlow. I'm wondering if it would be possible to cut out this section of the louver, or if that would cause it to break.

 

Yes, the louvers are made from metal....BUT...they are made out of aluminum......they can't be welded to the fenders cause there not made out of aluminum. If they were bolted in....then coated with body filler...they would crack for sure....because of vibrations and because how bad these cars ride.....