Wheel guards good and bad

 Today was slightly better. I managed to get all the good stuff I wanted, so a new Dremel lookalike from Lidl (more on that later), and some lollipop sticks.

First step then, glue the sticks in place;

So far so good. A quick run with some abrasives for the bits that are slightly too long;

Then a layer of masking tape to form a complete surface;

And finally a quick sketch on the leading and trailing edges to show where the wheel guard will end;

At this point it was a success, I had a sturdy surface ready to accept fibreglass and an idea where the wheel guard would live. But... after a few minutes I started to comprehend how it would look, and the longer I looked, the more I realised it's a flipping ugly monstrosity. It's basically too big. Bringing it down to the wheel edge might suit a BMW or Golf, but it doesn't need to do that here. And having it at around 45 degrees to reach the wheel leaves the surface really large. I don't want or need that. 

DD 300 is my inspiration for the wheel guards, it's one of the only Healeys I've seen with wheel guards. Well, there's the various Sebrings that use wheel arches, but even those are probably a bit bulbous. I want something that is there specifically to meet the regs and not much more. It needs to meet the angle and height requirements, but be as narrow as possible. So a shallower angle is required.

Out with the lollipop sticks again;

These are attached to the board so that the line from the end of the stick to the body is at 80 degrees from the vertical. This makes the wheel guard the same width horizontally, but much shorter because it's closer to horizontal. Rather than six inches pretty much for the whole surface, the measurements show that it's maximum is 111mm right at the top where the bodywork falls away. I'll probably do without the bulky lip as well, just have it edge protected for IVA.

So I'm going to print some 80 degree supports and glue them in place like I've done for the sticks, that should give me a better idea about this narrower option. I will then need a bigger piece of plywood to make up the arch, then it's back to lollipop sticks again!