72 Crossover flared front arch or flat?

[uber cool]

My 72 crossovers needs new front arches, they are the flared 72 on arches, I guess as original fittment. I was wondering about fitting the early flat arches.

Question is did a crossover every exist with flat front arches? Would it look wrong? and if they were never fitted as standard woud I just end up being pestered at show with folks putting out the arches are wrong.

your thoughts please

 

[Araon]

they were flared due to the mud and ***** being flung up the door on account of the slight increase in track offered by the small 5s with discs, fit flats and you'll get the ***** thrown up to the door lower edge.....

 

[woodslat]

they were flared due to the mud and ***** being flung up the door on account of the slight increase in track offered by the small 5s with discs, fit flats and you'll get the ***** thrown up to the door lower edge.....

So all 71 models get mud up into the door lower edge? Was this a crossover change to correct that?

 

[gninnam]

'72 could have either as they were bitsa's (Bit's of this, bits of that) - basically used up all the old and/or new so it could come with either! :wink:

 

[noddy]

If the change over for the arches was 72 (I'm no expert on mod dates) there would have been a fixed switched over point from one body type to another, from one VIN to the next VIN (vehicle identification number).
Try to find the date this mod was introduced. There are lots of bit of info on the web about when certain style changes were made to the bay shell.

Then you just need to know the production date of your van.

 

[rustydiver]

My van is a very late crosser. July 72 it had flared arches with a small step.
When i had the front of the van redone i fitted early arches because it was simpler to do, straight replacements.

You can fit late arches and convert the step to a small step. This seemed too much messin around at the time as the garage took severl months to do the work at the time and i wanted the van back.

Now look at the van and think i have stripped some of the character from him and wished i had done it.

But at the end of the day i only want a good usable van, im not after perfection.

 

[Air Cooled Rookie]

I must admit that I thought that all crossovers had flared arches front & back, although I didn't know that it was because of an increased track.

Anyway, I put new arches on my crossover and used post '73 ones. It wasn't too bad a job to cut them to fit a crossover: I'd say it added about 30 minutes a side to the job.

I bought my arches from Schofields and he told me exactly where and what to cut.

 

[uber cool]

Since posting this I have seen a few photos of L reg Crossovers with the early flat arches. Mines a K, so slightly earlier.

I prefer the flat arches and since I have the small step it would be easier to fit and their cheaper to buy, win all round.



Rustydiver- have you had any problems with wheel spray up the side of your van since fitting the flat arches?

 

[rustydiver]

Rustydiver- have you had any problems with wheel spray up the side of your van since fitting the flat arches?

Simple answer is no. The van gets used a lot for our summer hols, so that means lot of rain, ive had no probs of water coming in or extra road muck up the side of th van.

 

[ZedBed]

Just to add that late bay replacement arches are thick steel, robust "genuine, whereas early style are always poor quality thin repro stuff...

 

[uber cool]

Just to add that late bay replacement arches are thick steel, robust "genuine, whereas early style are always poor quality thin repro stuff...

Ok , maybe back to plan A then. Or what if I fitted good cutouts of an orignal eary bay, like some SA or USA imports? These should be good quality steel?

 

[Air Cooled Rookie]

Honestly, converting post '73 arches to fit a cross over really isn't that difficult, certainly no more so than accurately cutting out old arches from a rust free bus - if you can find one that's being broken for spares.