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Anvil Auto's Front Wheeltubs - Maneuvering RoomAnvil Auto’s new front wheeltubs give added clearance and a bit more style From the February, 2012 issue of Camaro Performers By Steven Rupp Photography by The Author
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The replacement inner fender... The replacement inner fender tubs from Anvil Auto come in three flavors. The lowest cost is a paint-grade fiberglass version for $975 a pair. Next up has a carbon-fiber top layer (satin finish) and a fiberglass bottom layer. These cost a bit more at $1,250 a pair. For those with fat wallets, they also offer 100 percent carbon-fiber tubs (gloss finish) for $2,250 a pair. We chose option two for our Camaro. The problem with cool parts is that they always seem to hit the market right after you finish building your car. In some cases it’s fairly easy to make the swap, but in other instances it’s a bit more daunting. A great example of this is the carbon-fiber wheeltubs sold by Anvil Auto. A few years back they were offered for sale, but only for ’69 Camaros so we didn’t get in on that party. But recently they started selling them for ’67s and ’68s as well. After talking with the bodywork geeks over at Best of Show Coach Works in Escondido, California, we decided that it wouldn’t be all that tough to do the swap and knock a few pounds off Bad Penny, our ’68 project car. Now, we wouldn’t characterize Anvil Auto's inner tubs as inexpensive. In fiberglass form, they run $975 a pair, whereas stock steel reproduction wheelhouses cost around $170 ($200 a pair for ’69 Camaros). The problem with the stock versions is wheel clearance. In the past, shops like Best Of Show would cut, weld, and fab the stockers to get extra wheel clearance. Of course, that took hours, and time is money. For example, the inners on our ’68 were fabbed to give more turning clearance for our beefy front tires to the tune of around six hours plus the cost to paint, and we didn’t even address the area above the tire. Given this, it’s easy to see how the $800 price difference between the Anvil and stock-styled tubs could be eaten up paying to have the steel tubs modified. As a benefit, the Anvil tubs weigh in at about half of their steel cousins. For a few bucks more, $275 to be exact, you can order the Anvil tubs with the top layer done in luscious carbon fiber. They only weigh a tiny bit less than the fiberglass offerings, but they look “oh so good” since they have been smoothed out, and many of the unnecessary holes were left filled in. So with tubs in hand, we headed over to BOS for some retroactive installation action.  The new Anvil tubs were designed...  The new Anvil tubs were designed to mimic the fitment of the stock steel tubs, and they offer more space for the larger tires run these days. As you can see, there’s considerably more space above the tire where the tub meets the outer fender lip. After measuring, we found that there was also a bit more room to the inside of the tub (near the control arm cutout).  The GM replacement steel tubs...  The GM replacement steel tubs have nuts welded to the tubs for securing them to the fender lip. Obviously you can’t weld to carbon fiber, so the Anvil tubs have nuts bonded to the edge. The stock steel GM tubs weighed in at 10.2 lbs. each, and our hybrid carbon/fiberglass Anvil tubs came in at a hair over 5 lbs. each. Add it all up, and that’s 10 lbs. off the nose of our ’68. The total carbon tubs are a bit lighter, and the full fiberglass versions a bit heavier.  The carbon-fiber looked so...  The carbon-fiber looked so good that we almost felt bad painting them, but we were used to our Prowler Orange engine bay. After scuffing ’em up, Jon Lindstom of Best Of Show Coach Works (BOS), squirted on a primer coat followed by color and clear.  Our ’68 was running customized...  Our ’68 was running customized steel inner fenders. They did give us extra clearance to the inside (handy for tight turns), but the tires still hit the top under hard suspension compression. Also, with all the welding work, they tipped the scales at nearly 13 lbs.  After taping off the edges...  After taping off the edges of the doors and fenders to protect them from chipping, the guys at BOS removed the hood and headlight bezels in preparation to loosen up the fenders. The fenders don’t need to come all the way off to get the old tubs out and the new ones in, but they do need to be completely loosened up from the car.  They then moved to the driver-side...  They then moved to the driver-side fender, loosened it up, and removed the stock wheeltub. When working on a painted car, the key here is to be patient and methodical.  With the fender still hanging...  With the fender still hanging loose, Dick Kvamme carefully slid the new Anvil tub into place. The tape was applied to protect the freshly painted and buffed tub where it met the inner brace of the fender.  Once in place, they bolted...  Once in place, they bolted the tub to the fender using the appropriate hardware. Before installing the Anvil tubs, BOS shot them with a layer Wurth StoneGuard undercoating.  The tubs then simply attached...  The tubs then simply attached to the fender lip using our old hardware, and the nuts bonded to the tubs. If you pry on the nuts too hard you might break them free of the resin, so go easy. If this happens, just find yourself a caged clip nut and you’ll be back in business.  11. With the GM steel tubs...  11. With the GM steel tubs our billet hood hinges would bottom out and mar the paint when the hood was fully open. The new Anvil tubs had a small dimple in this area, which was a nice bonus.  With our aftermarket C6 Vette...  With our aftermarket C6 Vette suspension subframe, the upper control arm mounts were a bit farther back than a factory subframe. Given this, we had to notch the tubs just a bit to clear the rear upper control arm mount.  And here you can see the new...  And here you can see the new wheeltub fully installed in our ’68.  After securing the rest of...  After securing the rest of the fender hardware and installing our Anvil carbon-fiber fender braces, we put this project in the “done” category. The complete swap took the better part of a day, and thanks to some liberal use of tape and skill of the crew at BOS, nothing was chipped or scratched on our project car. After driving at a few track days, we can report that our tire no longer crashes into the top, even on full compression. Also, on full lock, our 275/25-18 tires no longer rub the inside of the tub (towards the frame).
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