930 fender help

[Peet]

Hey fellas,

Wonder if someone could help me out. I have some narrow body sc fenders I want to weld 930 flares to and I don't have any real life reference. Can someone with factory fenders measure the distance from where the fender meets the door to where the arch/flare starts? I kinda only have one shot at this since these flares and fenders are so pricey and I'd hate to botch the job hahahaha. Any help would be much appreciated.



Cheers,
Peet

[Chuck.H]

I didn't think you welded the front fenders, I thought they were a bolt on replacement for the originals...

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 393k miles

[porche]

Originally Posted by Peet

Hey fellas,

Wonder if someone could help me out. I have some narrow body sc fenders I want to weld 930 flares to and I don't have any real life reference. Can someone with factory fenders measure the distance from where the fender meets the door to where the arch/flare starts?...

Cheers,
Peet

Peet,

Measured in a line horizontal from the bottom of the door edge to outer fender forward edge, the raised outer fender distance is 6.25" on my 1979 930 with original factory fender.
I used a Stanley tape measure so I may be off by a 1/16" or so. Close enough? Perhaps, as I would bet there are likely small variations in this distance amongst early 930 original fenders as they were all hand welded. Be interested to see what others might come up with.

Bud

[Peet]

Hey Chuck, I wish I had direct bolt on 930 fenders...would be much easier to do this conversion hahaha. I think the early 930 had hand welded flares and sometime in the early 80's they switched to one piece fenders. I simply just couldn't afford to buy one piece 930 fenders. Going rate for 2 used fenders was was about $2500... My friend is back dating his 71 coupe so I got a good deal on his sc fenders. Got some metal flares and that's where I'm at. Would you mind measuring your fenders on your turbolook to see how close it is to Bud's 930?

Bud, thanks so much for taking the time to measure. I'm sure you're right about the early cars being slightly different. I'd be interested to see what other people get for measurements as well. Anyone else wanna chime in?

Cheers,
Peet

[dap930]

Peet,

I got the same 6.25" that Bud reported.

[Peet]

You guys are awesome! Really appreciate the help. Guess it's time to start cutting....gulp

-P

[rattlsnak]

better to line up the bottom front of the flare with the fender line, then move backwards until its centered over the wheel arch. different flares might have different measurements. we do them that way all the time.

[Peet]

Hmmm well that's interesting. So you don't have any measuring guidelines. Just line it up until it looks centered? I will be lining it up as best I can and then measure down by the bottom of the door to see how close I am with the 6.25". I may be over thinking this but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Anyone have any insight as to butt welding or not? My welder friend says butt welding these on may be tricky and cause warping but the Internet pretty much says butt weld or its "wrong". I also sat in on a body work course recently and asked the instructor about it and he rolled his eyes at the idea of butt welding.

I'll be starting this Monday so if anyone else has any suggestions I'm all ears.

[vintagecarlover]

Warping won't happen if you puddle stop and move all around. Keep tacking and move around. Keep a rag wet and Don't try and weld in a line.

[mreid]

If you can bolt the correct widebody front bumper onto the car, it will help immensely in orienting your flare. I also got 6.25" and mine were butt welded on, non-factory.

[Peet]

Great info guys!

mreid, I have two front bumpers. I have a factory 930 lower valance and also a Rennspeed iroc bumper. The iroc bumper will be the one ultimately being fitted to the car but I think I might line everything up with the 930 bumper.

[Peet]

Little update. All body work and paint is done and she's on the road for the season. Few things to sort out. Windshields need to be set in properly....again. Side mirror placement is a little off but she's looking pretty good IMO.

Cheers,
Peet

[mreid]

Peet, she looks great, nice job!

[IMR-Merlin]

Originally Posted by Peet

Hey Chuck, I wish I had direct bolt on 930 fenders...would be much easier to do this conversion hahaha. I think the early 930 had hand welded flares and sometime in the early 80's they switched to one piece fenders. I simply just couldn't afford to buy one piece 930 fenders. Going rate for 2 used fenders was was about $2500... My friend is back dating his 71 coupe so I got a good deal on his sc fenders. Got some metal flares and that's where I'm at. Would you mind measuring your fenders on your turbolook to see how close it is to Bud's 930?

Bud, thanks so much for taking the time to measure. I'm sure you're right about the early cars being slightly different. I'd be interested to see what other people get for measurements as well. Anyone else wanna chime in?

Cheers,
Peet

I am pretty sure, 87+ have non-welded fenders.

[IMR-Merlin]

As for setting the windshield correctly, it is a major PITA. Mine is "low in the opening and I have a little gap at the upper corners. We are going to fabricate some spacers for the bottom for our next attempt.

Car looks great

[gtihop]

Car looked great at the MVOC show! Was one of the favorites there for sure. Hope to see it around for some of the runs this summer

[Peet]

Thanks guys! I'm pretty pleased with how she came out body wise. Can't really complain.

Saying that...I do have have a hump in the middle of my front bumper that is testing my OCD.

mreid, I know you ended up cutting out some of the middle of your front to make it fit. Mine was just bolted fast to the fenders. Possibly that 1/2" or whatever is making it bow in the middle. I most likely will fab up a bracket and glue it to the under side to pull it down a bit.

gtihop, was cool talking to you at MVOC. I think there was a Porsche meet yesterday that I missed. I've love to get out more with it for cruises but my work in the summer doesn't permit for much time off. People gotta eat!....and eat ....and eat. hahahaha.

IMR-Merlin, you are correct a PITA is an understatement...I think most of my problem lies around the fact that my body guy was a little heavy handed and bent my aluminum trim. I also reused the front rubber that was on the car. It looked to be in good shape but I can't know if it's OEM. The rear rubber I bought new from **************. It was the best price I could find for OEM...at least they said it was OEM. In hindsight I wish I had bought both seals straight from Porsche so I could rule out aftermarket worry.

I think I need to start a build thread...

-P

[IMR-Merlin]

I ditched the AL trim and used a 3/16" silicone tube for a replacement. Looks much cleaner.