welding flares, longhood RSR, alignment questions.

[eimkeith]

thanks!

[wesayso]

That's going to be a real beauty! I do hope you'll keep adding pictures to this thread, i want to make sure I don't miss them.

[eimkeith]

right on, will do!
in fact, it is easier to work on this stuff after loooong hot days when I don't have to be excited by myself... ;^)

[911teo]

Keith

It looks great. Lots of progress made since I last was at the shop.

Tell us more about the engine choice. I read abt a turbocharger... Going with a turbo 3.2?

I also like the wheels... CCW 18s'?

BTW what is that interesting aerodynamic device on the roof ?

[78targa]

Matteo,

Don't believe anything he says about the engine! Whatever he plans for, you know it will be bigger and better a couple of months from now. I think with a little prodding we can push him towards a 935 setup...

Those wheels do look nice on the car. They are CCW 9's in front and 11's in the rear. I think the chrome looks good against the black. I had them on my Mexico Blue 72 and I don't think they looked as good.

Alot of it might be the way the ride hight is set. Seeing all of that rubber stuffed in the fender flairs and looking ready for business is... well, the way it should be.

Keith, a set of 17's will look great on the car.

[911teo]

Maybe we should convince him in twin turbo-ing a 3.6 Varioram....

[eimkeith]

LOL, I'm still paying off my humble 3.2... (which is headed to Newfoundland!)

I'll be turbocharging that, with some 3.3 pixtons and a K27 I've got tucked away. (or maybe I'll stuff it in the 65 VW Panel shop van when it is ready?)

If that 3.6 Varioram get's lonely, it can hang out in an all steel early widebody, rest assured!!

[eimkeith]

so this was my fender leading edge solution (and clearly visible is the extent to which I rocked the fender up for wheel clearance) - I cut the lower 3/16 of the 930 flare (bottom edge) and moved it to the lower edge of the original fender. Then, instead of fabricating an extension piece, I made two horizontal cuts and brought the original lower fender metal forward, trimmed and recontoured it appropriately, and tacked it in. Where it was short for blending with the 930 flare, I made a vertical cut and layed the edge back for proper wheel arch shape. I'll make a small filler piece for the resulting gap later.

I still need to fill the gas door and finishe weld the arches before I dismount the fenders, then they will go on the bench for detail work at the front and rear edges.

[911teo]

I love it... Makes me nearly want to go 72 RSR instead of IROC...

Great job!!

[rennch]

keith, that was a nice solution for the front flares. I have to do the same thing to mine, so I'm particularly interested. Were these restoration design flares?

[eimkeith]

yep!

[rennch]

Good. Me too. What did you do to align your rear flares?

[eimkeith]

I aligned the rear flares by taking measurements from the jack hole to the leading edge of the wheel opening, and the corner of the taillight opening to the trailing edge of the wheel opening, then from the edge of the fender to repeatable (and findable) point on the chassis. I double checked the torsion bar hole alignment, the pushed the fender up as far as I could get it to go.

Then, I went in today and did the following: (I saw real RSR fender flares at Treffen that have been haunting me)









sorry for the poor quality pictures - I hope you can make out the shape modifications to the old 930 flare - and I hope it is beginning to feel RSR!

[rennch]

Whoa. That's ballsy.

What did you do there? it looks like quite a bit of fab. Wanna come to Colorado for the weekend? My treat.

[rennch]

Originally posted by eimkeith

I aligned the rear flares by taking measurements from the jack hole to the leading edge of the wheel opening,

This is on the flare itself, correct? Since the jack hole is on the flare? Or, do you mean the torsion tube itself?

and the corner of the taillight opening to the trailing edge of the wheel opening,

That one seems pretty clear to me...did you have something to use for reference in terms of numbers?

then from the edge of the fender to repeatable (and findable) point on the chassis.

I'm assuming you mean the edge of the flare, yes? Like, the outermost edge (outside) of the flare? What was your "findable" point on the chassis? And were you using a measuring tape, or that weird "alien" device I saw in another posting?

I double checked the torsion bar hole alignment, then pushed the fender up as far as I could get it to go.

When you found those spots, and measured, did you screw in the flare to keep it in the right spot while you did the rest of the measurements?

Thanks for the help...you can tell I'm a little nervous about my fab work. I'd hate to blow it at this point....

[eimkeith]

Originally posted by emptyo
Whoa. That's ballsy.

What did you do there? it looks like quite a bit of fab. Wanna come to Colorado for the weekend? My treat.

I'm hoping I can do it again in reverse for the other side!

[eimkeith]

Originally posted by emptyo
This is on the flare itself, correct? Since the jack hole is on the flare? Or, do you mean the torsion tube itself?

Jack hole under door, in rocker.

Originally posted by emptyo

That one seems pretty clear to me...did you have something to use for reference in terms of numbers?

I run from car to car in the shop! (I'll get numbers for you tomorrow)

Originally posted by emptyo

I'm assuming you mean the edge of the flare, yes? Like, the outermost edge (outside) of the flare? What was your "findable" point on the chassis? And were you using a measuring tape, or that weird "alien" device I saw in another posting?

Measuring tape. I'm actually measuring to the wheel opening IN the flare - we don't care about anything except where the big hole for the wheel ends up!

Originally posted by emptyo

When you found those spots, and measured, did you screw in the flare to keep it in the right spot while you did the rest of the measurements?

Yes - self-tapping sheetmetal screws used to hold it tight to the body - just a couple at first - I usually have to re-adjust the position of the flare to the body. Push a little here, change the shape. Push here, change the shape, etc.

Originally posted by emptyo

Thanks for the help...you can tell I'm a little nervous about my fab work. I'd hate to blow it at this point....

Yeah, that's how I feel about working on customer's cars...

(KIDDING!)

[rennch]

Ok...only a couple more, I promise.

So..of course the jack hole is on the car. That was a brain fart.

So, at this point, you've got a flare that's all set up and ready to weld. Do you do the move where you cut through both the flare and the body, and weld a little bit at a time, cutting away the excess sheetmetal?

I'm finding that one side of my flares lays up very nicely, and the other one is a tough fit. Also...are you keeping the large lip that comes from resto-design, or do you guys cut that off?

Oh...and you never sent me your shirt size.

thanks!

[Zeke]

Originally posted by emptyo
Wanna come to Colorado for the weekend? My treat.

I will. Got welding rod?

[rennch]

No, but I have a MIG.