They're metal flares from Restoration Design... here's a shot of the front after grinding down the welds.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181944461.jpg

Fernando, how did you fab the part that connects to the bumper?

I'm almost done grinding the passenger flare. Tedious!

I'd love to see a close up of yours...is there any "crack" looking things where the weld is a little proud?

The old skul grinding disc is just the hard fiber reinforced disc. Careful when you buy them at the home stores because some of them are made for concrete, etc. That's more likely to be confusing in the section where the cutting discs are, especailly if some jerk puts a concrete one on the metal cutting disc peg and you don't see the fine print. The labels are different colors, too. Go slow while grinding and cool with compressed air or a rag.

Now, some of your welds look like they are on top of the metal. When you grind the weld, look to see how thin you are getting. You can see when the thin part heats up and turns blue faster. You will need to reweld those areas. Next, look at the welds at night with a bright light just under the weld. If you see pin holes, reweld. The last step is to use a sandblaster to clean the slag out of those minor cracks you mention. That's just uneven welding and they are little fissures. You don't need any crap in there to covered over with primer and paint. It may come back to haunt you. You can fill some of these flaws with common solder. Make sure that is really clean of all flux, again, before you paint or skim with body filler. I actually go over my welds with lead to make sure they are sealed tight.

This is the only close up I have.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181947659.jpg

It was fabbed out of 16 ga sheetmetal. There is a old thread that shows this piece a little better, sorry I can't find it at the moment, but here are a couple of pics I snagged off of it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181947799.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181947846.jpg

Keep in mind to either bend or weld a lip at the bottom so the front bumper can be attached.

Grindage.
 

Ok, I have my passenger flare fully ground. Man, that is *tedious* work.

As you can see from the pics, some of the welds have some edge. That's where a couple inches of the panel have warped a bit and left a bit of a "v" where the weld seam is Is this ok? It's pretty light, and I think some filler would do fine there.

Otherwise, for the pinholes I was contemplating welding on the *inside* of the flare so I didn't have to regrind a bunch. I also thought of leading in the low spots, but I have neither the tools, the lead, or the know how. I certainly like the idea though...


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181948361.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181948487.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1181948583.jpg

Just clean those out real good, make sure there's no daylight or too thin, and boogie on.

PS, that dark stuff down in there is oxidation, an enemy. Many welders use a stainless wire brush on that. You should have a selection of those, anyway, for any welding.

You could try shrinking the areas where you have warping to try and flatten them back out, assuming there is excess metal causing the warpage. The procedure involves heating the metal w/ a torch and cooling it quickly with a wet rag -- most auto body books should have a section on this. Also, from the looks of your welds, you were a bit low on the voltage, as the weld looks to be piled up on the metal and not wetted out properly; ultimately not a big deal, but something to possibly amend for next time. If you have a sandblaster, it's a good idea to hit the welded areas lightly before sealing/priming (not too much though, as this can cause warping).

I don't have a sandblaster handy. Do you think a flexible wire brush on a 4.5" grinder will work? Also, would a propane torch work for the shrinking?

Great, shoot them my way when you get the chance.

Now, lets see some more progress pics of this stuff!!!!

Cheers

Oh and by the way, thanks to this thread and Michaels thread, I am now waking up at night trying to decide if I should convert my Carrera to widebody....... did I mention I just finished fitting the front and rear bumpers (iroc style) to it, and now I want to buy wide body bumpers and weld flairs........

Anyone know a support group I can call?? :)

Cheers

Propane torch is plenty for shrinking. Use the tip of the blue flame right on the high spot. Don't move around, just concentrate. When the metal starts to turn color, douse it with the wet rag. It takes time; you have to do it over and over. Cool the rag in a bucket.

keith, do you have dimensions (depth) for welding an SC flare onto a post-69 early car? thanks.

bookmarked

Ok...I bought some flared fenders....but..
 

I have a pretty major alignment problem here. Either I didn't research it enough, or the person who flared these fenders mated them to a non-RSR bumper. Either way, I'm going to have them fixed. What should I do?

Here's what the whole car looks like, then a few close up shots of the fit.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190672177.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190672190.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190672212.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190672225.jpg


Keith, et al...suggestions?

it looks like the flare was done to fit a narrow front bumper...

That's what I thought too. So, I'm faced with either buying a narrow or redoing the flare somehow.

They were probably mated to an RS bumper... it's hard to tell, if anyone around you has an RS bumper or stock one, it'll be interesting to see how they meet with the fender.

Do my eyes decieve me or is the fuel flap on the passenger side fender? Is that how your tank is set up?

That kinda looks like a ST front flare. You should take some measurements of what you think should be the correct bumper width. It looks like you'll need a bumper that has about 1" less flare per side.

I happen to have an extra front RSR and an extra S front bumper. The S (or an RS) front bumper will probably work well with your front fenders.

Fernando...no, if you look at the text on the hood, you'll see the pic is flipped. Sharp eyes though.

The question is...what would you guys do? Mate it to the RS and be done with it, or fix it so the flares are correct?

Tough call, but one thing to keep in mind is what size rim/tire you'll be using up front. A slimmer bumper will show more tire if you're running a wide rim/tire, not sure if that's a look you'd be OK with.

I just flipped the thing and did a "magnet test" on it. It looks like the bottom portion of the flare (where the turbo flare ends and the stock bumper begins) is completely bondo. So, My inclination is to blast it all off, cut a seam, pull the stock fender out, and mate it with the bumper, which I believe to be a correct RSR bumper. That said...I'm not sure if I'm up for the metalworking, so I might just contract this one out to a body guru...

Mike - that looks like GT Racing front fenders (if they are fiberglass) with a Getty Design bumper - the GT racing flares are supposedly "correct" in shape for early RSR/ST, while the Getty bumper is designed to be the width of the 930 flares, which are wider at the bottom front edge than the RSR flares are.

In other words, the RSR flare tapers in toward the bumper at the bottom front edge more than the 930 does. Does that make sense?

I'd put slits in the bumper and recontour the curve to match the flare, then reglass underneath to seal up the slits, if it were me. (in fact, we're doing just that at the shop shortly.)

D'oh! are those metal fenders?

Yes, they are metal fenders. Does that change your assessment? (Which was an angle I hadn't thought of). Would it help to see the underside?

I have been looking at some pics and have noticed that the "real" RSR does appear to have a slightly narrower front than some of the RSR bumpers. I'd rather look "authentic" anyway...

This makes a lot of sense, they could've originally been mated to a GT Racing RSR bumper. The Getty one fits the 930 flare and contour.

So, ok...I guess my next move is to find out the width of those bumpers and see if I can find one that fits my flares. This particular bumper is made by Mark Bartosh from California.

This doesn't change the fact that the fenders have a *****load of bondo at the front/bottom. I can't even get a magnet to stick.

Here are a few pics I've found here and the web that show this area. Can't be 100% sure but all these pics are real RSRs.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190676389.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190676441.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190676484.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190676507.jpg

I would love to see a direct front shot so I could see the profile of that flare. Do you have any of those Fernando? Great pics, btw...

A couple more...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190676882.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190676904.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190677116.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1190677138.jpg

it looks to me like this issue is about 50% incorrectly installed flare, and 50% flare fitted to a narrower front bumper. Either way, I think I'm going to have to get rid of the bondo.

yeah, I agree - get the filler out and re-assess.

By the way, I did this "bright light" technique and it was great. I forgot to say thanks for this great piece of advice.

So, thanks Milt. :)

Hey...quick update:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/401033-worst-rsr-front-flare-welding-job-ever-post3857426.html#post3857426

Ok guys, I need some help here. I am now faced with aligning these front flares, and it would appear, if I'm using other cars (including real RSRs) for a reference, that my bumpers are a bit too wide. In the RSR pics, it looks like the front of the flare slopes inward to meet the bumper. If I fit mine the way they are, they would be about vertical. I'm also concerned about the wheel opening...should I make it even all the way around? Take a look at these pictures, and let me know what you think.

Thanks.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907099.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907171.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907204.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907226.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907251.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907270.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907285.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907307.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206907324.jpg


I'm thinking I might trim the front bumper to be a bit narrower, and fit the flares to that. thoughts?

Anyone? Eimkeith?

Definitely narrow the front bumper. Most of the FRP RSR fronts bumpers are made to line up with 930 flares (which are more common in modern times), a possible exception may be GT Racing's bumper...
In any event - the bumper is too wide for the correct look. The flare, as mounted, looks just a bit too narrow to me - I'd bring it out a little bit (an inch or so) and then attack that bumper.

Just MHO.

btw, the top of the front flare looks like it might need to come out a bit also. (check the martini photos in this thread) - that will help some with the leading edge.

Thanks Keith. Two questions:

1. Can anyone give me a point to point width on an RSR front bumper? I'm looking for
edge of flare <----------> edge of flare
2. Can you clarify what you mean about bringing the top of the front flare out?

Thanks