Pre '74 owners please take a look and comment

[kretzj]

I trashed my original '72 fenders and purchased perfect fenders from a guy claiming they were from the same year. I had them painted but I do not like the fit of the turn signal housings. I can't remember how the originals fenders fit but these new ones don't look right. Please take a look at the picture and you will see that the housing sticks out at the middle contour. Are these housings suppose to be flush along the fender?

Jon

[jriera]

Jon, you are correct they look wrong... in my 73 the fender is prety much flushed with the lights, except on the corner where it 'sticks' a little bit.

[kretzj]

Do I have the right fenders for my '72 911? I have been pouring over The 911 & 912 Porsche Restoration Guide and I cannot tell if the fenders I have are from a '72.

[Matt Smith]

I seem to recall that the turn signal was a sloppy fit in a lot of these fenders, particularly the driver's side? The thread was about a week ago. Anyone remember? My '72 is slightly above average.

[kretzj]

According to the Restoration Guide, the post '69 fenders used a shorted horn grill. My '72 horn grill appear to fit so I would assume my turn signal housings would fit nicely. The passenger side also has this noticeable gap. Should I take out my Dremel?

[Two Oh]

There has been fit problems to the left front fenders in the light/grille area on early 911's......but not the same type of problem that you have. This fender has been damaged and incorrectly repaired. [ not repaired to original contour] In my opinion.

What does it look on the inside of this bad area? Traces of hammering and welding?

In the future always fit your panels before painting them.

Good Luck

[kretzj]

There are no signs of any damage or repair. Both sides appear to be exactly identical is contour. If these were damaged, the guy who fixed them was a magician because I had these fenders stripped down to bare metal. Is it possible that these came from the factory like this? I have almost had it with this car.

[Two Oh]

Try a different set off lights if you can borrow some.

I'll look into this tommorrow. I'll show your pics to some freinds.

Try not to get fed up with your project. I know at time it gets to be a real pain when things don't go right. I know you [and I for that matter ] would have never thought it possible for the fenders to be like this. Hang tough and hopefully this can be remedied somehow.... Maybe John Walker will comment on this and have a solution.

Regards...

[Wayne 962]

Did your lamp housings get damaged when your original fenders were damaged?

-Wayne

[cegerer]

That fender looks damaged to me. 69-73 fenders are all the same. -- Curt

[kretzj]

The turn signal boxes are perfect and the lenses are new from Bosch. I don't see how this could be damaged when I cannot find any indication of repair. Even the lip the goes around the entire opening is perfect and intact.

[T Bird]

kretzj
Is this an OEM fender or an aftermarket fender? Fit and finish on the later is generally not up to OEM standards, resulting in issues such as yours.

Good luck.

[kretzj]

After taking a breather, I do now notice a major imperfection in the opening. If you look at my first picture, directly across from the headlight retention bolt there is an indentation in the lip. This seems to wreck the whole fit. At this point, I am tempted to rip the fender off and look for another one. I will look at it again after lunch and attempt some tweeking of the lip without cracking the paint. I have been restoring this car for 6 years and have 0 miles of enjoyment in it so far.

[cegerer]

It just doesn't look right to me. I think it may have been involved in a slight bumper impact that also caused the original housing to be pushed in slightly, also pushing on the fender. I don't think it's been repaired. Tough to tell from photos though. -- Curt

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

The original fenders needed to be fittet to the car.
This gap is quite normal and you have to fit in the parts before you paint them.

Normaly you can work out the fitment by slight reworking and using bodylead ( SN/PB 33 ). You also have to work out the gaps on the door and to the trunklid up to the end corners on the A pillar.

New Fenders from the factory need even more attention.

BTW your electric looks messed up too.

Grüsse

[Bobboloo]

Also check your turn signal box. The front ones always seem to warp over time. If it is warped you can straighten it. Just heat it up a little. Put on some oven mittens and shape it.

What I notice that usually happens is that the upper lip sags a little over time.

As Roland pointed out. These early, pre robot cars, need to be massaged a little when it comes to fitting panels.

One more thing. You also can bend the tabs inside the fender where the light box screws in to get the box to line up.

Bobby

[kretzj]

Roland,

The jumble of wires you see is actually my homemade relay kit for the low/high beams along with a fuse. I did not want to burnout my 30 year old light switch with the new H4's.

Jon

[kretzj]

forgot to add the picture

[Bill Douglas]

Jon. It looks like you are doing a really nice job and i love that silver, which one is it?

My fender has the same indentation as yours. My car is a SC so it's only the smilie that it is against so it doesn't matter. Mine is because I got rust fixed and it wasn't built out another 3mm to where it was.

I like boboloo's idea of heating up the lense and making it fit. Maybe use a heatgun. I would be hesitant about getting another fender or altering yours as you may have trouble getting the silver the same.

Bill '79SC

[Bobboloo]

Actually I was refering to the alloy light box that the lense attaches to. But I guess you could shape the lens as well if needed.

Bobby