The first step undertaken by Michel was to get the exact measurements for the car in order to ensure there was symmetry at all four corners. Suffice it to say and as pictures will show, his approach to doing this work is very methodical and precise.

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As one of the pictures above shows in his work bench, we had to get temporary spacers in order to push out the stock wheels far enough to reflect the anticipated and calculated sizes of the new center lock wheels being built. It was very painstaking to measure, measure some more, and then measure again to determine the exact configuration for the wheels since they are the very first of their kind for a C2 anywhere in the world... Many a thank you's in order to Al at Vertex and Jimmy at John James for their collective efforts to get this accomplished as it took a lot measurements with a lot of trial and little error (zilch) on their part!

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Here, Michel has masked off the areas where the flairs will be attached to the body of the car.

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For a twist of irony, we had to resort to purchasing a pair of C2 Turbo replica conversion kit 1 piece fiberglass rocker panels that incorporated the shark fin into it (which normally is located on the rear quarter panel)! We then promptly cut into 2 pieces and began modifying them several times...

The factory ones are made out of a resin/plastic which render them useless if you wanted to modify them. In our case, we needed to modify them as the rear flairs would be covering the area that otherwise is covered by the shark fins.


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Here is Michel beginning the mock up of the 934 flairs which, but by the time we got done with the flairs on the car, nothing of the original ones were left, as you are about to see...

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Laying down some fiberglass:

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You will note how Michel took out the borders off the flairs above, only to reattach them again and again to get the shape of the flair and wheel opening as perfectly as possible.

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Great work and project. Subscribing…!

Brent

The laborious work continues by the French mad man!!! I never gave him marching orders, ultimatums, or death threats - yet, I hope you agree with me that you cannot help but admire his precise and exacting approach?

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Like the classic R& B song from all but a couple of years ago famously echoed, "... I don't see nothing wrongggg, with a lil' bump and grind..." Measure, measure again, and then measure some more before you cut once. It's incredibly difficult to teach someone to be patient. In this case, it was the other way around where Michel had to teach me to be just that...





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You guys ever recall the feeling you get when you see a movie where a police officer, while at the scene of the crime, ever says "... move on people, nothing here to see..."? It ought to be a chuckle because you know while the cop may just be doing his job, he's also drawing attention to the very same thing he supposedly does not want people to notice or dwell on.

Well, in this case for the steps taken in creating the flairs, although it may not look all that exciting, you can see how the basic shape is taking effect between the flairs and the body.

Play particular attention to the fact that the front part of the 'front' flairs must accommodate the kink, so to speak, of the front metal panel onto the plastic front bumper - again, a first unlike any other Porsche ever made...

Also, as to the front part of the rear flair, Michel extended that part in order to cover the hole otherwise covered by the factory shark fin AND/OR the fiberglass piece. Because of the design implemented as we went along (read - some improvisation required), we ended up not using the fiberglass shark fin (which came as a 1 piece and we promptly separated it) since his magic was enough to transform the flair to that section and make it appear factory and seamless... This guy is second to none!

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And in case you were wondering..

1) yes, I'm still on vacation but only for a couple more days :( - so, things may slow down on my end once again I start on my very tough daily grind at work (which is what allows me to fund these marvelous projects but crap, can't recommend it to anyone else!). I have had no less than 3 cars simultaneously undergoing heavy duty transformations for over a year each, just about - all 3 since last summer!!!

2) to upload each and every picture, it takes no less than 5 steps as I have to resize each one, make a copy of it, and then discard them both off my desktop it since I have so many to post...

3) just like Michel took the time to send me pictures depicting the progress of the car, I too feel the need to make the time to post the very same pics onto the forum to demonstrate that this has not been an easy build and come next week, it will be a year in the making, and counting...

4) everything done is worth it - this car makes me jump out of bed in the morning and almost run towards it once I lock the front door at my place. I never imagined I would be so drawn to anything material like I have to this car - but again, not completed just yet and the posts will continue to update as to how the progress on the car came about.

How big are the files? Pelican will usually compress jpegs of 5MB or so. At least in my experience. Or you can upload them to a site like flickr and embed them or send the link to friends, etc. without having to wait for the upload each time.

Massive project, and a great read. Thanks for taking the time to tell the story and keep it coming.

Cool project:-)
Subscribed

Fantastic project!
sub'd

Amazing build thread-thanks for sharing it! I can't even imagine what the final tab will be, just in masking tape alone!

Wow...amazing build!!! Definitely staying tuned.

Now, you can see some progress taking shape - literally! Upon closer inspection of these pictures, please note Michel's incredible attention to the transition of the rear flair from metal to the plastic rear bumper, allowing for a bend with perfect contouring.

As to options on how to design the rear portion of the rear flairs, I didn't (nor do now) believe anything else could have been done differently to this section as we had little to work with in designing them. Essentially, they had to be extended all the way to the bottom. If you look at the 997 RSR pic above of the rear, the rear flair cuts off just below the tail light and in a 934, you get to see the massive tires in the back which isn't feasible for a C2, but alas - I still think they look good!

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As to the fronts - well, just amazing how well they came out... I really dig it and one of my favorite parts of the entire car.

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Look at this last image where the symmetry of the arch remains constant and so does the width of the flair, despite the transition from metal to the front plastic bumper along with the kink in it while also providing "room" for the gasket:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1404576908.jpg

So, this definitely will spark the biggest controversy for the car, no doubt about it. Some of you will like it, some of you will not, and perhaps the others will grow into it... Take a look at these pics below which I took when I was checking on the progress of the car:

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Although it may not strike you at first, I was not happy with this result. In particular, I felt that the lower rocker panel which followed the curvature lines of the body and go underneath the rear flair looked strange. I could not put my finger on it, but symmetrically, only about half of the tire was exposed and it also went into about half the width of the flair and I just did not go along with it, to Michel's chagrin.

So, take a look below at the 'conventional' 997 RSR rocker panel that goes the length of the car and into the front portion of the rear flair. Notice how it goes really low and covers the entire wheel, front and back:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1404577667.jpg

That didn't do it for me, as I didn't like it all that much that we had to cover the entire rear portion of the back wheel - so I didn't want to cover the front portion of the back wheel as well.

Now, take a look to the 993 GT2 with the bolt on flairs, for reference purposes again, and pay attention to how the entire rocker panel is uniform all the way across the entire length of the car.

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