Just bought a project 1972 911T

[Rodney Nelson]

Cutting out the front latch panel. Ended up being a waste of time as the inner fender front date was so bad I ended up cutting off the updated inner front fenders and purchasing donor correct battery box inner fenders...

[Rodney Nelson]

Time to measure where to cut the existing fender.



Look how bad this weld his... Seriously.



Look closely, I have the donor inner fender in front of the current to make sure the marks are as close as possible.



Cutting up the donor fender.



Really only need the front section for now... will take both front sections to the blaster.

[Rodney Nelson]

Picture at the sand blaster... ended up costing $70 for both. I'm going to need to sand blast so many parts, I'm just going to go buy a used blaster cabinet for like $150 on craigs list.

[Rodney Nelson]

Pics below are of the rough cut just to get all of the weight off so I can do a fine cut.

[Rodney Nelson]

Now the fine cuts, trying to leave some of the inner supports.





More bad welds, this is the worst one so far, it is like a water fall of mig welding!!!

[Rodney Nelson]

Here are the cut out bad welds holding on the front dated inner fenders... Horrible.

[Rodney Nelson]

Fine Cuts on the Drivers Side.




Fine Cuts done on both sides.



Getting all of the parts ready... not really there is a long way to go...

[Rodney Nelson]

Cleaning up passenger side inner fender. Removing spot welds on inner supports. Overall this fender is good, just some more surface rust under supports... ready to go.

[Rodney Nelson]

Okay this is where I am at today. The drivers side inner fender ended up being in pretty bad shape. So I had to cut out the batter box section, first a rough cut, then a fine cut. I then sourced a new front battery box section that I trimmed down, then marked off the donor fender, and cut. So, both pieces are ready for welding now. The battery box had some holes in it, so I ordered a new one as well.

One more last issues, well actually I highly doubt it is my last issue...

Wait for it.... wait for it.... I have no idea how to weld. I have everything ready to go though. I purchased a TIG Welder, cart, gas bottles, consumables, gloves, etc. I've watched a ton of online videos. Time to teach myself. Now, before you say anything, there is no way that I am going to be worse or even anywhere close to as bad as the fool that butchered my 911... I'm a perfectionist and I have high hopes, lets see how I do.

The next thing to come will be pictures of my test welds...

[timmy2]

Grab some cleaned up scrap pieces of removed body sheet metal to practice the butt welding.
Small quick welds about an inch apart along the length of the two pieces, let them cool and then do the same thing between each weld. Repeat as required to fill all gaps.
Be patient and let things cool off. Grind off the inevitable big blobs as you go too.
Once you do a few feet of practice welds and have it down, start on the valuable pieces.

[Rodney Nelson]

Originally Posted by timmy2

Grab some cleaned up scrap pieces of removed body sheet metal to practice the butt welding.
Small quick welds about an inch apart along the length of the two pieces, let them cool and then do the same thing between each weld. Repeat as required to fill all gaps.
Be patient and let things cool off. Grind off the inevitable big blobs as you go too.
Once you do a few feet of practice welds and have it down, start on the valuable pieces.

Hi Dennis, I was planning on grabbing some sheet metal that I have already cut off like you said. I will try the stitch method as well. I bought a copper backing plate to put behind as well. Tomorrow afternoon is D-Day!

[timmy2]

Hi Rodney,
Copper helps with cooling but you still need to let the metal cool to avoid warping. It also stops drips from burn through. (Ask me how I know)
Good luck, looking forward to seeing your results.

[Inkblot]

Subscribed!
Should be a great project. I was also recently inspired to teach myself welding by way of some needed Porsche metal repair. I bought a new welder, armed myself with lots of YouTube vids, and went at it. I'm trying to repair my old heater boxes, so while the material is similar (thin sheet), it's much less ambitious than your project. Even at that, it's been a lot harder than I expected... they make it look so easy on YouTube... Anyway, here are some things I've recently learned, often the hard way:

- Practice a TON on similar metal. Whatever kind of joint you're planning to do, do it a number of times on something other than your car. I've found that getting a basic weld is easy- but only when EVERYTHING is perfect (settings, gap, metal prep, stick out (for mig), angle, etc.). Which pretty much means that getting a basic weld is not easy at all
Without a lot of experience, it's hard to know how to correct whatever is going wrong- especially mid-weld. There's a lot going on at once- and when you don't get the bead quality you want, it can take a lot of time (and sacrificial metal) to figure out if your settings need tweaking (and if so, in what measure), and/or how to adjust your technique.

- Make sure you can see what you're doing. This sounds obvious- but when you watch the YouTube vids, they're often zoomed in on the weld puddle, at a good angle, which makes it seem so clear what you need to be doing as you weld. In reality, it can be challenging to always have a good view of the puddle, when you have your hands and the gun and whatever else is in the way. Even with a decent view, it takes practice for your eyes to get used to the intense contrast between the arc/puddle and the seam or gap you're trying to follow. I found that a really, really bright light shining on the workpiece helps a bunch.

- Patience! As Dennis mentioned, you have to go slowly with thin sheet- just a little bit at a time. Everything warps with heat, and things you set up to be square or flat will end up all wonky. The metal expands as it heats, and contracts as it cools; but, as you may have seen in some of the vids (and what I still can't quite get my head around), the metal contracts MORE in cooling than it did in expansion (?!!), so you really have to think about controlling the distortion.
Going slow doesn't mean leaving your torch in one place for too long- you'll burn right through the sheet. This was a hard lesson for me... I'd find that after I finally got everything dialed in, and a good bead going- I wouldn't want to stop! I'd think, "Yeah, I'm finally welding! This is awesome!" and then POP I'd blast thru the sheet as I pushed it too far... stitch welding is so frustrating, cuz you can't ever really get going- you have to stop and move to a different spot.

- Buy a bunch of cheap grinders, as you'll be doing a lot of grinding! It's a PITA to switch discs as you're going, so just keep a cheap grinder handy for each disc (grinding disc, cutoff wheel, and flap disc, at the least). You won't need anything too big or powerful for the sheet work; I've been happy the cheap, paddle-switch ones from HF. I aspire to be a better welder than I am a grinder, but I'm not there yet

- Don't judge another man's welds, until you can do better (but I agree, the welds in your pics are, let's say, less than inspiring...)

- Lastly, the obligatory Safety First (oops, already put it last). Make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy, and that your workspace is free of obviously flammable stuff. As you're going Tig, you should be alright; when I started with fluxcore Mig I had no idea that the sparks and spatter would fly as far as they do. Make sure your wife/kids/dog/whatever can't unknowingly walk into your garage and get flashed. Your shop looks super clean, so I imagine you've got this well covered.

Disclaimer: I haven't tried Tig yet. Tig welding strikes me as the hardest, from a technique perspective, so I wanted to learn the basics before "moving up"; first with fluxcore Mig, then Mig w gas. That said, it does seem like Tig would give the best results on sheet metal, and the welds can sure be pretty!

Anyway, hope you find something helpful here. I'm looking forward to seeing your project progress.

Best,

Jake

[Rodney Nelson]

Originally Posted by Inkblot

Subscribed!
Should be a great project. I was also recently inspired to teach myself welding by way of some needed Porsche metal repair. I bought a new welder, armed myself with lots of YouTube vids, and went at it. I'm trying to repair my old heater boxes, so while the material is similar (thin sheet), it's much less ambitious than your project. Even at that, it's been a lot harder than I expected... they make it look so easy on YouTube... Anyway, here are some things I've recently learned, often the hard way:

- Practice a TON on similar metal. Whatever kind of joint you're planning to do, do it a number of times on something other than your car. I've found that getting a basic weld is easy- but only when EVERYTHING is perfect (settings, gap, metal prep, stick out (for mig), angle, etc.). Which pretty much means that getting a basic weld is not easy at all
Without a lot of experience, it's hard to know how to correct whatever is going wrong- especially mid-weld. There's a lot going on at once- and when you don't get the bead quality you want, it can take a lot of time (and sacrificial metal) to figure out if your settings need tweaking (and if so, in what measure), and/or how to adjust your technique.

- Make sure you can see what you're doing. This sounds obvious- but when you watch the YouTube vids, they're often zoomed in on the weld puddle, at a good angle, which makes it seem so clear what you need to be doing as you weld. In reality, it can be challenging to always have a good view of the puddle, when you have your hands and the gun and whatever else is in the way. Even with a decent view, it takes practice for your eyes to get used to the intense contrast between the arc/puddle and the seam or gap you're trying to follow. I found that a really, really bright light shining on the workpiece helps a bunch.

- Patience! As Dennis mentioned, you have to go slowly with thin sheet- just a little bit at a time. Everything warps with heat, and things you set up to be square or flat will end up all wonky. The metal expands as it heats, and contracts as it cools; but, as you may have seen in some of the vids (and what I still can't quite get my head around), the metal contracts MORE in cooling than it did in expansion (?!!), so you really have to think about controlling the distortion.
Going slow doesn't mean leaving your torch in one place for too long- you'll burn right through the sheet. This was a hard lesson for me... I'd find that after I finally got everything dialed in, and a good bead going- I wouldn't want to stop! I'd think, "Yeah, I'm finally welding! This is awesome!" and then POP I'd blast thru the sheet as I pushed it too far... stitch welding is so frustrating, cuz you can't ever really get going- you have to stop and move to a different spot.

- Buy a bunch of cheap grinders, as you'll be doing a lot of grinding! It's a PITA to switch discs as you're going, so just keep a cheap grinder handy for each disc (grinding disc, cutoff wheel, and flap disc, at the least). You won't need anything too big or powerful for the sheet work; I've been happy the cheap, paddle-switch ones from HF. I aspire to be a better welder than I am a grinder, but I'm not there yet

- Don't judge another man's welds, until you can do better (but I agree, the welds in your pics are, let's say, less than inspiring...)

- Lastly, the obligatory Safety First (oops, already put it last). Make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy, and that your workspace is free of obviously flammable stuff. As you're going Tig, you should be alright; when I started with fluxcore Mig I had no idea that the sparks and spatter would fly as far as they do. Make sure your wife/kids/dog/whatever can't unknowingly walk into your garage and get flashed. Your shop looks super clean, so I imagine you've got this well covered.

Disclaimer: I haven't tried Tig yet. Tig welding strikes me as the hardest, from a technique perspective, so I wanted to learn the basics before "moving up"; first with fluxcore Mig, then Mig w gas. That said, it does seem like Tig would give the best results on sheet metal, and the welds can sure be pretty!

Anyway, hope you find something helpful here. I'm looking forward to seeing your project progress.

Best,

Jake

Thank you Jake for all of your suggestions!

[Rodney Nelson]

Well, everything did not go as planned and I ran out of time. I spent most of my time watching the hour long video from eastwood on TIG welding for the third time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIyu-63ruMU

Then I had to setup my tig welder, hook up the bottle, all of the attachments, get the electrode sharpened, get the gloves and helmet out, clean up and organize.

Finally, get my test pieces out to weld... I need to get some clamps from Harbor Freight tomorrow and then I'm going to start some welding...

Here is my set up and test pices on the table ready to go...

[Rodney Nelson]

Test pieces ready to go...

[tobluforu]

Wow, unreal build!

[Harpo]

Wow you have a very ambitious project. Why TIG and not MIG?

David

[jjeffries]

Rodney, it would be interesting if some better welders than me chimed in, but since it seems like you're really aimimg to do this right, I'd say you might also pick up a MIG (gas, not flux core). Why? Many uses, but in your case so you can do initial tacks (then TIG between MIG tacks). I think you'll also need it to do some of the work when it comes time put the front suspension pan.

In for a dime, in for a dollar.....Best, John/CT.

[Rodney Nelson]

Originally Posted by Harpo

Wow you have a very ambitious project. Why TIG and not MIG?

David

Hi David, I wanted to get a TIG welder due to the fact that the welds are cleaner but the reality is I’m going to have to use MIG when TIG just wont work.