914 GT Flares Project...

[Malevolentfrog]

I thought that I would tell You how it's coming. I built a streach forming machine. And pulled some practice panels from 20ga maliable sheet they turned out very good! I still am unable to post pictures on this BBS though. What I found out by doing this is. Yes the plywood forms work, About 3 or 4 pulls is all they last though. So that would nessisitate building steel forms. I was just about to invest in some steel billet's to build the forms from. When I read the post from Maf914 about the Mittelmotors flares He bought. I then contacted Mittelmotors and found out that they have plenty of them and sell the very resonable. (See Mittelmotors post on this BBS) They either have the dies that Porsche used or know who does. Anyway I found that if I had to go to cutting dies from billet My cost's would go way up. I would then have to raise the price to pay for My shop time. I started out with this trying to come up with a way to keep the costs down. I am not really giving up I am still playing with the idea. I so far have invested mostly time in this. And I have built a machine that I can use to produce limited runs of one off parts for a very low price. I will Make some money from that, Belive Me. There is a market for things like that. I have played around with the idea of reinforcing My cheap Plywood dies with Epoxy. Maybe that would allow more pulls before they were shot. To all the Naysayers out there. Now You can point them fingers and say I told You so! You were right. Or were You, I found out a lot by trying this. I CAN produce very limited runs of good parts cheap! I found out that some of My crazy Ideas work! And last but not least. I tryed!! Thanks

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Very cool, Frog! As you said, it sounds like a great way to do limited runs of sheet-metal parts.

Hmmm.... How would I like my 914 to look, if I could do anything?? Hmmmm.....

--DD

[SummerSledSix]

Frog, way to follow through!

Two things for you: first, what is a "streach forming machine"? Second, could you get some more mileage out of your plywood dies by using something like hardwood plywood or even solid oak? You might be able to get oak or other hardwood real cheap in the form of pallets. People are usually begging someone to take them away...

[Malevolentfrog]

To Dave and Summersled6 First of all A streach forming machine is allmost like a press you have a very strong framework that clamps a sheet of steel into it. You then build a Male form out of plywood. (I am allready using Oak Plywood) it goes onto a pedistal mounted on the machine the Machine useing hydraulic rams then pulls the sheet down over it. The draw backs to this are: You must use very maliable sheet. And it should be preannealed. (Not Cheap One 4x8 sheet of 20ga. is 64.00) And You Must start out with sheet that is thicker than You Want the finished product to be, As it's streached it becomes thinner. Some of the test pulls that I made come out to 24ga. from 20ga. And the thickness varys in the finished part, Dependant upon how much it is streached in a given area. But by the same token have You ever measured a fender for thickness. They vary tremendously! So that is not much of a issue. As for what I would like to do to a 914 Dave. As a Motorcycle customizer I have several Ideas. I think that the lines of a 914 are very nice allready. Even more so with GT flares on them. But one area that I think could use some improvement is the front. I think that if You were to remove the current turn signals and put them down on the ends of the front valence. And build a front valence that more resembled that of a 944. And flatten out the location where the turn signals used to be. Build the front valence so that it blended into the front Flares better. And acted more like a air dam. Very much like what the Charon Kit looked like. I think that kind of styling would still retain the "Porsche Look" But it would also look and be much more streamlined and have a moderen look too. That is what I intend to do with My 914. If I can ever figure out why My picts don't post here, I have some sketch's of what I have in mind that I could post. Thanks

[DDS]

Could you not use the plywood forms as a pattern and send it to a foundry to be duplicated in bronze or cast iron? (Hollow out the back, epoxy in plywood webs.) You might be surprised at how inexpensively this can be done if you make the patterns, marine stuff is commonly made this way.

[Malevolentfrog]

Yes I have thought about the foundry idea, And We have a great foundry here. (L.A. Boilerworks) about 10 miles from Me. But the idea of building the Flares here is kinda moot at this point. As it was posted on this board ( Mittelmotor Flares and Exhaust) I belive the factory dies have been found and that someone in Germany is building them again. They can be bought from Mittelmotor for just a little more than I can build them for. So I am going to go back to what I do best. And that is building one off pieces. I am going to customize My 914 (See previous post) If after I get it done and someone wanted something like it. Well who knows? Any way one other thought on what I am going to do with Mine. I thought too about building a front valence around a late 911 front bumper, The one with the turn signals built in. What do You think that would look like. Thanks

[jabb]

Frog:

Try downloading (Irfanview) this software..... will allow you to resize your pictures so you can easily post them to the BBS....

What kind of problems do you have when loading... Just ask
sure someone here can help..

http://www.webattack.com/get/irfan.shtml

[Racer Chris]

Hi everybody,

I thought it was time I posted in on this topic. Mike Mueller already mentioned me earlier. I make a very nice steel flare for the 914, however I do not have the metalworking experience of malevolentfrog. You can see my work at www.tangerineracing.com . Since I don't particularily like the appearance of the factory flare I decided a more subtle appearance was in order. My flares are custom made on the customer's vehicle and are ready for final body work. No I can not ship them to you as I use part of your fenders in my process. How much, you ask? I get $1500 per corner. Doing one off specialty work is tedious and time consuming. The results are outstanding IMO but how many of you want to send me your car for this?... I figured as much. The look of my flare is so subtle that even a 2 1/2" flare is difficult to see from many angles. One reason for this is the fact that I retain the factory fender lip, something which no one else has done as far as I have seen. It's good that Mittelmotor has GT flares at reasonable prices, too bad for malevolentfrog though. He was on the right track. As time goes by I hope to produce my flare in custom widths in shippable form. They will still be much more than the current price of GT flares. I have powerforming equipment and an english wheel, but need time and practice.

[Malevolentfrog]

Racer Chris I looked at the photos on Your web site. That is almost what I had in mind for My 914. I was going to blend in a 911 late front bumper. The one with the turn signals built in. And You are right, one off fabrication is never cheap or can be done in a short time. I probly could produce Flares in My shop for 800.00 a set. But I have other projects going at this time. It seems that everyone is getting ready for the racing season right now. My Milling machine is going 2 shifts now and I am still getting farther behind. This is the busy season for us. (Motorcycle Racers) Maybe I can get back to the Flare project in a month or so. But there doesn't seem to be much sense in it as Mittelmotor can sell them just as cheap as I can. And they are made from the Porsche dies. I am not saying I am giving up, I just don't think there would be enough market for them to justifiy the expense of the molds. Thanks

[farleyd]

Hi guys, here is my second prototype.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59949