I finally got my flares welded over the Turkey weekend

marking the panels
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the cut out
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the weld
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all welded up
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Nice! Looks good!

I take it you are deleting the front side marker?

The factory M471 GT's that were imported still had them, but I believe they were moved farther forward on the fender, or perhaps the flares were welded further back.

Either way, it looks good.

Awesome!

Did you butt weld or lap?
Did mine last week also, found lots of bondo and had fitment issues on left rear.
Looks good!

Please tell me you didn't leave that flap of metal in there.

If so, get your head up in there with a grinder and get it out. Overlapping panels like that will capture water and lead to rusted out fenders. Seam sealer will only work as a band-aid. Once the seam sealer breaks down, it traps water BETTER!

Otherwise, nice work!

It's ok to use the overlap method for welding only. This will help with heat warpage. Once your finished get in there and remove the strip of metal, grind everything nicely, use a light on the inside and check for pin holes.

very nice, I cant wait to get mine on

Whats the best way to seal the welds on the inner side?

I always grind them down smooth just like the outside, but if you opt to leave the bead, at least knock the tops off to level it and apply some primer ( etch then seal, or only use epoxy primer ) then a bead of seam sealer BRUSHED onto the weld. Simply laying a bead out of a caulk tube will leave voids and adhesion will be minimal. You can lay the bead but then follow it up with a small acid brush to get the sealer into the cracks and spread it out a bit. Followed that with a coat of primer and undercoating. All this CAN be done with reattle can products, but would be best with real 2 part paints and a gun.

Yes, deleted the side marker lights. I had a lot of trouble deciding to remove them but after looking at a lot of pictures I did not like the look of them moved forward and like the cleaner look of the European cars. I may add a small side marker behind the front flares some day.

Yes, we did overlap weld cut out the ribbon of metal behind and ran a weld bead along the inside as well. We then coated with an epoxy primer and will spray with undercoating next. My friend who has done body work for 18 years believes this gives a stronger joint. Right or wrong he did most of the work so I went with his suggestion.

We had some fitment issues as well getting the bottoms to fit well. Otherwise the panels went on very well. Looking forward to all the sanding and filling and sanding to get everything baby smooth.
Thanks for your responses. Getting flares put on was a 20 year dream of mine. Now if I can figure out the wiring for the 2.7 six I should have this ready to drive in the spring, around here is mid April if we are lucky.

REALLY NEET!, maybe I'll se you around the Bend next Summer!!. I'm driving a yellow 914

Yeah, I hope to see you also. I was the guy who drove over to pick up the t-shirt. If everything goes well I will be hitting some of the cruise ins in the area. My dad and I try and get out to the Das EssenHaus on their Thursday cruise ins starting in May.
For those that have not seen his yellow one it looks great in person.

Awesome! Definitely sounds like you found one of the good guys.

Are they headed for paint?

Who's flares are those? And any pics of the rear on?

could you please show us a close up of the bottom joint near the rocker panel?

Very nice!

I would like to see those also. Are you using the wide body rockers for those flairs?

After completing these, would you overlap them again or butt weld considering all factors. I am still floundering on which way to do mine.

Factory butt welded. So does Scotty B...

If I were to do it over I would butt weld. Only because of the amount of body work I am looking at this time. I think the butt weld would have given me a smoother starting point.
I went with what he suggested because of his experience, and it was his shop that we did the work in.
I know some are thinking it’s my car I should have done it the way I wanted. For me I like the idea of a strong joint and hind sight is always 20/20. The end result is I have the flares welded on with from what I can see a good seem on both the inside and outside of the car.
I will be modifying my current rockers to match up with the flares so I get a perfect match. I heard many stories of them not lining up (some times more than an inch and a half) and call me cheap but if I’m going to pay $150 plus for some strips of fiberglass I would expect them to line up better than what I have heard they do.
The flares are from the group buy from AA
This is what I hope it will look like when all is said and done.

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I will get those photos once I charge up the camera again.

Where can I get the front chrome bumper with the notch in it like the black car has?

If I remember correctly this is a Patrick Motor sports built car. You might try contacting them to see. It would be my guess that they made it.

I found a picture of the inside before we ran a weld bead along the seam you see in the picture. Which also shows a little of the bottom edge.
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Here is the requested rear flare
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Awesome looking car.
Scott told me I could either modify stock rockers or buy fiberglass, either one would take work to look right.
Congrats on moving forward with your project!

I haven't seen the 914-6type bumper sold any where. Only front fiberglass units that replace the bumper.

I really like the way the rims look on the black 14 .

What size are they?

The flares and fiberglass parts need SIGNIFICANT work to look properly. Yes, you can just weld and bolt them on but they won't fit nicely and won't have even gaps at all. One problem is the AA flares are molded straight on the bottom. If you notice the bottom of the doors there is a 45 deg angle there. (see first photo) When you install the flares the transition won't look right the last few inches and the gap will suck. You need to reshape the flare so that it continues the 45 deg angle all the way to the end on both sides. I'll bet I spent a good 4-5 hours moving the flares and rockers around to lessen the overall cutting and hacking that was required......then the cutting and reshaping started. It would be a stroke of luck to install a fiberglass panel on without work. (unless you don't care about the gaps). A little extra time (actually a lot) will do wonders for the car when finished. I also made a rear valance extension to match the new flares

Here are some shots of what I am talking about. Note the rocker gaps on the final picture. On black it is especially important.

Big job, take your time.....well worth the effort

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this area is the "GT" area that nobody talks about. GT= great taboo

My car has 15 x 7 on the front and 15 x 8 on the rear.
The PMS I believe has 16s, same width 7 and 8.

I agree with the fitting of the flares. It took us a lot of moving the flares around, a little nip here and a tuck here and some tapping with a body hammer to make them look right and fit right.

Your car is one great looking car. I looked forward to every article wishing it was my car that was transforming.

Is your rear valance metal or fiberglass?
I have a fiberglass one that I can't decide to modify it to match up with the flares or to start from scratch and make my own out of metal.

If you look carefully at the 3rd picture you will see I cut off the stock valance at the corner and fabricated some new pieces to match the flares and then welded them on

super nice work.