So, if xmas formalities don't break my rhythm, this will be welded on today. Here's the drivers side front flare after cutting, fitting and prepping for welding. The rears are done, so after this one there's just one more and a couple of little rust spots to deal with and the metal work is done.......yay!!

nuther....

nuther...

Pardon my ignorance, but what are the doohickies with the wing nuts?

Skip

Body pannel clamps. (Hobor Fright)
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

Keep the pictures coming.

Awesome! With a gap as nice as that, that should be a breeze to weld in. Nice job!

So I managed to get it welded up before having to go stuff myself silly on xmas food. Here's the just welded, pre-grind look..............

Close up of the elimination of the side marker holes. made a patch for the big hole and just welded in the small hole. Not the prettiest welds, but I did it in several very small sections (like 1/2" at a time) to minimize warpage.

Here's a make believe setup for the back wheel/tire. Other than paying around, I wanted to see if it's going to fit without altering the inner lip of the flare. It's pretty close and I think it may need a little

ive never seen those wheels before.....

cool. 9's?

17 x 9 rears, 17 x 7 fronts. 2003 911 wheels, I believe? Don't see these too often, don't know why? I think they'll look schweet when it's all together.

Nice work. How did you make the cut? The gap you have looks very uniform and consistant.

I fit the flare to the body (it takes some trimming here and there to get it fit properly) and clamped it at the bottom with vice grips and then held it tight aginast the body, then traced the edge of the flare with a marker. Then just pull off the flare and I used an air saw to cut the opening. I did the rear flares with a saw-zall before I had an air saw and it works fine too.

The biggest problem I had was the gap was too close to fit the butt welding clamps into. I had to take a 4" grinder to the edge to open the gap a little. It seems a shame to open the gap, but the clamps are worth it. Once it's all clamped up, you just tack weld in between the clamps, moving around alot so as not to heat up any one area too much. Once it's all tacked up between the clamps you can remove the clamps and continue welding.

East Coaster, Thanks for the explanation. I hope you can post some more photos as you finish the installation.

QUOTE (Joe Sharp @ Dec 26 2005, 08:12 AM)

Body pannel clamps. (Hobor Fright) :PERMAGRIN: Joe

I would personally go for the Eastwood Co versions... HF is shonky at best for close tolerance tools
Eastwood Co

Looking forward to the finished result pix!!

Awesome! Its going to be one sweet ride when its done. I wish I had used steel flares instead of my fiberglass.Great job.

Well here's post grinding and a little dolly work

That is gonna be so nice when you are done.

Can't wait to see the finished product...

Also finished fitting and welding the bottom seams where they meet the factory rocker/valance mounting points. I took some close ups of this area to help others doing steel flares. I could not find any close ups of this area before doing mine and it takes a bit of fiddlin' around in this area cause the flares really don't fit this area well.



The flare bottom is flat (or perpendicular to the fedner) and the factory fender bottom has an angled (about a 45) bottom. You need to gradually hammer and dolly form the flare into the factory shape, so that it goes from flat to angle gracefully. I then butt welded and ground out the welds so it looks pretty much like it came this way.

The rear of the flare....

Profile showing the angle to flat morph........

And the rear........

Hope this helps the next guy doing AA steel flares. Now I have the passenger side to do and they're done!

QUOTE (dinomium @ Dec 27 2005, 02:16 PM)

QUOTE (Joe Sharp @ Dec 26 2005, 08:12 AM) Body pannel clamps. (Hobor Fright) :PERMAGRIN: Joe I would personally go for the Eastwood Co versions... HF is shonky at best for close tolerance tools Eastwood Co Looking forward to the finished result pix!!

[QUOTE]

Thanks for the cool site.

Why not just bend a tab on the fender and weld to that?

Still leaves a place for crap to infiltrate and cause rust at the seam. Although I'm sure it could be sealed and probably last just fine, from what I've researched butt welding is best.