started the drivers side rear qtr panel..this was about 10 minutes worth of work...
...going for a faux GT flare look....


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looking good Mike....I likey.

nice!!!

so step 1, palm nailer. step 2 - planishing hammer?

very cool man! does it wake the kids up?

yep, palm nailer...word of warning, don't "test" the palm nailer on your hand...ouch....

kids are at granndpas house with mommy...time for daddy to play

This is really cool. Post a picture of a palm nailer. I think this is THE way to do flairs. John the ghia guy who handformed his (as shown in his avatar- I'm blanking on the screen name though) was having a class in this this past weekend. I would like to learn this. Does it get sofeter as you work it, or do ya just beat the sh!t out of it until it is where you want it? Take some more pictures- difernt angles, etc. Is this the first side?

Mike, I need to have John Kelly make me a pneumatic planishing hammer. It makes quick work of smoothing out the lumpy-ness.

Aaron, without a planishing hammer setup, it's hammer and dolly work to take out the lumps.

Awesome!!

All to familiar..

Now the hard part... Getting it how you want...

THEN making it the SAME on the other side.

Scott. John Kelly is the name you want.

The metal is consistant, actually as you go from a flat metal to a rounded metal, the metal becomes stronger, yet ever so slightly thinner.

You can get an optional hard rubber plug that threads onto the palm hammer. We use them at work for pressing in PVC t-mold. The plug has about a 1.25" diameter and the impact is spread out much more than the nail fitting

Pretty good.

Keep going.


KT

I kind of like that baby GT flair look, keep up the good work.

Way to go Mike! There are a couple of ways to smooth that are faster than hammer and dolly...without a planishing hammer. The first one is a slapper replacing the hammer. It covers more area than a hammer head, so each blow is slightly more effective. The second way is to make a nearly flat die to fit over the bolt in your palmnailer. First use the carriage bolt or my updated tooling (see my album link below) to stretch, then use the nearly flat die (with sand bag on the outside) to go over the area you have stretched. This will do a lot of smoothing for you. Make sure the sand bag is packed really tight with sand. Has your carriage bolt shaft mushroomed yet? I started using a grade eight bolt and homemade dies instead...holds up better. Maybe the rubber die that panel billy mentioned could be used with a piece of hard plastic held on the out side of the fender to smooth after the initial stretching? Depends on how hard, wide, and flat it is.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/comm...d=9980138836765

Just remove the flares off that black car in the background, and weld them on!!!

Nice job at it. do you plan any heat treatement to soften the metal up? Too much streching of the steel might allow it to crack later. Maybe get it hot, then slow cool????

John, I love that thrift store purse idea. CSOB points to you.

Mike, nice work. Keep the pics coming.

dmenche914, heat is not required. The metal will take a lot of stretching before any failure...especially if you smooth the metal betweeen stretching sessions.

jsteele22, It's a fine line between cheap and frugal (smile).

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

You mean like giving the purse to the wife as a Christmas gift ?

thanks for the replys.....

John, would small steel shot work better in the bag?

I'm not a fan of the sand dust.....

Mike work looks great

after you polish your skills on yours , can i send you 2 rear qtrs that you can turn into a couple of johns flares?

Dampen the sand with a spray mister as you load it in the bag......

it's a sealed leather'ish bag I got from MarkD

HEY! DID YOU TAKE MY PURSE!?!?!
Mark D.

mike do you have a links ecu sitting around?

Bernie

Honey, I got you a new purse

Why is it full of sand? What good, nevermind.

*SMACK*

*THUD*

Ohh.. a wallet! I think i'll go get me a purse!

*groan*

Hi Mike,

I have lead shot in one of mine and it is heavy! If you get the low silica sand you should be OK with sand. I use something called green diamond abrasive. It is supposed to be low silica.

Another option is to use a thick rubber pad or multiple layers of leather to absorb the hammer blows instead of a sand bag. I used rubber wrapped in leather for my homemade metal shaper. See attached picture. The same principal as fender stretching.

I just realized this picture shows it before I changed the shot dolly out for rubber wrapped in leather. Oh well, you get the idea.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

i've used corregated card board box material to hammer shape by hand and with an air hammer.

non-club member Jerry McCarthy (sp?) is hammering away as we speak....
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I have all those tools!!!!

lol

Cool beans!

a few more pics....

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those look awesome

i love those wheels and tires too..i have those tires on my 924S, theyre awesome

Nice work

MOAR PICSHORES

why arent you beating on them? he owe you money? LOL

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no body filler....all metal formed....the black is just a guide coat to cut down on the reflections and to see the metal better.....more work on Sunday

Wait a minute...YOU HAVE a running 914?























































BTW....looks bad ass.....


Hey how are the Vasek Pollak license frames coming????

Man's got skills!

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

It's BEATifull!

Man-o-man.
Thats oh so good.

This thread is 11 years old ...

Does it run yet?

Please update with a current pic...the workmanship is fantastic

Car totaled by a deer by new owner when i sold it in '07

By the time every thing was said and done... would you do it again.. or pony up for a set of AA flares?
I know 11 yrs ago there were no steel flares floating around for 1000 bucks....

Steel GT flares I would say now.

There was 14years ago, i got a set back then, used them on my Build-Off car. Heres the 914club post: (GT sets went for $2300 then)


Apr 7 2003, 11:07 PM
Group: Members
Posts: 6,350
Joined: December 25, 2002
From: lake oswego, oregon
Member No.: 12

Any one get the email from George Hussey in regards to the completion and subsequent sale of the infamous AA 914 fender flares??
Ready to purchase at $995.
CCLinLOO