GT-R Fender vents progress. PICS

Well iran out of gas in my mig today, so i only got the welding done foro ne fender. Here is thew progress so far. Im gettn rdy to go grind down the welds smooth.

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Ill post more pics as i prime and paint them. - Roger
 
so run me through your thinking here. why did you cut out an entire section of the fender? wouldn't it have been easier to cut along the fenders wheel opening line, recess it in, then just add the two upper and lower filler pieces? or if you are thinking that it would leave too much of an offest as it bends back, then how about just a solid filler piece. you could have bent it at the top and bottom, and only needed to weld the perimeter. here, you welded the upper and lower pieces to the fender, and to the recessed panel. seems like a lot of extra welding and finish work. i am not critical of your work, just thinking you did some extra work. also, are you going to put any kind of screen in the recess? is this just a cosmetic mod, or are you planning on making it functional for something?

how about bracing for the wheel opening lines? gonna put anything in there? or do you think it is plenty strong by itself. if you would have left a little overlap, you could have bent it around, and it would have made it stronger. just think of the bend like a door skin, folded on itself.

being a bodyman, it should turn out good for you. hope the best for you and good luck.
 
I was htinkingo f doing it your way, but then it was gonna be too short ( it wasntgonna go past the fender lip ) so it was just as easy to cut it all the way out and make a new panel, then cut it tothe length iwanted it. and yes i am going to reinforce and roll the fender lip egde. and i am also going to put a screen into the splash shield where it butts to the vent to keep large objects ( rocks) from going through, and to keep it functional as there is a large build up of air in that section ofthe fender.. - Roger
 
also besides length, ifi were to cut the panel on three sides, and try to bend it with a tight crisp line, id change the shape of the fender itself, itsn ot straighti t has a slight curve to it. It would take much longer to do it that way. So far it has taken me 4.5 hours to do one side, and its finished. I just need the gas to weld theo ther side. and im rdy to prime and paint. - Roger
 
FastNYellow said:
also besides length, ifi were to cut the panel on three sides, and try to bend it with a tight crisp line, id change the shape of the fender itself, itsn ot straighti t has a slight curve to it. It would take much longer to do it that way. So far it has taken me 4.5 hours to do one side, and its finished. I just need the gas to weld theo ther side. and im rdy to prime and paint. - Roger
i was thinking this: cut out the vent hole. make the template for the vent. stick it in the hole. trim out the excessive material from the template, so you still ahve the same contours and shapes as factory. true, this could have taken longer, but i dont want to have to weld any more than i have to, it cuts down on the finish time, as well as a risk if warpage.

also, what is the line on the back side of the vent for? are you going to trim it, or is that the stock line, and you wanted a straight cut, so you marken the stock line to be sure.....???

the main reason for the one piece vent is to cut down on finish time. it would give you the perfect edge on the inside of the vent.
 
Cat - I was thinking along the same lines until...

Until I looked at the 3/4 rear picture (2nd one) and saw the contour of the fender. If he were to have put a break line in there, it would have destroyed the contour. This metal is so bloody thin it's pathetic. It's going to take some work to finish out all his welds but in the long run he will have a much strong fender for it..

I'm waiting until Certi-fit comes out with the $39 clone fender before I do any hacking. Then I am thinking of putting in 3rd gen Firebird TA vents instead..
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Big-Foot said:
Cat - I was thinking along the same lines until...

Until I looked at the 3/4 rear picture (2nd one) and saw the contour of the fender. If he were to have put a break line in there, it would have destroyed the contour. This metal is so bloody thin it's pathetic. It's going to take some work to finish out all his welds but in the long run he will have a much strong fender for it..

I'm waiting until Certi-fit comes out with the $39 clone fender before I do any hacking. Then I am thinking of putting in 3rd gen Firebird TA vents instead..
exterior04_sml.jpg
if you make the rear edge slightly longer, then you can trim the edge for the contour. i didnt know there was a such thing as a $39 fender....for any car.
 
LOL!!Nice job FastNYellow!!

To most of us, this looks like a train wreck, but FastNYellow is a world renown Classic Corvette restoration expert... Thank GOD!! :nice:

I almost had a heart attack man! :D
 
Big-Foot said:
Certifit - They're in many major cities. Quality is okay but not to OEM standards in all cases. Supposedly they're working on that.

Certifit
yeah, i see CAPA certified parts all the time that dont fit, but i dont even see any mention of CAPA....maybe they are worse. never tried them. shouldnt be too bad if you are just gonna cut them up anyway.
 
bigcat said:
i was thinking this: cut out the vent hole. make the template for the vent. stick it in the hole. trim out the excessive material from the template, so you still ahve the same contours and shapes as factory. true, this could have taken longer, but i dont want to have to weld any more than i have to, it cuts down on the finish time, as well as a risk if warpage.

also, what is the line on the back side of the vent for? are you going to trim it, or is that the stock line, and you wanted a straight cut, so you marken the stock line to be sure.....???

the main reason for the one piece vent is to cut down on finish time. it would give you the perfect edge on the inside of the vent.




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theres the reason is cant be done. The stock cut out is smaller than the panel i puti n there. That panel is the correct length to touch the splash shield inside the fender. The line was just a free-hand line idrew that ididnt like, so i made another one i liked, that wasnt as curved, and icut it. that line isnt straight that i cut, it just looks that way. and as fasr as i can see, your way would actuallycause more warpage instead of less. When you try to put a crisp line in a curved pc. it bows the curved pc out, so either the fender edge will warp, or the cut panel will warp just from creasing in that line. You have to cut it out all theway to make it work, and to make less work for yourself. It didnt take me that long to grind down the welds. If you do a whole line of little tack welds, instead of a bead, then you have no warpage,. and the welds grind easier - no blobs of thick weld. Thats why this way is easier.

MSP- Thanks man,... i dont think it looks like at rain wreck, I just wanted to show every1 pics of it in progress. its fully ground and finished off now. i need to do theo ther side, then im gonna prime them, wetsand the fenders down andshootthem. Then ill post finished pics. Then ill paint my body kit, haha, then i wanna make a custom ducktail and paint it flat blk like my hood, and ill be done. - Roger
 
I think it looks awsome!! Make sure you post pics of the ducktail.. Maybe I'll buy one from you...!! Those GTR fenders look nice.. Cant wait to see the finished product! :nice:
 
FastNYellow said:
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theres the reason is cant be done. The stock cut out is smaller than the panel i puti n there. That panel is the correct length to touch the splash shield inside the fender. The line was just a free-hand line idrew that ididnt like, so i made another one i liked, that wasnt as curved, and icut it. that line isnt straight that i cut, it just looks that way. and as fasr as i can see, your way would actuallycause more warpage instead of less. When you try to put a crisp line in a curved pc. it bows the curved pc out, so either the fender edge will warp, or the cut panel will warp just from creasing in that line. You have to cut it out all theway to make it work, and to make less work for yourself. It didnt take me that long to grind down the welds. If you do a whole line of little tack welds, instead of a bead, then you have no warpage,. and the welds grind easier - no blobs of thick weld. Thats why this way is easier.

MSP- Thanks man,... i dont think it looks like at rain wreck, I just wanted to show every1 pics of it in progress. its fully ground and finished off now. i need to do theo ther side, then im gonna prime them, wetsand the fenders down andshootthem. Then ill post finished pics. Then ill paint my body kit, haha, then i wanna make a custom ducktail and paint it flat blk like my hood, and ill be done. - Roger
i dont see from the pic why my idea would not work. yes the panel is longer to fit to the splash shield, but all i am saying is to cut down on the welding. basically, put a fold in where you have a line of welds. where the horizontal piece, meets the rear piece. for the rear piece, imagine taking a pop can and cutting into the side at an angle. you could still make a piece that fits the shape. maybe we are not describing our ideas to each other very well. if i was there, i could phisically show you what i mean. but i guess we are lost in translation.....glad your way is working out.

i just got an idea of what you might be trying to say. in my idea, the rear most edge of the vent would not be square, but have a slight curve to it, similar to the shape of the rear edge of the fender. is that what you are talking about?

heres the idea i had for the bends. the top and botton of the highlighted area are bent with a brake, requiring no welds.
 
O, i got what your sayin now, lol i thaught u meant the rear vertical line wherethe panel is actually bent to the fender. Yes that way wouldworktoo, and wouldp rolly take a little more setup time. My brake at work isnt the best, so most of my cuts were by hand with an air cut off tool so those breaks would have been very hard for me to do, i need to get a break for my house, haha ill get onethis week ithink, i need a stretcher.shrinker aswell to make doglegs and elbows nsuch..But I now see what you were saying, sorry for confusion. - Roger