TIG Welding Sheetmetal Patch Panel for Backdate Fender (Porsche 911)

In this episode I finally finish TIG welding the last sheetmetal patch panel to the original fender on my Porsche 911 backdate project. While it’s not 100% authentic to an original 1969-1973 fender, I did my best to reproduce the design and even improve a little here and there. One improvement was to butt TIG weld the grill bracket to the existing fender flange. This will be far less prone to corrosion then the way the factory overlapped these parts. Thanks for watching! Please click here to follow the progress in chronological order (oldest to newest)    • All Porsche 911 Restoration Videos Oldest ...   Most of the supporting brackets for the turn signal housing and grill cannot be seen once the car is fully assembled and on the road. The one outer panel that closes out the space where the old impact bumper accordions lived is now fully installed for good. (Goodbye impact bumpers). I’m happy with the way the outer panel looks and I don’t think anyone can tell that these were once impact bumper fenders. Like I said in the video, I’m not trying to fool anyone into thinking this is a real Porsche Carrera RS. Instead I’m building the car the way I want for esthetic and weight reduction reasons. The grill and turn signal stick up a bit from the plane of the bumper and I’ll adjust those later once the bumper is mounted and in the correct location. These adjustments are tricky when all the parts aren’t finished so I decided to wait on that task. I hope you enjoy the video and please leave a comment below if you have any questions. Often people ask what tools I’m using. Here is a link to my favorite hammer and dolly that I used to plannish the distortion out of the TIG welded area. Watch this video about welding:    • Porsche 911 Build - Welded Flare! TIG vs M...   Martin 151G hammer https://amzn.to/2HbNBHz Heavy Blob Dolly https://amzn.to/2HD1bU2 00:00 TIG weld metal patch panel to Porsche 911 fender 00:26 Test fit new panel to fender 00:51 Use Cardboard template of front bumper to check fender arch profile 01:10 Homemade dolly used to smooth patch panel 02:27 Use cheap caliper to scribe 2" line above factory flange for reference 02:39 Use cutoff wheel to remove lower fender flange 03:05 Use 80 grit roloc disk to fine tune panel fit for zero gap butt weld 03:29 Test fit turn signal lens 03:38 Bend flange parallel to signal lens 04:37 Close up of weld gap and clamps 05:10 Use old band saw blade to check wheel arch for smooth transition 05:45 Checking carboard template one last time 06:50 Use wire wheel to clean backside of weld line 07:35 View of first tack welds 08:10 Use steel ruler to check for metal distortion caused by welding 08:30 Fully TIG welded (Butt weld) 09:30 Hammer on dolly to stretch weld as you go 09:50 Close up of finished weld seam 11:00 Use cutoff wheel edge to grind weld bead down a little without adding excessive heat 11:15 Finish grinding weld smooth with 80 Grit Roloc disc 11:45 Close up of weld backside to show penetration 12:19 Use bright light to see panel reflection after welding. (No high or low spots) 13:40 Bend bottom fender flange forward after welding 14:01 Welded pie cuts 15:20 Test fit turn signal lens again 15:57 MIG weld hole near signal corner 16:25 Grind welds down smooth (See pinholes?) 16:58 TIG weld pinholes closed 17:26 Test fit signal housing bracket 17:44 Backside of fender with signal hardware 18:09 TIG weld corner bracket to fender 19:04 Grind new bracket to fit signal housing 19:39 Mark holes in new signal bracket 19:53 Turn signal & grill attached to new metal brackets 20:32 Overview of added metal (Backdate Porsche fender to longhood) Visit my website at www.ahhgaragetime.com or facebook at www.facebook.com/ahhgaragetime Instagram at www.instagram.com/ahhgaragetime Happy Patch Panel Welding!