1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[JTR70]

Welded up the breaches that revealed themselves after cleaning.
If the rust had been left in there these are the ticking time bombs that would have made themselves known in the next few years. Hood handle repair metal finished while I still have clear access to the backside.
Primered and painted and ready to reassemble . Getting the original spot welds lined up in preparation for the first tack welds.
Tack welded first at the original gas welds. Then flattened out the leading edge of the lap joint and rewelded over the old drilled out spot welds. Squeezing down the lip again as it went. Happy with how its going right back into place so far. Continuing on with reassmbly.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Last of the concerning rust removed.
Leading edge of the inner frame of course left heavily pitted but surprisingly no holes to backfill.
Will sleep better at night knowing that this leading edge under pinch seam is now free of rust.
Skin itself now all clean of that old advanced rust.

Only a few additional pin holes have shown up after cleaning. Quickly filled with a gas weld as before.
Onto getting these surfaces behind a good coat of epoxy and paint then its finally time to reassemble this hood.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Quick detour before hood reassembly:
This deep pitting around the nose of this hood is concerning. The rust has only breached in two spots for the moment but the advanced rust that lurks in behind it will certainly rear its ugly head in the future at some point.
Same goes for the underside, pitted and with the rust lurking just under that lap joint. There is no avoiding it as the water it will come into contact with is going to run down and settle along this leading edge and no matter how well its seam sealed and painted water always finds its way. After talking with my buddy, now was time to address it.
Its a complicated area and while both pieces are pitted I am 90% sure we'll get away without a patch repair. Just going to clean thoroughly and seal with epoxy and paint. With the left side out its technically half way there so now most certainly was the time if it was going to be addressed.
Only surprise is that this area wasn't rotted out entirely. Look at that old water line; this had a pool of water in it on more than one occasion.
Once the acid devours this rot I'm sure there will be a pin hole or two to close but they be easily soldered shut with a gas weld.
Though there remains some rust under the right and rear section of the substructure this is as far as we need to go. We'll all be long gone by the time those areas ever become an issue. My main concern is this rusty low spot where the water will try to settle again. Acid bath next.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Hood reassembly prep work complete:
Inner surfaces of all the components cleaned of rust and ready for a coat of epoxy and a top coat.
Epoxied and followed up with a quick of semi-gloss.
Ready to begin reassembly; That up next.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Hood work continued:
All the basic restraightening prep complete. Onto the acid bath next for this substructure.
Hood inner surface all clean and ready for a quick sealer coat.
While the substructure soaked I went onto welding up the rust damage to the nose. Took a step drill and opened up the rusted out mounting hole just big enough to get past the thinner metal and back to something I could weld to.
A scrap of old door skin repurposed for the patch. I had to dome it a little first to carry on the profile shape of the skin.
Patch all stitched in and then gas welded the lower rust breaches closed. This lower edge is not long for this world though. The pits are very deep out here and the backside is just as bad with advanced rust still lurking underneath. I'll have to confer with my buddy to see what he'd like to do. More later...

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Roy! Agree, all this work would have been impossible to relay in any great detail but for all the modern gadgets we now take for granted.

[roy mawbey]

Justin, really good information and photos on how you have attempted that repair. It would be impossible to put that just into words as you need to see it! Those stage photos are so good . Twenty years ago just not possible to do that so easily on a forum. There must be a few front lids around with the same problems and guys wondering how to correct it ?? Hope they read this!

Roy

[JTR70]

It would be criminal to leave the rust on these inner surfaces while I've got it all opened up so while I worked on the subframe I have the hood bathing in acid outside.
Discrete little gusset might buy a millisecond or two if the hood ever gets accidently forced down.
Made sure it bridged right across this stress riser.
Basic repairs on the lateral substructure run complete. The rest will be fine tuning with the hood as it goes back together. Again the mounting flange will be reset to the hinge resting at center.
Mounting flange acid cleaned then tack welded across the two halves so it didn't shift or misalign while it was hammered back out flat. Factory locating holes were also welded shut as this is all very much almost like building from scratch again.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Mounting flange removal and repair.
Like the battery box repairs before, lap mounted layers of steel have to be removed for any real shot at getting the base metal ironed out thoroughly. Removal of this mount flange also allows a reset with the hinge centered in its pocked. Touched bottom here as far as disassembly goes. Back to prepping for reassembly.
Grinding away the remaining shoulder of gas weld to so I can hammer out that slight jog and deformation from the old accident.
High spots of the deformation in and around the old gas weld.
damage all pecked out.
Going to add a small gusset in here to bridge across the gas weld joint where they buckle.

[JTR70]

I had flashbacks of this hood Roy. It had been run through the mill and had been repaired more than once with the hinge mounting flanges really smacked around to achieve an alignment with its car. While the basic shape was close it was just tired and I could feel it in its structure as the hood hung off the locks. It put me in mind of a sheet of paper that's been crumpled up then flattened back out a couple of times; though the initial shape is back the overall integrity is just not there. A fresh hood would have been my choice but too much had already been invested here by the time the car got to me. Anyway, I didn't want a repeat of this as I'd have to beat the hell out this coupes hood for correct fitment so the best end result was to dismantle the damaged area and build it back up to suit the car.


Substructure repairs at the center.
Beating the shape back into the large middle profile rib first then worked out towards the edge. The kink had actually stretched this last section so I had to flatten the lip to get my shrinker jaws on this area to gather that excess back up.
leading edge rolled back over taking care to add in the curved profile as it went.
Just a quick mock-up against the skin profile. Promising so far. So glad I didn't have to cut this area out where I had marked earlier.
Where we started. Looks like that would just pop right back into place but no the kink stretched the area and it was going away easily and especially with very limited access to get behind it. Onto the next deal...

[roy mawbey]

Well done Justin well spotted! that must the best way to get over that I reckon but, you just could have just been a bit more lucky and not have had that to deal with too.!! More experience I guess you will never forget. I will be interested to see how this repair turns out as nothing much is ever easy when good gaps are needed.

Roy

[JTR70]

Hood repairs:
A voice in my head kept nagging at me stop here and make all the needed repairs to the hood first. I need to build around a hood in final corrected form.
I've repeatedly beat the hoods mounting flange in an attempt to get this hinge centered but it just won't give me the needed movement. The earlier mock up with my hood confirms its the hood and not with the hinge or the pocket.
Closer inspection shows a buckle and a jog in the subframe that is creating the mount flange misalignment.
I have three issues to fix on this side. The slightly high crowned profile along the edge( its not all on the fender side) , the mounting flange and the damage to the center portion of the subframe; all from the old accident.

I decided the best and cleanest plan of attack was to remove the substructure as a whole at the factory joints. Peeling up the pinch seam, cutting the gas welds and drilling the spots along the lap joint.
Its out. Now I can go to town all three of these issues with a clear shot at both inner surfaces. This side of the hood has almost no rigidity now so profile resetting just got a lot easier.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Agree Roy, final engaged hood position can be tricky. Everything is constructed so lightly and with very little in the way of adjustment options once its all welded together and as you mentioned things still tend to shift and change slightly over time. Then of course there is the preload factor of the hood seal itself that affects its final position with the edges of the body. Just shooting for a final fit that requires the least amount of lead or bondo when its all over. Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin patience is a virtue and you were so right in not assuming things would just be okay. I like the way you proved that error step by step. Also so good again to have a spare item to confirm things as you go. I have over the years had my hood off a number of times and I do have a small difference in gap from the left to right fender. Its almost as though over 64 years the left fender has moved a small amount in the length towards the front nose. I could not correct it on the hinges but over that 500 mm length I could correct it with a little lead, but I won't. Also do you not need the rubber hood seal fitted but not glued in place just to make sure before painting as you need the compression to see the effect on closure height?

Roy

[JTR70]

Dialing the hood latch mechanism:
Original hood remounted and the latch mechanism with base was engaged onto the hood shank then lowered down to locate the most centered position in relation to the hood.
Next is setting the base at an attitude that matches as closely as possible with the approach angle of the upper catch. I want to ensure full engagement without any binding or misalignment. The gapped and set hood with the cowl is dictating everything.
This initial mock up is showing a bit more tilt in the lower latch than I remembered but after referring to this undisturbed original there is tilt in this base.
next was adding the upper closing wall in to check for clearance with the latch base.
The new wall does crowd it backwards a touch and the base is now sitting too flat and off in angle with the shanks approach. No surprise as these parts never fall right into place on the first try. Some nipping and tucking coming up next to get that angle back to ensure proper mechanism engagement. I don't any issues with latch jamming when its all over.

Thanks for looking!

Justin