1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[JTR70]

Good confirmation;
This unmolested hood bolts tightly against the hinges allowing them to float nicely in the center of the pockets. Confirmation number one.
Any needed future adjustments as far as the hinges are concerned will be to the hood side.
Nearly the same profile issue as before; the majority of the problem is on the fender side! Confrimation number two.
As I try to level the edge of the hood with the forward most edge of the fender everything behind it just falls apart much like it does with the car's original hood. So glad I tried this before just blindly assuming the original hoods profile needed all the correcting.
Not only that but the gap is huge the entire way down. The hood and its hinges are adjusted at center in a relaxed state. This is where it is staying! Everything including this remaining fender will be gapped and adjusted to suit, not the other way around. Remounting the original hood with new confidence to proceed.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Aside from the hoods profile, the gap on this side is enormous with the hinges centered and the rear cowl gap set and even. Remnants of a buckle at the crown of this fender can still be seen here. The factory weld joint also has a crack in it next to the hood. While the right side bore the brunt of the damage this left fender did shift a little.
Now I was beginning to wonder just how much of this contour discrepancy was in the hood. This fenders damage could be a contributing factor as well?
To get at that answer I decided to mock up this absolutely cherry, unkinked and accident free hood from my '56 coupe.
Mounted on the hinges and dialing the closest 3mm+ across the length of the cowl.
Fits pretty well though its a little proud at the center. Close, but thats why these hoods were numbered.

[JTR70]

Carefully contorted back in line with a large crescent wrench; no hammer strikes. You really have to careful with these later version hinge mechanisms. They are half the thickness of the earlier AT1 and Pre-a version mechanisms and instead have a spring washer installed to move everything over to one side to make up for the thickness discrepancy. If the hinge gets too bent up or deformed the star and the lock get out of alignment with one another and won't mesh correctly. I've delt with that issue before and the only real fix is to disassemble the mechanism and straighten the frame back out separately. The earlier hinges are much more forgiving. Hinges now reset dead center and will correct the hood flanges to match this position as closely as possible.
As the mounting flange adjustment continues I needed another look at the bulge along the left side profile. Setting the rear gap back to 3mm+ here.
That thing sure sits proud. I'm at the point where I'm really getting my mind around all of the damage and the hood is not as unscathed as I had first thought.
A lot of grinder marks on the right side where the skin had been damaged and reworked. It was actually very nicely done as it wasn't anything that jumped right out. Anyway the hood suffered more collision damage than I thought.

[JTR70]

Back to addressing the "center of the universe" for the front end of this car.
The Hood. It was tempting to just carry on adding components back on but the thought kept nagging at me as to what a mistake it would be to keep building around a damaged hood.
Now is the time to address all of its residual damage and build the body around a corrected hood. As you can see in the photo above the hinge sits cock-eyed on the pocket and rubs the side slightly. This angle does not allow me to slide the hinges in or out without a fight while mounted to the hood. In the end I have to be able to install everything smoothly as a unit as the final paint on the bolts should not be disturbed.
Once the bolts are backed off the hinge relaxes back to center where it should be. The mount flange on the hood needs some correcting.
Similar issue on the right side as well. These are tedious adjustments you definitely want addressed before its all painted.
While most of the problem is on the hood side, the hinges themselves do have some slight bending and twist in them as well.

[JTR70]

Rough staging the forward upper closing panel:
A lot of balls in the air all at once so now was just as good a time as any to begin rough fitting the forward closing wall. The center is marked on both panels.
and now onto trimming out small bites along the left edge until the center lines match up.
Enough excess removed to allow this panel to slide over into center.
A very rough mock up with the side wall but its a promising start.
Begin locating the latch mechanism next. A ways yet to go but its headed in the right direction.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

The eventual fender will mount back on directly to that new flange and its position will dictate both the final gap the fenders leading edge height in relation to the edge of the hood. I'll have to hit that very close to avoid the need for any fillers to level them both out when its all over. This final position will also have to take into account the hoods final resting height both latched and under tension of a hood seal. Lots of fun ahead...
Continuing onto finding the sweet spot.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Begin new lateral closing wall fitment.
Again, a bit more weld dressing to do in here but I may wait until its back on the rotisserie. Three of the four walls that comprise this corner are least repaired and its layered in there like it was. Most of his area will always be visible so its important to get the final presentation as clean as possible.
Now back to prepping for the new lateral closing wall. Grinding and peeling the remains of the old walls flange.
Begin by cautiously trimming back slivers for an eventual flush fit against the chassis.
This is a very nice panel but is still a repop and am dialing in the initial fore and aft position by sight marking the embossments to the floor features in relation to the left side which is still original. It of course won't be perfect but just shooting for the best average fitment. This is only half of the equation and not the most critical.
What is most important is where its top mounting flange ends up in relation to a closed and latched hood.

[JTR70]

Right upper corner repair:
Decided to hold off on that inner patch to go ahead and finish repairing the inner sections first.
A real luxury having a clear shot at these internal structures.
corner and vertical wall patches installed. It worked out leaving that inner section for last as this hole gave me an access to clamp the patches tightly as the stitching went. Welds also dressed and cleaned up at the bottom of the hinge pocket; on this side anyway.
One last piece left. A lot of welding to clean up in here as it was a bit awkward to lean in and weld reaching up. I sure miss this thing being on a rotisserie!
Last piece welded in. I got a little greedy with the heat and blew this hole out at the very bottom. Its hard to convey but its little set backs like this at the end that can really try you during a session. This sort of gives you a tiny window into the realities of that speedster project above Roy; there is just not enough good steel left in it to weld onto.

[JTR70]

Thanks once again Roy! Right, it depends on what climate it spent most of its existence in but more importantly how it was stored through those years.
This recently unearthed speedster is a perfect example. It was left undercover in a back yard for 40+ years.
The owners I'm sure thought they were protecting it from the elements with all the generations of blue tarps and car covers through the decades.
but all they did was create a hot house and the rust went absolutely wild.
The rust has essentially burned it down to a set of torsion housings, its speedster specific parts and a VIN#. While it still would have rusted the car in general would have faired far better uncovered.

[roy mawbey]

Justin you have so much patience! Its hard to believe all these restored 356 cars do not have these issues above just sitting there waiting to be eventually found . I guess it helps if the car lives in parts of CA or Nevada for its working life but to see all the layers of rust on this area of the car must mean it sat outside somewhere wet for a long time. Although, it did not show all the problems when you started just like so many other356 cars many still probably, with hidden problems like you show above. After deciding to keep my car clear of wet roads after doing all the work in the mid seventies I reckon it would never have lasted another50 years without so much work.

So good for the owner to know even though he will never see it, these area's above are attended to properly. Its so true, the 356 shape just tends to hide the problems from view. Even in poor shape they still look so good to the eye. Or they do to mine !!

Great thread indeed.

Roy

[JTR70]

remnant wall removal and corner rust repair and clean up.
Rust damage always runs a little further than you think. The cowl removal above this intersection is exposing more rot that I'd never been able to address otherwise.
Last section of the old vertical closing laid over exposing the rotted area I could see from the door well. Now I have a clear shot at this rusted out corner I had started to strip back some time ago.
The remains of the top flange of the old wall go back and over a little deep than I thought (high lighted with the screw driver) I'll have to drill out a couple of more spot welds so I can lift the corner of the tough out of my way.
Four panels layer and intersect at this corner and all four rotted through. This outer most layer is the kick panel or speaker boss section.
Begin paper templates based on the rusted foot print of the old section. Small but tedious stuff.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

They are tricky at times Roy. If the damage you're after is under a couple of top layers or entombed behind a closing panel then there really is no other way around it unless you're just going to fish plate over the top of it. That of course would be a huge red flag when you go to sell it. Thanks Roy!

[roy mawbey]

Justin, its not until you see the complete strip down of the front body panels do you begin to realise just how its never a quick fix to get perfection on a 64 year old 356. I can understand why you have to give this great thought as proceed. Sure I welded a few bits and pieces on my frontal area but could never have contemplated back then what you are doing now. Its going to look fine justin !

Roy

[JTR70]

Upper portion of the splash pan removed. I decided to make my break along the weld joint of my previous lower patch repair. I knew if I tried removing it all in one piece I'd make a drilled out mess of this lower area as the plug welds are a lot bigger and won't give up without a big fight so I thought it better to leave this sleeping dog lie.
Now I have a clear shot at the remains of this wall and all the rust damage behind it.
The nature of this cars construction with all of its overlapping and intersecting layers along with where the rust and accident damage ended up can constantly take you down avenues you hadn't previously planned on.

Had to take a step back to move forward but looking at it here confirms this was the only way to go for a thorough repair.
And a quick look inside of what will eventually be. Cleaning out the remains of the OG closing wall next.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Prepping for the new right side upper closing wall.
Went back and forth as to whether to do a partial or complete upper wall replacement. Had it not rusted out in the door well I would have left it alone and just did a partial but it is and so is the metal on the other side of this wall. It has to be repaired in here anyway so the best and cleanest approach is to unpeel this onion a little further and get it all in one shot. This would require the removal of the splash pan.
To get access to the top attachment points of it required cutting back into the cowl a little further. Cowl cut back exposing the top of the splash pan here.
I chose this cut line as it gets me the needed access to the pan for both removal and reinstallation. It is also the lowest point in the body contour and will be a much more stable weld joint. As you can see I'll also have access though limited to the backside of the weld joint for planishing.
Top spot weld run free and just about separated from the remains of the original wall.
I was really dreading the double run of spot welds down its face but as I began drilling and peeling from the top it became clear that the inside run of spots where completely detached at this point. The row of spots along the edge also gave up quite easily. Very uncharacteristic of factory spots even when the panels are rusty but hey I'll take the break when I can get it. Detached from the door stopper base and just about ready to remove at this point.