1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[JTR70]

Begin rear pan fitment:
New section tacked and in process of final form fitment tight against the reinforcement flange.
A bit more welding and clean up yet to go but technically my flange repair duties are complete.
and with that I can begin locating the rear pan for best fit.
Same process as the front, leading edge of the flanges etched in

Then the width of the flange back measured for the initial cut line.

[JTR70]

Rear pan fitment continued:
About this far on the first try before it wedged out. A few rounds fine trimming coming up.
Cautiously trimmed a sliver at a time to maintain a tight fit against the walls. Excess was removed from the wider of the two sides to help center the floor a fraction more.
After about 4 tries the rear pan was finally home. This is my third floor and so far I've never had to contend with a tunnel in my way during fitment. A blessing and a curse I suppose as the tunnel required removal for additional repairs. These conduits weren't too bad to work around.
relief shapes centered in the frame as closely as possible.
Some weight added to the center of the floor to reinforce the gentle bow towards the middle as I begin adding screws to lock in the final position.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Back to work after a rest through the holidays. I left off with a lot unfinished seam and plug weld heads that I had to finally face when I returned. I normally like to stay up with that as it goes but I got lazy about that towards the end so that work accumulated. First few sessions spent carefully grinding all of those down smooth to catch back up.
Then it was back to prepping the rear pan for final installation. Punching in the plug weld holes along the edges...there is a lot them.
Perimeter cleaned of primer and this piece is finally ready to go in for the last time. The strengthening rib at the center had to be heated and pecked down a touch for some needed clearance with the heater control tube conduit.
Rear pan in for the final time.
Welds all along the rear kick panel repairs were some of those loose ends that had to be tied up before this section could go in.
Perimeter repairs are now officially complete with the floor repair well on its way to completion. Set screwing it in next in anticipation for plug welding.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Another quick detour:


As the rear floor pan synching progressed in preparation for welding the lurking rust under the parcel shelf panel was beginning to concern me more as clear unrestricted access to this area was beginning to become more limited with the installation of the rear pan.
Center top had a nice breach where moisture could easily enter and flood into the lateral pockets.
Underside of those lateral cavities had some small holes breaking through which meant the rust was pretty well advanced on the inside.
To feel comfortable enough to go further with the floor installation I needed to confirm just how rusty it was in there. If the longitudinal where any indication it wasn't a good sign. I turned the body up on its side so I could stand in the door way to begin drilling out the spot welds. The interesting thing about this closing panel is that it stamped out of very thin gage metal. Its even thinner than 20 gage so the spot weld break very easily which made removal go much quicker.
Lifting the cover exposed remaining media sand and some advanced rust along the sides but much to my great relief and surprise seat pan area was in pretty good shape. Begin cleaning up this cavity next.

[JTR70]

Cleaning/prepping the seat pan cavity:
A better than expected condition was revealed once the sand and rust scale was vacuumed up.
Heavy scaley rust was expected along the sides and corners but not as severe as I was expecting to find. Pin holes seen from the underside shown here.
Right side slightly less rusty but with anticipated scale. We'll see what's really left once the rust is removed.
Cover will need three small patch repairs. At the center and long the lower leading edges/corners. Again this metal is very thin to begin so once you add in advanced rust there is very little to weld to. It must be cut past the rot to have anything thick enough to throw any heat at.
Begin chemical cleaning.

Thanks for looking.
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin to some people they would not have attempted that, you do the job properly at the expense of what you might find under a few pin holes!! Well done on that, you know you will be pleased you did that when the work is finished.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks Roy! Fortunately it was a lot better under there than I thought it was going to be. Definitely, going to feel really good about this area once its all sealed up and reinstalled.

[JTR70]

Shelf Continued:
A step back to go forward. I had the rear pan set and ready to weld but by this time the back seat area was really calling out to me and it dawned on me that now was the time to address the parcel shelf if I was going to do it. The addition of the pan was reducing my access and its much easier to have the ability to stand in there to work on it with the body right side up. Especially while applying the acid to clean up the rust. So back out one time it came. First round of acid applied by this time and was ready to apply as second and final round.
Second and final round of acid complete and neutralized. Dried with a light Flash rust of gold.

Torch heat has been applied down the side to burn off the last thick and stubborn bits scale.
A few additional pin holes opened up but nothing serious.
Begin wire wheeling the area to clean up the remaining scale and flash rust.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Super job Justin! That repair will last for years and years all being well.
Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks again Roy, If civilization holds out these repairs should last long after we're all gone.

[JTR70]

Rear seat pan cleanup and spot repair.
Side areas where the rust was the thickest and most advanced cleaning up nicely with my wire wheel. Clean silver divots are all that remain.
A couple more pin holes opened up after cleaning but nothing serious and nothing that will require a patch repair.
Holes were easily back filled with my gas torch. In the old days I always reached for my MIG welder to close up small holes like these but I usually wasn't happy with the raw presentation. A blow through was typical because its thin along with "heads" of weld accumulation. Gas welding by contrast doesn't blow throw as readily and I control how much rod is added and as you can see it flows in nicely with no grinding needed.
Sometimes old school tech is the better choice for the job. Repairs complete on this pan with only final cleanup remaining before I seal paint with area.
Dug out my remnant parcel panel sections for the closing wall repairs. That next...

Thanks for stopping by.

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Yes Justin I used gas welding for years never got a mig ( although I have tried one a few years ago. ) I really got quite good with gas and my repairs now around 45 years old have lasted really well but of course I never take the 356 out in the rain!!!

Roy

[JTR70]

Gas welding certainly still has a place even today Roy, at least in my world. I wouldn't drive 356 in the rain on purpose either!

[JTR70]

Shelf panel repair:
Cutting just past the rust. Next trick was finding a remnant section with the rib tip and enough metal in front of it make the flange. This donor was not only short but too rusty. This panel is thinner than 20 gage so if its rusty and pitted its too thin to weld to.
Removed only what I had to.
Best donor section that I had. It's the opposite side of the panel and was the vertical wall section originally. I'm still a touch short on the flange but its not rusty so I can add on the needed length.
The last two repair patches will be the lower vertical wall sections. Badly pitted, not rusted through but again too thin to weld on.

[JTR70]

Shelf part 2:
Unlike the seat pan both sides of the closing panel are equally as bad.
Tacking in the new repair section. Welding it against the table was a luxury as it back up the metal allowing me to put a little more heat to it.
Adding in that strip across the flange where it was short.
New lower sections tacked on.
Welding repairs complete and now onto some acid to clean up the rust in preparation for some epoxy and paint.

[JTR70]

Shelf cavity sealing and cover reinstallation:
Seat pan cavity in Epoxy
Underside of cover.
Black base top coat
Panel ready for reinstallation.
With a little convincing the cover reinstalled in exactly the same spot with the original spot weld holes lining with my drill marks on the floor. Set screwing it down in preparation for the plug welds.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Super dooper exercise in that job Justin !

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks Roy, glad you like it...

[jjeffries]

So many layers in a 356’s body. I don’t own one, so learn something every time I stop by.

best wishes, John

[JTR70]

Hi John, I'm always learning something new as well. Thanks for stopping by!