1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[JTR70]

Socket hole is slightly smaller but no clearance issues with it or the boot.
Right side metal work chores completed.
Moving back over to the left side to prep the bucket for final installation.
Before the bucket goes in I had to finish picking and filing the weld joint. I had to be able to reach in through this opening for direct access to the back of this weld joint to have any shot of getting it even close to uniform.
Slowly working my way over the top.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Marker light holes.
Original T2 reference. Elongated mounting holes at the 3 and 9 o'clock position for the later stand -off pedestals. The center hole is also slightly larger to accommodate the base.
T1 mounting holes are at the 12 and 6 o'clock position as the light base mounts directly to the body. Both orientations just ensure that the chrome trim ring and its mounting screws end up at the 3 and 9 o-clock position when its over.
Pilot holes drilled and ready to punch out the big one then file and elongate the lateral mounting holes.
Punched and filed. My knock out punch is slightly smaller than the original but clearance should be fine.
I just so happen to have the super late A marker light assembly that takes the T5 lense on hand. Mounted on fine.

[JTR70]

Last confirmation fit after all the welding. Horn clears the bucket and battery box.
Horn sits level...
and is centered in the window.
Then it was onto one more confirmation fit for seal clearance with the ring before plug welding.
Last little job on this side of the nose after the bucket plug welds was opening the holes for the turn signal.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Right fender brace installation complete.
Gas weld around the neck of the conduit sealing up the bucket. Leaving the plug welding around the headlight bucket for last in case there are any last minute adjustments that need to be made.
At the opposite end, the edges of the tube and flared hole in the box wall were fused around their edges as originally done.
Then it was onto the last two pieces of the puzzle. A full horn mock up would be needed to set and locate the base mount in its best position. The upper brace run was now a bit short with the new conduit. A small backfill extension in process of being added here. Dialing in the final needed length.
Upper brace lengthened and ready to go back on for good. Once this was tacked in the horn mock ups were next to set the base mount.

Right side fender brace completed. Horn mount set in its best position with gas welds replicated as my original reference shows. So much easier and cleaner to build this brace in the car to suit versus trying to wrestle a preassembled unit in to fit like it should. I missed a weld here BTW. The upper brace weld should be solid all the way around the conduit. I'll have to go back and weld up the center of it.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Conduit tube in for good.
Last of the excess being cut clean and square with my trusty cutter.
Then flared the end as found originally. Tube now ready to go in for good.
Positioned to sit nearly square but with a slight upward angle to encourage any water that may find its way in there to drain into the battery box. Just making sure it doesn't pool and sit in the elbow. Both ends all welded up.
Every original undisturbed conduit I've seen received a two tack welds at the 3 and 9 o'clock position at the outer battery box wall.
Always shoot to replicate those original build details when possible.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Conduit bender fab
Watched several videos on making your own tubing bender. Followed their lead and made my own shoe or profile die from a piece of pipe. Bent to a 90 that more closely matched my original reference examples.
Then it was onto build the base and fulcrum point. Other half of the pipe was used on the lever arm to pull and stretch the tube around the corner. All made from scrap and not pretty but it did the job.
The quicker and tighter 90 degree turn I was looking for.
Begin test fitments. A small silly detail but I was now feeling a lot better about moving forward with it.
Dialing the final stand-off length to match what was there originally.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Before I committed to the first plug weld I stuck some spacers in that tighter area to make sure it didn't close back up on me.
Prepping the conduit for installation now that the bucket is set. Cutting the horn mount free here and like the rest of the brace it will be repositioned and built to suit.
Conduit installed and dialing in the best adjusted position for the horn mount. Mock up with the stand-off here then eventually a horn to make sure it clears and sits as close to center in horn grill opening.
As I referred back to my original example a profile discrepancy in the conduit caught my attention. The original shows a much shorter and tighter radius in the 90 degree turn leaving more of a "neck" as it makes its way up to the bottom of the bucket.
The provided conduit has a softer longer sweep which almost ends at the base of the bucket. Not the end of the world but the more I looked at my original reference the more it bugged me as it no longer looked right in there. Conduit redo next.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Right bucket reinstallation:

Picked and filed the top of the weld joint at the fender to nose to a point where I now longer needed direct access to the backside of the joint through the headlight opening. Now the bucket could be installed.
Slowly working the bucket down into position. The fitment got a little tight and resistant at this point but a block wood with some firm but not too firm taps kept the progress going. This was the first time fitting it in there BTW its too hard on the bucket and the nose itself for repeated test fit pounding. The mounted edge or lip of the bucket can deform as well as the skin surface around it. One way or the other it was going in for good this time around.
Fortunately on this one it eventually cooperated and seated fully. Now onto dialing in the needed clearance gap for the bucket seal plus a faction extra for the eventual paint and material thickness.
Adding a set screw at time as the needed gap was forming. Due to some residual crash damage the headlamp trim ring would not seat around the bucket lip at first; way too tight. After some careful light taps with the a hammer around the bottom this lip it eventually slipped over with a firm positive fit.
Trim ring finally seated snuggly around the lip with the seal installed.
The 4 o'clock section here started out being the tightest area as the fitment began but eventually got a good spacing locked in as the set screws were added around the perimeter.

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot for that comment Scott. I know with all that you've been through with your project that you can appreciate fully what has gone into getting all these parts to come together to create some sort of a symmetrical picture when its all over. Appreciate it! Justin

[Scott B]

What a crazy amount of angles and shapes to contend with. Determining the position of the hole on the front took some work to get it right - with one shot at it. You can breathe a little easier now. Really nicely Executed with so many pieces and angles to get right all shaking hands together. Another battle won!!!

[JTR70]

Front bumper work continued:
Wire wheeling the previous bodywork back a little further. The thickness was at a totally acceptable level but the problem I was finding was the flash rusting forming underneath it. This is why I never go body filler straight to bare metal. You have to have a primer barrier between them. When the filler is wet sanded during the shaping process it soaks up the moisture and it eventually makes it way to the steel waking up any microscopic traces of rust left behind. Especially if your dealing with old pitted original metal which this bumper is.
I ended up cleaning most of the middle portion of the bumper back to bare metal.
Sanding back the flash rust and also hammering up the low spots just a little closer.
Not much detail prep performed to the underside. Lots of old rust and paint scale left behind.
The bond between these two layers of gray sealer wasn't as tough as I'd like. The dark could be chipped off of the previous lighter gray a little easier than I feel comfortable with. Especially for a front bumpers' surface that bears the brunt of road debris.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Bumper body work
Chased this as far as I can for now. Time to dismount the bumper again pull it apart and finish up the surface of it.
Back to a bare bumper. Wire wheeled the disturbed areas back a little further in prep for lead solder.
tapping and spooning out the obvious low spots and dings before lead.
Onto applying the lead.
Filed and leveled out about as far as its going to go.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Overall front end confirmation:
The final location of the holes was dictated completely by the mounted and set strut tubes; the only concern was they exit at center as close as possible. After all the smoke cleared this direct comparison with a factory punched hole was best confirmation I could have wished for.
Flipped over to confirm the left side. This now confirmed the overall picture that entire nose itself is in just about the right spot to allow all these other features to align.
This side of the battery box is all new but the tubes mounted position exits at center in a now confirmed factory location.
This side of it is original with the same result. There is very little in the way of adjustment with these tubes so if the horn grille openings where too low or too high the final needed hole position would have much further off to compensate.
I slept so much better knowing that the headlight and grill openings are as close to original position as I could have hoped for and that the choice to cut the nose free from its trough to lower the nose down a few MM more was the right choice. Final mock up here before moving onto breaking the bumper down again for its final body work.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Ready to punch the final holes for the strut tubes.
Some additional fine adjustments as this continues but the bumper is 95% fitted to this cars new nose. I'm confident enough to commit to the final diameter and placement of the strut tubes holes. I kept these pilot holes small for final hole size offset options to keep the tubes exiting out at center as closely as possible as fitting and adjustment went.
The knockout punch die I have on hand is a couple thousands smaller than the original but the rubber seal should squeeze in there with no problem.
Ready to begin cutting. The drawing bolt was too long and the chassis was interfering with it. Fortunately my smaller punch collar stood in as a nice spacer and used up the excess length that was causing the issue. Its always something...
Holes punched and bumper remounted once again. Tubes at least for now are at near center. By the way these end up mounting at two different angles, downward and inward as they go through the holes so anything near center of the hole is a win.
Again, there is still some fine adjustment to come but the tubes are exiting out of the holes as close to center as I could hope for. At least they are at this point. Note the fender brace runners in shadow in the horn grill openings both running as symmetrical side to side as closely as possible. This was not by accident a lot of obsessing and planning as this whole front end has gone back together.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[JTR70]

Put in a proper capture nut this time around but first a quick bath in acid to get take care of this residual rust.
Repositioning so it ends up at center of the slotted hole in the iron.
Installed and plug welded from the outside this time for a more original looking attachment.
Had to disturb a little of the previous bodywork performed by someone else but no choice.
Bumper reassembled and mocked up one more time to confirm the fitment. Thankfully its improving with each try.

Thanks for looking.

Justin