1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[JTR70]

Body finally jigged and set on the bench.
After an evening of photo research on the web I was able to confirm that yes, this lateral orientation of the rear torsion footing was correct.
Here was a new problem that cropped up. The locking pin hole that establishes the fixtures height and orientation into the footings receptacle was now 90 degrees out. Had I not found confirmation on the web that this configuration was correct I would have been thrown for a loop. Considering this is a reproduction fixture set this is just an oversight. This hole was just indexed wrong when the shank was weld on; an easy mistake to make as the rest of the fixtures shanks/locking pins are oriented this way. IE front to back.
The simple solution was to run this pair of fixtures up to my machinist to add an additional locking pin hole in the correct 90 degree offset. My first thought was to tap an intersecting hole but that I feared would weaken the shank too much. Fortunately the footings have a secondary hole so Bill calculated its distance to preserve the fixtures original height and orientation but now utilizing the lower pin hole in the base.
At last the car was finally mounted on the bench correctly. Back end is jigged and locked in so I can now work my way forward and accurately highlight and locate the front beam. I'll show that next.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Dialing in the footings:
As you can see the receptacles in the footings are not centered but indexed to one side and can potentially be mounted 4 different ways onto the planks. My initial setting for all four of these bases was as pictured with the receptacles oriented to the front. Being very green to the world of cellette bench set up this seemed like the best position as near as I could tell. Once the car was mounted at the rear torsion housing this position placed the body too far forward by about an inch and over shot the front jigs by about that distance. The forward trans mount fixtures (second plank here) would not reach the flanges on the housing by about the same distance further confirming this was not correct. Next stab at it was to rotate the rear torsion tube footings by 180 degrees placing the receptacles to the back. The body was now too far back by about an inch. The front beam was now behind the jig pins by well over an inch! This couldn't be right either. No way had that beam been shoved back a full inch. There is not enough deformation in the chassis to account for that much movement. When I tried installing the trans mount jigs they were completely crowded out no matter how the base was rotated so this orientation proved incorrect as well.
After the first two positions where gamed out I was onto a lateral orientation pictured above.
This orientation turned the trick almost immediately. The forward trans mounts locked into position with the mounting pins. Since the back of the car is damage free this is the baseline. All that mattered at the moment was that it all mounted and lined up back here first...and it was.
The front misalignment was now showing a more realistic and expected distance with the pins which reflected the deformation in the chassis. Not a full inch back as I was seeing on my second try.
Left side was just a few MM's back too. Again being new to all of this I was still a bit in doubt if I had the car on there correctly so that evening I went back on the web looking for more confirmation photos with a new base of experience from the days session.

More to come...

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

New 356 fixtures from RD
Stepped up and purchased a set of fixtures from RD. A very nice kit, big, heavy with clean machined parts. A lot of machine time invested for precision so I could further appreciate the rather large price tag for this set. Actually it was all very expensive, each additional plank I had to buy was just under a grand each and the footing set was 650.00 which was a very good deal. All totaled it was quickly approaching 10K to finish outfitting this bench for a 356. Glad this hunt was over!
Bench now moved into position under the body. I lucked out again as my rotisserie configuration allowed just enough room to maneuver it underneath.
Started at the back and lowered the body down onto the rear torsion housing mounts first. This would allow the front of the body to pivot from there as I lowered the front end down off of the rotisserie with my cherry picker. Lucked out again as all these contraptions had space to overlap and work keeping this a one-man operation. Hard to tell in this shot but the front torsion housing was going to over shoot the pins by well over an inch; not due to old accident damage BTW. This would be a discovery adjustment and part of the learning process as it went.
Lowered down fully and officially off of the rotisserie and onto the bench but the front just resting on a bottle jack at this point as again, the locating pins where well out of range. The body mounting continues...

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

This bench sat out in the Florida elements for at least several seasons so the bolts holding the pair of beams on it when this bench arrived were completely rust frozen. I tried several rounds of penetrating oil and torch heat but the Allen heads stripped out on me before they gave up. I then had to drill the bolt heads out and hammer the beams upward and over the bolt shanks. A true PIA as they are a snug machine fit but I eventually got them both dismounted. Just getting ready to free this last rear beam so it could be cleaned and turned around for a 356 application. Rear beam cleaned, flipped over and with rear trans hoop mount footings in position. BTW; all hardware was thoroughly greased as I never want to deal with frozen bolts on this rig again.
These beams are deceptively heavy and weigh every bit of 85+ lbs. each. Actually everything is very beefy as it should be for frame straightening but care really had to be taken while working with these planks alone.
3/4 of the way there...
Bench now ready for the 356 specific fixtures. That next...

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Cellette Bench Set up:


I still have several loose ends to tie up in the engine compartment but in continuation with the chassis repairs I'm moving to the front of the car to confirm how much the front beam has been shifted from its previous front end collision. By the detectable deformation to the chassis behind the beam it isn't very much but while we're here we'll get it trued and blessed on a Cellette bench. This will also offer further legitimacy to the quality of this car's restoration once its completed.

As things sometimes workout, I was taking delivery of an old Cellette MUF7 several years ago. My buddy Ric had bought several benches as a package from GK restorations after Gary Kempton passed and this bench was amongst them. Ric was moving and cleaning out so this one was shipped to me. The day it arrived pictured above. Bare, save for two cross beams and in extremely weathered condition but hey, it was a real Cellette bench. A very long way from mounting a 356 chassis to it so I had to do some research and hunting for the additional hardware it lacked.
Fast forward several years later and I had located and purchased the three additional beams it lacked. (It needed a pair of outrigger beams for the front and one more basic cross beam.)
As well as a set of original Cellette footings and all the needed hardware to mount the beams to the bench and then the footings to beams.
Through the years the bench was a storage shelf but now with some components to move forward it was cleared off to begin figuring out where these crossbeams and footings needed to mount for a 356 application.
Based on a factory Cellette diagram and various photos found on the web I was able to dial in their position.