1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[roy mawbey]

Well done Justin always a step nearer!! Good job with the new bumper irons great to see them fit so well in th e slots. Does one of these need to be turned upside down through 180 degrees?

Roy

[JTR70]

Right side repair patch installed.
Fine tuning the shape. Excess cut away and tack-welding together.
New section just about stitched in.
All stitched in.
A little fine finishing and welding yet but the heavy lifting is done on this one.
Toyed with installing it in for good now but It will have wait until the fender is all welded in. I need clear access to work the back side of the weld joint once the new nose and fenders are finally stitched together. Repeat the left side bucket repairs here shortly.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Rust repairs on Right side bucket:
Tried to stay conservative by drilling out only the rust breached areas but as I began trying to weld in the new patches to plug these holes the shoulders kept blowing through. While it hadn't rusted through the inner surfaces where just too pitted and thin. I had no choice but to cut past these compromised areas.
Began paper template for a new section.
Not a big section but a bit of complicated domed shape.
Then onto steel. Relief cut in sections to allow the needed shape to develop.
Only a small portion of this donor will be used once its all over.

[JTR70]

Onto the next deal...
Begin headlight bucket repairs. Some rust at the bases and old residual accident damage to address. Especially along that lateral leading edge where it had been beaten on by the body shop so many years ago.
Original trim ring installed to dial in the correct shape around the lip where has some damage had occurred.

There was an attempt to beat out this lateral area while still installed in the car but as you can see it still remained too flat.
While hammering progressed on the left , the right bucket was acid bathed to clean up the residual rust along the mounting surface.

[JTR70]

New bracket mock up.
Brand new set. Will need lots of tweaking once the actual bumper fitment starts I'm sure.
Brackets drawn tight against the mount and no clearance issues with the skin.
Ample room for any adjustments but most importantly the holes look like it should.
Could have been cut narrower for sure at the insides...
But this was how it was done.

[JTR70]

Opening the bumper bracket holes:
The noses location is set , now was the time to go ahead and cut in the bracket openings. The inner diameter of the bracket mount's footprint was traced to the inside of the wall to ensure final opening's location would end up exactly where it needs to be.
Once those foot prints where traced the nose was dismounted to mark out the final opening size and then cutting. Final cut lines have been established here and are based on my original examples.
Openings cut open and nose remounted for a confirmation. Bumper irons should clear fine.
By the way the final lateral cuts where not centered with the original markings. I had them favor to the outside because once the mounting bolts are drawn up tight the assembly moves towards the outer shoulders.
Stuffed the bracket mounts with paint sticks and no signs of interference with the skin.

[JTR70]

Harvested the original clipping strip for additional hole placement confirmation.
Confirmed. Holes in just about the right spot and slightly lower than the center hole.
Again, this easily overlooked detail gives a nice victorious banner type attitude to the emblem. Now back to messaging that poor roughed up trough section.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Emblem placement trial and error.
Jumped the gun and drilled the emblem holes at center nose. Then I got around to digging out my original emblems only to discover the center pin is off center of the center letter by about 5MM.

This discrepancy might well have slipped past detection but I couldn't look at it from here on in as it would have drove me nuts. Correction holes in red moved off center that 5mm to compensate for this pin placement.
Emblem now mounts fully centered on the nose.
Cellette bench used once again as a sight mark to ensure the emblem sits level.
Initial holes back filled and dressed smooth. Emblem set. The lateral pair of holes are drilled slightly lower than the center putting a slight arc in the emblems overall profile as it wraps around the nose. As I became more aware of this detail the emblem does take on a banner shape which gives it some flair. Without an original reference I would have just laid it straight across the nose.

[JTR70]

Thank you Roy, but actually by this point I still wasn't out of the woods with that hood to nose transition. It would fight little more before I finally put it to bed. That up here shortly. Thanks again! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin, well done indeed you must be happy about that correction. That job would have been beyond most peoples ability and once lead skimmed will turn out just fine I think. Your experiences gained even down to the template for the badge tell me you never give up when many would!!

Roy

[JTR70]

All stitched with welds dressed down. Still have some stitching and finishing along the tough but I wanted to get the welding with the nose completed first.
Most of this run all welded back together with only the left side run remaining. Far from perfect but again only skim coat of lead needed to finish out the final gap and contour shapes of the end of the hood.
Got tired of welding and grinding so I took a break to locate and drill the front emblem holes. Once again an original reference saves the day.
Basic template off of it.
Then transferred over onto the new nose.

[JTR70]

center correction patch.
Basic shape and contour I was after. Small lip was left to make up for the slight distance outward it needed to carry on the line of the hood.
Final trim and new section tacked in. A relief cut was added below it as there was a touch too much crown and I needed to gather up the metal along here.
A tack was added with each slight adjustment as it went in. All but set here and ready to just lay down some final seam welds.
With the edge of the hood relaxed outward the new section is about 90% there. I'll take it in the rest of the way with skim coat of lead.
General profile is now well within striking distance. Again just a smear of lead will correct the shortfalls.

[JTR70]

Hi Roy, Its getting there. Sometimes I don't see it all even being right in front of it but eventually the flaws come into focus at least i hope that it does and that I catch them before its too late. Thanks again!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin I can see it looks better even without any work yet, the fresh piece of steel will work . Yes two wrongs do not make a right. You have found out the hard way. Its true also, photo's can disguise a lot and you have to see it in front of you ,to be sure if the action to take. You cannot always see as a bystander like me, the problems you have been faced with. I just saw the lid that was miles out from the nose suddenly coming into spec with all that work. What I did not notice were points you raised about the flatness aspect which proves you have to be in front of it, or a perfect example you can copy to see the error's you make.

Keep at it and keep smiling !

Roy

[JTR70]

Begin stitching the trough and then a needed profile correction.
Began stitching the trough back on working from the center outward.
Had a good basic gap started but as I looked at it the center was just too blunt and flat.
Suspecting that the original hood though very nicely repaired all those years ago might still be a touch too curled over at the leading edge from the collision. I mounted my pristine hood and it confirmed what I was seeing. The hood is supposed to hang out just a touch more.
The rule is you've got to build around the closing panel but if its out so too will be the adjacent panel. These two wrongs where not going to come out right. I began pounding the edge of the hood out and in turn had to reprofile this center section. Its too much to recut, stretch and reweld what was just seamed welded up so a fresh piece was needed.
Profile shaping a fresh piece from some old original metal.

Thanks for looking.

Justin