1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[JTR70]

Wall dismounted once again. Ready to begin heating and hammering in needed change.
Remounted with the initial reprofiled shape.
Relieving to see that gap slowly closing up.
More heat and hammer forming into the host metal. Wall was removed again to add an additional bend into that lower section.
Now within striking distance. Have the basic shape and will tidy it up further as the final installation of this panel progresses.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Getting the chassis ready to accept the right closing wall.
Very unpleasant task of grinding away the remains of the original closing wall flange as there are too many spots too close together to peel up. A short cut would be just a quick surface grind and entomb the remains behind the new flange but thats not right and besides I want the rust cleaned up that I know lurks in between there.
The new panel is going to lap this corner. I fixed the obvious rust on the lower corner...

but I overlooked another problem spot up top here.
Thought I'd get away with welding it closed from the outside but the corrosion was well advanced between the outer wall and this seal flange. Removal and cleaning next.
The flange turned out to be too rusty to repair. This piece is thinner 22 gauge so combine that with rust and there isn't much left to weld onto. I have some old sections of 22 gauge so it was much simpler to make a copy.

Thanks for looking...

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin one job just leads to another!! But so good you are just not covering it all up with new metal. I often just wonder how many cars with similar old rust problems still have the problem under the new welded in repair? You have to have a lot of patience to do the correct thing with this work!

Roy

[JTR70]

It sure does Roy and its one of the great pitfalls once you start in with these old cars. A harsh reality of production restoration work is that sometimes they have to leave some rust behind. They bid a job only to find additional rot they could not foresee and well, I'm sure more often than not a body or two stays buried or entombed behind a fresh panel or liberal amounts of seam sealer and uncoating. This is why I couldn't do production work ... I have to feel good about the repair once its complete. Thanks again Roy!

[JTR70]

Front wall and hood latch base final installation. New replacement seal flange installed. Onto the front closing wall.
Getting closer to mounting that right side closing wall. Since the lateral walls overlap the front wall now was time to go ahead and install it. Numerous plug weld holes and now ready to begin welding it up.
Plug welding complete. Some finish grinding to come but the forward closing panel is now in for good.
Again before the right wall goes in I have clearer access to the mechanism base so now too was the time to get it mounted in here for good.
While double checking for alignment I was able to reach in where the right wall will eventually be and trace the position of the upper catch in relation to the base with the hood fully latched. I discovered its been favoring to the left by a few MM's. I have adjustment at the latch base but its been preset dead center for any future adjustment needs. I want it to begin bolted at center to keep my options as open as possible. Once you begin welding and tying things together it always changes slightly and I want to be able to account for that.

[JTR70]

Repositioning the latch base and final installation.
Unscrewed from where its been and moved over 4mm's. With hood lowered down and the plunger shield removed I was able to confirm absolute center. Doing this ahead of the right wall installation allowed me to stick my head in here to make the confirmation . This relationship will no doubt change a little as welding and reassembly goes but I have preserved all the adjustment that I can at the base bolts. Pretty much zero adjustment on the hood side BTW.

Like the jack perches now was the best time to get this base welded in for good.
Moved over the needed 4MM and ready to weld.
Four small spots of weld at the bottom of the base as done originally. Now onto adding the upper lateral tie in strips. This are the originals and much to my surprise they meet the new wall and nearly line up with the original spot welds at the base.
Straps are splayed outward as they mounted originally and again line up almost exactly like they came. Not supposed to happen especially with a repro wall but I'll take it!

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

All set with lower welding completed. Secondary catch will go in after the trough installation.
A long way from where it began but glad another original component was able to be reused.
Another loose end I wanted to tie up before the right wall went in was to finish grinding smooth that long weld joint across the trunk floor. Much easier to finish it out now rather than reaching down into the trunk with the wall in my way.
Next in the wall prep was cleaning the mounting flange of all the residual rust.
And of course as I was wire wheeling the flange run I broke through and discovered another rusted out spot on the inner closing wall. Always something...

[JTR70]

More loose ends before right wall installation.
Breach now patch repaired.
Okay, was I know ready to begin mounting this closing wall in for the final time... Not quite.
The right side tank strap had rusted to the point where it needed repair. As you can see it had corroded just above its attachment point with a fatigue crease running right through the center of it. It was too compromised to leave alone. Once again, with the wall out of my way now was the time to finish the repairs on this.
Keeping with my desire to recycle old original metal when possible this strip of longitudinal from this car will make a perfect replacement strap.
Cut down to final shape and ready to accept the original clamp half.

[JTR70]

Tank strap install finishing up the last loose end.
Clamp is plug welded on from underneath at the original rivets preserving the original look up top.
Strap ready to plug weld on just checking for square first. Once its welded all of those weld heads will be smoothed.
Strap install complete with all the welds finished smooth. Okay, now the right closing wall is finally ready to go on... Holy Smokes! But, I've learned the hard way to not get caught up focusing on just the "big stuff"; its the little things that will come back later to make installation life miserable if you neglect them. Wall installation next.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Right upper closing wall installed:
Last minute trimming and additional needed plug weld holes added. Mounted back on the car for the final time.
Begin plug-welding from the center outward. Lots of hammering and reclamping as each weld was added to ensure a tight fit.
Slowly but surely moving outwards repeating the process.
Entire lower run finally synched it.
As it went in extra care was taken to ensure the wall was drawn up as tight as it could along the corners and edges.

[JTR70]

Fitment along that relief arch was a concern from the beginning but ended up form fitting well enough in the end.
Tight lap joints and battery box details replicated as closely as I could get them.
Then onto finishing up the rust repairs at the upper corner beginning the process of sealing this corner out from the wheel well.
Plug welding on this panel install complete. Now onto smoothing out all those heads. As that goes I'll finish out that hole in the lower leading corner.
Corner finished out then followed up with my torch complete the repair. Gas welds details also added along upper closing wall joint and at the battery box corners as found originally. Now back to smoothing out the remaining plug weld heads.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Do you know Justin that last round of work cutting, alighning , drilling and welding and getting it all to fit looking so good ,has made me feel really tired just reading and understanding it all!!! You really have done so well doing that, The worry of being sure once welded in place , that its all in the correct position for the next parts must drain you abit! So good to see so many of those repro parts lining up so well. I have said it so many times before, but I count my blessings every time now that I raise my front bonnet lid and know, I don't have to do that work myself.

Well done Justin !

Roy

[JTR70]

Hi Roy, Sorry if all of that tedious detail made your head hurt and yes it does make the room spin here at times. Its all in the name of giving a quick glimpse of what can go into reconstructing these cars. You are most certainly among the fortunate few with a preserved example that has not been left to rust out severely or been hit hard at some point. Thank you once again for all of the nice words of encouragement and for your sincere appreciation of the work and effort you are looking at here. Justin

[JTR70]

Back onto mounting the new nose panel.
Now that the platform that the nose is actually going to mount directly onto has been set its back to locating and mounting the trough.
Once again after all the welding is over things have a tendency to change ever so slightly.
So not starting exactly from scratch but slight adjustments and changes will have to be made to account for the slight shift in shape of the closing walls after all the welding.
Reestablishing my basic gap around the fully latched hood.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin I think after all this work I am not surprised it moved a little. Its a first class job you are doing here Justin! so pleased for you actually, as its decisions and even more decisions , as you go down this restoration road!

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you very much Roy! Yes, there are a lot of curve balls that gets thrown your way through this process. The trick is to started things in the middle or as neutral as possible to give yourself an out in anticipation of these slight variances as it goes. Justin

[JTR70]

Back to refitting the nose.
Not there yet but I wanted to begin introducing the hood seal to plan for any future fitment issues.
And of course it stopped the hood well short of latch engagement. The left side run sits a bit high, so this and the thickness of sheet metal screw heads were the obvious culprits with this initial clearance issue. Again not quite there yet but this is critical aspect that need consideration as it goes.
Right side 3mm+ gap and shape with the edge of the hood re-established.
With the right side set the left side ran too tight against the hood. I had to reopen one relief cut and add in another to gain the distance and shape with this side of the hood. All set here.

Now back to fitting the new nose to the car.

[JTR70]

Nose fitment continued:
Hardest part of locating this nose to the chassis is that I don't have dedicated holding jigs. I figured out a way around that this time around. Measuring the distance from the battery box to the noses' edge on my original undamaged reference car I was able to make these standoffs out of paint sticks. The right thickness now holds the nose at just the right distance away from the box while also supporting its weight with a quick clamping. This solved a lot of placement challenges all at once. Now onto both centering and leveling the skin to the chassis.
After several rounds of measuring, clamping and remeasuring again I finally had the nose centered and leveled to the chassis. Grill openings are equal distance from the battery box walls. For additional confirmation the horn grill openings reveal a near identical amount of the cellett fixture.
Comfortable enough to begin tack welding it to the trough's leading edge from the center outward.
I am still dealing with the profile misalignment at the center of the hood with the center profile of the nose but I determined that I couldn't worry about it right now. I need to fully set and mount the rest of the nose first then I can come back and clean these profile discrepancies.
Continued working my way up the sides fishing the skin's edge up level with the hood as it went. Again note the noses' bottom leading edge with the cellette's holding fixture. This is about as square and even as I could have hoped for.

Thanks for looking!

Justin