1959 356A S/R coupe project chassis # 108625

[roy mawbey]

Justin this hood fitment has been so interesting where you have to get the perfect 'gap' to body correct. What a good idea to check the rubber seal at this stage and again the Cellete helps to confirm your methods along with the wooden sticks as you have no special fixtures. So much to consider to get this gap correct. I make a point now which I expect you are fully aware of but its never been wrtitten down in any book I have on gap clearance settings. So don't laugh if I mention it below:-

I have removed my bonnet lid a number of times over these 55 years of me opening it. But a while ago I noticed on the left side the gap had increased to the right hand side. The increase in gap on the left side occured on the last 3/4 of the lid towards the front nose. I have never hit anything and it puzzled me a lot. I thought maybe the L/side fender had sort of moved or dropped in some way. It was annoying ! So I decided to go through the bonnet lid instalation again by the factory manual. I released the two nuts on the hinge arms each side and checked the also the 4 year old bonnet rubber seal . All hinges worked well no apparent problems at all. I then went through the procedure of resetting as per the book and I had the same clearance issue!

So... I then tried a thought I had to correct it. I left the two L/H hinge bolts tight but lightlyloosened the two right side hinge bolts. Then I lightly pushed the bonnet over to the left side and still holding this position I tightened the two R/side hinge nuts. When lowering the lid it had corrected everything back to even gap clearance left and right !!

This did surprise me that it corrected this extra 2mm or so error in the bad area only. This was done maybe a year ago no problems with the hinges it just solved my problem of getting an even gap all around.

Roy

[JTR70]

Hi Roy, The cellette bench was so important for dialing the chassis but like you said, now its really providing critical confirmation as the nose is being fitted. The hood is really tricky and I'm not surprised that the gaps changed on you a little as the years have rolled by. You'd be amazed at how badly a previously nice fitting hood will behave just by simply removing the rubber seal. The hood really just floats in the latched position if you really think about it. Even the plunger on the hood side, if there is slight warped or walk in it you can manipulate the gap left or right just by rotating it. A lot of variables and the gap I'm trying to establish now is most certainly going to change on me as the welding progresses. I just have to make sure I've left myself enough wiggle room to compensate for that eventuality. Justin

[JTR70]

Tacking the rest of the skin up the sides of trough.
Went up the left side first by carefully shaping a filler strip to bridge the gap where the trough edge needs to be and where it once was at the skins edge. All tacked in with my 3MM+ gap and leveled off from the hood's edge. Of course this will change slightly as the welding continues so I'm only committing to tack welds for a while.
Then onto the left side; and again this damn lower corner still wants to sit low and not carry the line off the edge of the hood. I think this problem is a combination of some slight residual damage on the hood and maybe some tightness with the new skins profile. Either way most the give has to come from the skin side as the substructure will begin asserting itself if I try heeling the edge over more than a mm or two.
Before any tack welding along this side the skin had to be raised to the needed level with the hoods edge. Began adding paint sticks in behind it to get the needed height.
This compensation height now made the vertical lip too short along this troubling run so an extension strip was added.
Extension strip shaved down to needed height against the edge of the hood and then the right side was tacked locking in that shape. Not perfect but its all well within striking distance.

[JTR70]

Can't tell you what a relief that it was to finally see this corner falling into line with all the trouble I've had with it since fitment began.
Basic gap and body profile off the edge of the hood established. Gone as far as I want to go up here for the moment.
Now that the nose is centered with the chassis and gapped to the hood I can begin tying it in further with confidence.

Fender braces and headlight buckets up next.
Thanks for looking!

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Well done Justin

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you Sir!

[JTR70]

Adding in the fender braces:
Approximate distance from the battery box wall to the edge of the fender on my undamaged original reference car is 16 3/4 inches. This nose in its relaxed state is just shy of 18 inches.
I would normally like to set that outer bolt in the center position but with the preliminary measurement I'm getting the edges of this nose must do nothing but come inward.
So I'm going to shorten this brace a little more so the bolt starts the tangs inner edge giving me full adjustment to push the bodywork inwards. Chalked up my table here and ready hammer a little more of the shoulder down flat allowing the brace to mount inward a little more.
First mock with the reshortened brace now locating the bolt at the inner edge of the slot giving me full range to come inward. Brace sitting square upper conduit slipping in nicely so far.
Brace attached to the bumper mount. Gas welded along the sides as originally. Every undisturbed original I've removed were also welded and attached internally. With the conduit out of my I was able to get in there and catch the folded shoulders and attach them to the mount as the factory did. Moving onto the left side.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[roy mawbey]

Every job you do on this car needs thought before you weld !! Just as well you do that Justin.

Roy

[JTR70]

I have to Roy, I've been punished too many times in the past. LOL...

[JTR70]

Left lower brace in further solidifying the new nose into its final position.
Before it went on for good I had to hammer flat those incorrect rolled edges.
After a bit of checking and rechecking for square and even then the end of it was welded to the bracket mount. Had it at the needed length on the last try so no further adjustments there. I did move the fender tab upward a touch so the approach angle matched the other side.
Wanted the brace runs to appear symmetrical through the windows of the horn grill openings. Not a big deal but it was just bugging me until I made that quick simple adjustment.
It took some doing but this nose is now squared and evenly mounted with the chassis; spaced and angled to match my reference car and finally gaped and matched to the edge of this hood. A lot of ducks to get in a row for sure.
Now onto stitching it back up with the trough starting with the leading edge first.

Thanks for looking.

Justin

[roy mawbey]

You must be so pleased with that effort Justin. You deserve that excellent result. I never ever thought , it would involve so much work to correct it all to your exacting standard. Mind you, without the Cellette jig and a known 356 in good condition to refer back to so many factory measurements ,it could have been so much more difficult for you. I hope many have followed this thread to become fully aware, of just how complicated a repair can be on a damaged 356 front end !

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks Roy! There is a lot all going on at once and you have to cover all the bases otherwise you'll have to back track to take care of the detail you missed...ask me how I know. I'm shooting for minimal amounts of required filler lead or plastic so a little more effort is needed to get it there. The next challenge will be adding in the fenders and getting them to flow smoothly in with this new nose. Something new to look forward to.. Thanks again! Justin

[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

[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]

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

[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]

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.

[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]

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

[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]

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