Chassis 85517 Number 17 356 Convertible D

[Phil Planck]

Great detective work Sherlock.

[JTR70]

LOL! Just glad I didn't weld it up like a Reutter car.

[JTR70]

After this last brace I made the hard push to complete the rest of my welding redos to the under side of this car.
As was done to the left side some time ago the inner flange run was hammered over flat and seam welded to the bottom of the torsion housing as it should be.
Even more unpleasant was crawling in further under the transmission to get at the inner run. I was really longing for my rotisserie.

Then finally finished out the inner run of the left side. Glad to be done under here.
Of course I wasn't quite finished under here just yet. This car actually went back to the previous shop for a second time to fix several issues that my buddy wanted corrected. It appeared that two small holes in this tunnel bulkhead was one of them. The area was hastily and not fully welded closed then ground back even quicker. As badly as I wanted out from under this car I couldn't just leave that. I didn't want him or anyone else to think it was me who did this..
Only so much you can do with afterthoughts like this; Closed and dressed the area as best as I could without burning up his rubber grommets or the rest of the restored components in the HAZ. Anyway I was finally done welding under this car.
Onto welding up a few more things top side.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Great step forward Justin, so much easier being able now to stand up rather than laying down!

Roy

[JTR70]

Very glad to be out from under that car Roy...

[JTR70]

First tracer/workcoat:
Very rough stages still but I wanted to see the reflection consistency across the top of these panels.
Not good enough yet but a promising start.

Jamb relief details in a coat of color. Small divots and other imperfections yet to chase out
But the reliefs have the contour I was looking for to match the other side.

The interpretation I found in here didn't quite cut it. Not to mention the huge can of worms that was lurking just underneath this corner.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Finishing out the last of welding "to do's" top side now.
Rusted out flange section along the rear cowl that was overlooked. Also welding closed the old trim mounting holes.
Didn't disturb anymore than I had to.
The right side was also rusted and loose in almost the exact same spot.
Finally it was onto fixing the left top frame mount that failed while test fitting the top during the rebuild of the right side top frame mount.
The area is mostly original and still pretty solid so I wanted to stay conservative and not open it back any more than necessary.

[JTR70]

Cleaning and prepping the mount area.
Once I had a window cut in to see I was surprised to find how much blow sand, hardwater deposits had found its way in there. The remaining capture nut was still seemed very secure but I wasn't going to leave it and risk a chance of it coming loose in the future.
Most of the sediment cleaned out. the shield housing was still solid and intact. Would have been a nightmare had I found it rusted out or weak.
Remains of the OG capture assembly.
New capture nut plate made with 16 gauge to replicate the thickness found there.
Trimming back to size and shape and grafting it in next.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Left top frame mount continued:
Before I committed to the final placement of this new plate I had to mock up the top again.
The original hole placement had these slots maxed out to the rear and Top frame alignment still fought just a bit with the windshield frame. My goal this time was to place the new holes in the center of these slots with the top fully engaged.
Marked trimmed and ready for some tacks.
tacked but not ready to fully stitch this in just yet.
Before I cut the mount open I made this template to establish where exactly it was. As you can see the holes have been moved back just about the width of a bolt, that's all it needed. Height remained the same

[JTR70]

Left top mount repair complete:
Couldn't weld it up just yet...
had to mock the top up one more time just to be doubly damned sure it was right before I stitched it in.
Bolts sit almost centered in the slots with the frame in its best adjusted position . The confirmation I needed to finish it out. No more top frame mock ups...Thankfully.
Fully welded up, repair completed.
Wasn't all good news though, I had to put some heat to that mount to ensure that weld joint was fully fused and not just sitting on top of it to just crack and break free at some later point. In doing so I blistered and bubbled some of my lead and finished body work off. Could have been worse, I told my buddy, can you imagine if this car was already in its final painted finish and as we were installing the top frame in for the final time only to have that capture nut break free then??
Too depressing to even think about but that's really how it should have happened so "fortunately" for us it happened now. Back filling this will go pretty quickly as the lines and shape are already established; sort of like filling a pot hole at this point. This was a nice window though to see how thick the putty actually ended up. Not horrible, just a candy coated shell on an M&M.
On to the next deal...
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Yes Justin I can imagine the work involved if that captive nut had broken free, just one more job that was left for you to fix! Well done on sorting that.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks Roy! Yep, one more off of the to do list.

[JTR70]

Right door skin contour issues:
Shape blocking down the right side resumed.
The door skin is reproduction and through the belly of the door its profile was a bit too bulgy and over exaggerated. It matched up well at the fenders then as the reflection proceeded over the middle the line just fell to pieces.
Door was removed and laid flat on my table so I could begin disc shrinking the high spots to get this swelling back in line with the rest of the car.
Initial high spots are of course only the tip of the iceberg and as shrinking and blocking continued the high spot grew. No surprise as the reflection gave me clues as to just how large the high area was. I had to gather up a lot of metal to get it where I needed. As the progress went the panel began to oil can a bit. No surprise but I needed some torch heat at this point.
Its only me here so I had to come up with a way to position the door allowing me to reach up inside the door with a dolly while I heated the outside and quickly transitioned to my shrinking hammer. More on this disaster in the making next.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

By the time this session was over I had completely screwed up this skin. I had shrank it too much and this area collapsed on me;It was sucked down tight and now locked in this position. With limted access to work it from behind I had sealed our fates. I suppose I could have spoon it out with a pry bar and then burried it in filler in secret but there was no way I could live with that.

I had no choice, I was cutting this door back apart to get a clear shot of the back side of this skin in the hopes of salvaging this mess. All that work and all that time completely down the shitter. This was my fault so this redo was of course my responsibility.
Clamped to the table and pounding it back out.
Leveled out with only mixed results all that heat and hammering really made the area very hard and it behaved almost like a calus in relation to the rest of the skin. It was now offically a mud hole at this point. I think a few runs through an english wheel might have helped but since I don't have one on hand I was officially out of tools and talent. I began looking around my shop for another option.
The most viable option I had here came in the form of this early T1 coupe door which was very rusty but the skin appeared to be basically straight except for that lower corner there. This was my play; no choice, its all I had. More on this sad chapter next.
Thanks

[Phil Planck]

Justin
I feel your pain. Large, low crown surfaces are very hard to deal with. Being in self quaranteen for 14 days I just spent 3 days going over all 114 pages of the 48 grandwillys thread on allmetalshaping.com. Lots of good info there. Too bad you dont have an English wheel expert nearby to make a new panel using that coupe door as a pattern.

Interested in how coupe door works out.

[JTR70]

I figured you could relate Phil, Absolutely, big spans of unsupported and nearly flat sheet steel is very hard to correct once its stretched, oil canning with limited access from the back to work it(at least for me) A total recipe for disaster. I probably knew than to think it was going to work out in the end but I was pressed for time so I jumped in and paid the price.

[JTR70]

Donor doors on hand:

My only other donor option here was this T2 coupe door which was blasted hard in the front at some point in the distant past with a crude attempt at pulling it out then entombed behind an inch+ of filler. No really bad rust which was the tempting part but the skin was actually worse than what I was trying to replace.

Though this door was severely rusted out at the bottom the rest of the skin was pretty much intact and retained that factory contour and shape I was now so desperate for.

This was an early T1 door I purchased off Ebay many years ago. It was fully complete with glass, guts, OG door panel and all the chrome including the coveted square door handle. Once I harvested all that stuff this rotten shell has just been floating around my shop . It was now more valuable to me than all of its components this night. You can see the OG paint in the middle there with the Reutter trim shop chalk written chassis number still there. So this door started off with a '56 or early '57 gun metal grey coupe with Ivory interior.
Planning my trim lines just above the rot at the bottom.
And my trim line at the top just at the point where the contour transitions specifically for coupe. I want to keep and use as much original metal as I possibly can. Cutting and dismantling this door next.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

dismantling and "new" skin prep.
Didn't end the session until I had the door cut apart. It was a long day....
Next day was scraping the old tar off to reveal exactly what kind of condition this panel was actually in.
The dreaded pull-holes for an old dent repair was about the worst it except the rust at the bottom. All in all a good original donor that has led a life but not suffered any major damage.
A really old repair at the rear lower corner. Again nothing serious, just a low spot soldered over.
After the initial clean up I did discover the rot at the back goes higher than I thought. I want to save and use as much as the Original metal as I can so a final cut line was being planned here.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[Phil Planck]

Your next steps will tell but are you planning to repair the skin off the door frame? Much easier access for plannishing but would think will require many checks with contour templates or back on frame.
Good luck.

[JTR70]

No, All the welding both top and bottom was done clamped to my work table; All out in the open where I can get to the back side freely. Never want to do this lower skin repair on the frame if I can avoid it.