Chassis 85517 Number 17 356 Convertible D

[JTR70]

Prepping the car itself for bucket and conduit reinstall.

Conduit hole was not rolled and shoulder as originally. Its placement is also a little off which was helping to dictate that downward angle of the brace I found.

Best solution was to punch the area out make a new shouldered hole and have the option to offset the hole placement as needed.

Flare punching a new opening for the end of the conduit.

Now the edges of can be fuse welded together as found originally.

Ready to install. Headlight bucket will go back in first then I can start fitting the conduit which will then tell me exactly where this new hole needs to be.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Headlight bucket reinstall

Before it could go in I had to repair the inner mating flange where it was drilled and damaged from digging the bucket out earlier. I tell you, it was always "one more thing" before I could reassemble. It seemed like an endless list of prep work before it could begin to go back together.

Now was finally the time to begin tapping it back home.

Plug welded back into its best adjust position. This small spanner wrench was coming in at just 3mm in thickness and made for a great spacing guide as it went.

Base seal slips in easily.

Now for the true test of fully mounting a light unit with the seal. All set. Time to reinstall the conduit.

[JTR70]

Conduit installation

Feeding it in. It of course bound up and fought a little.

Shooting for the squarest and best set position for the tube as possible but also had to make sure it didn't stick up too high and interfere with the headlight assembly. mocked up to ensure clearance here.

With all that set and confirmed I gave it a quick tack to the bucket. Adjusting the other end on the battery box side next. BTW this tube didn't just set right in. I had to heat the elbow and relax it so the horizontal run would lay level while allowing the vertical end to stand up straight in the bucket. Always something....

Want the conduit to run as square as it can off the trunk wall. Having the freedom to now manipulate the holes final position makes that possible.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Finishing out conduit prep

New conduit hole tacked into final adjusted position. Its clearly off center and moved forward a few MM's which really helped getting that tube in the sweet spot.

Fully welded and finished

Conduit installed for the final time and ready to fuse the edges together as originally done.

Ends fused as originally done.

Onto welding up the bucket side.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JTR70]

Lower brace prep

Begin refitting lower brace but a repair to do first.

Just have to add a small section of channel back on.

New section installed. Beating the edges over at the tip as done originally.

Original brace had a small drain hole just ahead of the attachment point.

Replicated.

[JTR70]

Finishing out the conduit weld details

Fully rewelded . Brain faded by painting the bucket before I finished the gas welding. Duh

Runs square off the battery box wall as close as possible.

Outer tack weld detail on either side of the tube replicated.

gas weld detail at base and around new metal drain tube.

Bucket and tube completed. Now to finish out the rest of the brace.

[JTR70]

Lower brace final refitment.

Dialing in best average fitment between what the OG reference car is telling me and what is going to work for this particular car and its new pieces.
Changed it so much that the upper run is actually too long for my purposes now. Always nicer subtracting than having to add back on.

Before I could commit another horn mock up was needed so I could be sure it wasn't pointing downward like I found it.

Sits level and the horn positions nicely in the opening. Its finally ready.

First tack welds.

[JTR70]

More brace

As good as the horn mock up was I still had a depth issue with the mount itself. It was only two more welds to get it free so now was time if I was going to correct it.

Notched just a touch to allow some slight forward movement. Now tacked where I need it. Its never straight forward...Always something.

The final piece! Tab prep

Adding back in a few MM's to the bottom so it will look the part.


Now that brace is completely set into position the tab can be located to mount flush against it. Securely plug welding it from the outside over the entire mounting surface versus just zapped at the bottom edge as found.

[JTR70]

Left fender brace and bucket correction repairs finally complete.

Fully installed with all gas weld details replicated. A lot more time and work than you think to both remove and prepare all the parts for reuse.

Gas welded and shouldered more closely to the bracket as my reference car shows.

Tab now fully secured and won't pull away from the fender as was found.

Runs perpendicular with chassis and holds all the components where we need them. Done welding

[JTR70]

Sealer

Scrubbed back everything that was burned and crispy in preparation for some sealer.

Not pretty but I decided it best to just brush it on.
I just couldn't have a cloud of light grey overspray floating in and around all this beautifully detailed suspension. The build sequence is completely upside down at this point so all I can do is the best that I can.

Another round of rocker shootz should conceal the brush marks easy enough.

Will shoot some black on this just to ensure full coverage.

[John Pierce]

Looks great Justin. That was a lot of work re-uploading all those images. You're going to have to tape off a large area to prevent overspray.

[JTR70]

Thanks John! Yeah, the old thread was such a mess I just thought to hell with it and began again. It was only 2 pages so it was doable. Overspray may well be an issue once we start shooting blue but will try and keep it down as best as I can.

[JTR70]

Right side

Quick shot of black . Will scuff it later in prep for the rocker shootz.

Repeat the whole process on the right side.

Actually this side lined up a lot better and did not require the cutting apart of the brace itself but the all the ends and attachment points required the same fix. Same procedure for the bucket as well. By this time the bucket has been reinstalled and just getting ready to remount this brace.

Since I did not have the luxury of feeding the conduit in by itself I installed that metal back fill collar around the conduit before the new end was welded on.

Again the alignment on this side was much better as you can see the end stayed pretty much remained in the same position after the repair.

[JTR70]

Right bucket and brace correction complete.

Drilling plug weld holes to attach the tab. Amazed at the lead thickness in through here.

Tab reattached with plug welds dressed. This entire lower corner and contour is completely sculpted out of lead. Going to come back later and reduce the need for this much filler.

Right side bucket and brace finished. This side was a lot easier and more straight forward than the left side.

It all fits.

Headlight units mounted back in with seals. Have a bad contour issue from the edge of the hood to where the emblem mounts on the nose.

I'll come back to that problem later. I wanted to change gears and do something different so I moved to the front bumper next. The fender braces really took it out me at this point. I'm use to doing that kind of work on a rotisserie not laying on my back a foot off the floor with grinding and welding sparks landing on me. I've been spoiled.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Front bumper prep.

This one is a reproduction, a really nice one but a few things had to be addressed.

Deco trim and bumper guards have been fitted at least twice.

Even though not ever really seen we want it to look like it hit on the first try.

Quick little plugs to close things up easier.

All but set. Just have to hand file the bumper guard hole up a bit.

Onto the next deal.

[JTR70]

This bumper is two halves seam welded at the center just the original but MIG welded.

Originals where gas welded.

This can always be seen at some angles so I wanted to get this detail correct. Dressed the shoulder of the wire weld nearly flush.

Followed up with my torch. Done and looks the part.

Bumper had a noticeable low spot at the weld joint before I began work on. After some torch heat the area was very aggregable to some pick and file work to bring the area up to reduce filler.
Thanks for looking!
Justin