Chassis 85517 Number 17 356 Convertible D

[JTR70]

Front bumper mounting pedestals.

Noticed all four of the inner mount stand-offs where only tack welded in and with a large air gap as the above photo high lights. Between road vibration and wind buffering these would crack loose eventually.

Cut away the tack welds a side at a time then set screwed the mounting flanges down tight like they should be.

Finished off with plug welds.

Not coming free anytime soon.

Last issue I had was with the mount surface for the bumper irons. Lumpy and peaked at the hole making a poor contact surface for the iron itself.

[JTR70]

Some heat and light hammering squared the surface off nicely.

Much better fit. Front bumper metal work phase complete.

Time to start fitting it to the car again

For best average uniform fit. That next.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Nice jpb. Looks great

[JTR70]

Thanks Phil! A lot more yet to come..

[JTR70]

Front bumper mounting and adjustment.

Since the front end group is new and the bumper is as well I needed a mock up with an original bumper just so I could see what was what.

This OG unit actually adjusted and gapped out beautifully with the nose of this car. A few promising sign.

After a bit of jockeying it was fitting as well as the original.

Gapped and contoured nicely against the nose.

Ends where coming out even at just over an inch.

[JTR70]

About the same on the right.

And the original for contrast. As close as I was going to get.

Onto the next deal. Contour issues nose to trunk. That up next.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

Body contour issue at the nose.

A really bad lump in the profile shape right at the emblem and now highlighted with a quick filing. Should be a smooth graceful transition but a notable ridge here then quickly drops in to meet the edge of the hood. Can be overlooked in flat black primer but a reflective surface is really going to draw attention to this issue. With the emblem in position it might well draw your eye away from it and maybe that's what the shop that built this car was thinking but I can't leave that.

Since the die has been set the least invasive thing I could was to move the hood forward a few MM's creating a little overbite. The plan now is to skim coat the lip between these two points to eliminate or least to soften that ridged profile.

Moving the hood forward closed the initial gaps even tighter but there is a lot of lead through here so I can reestablish them.

I'll have to add about another credit cards thickness of filler to raise this low area between the hood and the lump but I'll also be removing additional filler to open up the hood gap so its a trade off but one that corrects this oversight.
More on this later. Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Can you shrink that high area down with a shrinking disc?

[JTR70]

It was a consideration but the rest of nose below it transitioned just fine so I'd end up flattening the entire nose practically. These are the instances where you've got to figure out is my high spot really high or is it correct and the area next to it is just low. Turns out the area above it is really just low and was stepped down to even out in time with the latched hood. Lined up with the hood but it just doesn't flow smoothly. Don't know if this issue was in the stamping or if the nose was hung a little low or both. As I said the cast has been set and I have no choice but make lemonade out of it.

[JTR70]

Carving out the new hood gap.

Outlined a basic 3mm gap in tape against the readjusted hood with seal.

Slowly bringing the shoulder down to the edge of the tape.

Another (among many) against the latched with seal reinstalled.

Continue widening.

[Phil Planck]

Wow, a huge undertaking. Good analysis Justin. Wear that lead dust mask.

[JTR70]

Absolutely, I don't even cut or grind on steel/weld joints without a respirator anymore. A real respirator BTW not the paper masks with the elastic bands as they are just better than nothing. When you're young you just don't think about it but care really must be taken to protect your lungs as well as your sight and hearing when working with this stuff. Its not just the lead and steel particulates you don't want to inhale but just as dangerous if not more so is the aggregate and the fiberglass core that its bonded to that comprises the disc. All that stuff is turning into fine airborne dust and fibrous filaments as the wheel is being consumed. You can get false sense that you're okay when its not an obvious cloud but don't be fooled your breathing it in. Even long after the cutting is done if the ventilation isn't there. Your lungs can and do clean themselves but some this stuff never comes out. It was a hard change to make at first because it was such a pain to make the extra effort to put on the gear but now it feels as weird as not wearing my seatbelt if I don't put my mask, glasses and headphones on.

[JTR70]

Begin looking at the entire front end group shape as a whole.

Light body filing just to highlight the low and high spots. The low section under the edge of the hood is coming into focus.

The hood has been through the mill. It was kinked at some point, the skin removed just as Phil is doing right now messaged and reassembled. Lots small irregularities but nothing serious. (so far)

Same thing going on over here. Only small stuff but flat black primer sure makes the surface seem a lot nicer than it really is.

Rollers and height discrepancies along the edge of the hood but expected and will be addressed shortly.

[JTR70]

Hood gaps

Tedious job of hand filing the inner surface for gap and shape.

Slowly started whittling the lead down to the shape I was after. A lot of lead use so I had plenty to work with.

Hood seal reinstalled (for the hundredth time) and latched to check for final gap and shape. Left forward corner here getting really close. Heading up the sides next.

Right side gap is a lot tighter by contrast but marking out the desired gap with tape here.

Quite the repetitive process to develop and dial it in with the hoods new position but on the right track.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Bruno356]

I am impressed. Very accurate work. Thank you very much for this detailed description.
Bruno

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Bruno! Just trying to convey what can go into the process of fitting and gapping body panels. I appreciate it!
Justin

[JTR70]

Prepping left corner and fender for some base sealer.

Lots of lead on this car and a good deal of it doesn't need to be there. This lower corner thickness can stand some thinning.

After some file shaping a solid several MM's removed. Basic shape and contour retained with a now reasonable filler thickness and spots of steel coming through. Much happier with this now.

Final preparation for a sealer coat on this left corner.

Exposed leaded areas thoroughly scrubbed with soapy water to make sure any tinning acid residue removed.

Behind initial sealer coat and now ready to begin the bodywork phase on this corner.

[JTR70]

Begin bodywork phase left corner

Those buckets really needed to come back in. So glad we corrected that,

Good general shape but a lot of blocking and skim coating to get near perfect.

Following day was initial block sanding on the sealer then swatching it where it was low.

Bringing that area below the hood up for a smooth flowing transition. While in the middle of this another slight contour issue caught my eye. Posting that next.
thanks for looking!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
Great tutorial. Never would have thought about moving hood forward. Thanks

[JTR70]

Thanks Phil, really its just the mother of necessity and my only non invasive option. The fix it would be to cut and reset the nose but I didn't want to open that can of worms.
Justin