1964 Bali Blue SC Coupe Restoration Project

[Red911]

Hello all,

Well, the jokes on me.

The two scrapes in the door came from the car hitting something, perhaps sideways. Not a big hit, but a hit.

Here is the pushed in inner panel. If you look closely at where the door bottom would nest in the opening, you can see some metal sticking up. And, there was about 3/8" of bondo covering up the back corner of the front passenger fender. Some welding had been done after the accident and a repaint to a more robin's egg blue from Bali Blue which is darker. All probably from the mail box, fence post or rock wall hit.



Then, the detective I am, I looked where I should have looked first, at the valley I so proudly showed yesterday that I pulled out. That valley did not exist on the driver's side door. The valley was a result of the sideways hit too. The door does swing open and closed well however.

Here is a photo of the floor buckled too.



Today, I was going to talk about the metal finishing I did today, which improved the door skin. That's next. Then, well accidents happen.


Tom

[Red911]

Hello all,

Well, you have the updated accident news from the last post, but what I really wanted to talk about is how I metal finished the door skin.

Here are the tools I used today.



What I did to make the door skin flatter and remove all but about the last 1/16" of dips and bumps was to use my Map gas and the shrinking disk.

I learned that you must move the crated issues up to bumps. This is from Sargent's book and a John Kelly CD that I have from my first shrinking disk. Use the Map gas heat on larger bumps, hit the center of the heated area to make a crater. Then do off dolly hammering around the edges to make the crater walls go down. Also a good way to stop oil canning, which I had today.

I used the black marker to note where the ridges were and where I should hit the crater up to use the shrinking disk, like this.



Then, I continually checked the panel craters and mounds with the 15' ruler.

Hope this helps someone.

Tom

[Red911]

Hello all,

Today I decided to make the door side extension to stabilize the lower hinge. I made a brake a few years ago and cut some 18 gauge and put a 90 degree bend. You can see the extension in the brake.







Tomorrow, I will continue to fit the extension and then put some spot welds to mount the extension so I can move it if necessary.

Tom

[Red911]

Hello all,

Today, I tack welded in the inner door extension that will strengthen the entire door as I move around the outer skin. Note the 5/16" rod in the hinges to keep them aligned. A method I learned here. Thank you.

You will see how the door skin is out of control in photos down below. Here is the tacked in bottom extension.





Here is how far away the door skin is from the front fender.



My strategy is to rebend the downward structure at an angle. Foolishly, I straightened out the downward bend. I found this out after I looked at the driver's door.



I marked on the door the depression depth in inches (Note: later, I used MM's)



I used a ball peen hammer hitting a wedge on the edge of the door to move the angle down and get the door closer to the front fender.



More in the next posting.

Tom

[Red911]

Hello all,

Knowing the door was free of bondo as I had dipped both doors, I thought removing the bondo near the rear end of the front fender would give me a better way to measure the difference between the rear of the front fender and the front of the passenger door. Dusty process.






I used an Eastwood green 50 grit 4 1/2 wheel to make the dust. I should note that Eastwood may be the exclusive carrier of the wheel.



I had noted in a prior post that the closing panel inside the rear of the passenger side front fender was bent. The other side was straight. I used an hammer and dolly technique. A sledge and a 4 X 6 piece of pressure treated timber to make the closing panel straight. Worked like a charm.





I also noted that the closing panel and the lip of the front fender were an an angle, where the other side became flat about 1/2" before the bent over closing of the fender. Making that flat would help to close the depth of the door to the front fender.

It did close the depression depth more. More in the next post.

Tom

[Red911]

Hello all,

The rear section of the fender was recessed just prior to the edge of the fender where the wire is enclosed by the lip of the fender. So I used a 3" chisel and inserted it inside the area between the closing panel and the fender skin and that got the depressions out. Not sure you can see the small angle, but it is gone now.



The depressed distance has gone down 3 MM from the first measurement due to all the items that I have discussed. The hammering of the wedge on the outer lip of the door, removing the bondo on the front fender and taking the small depression out with the large chisel. This is progress in my humble opinion.

Here is where we are now.



Taking the hinge pins out from the bottom is a piece of cake as long as the hole exists in the horizontal door panel. When I did my '66 SWB 911, I had a real problem getting the hinge pins out, so I want to Baum Tools and got a Porsche hinge pin pulling tool.



Does not scratch the fender paint which is not a problem now, but it could be with final paint on the car.

Here is where we are at the end of today. It may be a larger depression, but it is more honest now.



Tom

[Jbrooks]

Tom could you get some close up photos, and deminsions of the slide hammer. I would like to try to fabricate one.

[Red911]

Sure John,

I will be in the garage tomorrow.

Tom

[Red911]

Hi John,

Here is some information on the door pin removal tool that you requested. If I left any key dimension out, let me know.

Photo of just the tool.



The key end is the door pin attachment point. Note that section of the tool is threaded twice for removing and replacing the pin by switching ends of the attachment point.









Here are the dimensions.



Good luck.

Tom

[Red911]

Hello all,

Today I continued to work on the passenger door. I am getting the door closer to the front fender. Knowing that I need the 5/16" rod to check the hinge alignment, I thought it would put the rod into the car hinges. Well, was I surprised, it was way off.





It is hard to see the slight bend on the hinge where the door meets the door rubber gasket channel. It would not take a lot to get the misalignment at the top with just a mm or two off at the bottom.



I cannot break the new weld on the car's hinge as it is too close to the channel. Should I try to break the weld, get the door jamb pulled or just fiddle with the hinge after putting a drill hole in the hinge to keep it aligned?

My wife says, maybe it is time to quit working on this car.

Your comments are welcome.

Thanks, Tom

[Jbrooks]

Tom

That's not all that bad, remember there is a lot of adjustment in the hinge mounting it self. unlike the door that is fixed, these move a couple mm's Make a trammel and measure the center of the hinge pins to the back of the door. I believe if you loosen the lower hinge it will align.

After you get the rod aligned through both hinges, carbide scribe a deep scratch on rod the hinge locations, top and bottom. Then mark them with a sharpie and wipe off the excess. These eight little black lines will really help get the door hinge in the proper spot later. Mark the top of the rod in black. Do the drivers side with the other end of the rod up do the same marking color the scratch in red.

[JTR70]

I wouldn't sweat it at this point Tom that lower hinge boss will have to come off to fully repair that rusted wall its attached to. From what I can make out you'll have to cut back every bit as deep as I'm going on my current project to get past all that cancer. You can orient that lower hinge to the upper as it will be your baseline once you've got everything it mounts onto rebuilt.
Come on man.... you know better than that. That is the typical response we get from our gals; right up until after its painted. Or maybe you're just looking for the exit at this point???
Justin

[Red911]

Thanks for the pointers and encouragement.

I am not going to exit the project, I will finish it. It took me 26 years for the '66 SWB restoration and 6 years for the '67 SWB restoration.

It may take a lot of questions and some calming down, but I will finish it.

Again, the tips and tricks that I pick up here are great.

Thanks Tom

[Red911]

Okay, truth be told, the reason that I am restoring this '64 coupe is simply the two front fender running lights.



I have never seen these lights on any other 356. From what I understand, they were required when the cars were in Italy, South Africa and Australia. Mine went to Italy with a US serviceman.

I have a total of four 356's to restore. All coupes. One '57 and three '64's. This is probably the most rusty. Silly me.

Anyone else seen these Catalux lights?

Tom

[roy mawbey]

Tom, it never goes as easy as you think it might, just step away and after some time go back to it. I had experiences too where I could not see how I would rectify something that I thought was okay.

Keep plugging away at it.

Roy