The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[bbspdstr]

Phil, are you going to live in the Airstream when you come to work with me or am going to be able to live in it when I come to where it's even colder than PA to work with you? Thinking that it's going all the way up to 27*F today, maybe I should stay where I am.....

Justin, since most people doing this kind of work and taking it seriously make or modify existing tools, maybe that would be a good thread. My tool vendors (now down to just a Snap-On guy and an independent) laugh and remind me that warranties are off of those modified tools, but I laugh back that I had to make what I needed and made it better, 'cause they couldn't sell it to me.

We could all post pictures of such contraptions such as rotisseries, hand tools like Phil's, chassis jigs and dollies, forms and templates. Might be good for ideas or just a good laugh.

Porsche manuals even have a term for such. They call if "Of local manufacture."

When floor pressings (many years ago, in the '70s) did not come with the round depression in the front, I found that a 6" artillery shell (don't ask) minus the pointy detonator front end and a welding gas tank cap (acetylene, not the narrower oxygen) and one shot with an 18lb hammer could make that 'improvement toward originality' just fine.

[MMW]

bbspdstr wrote -- "Justin, since most people doing this kind of work and taking it seriously make or modify existing tools, maybe that would be a good thread."

Already got one right here. http://www.abcgt.com/forum/14-356-Restoration-Projects/12171-tools--products-for-restorations.html

[Phil Planck]

Bruce
We have a high of 8F today and supposed to be -18F tonight. Would love to drive the camper to PA and get my hands dirty in your shop sometime:



Removed more lead per Justin's advice(thanks Justin) and cut away more metal at the bend almost to the top of the quarter. Glad I did, as more rust and seam sealer to pull out:



Spent several hours timming, fitting, swearing, trimming fitting and finally have a pretty good fit of the repair panel. Gap is not as consistent as I would like, as this panel, at a certain angle fits nicely against the rear of the door. But, the fold at the top is just about right over the old fold, and same at bottom. Gap is tightest in the middle at 5mm(too tight Bruce?) Also, while bending the flange more rearward to clear the lockpillar flange my flush contour unflushed, so will need to do some more shrink/stretch with the flange at it's new angle.





Here is what the flange to pillar area looks like now:


You may be able to see how I trimmed away the rocker corner to use the nice one on the repro panel. A little weird, but I have one nice surface from top to bottom.

Where would be a good place to weld at the top? Right at the corner? Below the corner?

Phil

[MMW]

I would stop just below the corner so you keep the nice bend at the top without having to match it.. This would be only if the metal is good there.

[JTR70]

Good call opening that corner up Phil, a lot of heavy corrosion in there!

Thanks Bruce, an excellent idea. I have several old tools my mentor had made. I'll add those to Mic's tool thread here shortly. Great posts guys!
Justin

[bbspdstr]

Mic, I apologize for being unaware you had started a tool thread!

-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Not finished with my door opening metal, but here is what lies ahead after that. Since Tom Perrazo is a step ahead of me I will follow his lead.

[JTR70]

Phil, you mentioned you have an NOS section for this right? How much of it do you have? Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
I bought this part over a year ago from SMC(Stoddard West?) and it was advertised as NOS. It has green primer on it and appears to be a part of a complete nose panel that was cut off and not used. Maybe only the middle and drivers side was needed. I do not see the one I have listed any more, so maybe really is NOS. It looks like this one they currently sell, only does not extend as far toward the center of the car. Will post a picture soon. Here is the one SMC currently sells and no mention of NOS.




Phil

[bbspdstr]

Phil, word to the wise if you are not already aware, be VERY careful loosening the small bolts that attach the upper grills. In the state that's in, heating the area surrounding them is my method...but they break off quite easily on some cars.

As for that corner damage and poor fix, I'd ask "What would the Metal Surgeon do?"

Ah well, he impressed me with his Samba postings, but what I'd do is replace the section or at least cut it off and try to rework it "on the bench." You'd need to remove the brace between upper and lower horn openings and the area behind the center gets real hard to work in, so I'd likely just remove the whole 'nose'...clean it and fix it and have only a 'smile' right below (not at) the trunk opening and the two over the headlights and down, which are comparatively easy to weld when reinstalling, as long as the headlight buckets are absent.

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Bruce
Have already removed the upper grills with no problems. I will post a pic of my repair piece next week when I am able to resume working on Foamcar. I also will mark cut lines for the nose for your critique(and anyone else willing).

Phil

[bbspdstr]

I read the latest and thought about how I might go about the repair without the removal of the whole nose or using the new repair panel.

This may coexist with Mic's Tools thread, but I have no pictures to illustrate what I'm about to write:

IF, after measuring every way the nose ends equally on both sides, the/a hood fits fine, l&r arches match, the measured 'drop' of the front corner is the same (or looks like it can be)from a straightedge across both fenders AND I could see better than pictures on a screen (like using my hands) I might be tempted to just remove the rearward reinforcement between the two lower openings and begin 'straightening'- but that's just me.

The picture does seem to indicate the can-'o-worms continues to the left side and around.

As everyone who has tried this will know, where there is easy access to the metal from both sides and it's held well without interference and devoid of surface coverings, the bumping, hammering, slapping, shrinking, picking and filing is easy...or at least easier.

The daunting place to work is toward the center of that nose, with the most shallow spaces being at the outer corners of the battery box. Of course, if one half of the nose is removed, the access to the other half is far easier. Then it's just the welded center seam that's difficult to 'work.'

Here's my remembrance of a nice tool I saw used one time in various forms: an inner tube. The guy had made aluminum clamping bars to seal off both ends of a section of car tube and a section of a motorcycle type, the motorcycle type covered by radiator hose 'racing' sleeve with stainless braided protective covering. He had fittings in the aluminum end bars for air inflation once the flattened tubes were in place. Dents (inward) could then be softly encouraged out, and he'd slap the metal around the area and deflate to see what he had achieved and keep moving that as needed.

I watched him work out the caved-in rear of a 356 when I would have just cut it off and welded it back on after straightening. I think there are similar devices available commercially, but I have neither made nor bought any.

The inner structure is always stronger than the low-crown outer skin, so 'pushing' is a very nice way without prying, as working in those places yield low percentage successes and are very frustrating, like the forward-most part of a door shell/skin where it's tight and difficult to reach.

[Phil Planck]

Here are some pics of the supposedly NOS front piece. Have not had time to do detail comparison to what is now on Foamcar, but appears close. It has what looks like army green primer on most of it.

[JTR70]

Looks like a genuine Porsche part to me Phil. My advice would be to use it all!

[tperazzo]

Thanks for those pictures Phil, That lower horn grill feature looks much better than my SMC repro. I'd say you have the real deal there, Nice find.
Tom