The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[Phil Planck]

Thanks for posting the turkey pics. Used to be a lot around here, but the last few years they have about disappeared. At least I have a good reminder of what I am looking for.

Got about 3 hours in on Foamcar today. Put tape behind the w/s and built up a little thicker on the door. Used my 4' rule to check contour(no more strings) along with a 6' thin slat. Looked good to go so started the slice/peel/tack process.



I used a thin Dremel cut off wheel per Bruce's advice several years ago.






Thing went well along the top but when I got to the second curve going down I could not get the joint flush. Had to break loose the last 4 tack welds below to free the metal up. This worked, but the panel wanted to move to the rear a little. If I had to do it again I would fit it as best I could loose and get the shape a little closer.

You can see the mis-match here:

After freeing up the panel and using a clamp I was able to continue on down:


This is how I left it for the day:


Contour flow is good above the black mark. Need to break the lower tacks at the lock pillar loose and move that part outward a tad.

[JOP]

You are making good progress.
The Dremel is a really good tool to use on the 356.
I bought one way way back because that was the smallest size of cutting discs on the market BUT that was the old style that broke in million pieces if you got slighly tilted
The new cutting discs are really good and with the quick lock system contra old style mini screw.

[tperazzo]

Great tip on the dremel wheels, I'm still using those little wafer ones. Are the 1.5" disks about as thin? I'm going to try them.

Quarter is looking great Phil, slow and steady does the trick.

[JTR70]

Looking good Phil! The cut and weld technique looks like the way to go especially with that super thin Dremel cutting wheel! A big thanks to Bruce for generously sharing a few of his build secrets! Keep up the great work Phil!

[Phil Planck]

Thanks guys. I just measured the various thin Dremel discs. The thin "wafer" one is .024". the heavy duty "wafer" which is what I used to use is .040" thick. The new "thin" one is .032".

Phil

[John Pierce]

Phil,

Great work there. The quarter panel is looking good. I've also started using the thin disks to get into smaller areas and for areas that need more finesse than can be obtained from the larger cutting wheels. I found an air-powered pencil type die grinder on Amazon that gives more control and a smaller footprint than the Dremel snake. The speed control is right on the wand itself. Very useful tool.




John

P.S. Justin: I am no longer receiving email updates to the threads I'm subscribed to. Has this been turned off?

[roy mawbey]

Same as you John, my inbox seems much lighter on abcgt e-mails.
Nice work above, interesting info on the Dremel and that snake you have bought John.
Bet you were a happy man when you left that quarter lock post panel Phil its turning out very nice. Bruce's method seems very good and the leading should finish it nicely.

Roy

[JTR70]

Sorry about that guys, Its a glitch that showed up about 3 weeks ago. At first I thought it was a problem with my email account but I recently confirmed with Joel and Steve that they were experiencing the same problem. I spoke with my webmaster a couple of days ago and he is looking into it so hopefully here shortly the system will begin firing off notices again. Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
I have not had a problem with email.
Phil

[Phil Planck]

Got the slice/peel/tack process finished on the repair panel and cut the lower lock pillar tacks loose to re-align in/out using a 4' steel rule. Made the quarter about 1/16" lower than the contour as can add lead to even out. No pictures as it looks about the same as above. Not its time to start filling in the gaps between the tacks. I planished the tacks as I went so currently the adjacent panels are nice and flat. Hope it stays that way as I fill in the gaps. I went through about 6 of the thin Dremel cutoff discs during the slice/peel/tack process. Wish I had known about that pencil air grinder 2 month ago when my old Dremel started smoking and I replaced it with a modern one. May still get one for the nose project.

Phil

[Phil Planck]

After 3 hours I have finished the butt weld on the quarter repair panel. This is 27" long. The process I used, although slow, produces a pretty shrink free result. I learned it from one of the metalworking forums. Works well if all you have is a mig welder, like me.



JP, awhile back your were asking about my filing of the welds. Here is a close up that shows welds before and after filing. Basically I smooth the weld to just above flush with a right angle die grinder with an 80 grit disc. Then go after it with a file for the final smoothing. Took about 45 minutes to do the complete 27" of weld:


Here are the welds after filing. A few low spots beside the weld which I will next try to raise by planishing or hammer off dolly if planishing does not work:

[John Pierce]

Phil,

Well done! Your spot weld then grind and repeat technique (page 13 of this blog) really produces a nice long weld with few low spots or pin holes. Are you planishing the welds before each repeat?

JP

[Phil Planck]

Thanks John

Yes, the initial weld is planished, then smoothed down slightly high with the angle grinder, then planished again. I use a marker about 2" away from each weld to know where to planish, so I don't overstretch the panel. Then I clean the gap and marker spots with acetone and start over. This time I filled in maybe two tacks adjacent at a time at least 5" apart. Always being able to lay my hand on the metal before the next tacks to make sure it has cooled down. Slow process, but minimal distortion. Currently the butted panels are very flat, so not sure what I will gain by more planishing. I will probably blacken the whole butt about 1" on each side and go over it with my baltic birch sanding board to look for high and low spots and mostly do off dolly smoothing.

Phil

[JTR70]

Really nice looking weld joint Phil! I think you have more patience than I do! Great job! Justin

[tperazzo]

Great job Phil..... It looks great and straight! Keep up the good work.
Tom