The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[Phil Planck]

I hope to be able to repair my nose and weld it back in. We shall see.


Only took 1.5 hrs. to remove this nose section, after the spot welds were pretty well cut. Missed a few hidden ones. Used Bruce's method to cut the drain tubes free.



Here is the inner nose. Note the small pieces of foam and welded up holes. Many dents.



Close up of dents on passenger side, the worst side. Metal has been cleaned up some.



Dents removed. Except for those at the drain tubes. Almost look like the factory did this. Bruce, others?



Upper section marked for removal and welded up hole cut out.



Another welded up hole to cut out.



Cut out.



One hole filled in. Time to go bow hunting.

[tperazzo]

Hope you shot something yummy for dinner.

I don't remember the dents near the drain tubes on my car, however yours look factory. Hopefully other non Karmann owners will chime in. My car is not a good reference in this area but here's a picture anyway.





Looking forward to your progress as usual. Looks great so far. I like the rounded corners you did on your patch.

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Tom
Interesting differences between T6B and T6C. The upper front panels are completely different. The B is flat along the complete front until you get up near the latch, where it bows inward only at the center and the hem flange bows outward. The C looks bowed outward almost as soon as it leaves the lower flange. Drain tube looks a little longer(Karmann thing?) and the panel for the hood latch is "massive". No such panel on the B.

I checked Stoddard and Restso Design and did not see that upper panel being available.

Had a nice buck in bow range, but only 3 or 4 points. My license requires 6.

Phil

[JR]

Hey Phil,
Missed you at ECH.
I looked for a MI license plate, but couldn't find you. I was parked on the ball field two cars from Rev Ron's America Roadster in the corner and on the dam I was in the video at the 1 min 31 sec spot on the corner of the dam. I'm on the RH side of the ruby red roadster.
Its bow season down here in VA too. I guess my son and his two son's (17 & 10) are hitting it hard.
The 10 year old last Dec with his shotgun kill.



Dick

[Phil Planck]

Dick
I was not parked far from you. I see your car next to Ron Roland's in this picture. I am the 4th car up the row across from you starting with the yellow car. would have been hard to see the plate as they had us parked back to back. Sorry we did not get to meet.






The only bucks like that I have ever seen have been on the covers of hunting magazines. A shame at the age of 10 he probably has no where to go but down wrt antler size. I have plenty of room to go up, and I mean plenty.

Phil

[bbspdstr]

Phil, you need to visit PA. Our last property was 3 acres next to 300 mostly woods. There was a HUGE ol' buck that we'd only see around our house during hunting season (smart as they are) until a poacher shot him with a rifle the day AFTER bow season. The head with the rack was all that was taken, sliced neatly at the nape, the rest left to rot, dragged to an opening by the road by a vehicle...and nobody saw nuthin', of course. There were a LOT of pissed off neighbors and hunter friends, as we kill nothing we don't eat and a kill with a gun so close to houses is a really big no-no.
Our new house is near woods and last week as I was driving up the hill I saw a big buck and doe in the road. He just stopped, looked at me until he realized the doe had taken off...and he just ....disappeared. Big rack and it was almost dark and couldn't count the spikes, but at least 6 or 8. Beautiful sight!

About the dents....yes, they could be 'angle adjustments' for the tubes. Unless the horizontal seam is rusty between the spot welds, that is how some of the later cars were when the jigs didn't quite make the metal touch until the spot weld tips made it so. Lots and lots of that "Made by Hand" evidence can be found on most any 356. The welded holes were likely from a tool being inserted through an access hole for damage repair, perhaps the tear, too.

Length of drain tubes seemed to vary even though they were given part numbers, so I cannot hope to explain that.

-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thank Bruce. I will leave those tube dents alone. Made some good progress today(for me).



Cut out the bad metal on the upper, inner nose panel. Decided not to drill out a bunch of spot welds(2 flanges) as the remaining metal will be in pretty bad shape anyway.



Patch for lower panel tacked in place. That little vertical flange is spot welded to the upper flange.



Patch welded in and finished.



Upper repair patch fabricated and fitted. Still need some finessing of the upper flange that the outer nose attached to, but will do that after it is welded in and I can shape it to the nose.

[JR]

Phil,
I was next to the white Speedster in the corner and at times sitting on the rock that they had roped off with yellow tape on the hill. Folks would come by and I told them I was in 'quarantine'!
I guess your car would be the 2nd red one. The Yellow 'taxi cab', the white coupe then a red one and then you. Chris Overhosler of Lufteknic 1957 Ruby Red Speedster was next to me.
We talked about 'Foamcar' in the shop today.
Finished up the battery box of the 1964 T6 coupe and worked on the right side rocker panel.
I told Chris about you doing the front end of your car and cutting it away.
He has to go to PA to look at a 356 for client this weekend and I'm leaving for a Navy Reunion in Pensacola on Monday so I won't be back to the shop for a couple of week.
No word from the hunters today!
Dick

[John Pierce]

Nicely done, Phil! My flanges in this whole area had rotted through and I had to remove the whole section, unfortunately.

[JTR70]

Looking good Phil! Found these two shots in the vintage thread I thought you and Dick might appreciate:

[Phil Planck]

The reason I got so much done the last few days is that it has been raining almost constantly. I suppose the die hard hunters are out in the woods, but I used the chance to make some progress on Foam Car. Was out in the woods a lot today, as the colors are at there peak here so took the dog out looking for Grouse. Went out tonight and got the center patch plug welded along the bottom and the sides tacked.



Back sides zinc coated, plug holes punched and drilled and clamped in place.



About as good as it gets for my plug welds.



Plug welds dressed and sides tacked.

Have to report the hours: 1356, as I don't hope to hit 356 to much more.

Phil

[JTR70]

Looking good Phil! No, you don't want to hit 2,356 hours?

[John Pierce]

That's looking very nice. I wish my rosette welds looked as nice as yours.

[Phil Planck]

Got the welding on the inner nose finished up today.




Took the outer nose outside to remove foam, other coatings and rust from inside metal:

Lots of dents

Got tired of circling dents so quit at about the middle:



Tomorrow will be bang, bang time on the outer nose.

Phil

[John Pierce]

Lot's of hammering ahead of you, but should look great when done.