Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[JTR70]

Part2 Tube fitment now begins..

Now for the tedious task of getting all three opening to line up all while getting the bulk-heads to seat correctly against the walls. A few trial fitments required to say the least.

Because of the steep approach angle this one is tricky. Instead of cutting the hole bigger I began flanging the opening out of the way to ensure I have enough metal to bridge over come closing time.

lower opening is almost set.

Miscalculated and came up a touch short on the defrost tube.
Continuing on tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[roy mawbey]

What will you do there Justin fabricate a small 'sleeve' to fill that gap?

Very difficult sometimes to arrive at the correct measurement. Somtimes you can be lucky andits oversize!

Roy

[JTR70]

Hey Roy, Yes that is exactly how I'll fix it. I'll install an inner collar or sleeve which will make for a secure weld joint.
11/5/13
Almost ready to install the tube but the original bulkheads did not fair as well on this side requiring some repair caps.

One down two more to go..

Should have these wrapped up by tomorrow... Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

11/13/13
Right side tube installed and tacked.
This side fought me a little more than the left. I had a hell of a time getting the front and rear tube ends to line up with the bulkheads fully seated into position. Some cutting and re-indexing would be required to get it all to fit nice.

While I had a clean shot at it I ground and peeled the remaining mount flange for the old Longitudinal to make way for the new piece.

No matter how I tried I just could not get the front and rear tube ends to line properly while allowing the 3 bulk-heads to seat flush against the walls. Only option was to cut the ends off, establish the bulkheads and index the ends then re-weld.

In its best adjusted position the front angled away more than I liked.

Tube ends were tacked into correct position, tube was removed then fully re-welded. Here it is re-installed and tacked into final position.

I'll be welding up ends tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[Murf]

Great blog Justin. One of the best on the net for 356 restoration. An inspiration for my T5 Roadster project for next year. Please keep the posts coming. Cheers, Murf

[JTR70]

Hey Murf, Thank you very much and Welcome to our forum! Its always great to hear that these posts are of some value. Best of luck with your project! If you have some time please start a thread about your car(s); we'd love to see them! Thanks and Welcome once again! Justin

[JTR70]

11/23/13
More right side tube and defroster bulkhead repair.

The angle cut and approach angle was just too complicated for a bridge patch for the tube sections and would have had to have been in a coil-spring shape. The easiest thing was an extension cap like I did on the other side.

Repaired the bulk head mount flange while I was at it. The rusty corner just above it in this shot had to be patched next.

Another tiny and tedious repair patch that must be completed before the big stuff can go over the top of it. This one repairs the corner wall that gets sandwiched between the seal channel and the door well floor vertical wall.

Tacking the channel to it here by plug welding the holes that were the original spot-welds I drilled out to free it.

With that one done I can now move forward on the new door-well repair floor. I am fitting the new closing panel to make sure the forward mount flange fits and locates the new floors elevation.

Developing the template now. You can see here how the new floor will mate to that forward closing flange.

Iron strap mounted to represent the eventual splash-pan wall for proper fitment.

floor template taped (mounted) to the longitudinal closing panel flange and getting the vertical wall cut to shape.

Its so crucial to mock the walls up. If you try to free-style this the flanges and the part itself never fits like it should have. Been down that road already.

Template is in final form.

Ready to move onto steel. Cutting and folding tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[merbesfield]

Nice work as always. I love building panels with templates and fabricating where there was nothing. Metal Origami.

[JTR70]

Thanks Mark! Hey, what's going on with you? Have you since sold your 356?

11/25/13
new right side door well floor fabrication and install continued:

new piece cut out and folded into basic shape. Happy with the fitment so far.

Still have to put the last two bends in the tail there.

Template placed in it here to show me exactly where to bend. A lot riding on these last two bends for alignment and proper fitment. I had the urge to second guess it but in the end you have to just trust the template.

New repair panel complete.

Gave the new piece a quick acid bath and is in for another test fit. A few little adjustments and tweaks but its close!

Once I punch the holes in for my plug-welds this will be good to go.

Slowly tacking and adjusting as it goes. Should have it all stitched in tomorrow. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

11/30/13
New right closing panel all stitched in. Now time to make the secondary closing wall.

Using the template I saved from the other side. Just have to make a bridge section so it will work with what is left of this wall.

Right template now complete, onto steel.

New wall section flanged, punched with holes and now ready to be welded in.

In! A bit more dressing to do on the welds but that's just detail stuff I'll catch later.

with that the forward section complete it was time to flip the chassis over to the other side to address the inner rear perimeter corner and to finish up some loose ends I could not get to with it on its opposite side. Once I get this longitudinal rebuilt this frame is going on my rotisserie; turning this over manually is getting old.

Welding the lip of this outlet was one of those loose ends that had to wait until the frame was turned over. Edges are all shaped around the tube and its now ready to weld

Welding almost complete, I came up a bit shy on that forward joint; will have to cut a little sliver piece to go in there so I can close it up.

Cutting and prepping this rear inner corner tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Super work Justin,

Templates are everything for certain. And it must as you say be difficult sometimes to trust them when you come to form them them in steel.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Roy! Yes, the templates really are the key and I still can get a little bit indecisive at times when making the jump to metal. Justin

12/6/13
Rear lower inner corner complete.

Section of new perimeter "cornered" and ready for test fitments.

Drilling and splitting the old spot-welds in preparation for the new part.

Just about clean of old metal. The new piece can now be fitted in to get the lower portion of the vertical wall cut to length and shape. Of course there were holes on this section of tubing to repair.

new piece in for another test fit and final trimming to the old wall is next.

Rust holes welded up and the wall is trimmed to final length. Just have to treat the remaining surface rust with converter before tacking the new part in.

All tacked in. Just like the other side the vertical rear flange will be left loose for the eventual fitment of the rear closing wall that gets sandwiched between these two pieces.

All in

And with that last section comes the completion of perimeter repairs on this project. A very small victory but I'll take it...

Will turn the chassis back over (again) to prep the cavity for primer and paint then the closing panel goes on. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

12/10/13
Right longitudinal sealed and ready for its new closing panel.

Remaining surface rust coated in converter first. Sealer coat of 2K primer applied here.

A good top coat of paint was applied next. Ready for the closing panel! Mounting that tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

12/13/13
Getting it closed up.

A good session was spent fine trimming and fitting this new closing panel.

Also spent punching all those holes along the flanges for the plug welds. Clamped into final position and ready for welding; at long last..

Plug welding begins. I began welding at the upper sill flange and started from the center working outward. This keeps the panel square and from bunching up. This lesson I learned the hard way.

Once the upper flange was complete I addressed the lower run. Again, working from the center outward. As you can see I still have a few on either side to finish up. Will do that and begin fabricating the end caps next.
Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

12/19/13
Right longitudinal completed

At long last this right side member is fully capped and fabricated. Some minor detail work to address of course but structurally its finished.

Started with the front. Again some time and effort were saved by flipping over the template I had made for the left side.

Unlike the left however, the upper portion of this panel was still in good solid condition so I saved it and cut just above the rot. New lower section cut to basic shape and in for a test fit.

Final shape and all plug-weld holes punched. Ready to go.

Slowly stitching it in.

In

With the front all welded up I moved to the back. As with the fronts the cancer at the rears are just opposite from side to side. The rot goes much higher on this side requiring a larger repair panel.

The repair on this side will run under the closing wall mount flange. This was going anyway but will need to be removed now so I can fix that upper corner.

In process of peeling that flange here.

Flipping left paper template over again. This time adding length.

Repair piece cut to basic shape.

All welded in. This build is a T1 theme so the outer flange was trimmed down and seam welded as done originally.

Now that both longitudinals are rebuilt along with that sub-frame holding jig the structural integrity of this chassis is now at level where I feel good about getting it mounted on my rotisserie. Will be getting prepped for that stage next. Thanks for reading this! Justin