Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[roy mawbey]

What a good idea to really make the inside of the jacking point really nice and weather proof. I wonder if the factory put any paint on the inside? I reinforced mine in the 70's think they could be original as are most of the longitudinals. I use the jacking points with confidence ( possibly stupidity?) but they don't groan and the welding I did seems to have worked well. I pumped some oil in the reception hole maybe that helped too.

Nice job Justin.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks Roy! Really just overkill at this point considering the sheltered life it will lead in its new form but I just feel better about it. Yes, if you're picking up the car by the spurs (which is what it was designed for)with no creaking, popping etc. I think you did very well! Once complete this frame will be able to be jacked at these points, at least it better be able to! Thanks again! Justin

10/25/14
Splash pan to rocker fitment and modification.
Even with the splash pan in its best adjusted position the outer and lower flange section is going to end up being too short. The lower corner shape also turns way too quickly away from the rocker.


Original thought was to cut and widen as needed then back fill it. While it helped the turn radius in the corner was wrong leaving a huge gap.

Another problem with this fix was I'd have two long runs of weld instead of just one. I decided it best just to make a new flange and corner section.

paper templates began.

Just about ready to move onto metal. toughest part was getting the contour of the door profile close enough. The new corner profile hugs the shape of the rocker much better.

Original pan and rocker fitment for reference.

template against what I originally had.

Onto metal with very rough basic form here.

Direct comparison and as you can see there just wasn't going to be enough metal to allow correct fitment against the rocker cleanly.

Didn't like the idea of cutting up a brand new part but there was no option. More tweaking yet to do but hopefully tacking this new section in tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JOP]

Justin, it looks like you had no choice not to cut & add new metal to get it to follow the outer lines of the rocker.....
But I am amazed that it was such a BIG piece of metalpie that was needed
I read it again about two welds running down.....ok so not such a big piece then ....
But it looks good
/ Per

[John Pierce]

I like that description: "metal-pie." Very appropriate. It seams that every repro piece needs a bit of tweaking. Looks great Justin.

[Phil Planck]

Justin - had to rework that same area on both of my Stoddard panels bought about 12 years ago. Don't know who made them.
Phil

[JOP]

Heay, it was the first thing/word I thought of when seeing the repair piece

[DG58INNM]

Justin, good job on the closing panel and jack spur. That car is coming right along!
DG

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot you guys! Those pie slices look much more appetizing than mine Per. Yes, this is one theme I take away from all of this; nothing really fits exactly like it should and it all requires messaging to fit and look right. Thanks once again!

10/27/14

Its beginning to go together.

New section tacked in here with rocker reinstalled to double check the fit and alignment before stitching it up.

Its all beginning to fit like I need it to. Splash pan will now fit tight against rocker all the while retaining a good lower gap with proper levelness with the door skin.

Another short-fall of course with the rocker in its best adjusted position with the door this drain pan flange comes up short and will need to be cut and extended. For this reason I would recommend if possible buying the rockers unassembled and then building them to the specific needs of your car. Especially when your building the entire body from air. Anyway getting closer to installing this rocker for good. Continuing on tomorrow. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[Jack Staggs]

Justin, check the drain pan to see if the hole for the lower hinge pin removal is in the correct location. Often they are not. No big deal... Until you want to remove the door

[Phil Planck]

Justin
Had to extend mine also. Interesting that your inboard step of the front flange goes forward. I made mine going rearward to overlap the closing panel.


How's my hinge pin hole alignment Jack?

Phil

[JTR70]

Seems like a common fitment issue Phil. I wasn't real clear on the "forward" flange you described? Did you mean how the edge of your drain pan is laying on top versus mine showing it mounted from the bottom? If so that was a factory change from 356A to B&C. Not sure when this happened IE T5 or T6 but my friends '65 C coupe has its original rockers and shows them mounted just the way you have them on yours.

Thanks Jack! Yes, that was another sight marker which also helped to confirm its best fitted position. The hole is almost centered and close enough to allow a punch to drive the pin out.

Decided it would be easier and cleaner to just re-bend the flange in the corredt position. It needed to gain the width of a paint stick so I used one and marked it forward of the original bend which is the bolder line in this photo.

Re-flanged and ready for a test fit.

Close enough. I need to back fill the corners where I had cut a bit too deep but the general fitment is now getting close. Thanks for looking! Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
If you look at the picture I posted, and the one you posted above it which both show before and after movement of the flange I am writing about. Your vertical flange that has to move forward has a step in it where it meets the closing panel. It steps forward, like it was meant to tuck in front of the closing panel. My reworked flange has the step going rearward at the closing panel so that it will be flush to the closing panel.
Phil

[JTR70]

Oh, okay now I know what you mean. The step you were seeing was just an accident and the product of wiggling it in and out. The flange is supposed to end right at the junction and gets a short seam weld there.

[DG58INNM]

Interesting. On all three of my cars (58,61,64), this little "finger" from the end of the flange was present. It was on the repro part of course, but I also found it on the original when I was taking the old metal apart. In my cases, it was sandwiched between the inner/outer closing panels. Nice job Justin. Always a lot of work finagling the junction between all these panels into just the right alignment, and still being happy with the rocker panel alignment.

Take care,
DG

[bbspdstr]

......"finagling"......

A wonderful and crucial word for this kind of work....right up there with "common sense."

There could be a small company that sells corrective products for such instances like elliptical offset rubber plugs for the lower door pin holes when 'close' is still not enough on the repro rockers.

Just a bigger hole and a bigger plug would offend the Concours Judges.

I used to have to make my own rockers. It has not been that many years since only flat/straight rocker repros were available, simply made on a metal bender. Now a fairly decent curve is in them and they are still reasonably priced.....and if Alex is reading, maybe NOT punching a pin access hole could be offered?

Seriously, if someone is crafty enough to install a rocker (correctly), they likely can drill their own pin access hole exactly where it needs to be once everything else is aligned.

z-z-z-z- (a dream sequence begins): Taking this a step further, maybe the lower vertical door repair ("skin") parts could be rolled to the very shallow crown that would match the rocker.....and the horizontal door bottom pressings could be made with a curved vertical to match all else.....wow- so much time could be saved.....with better results. z-z-z-z-......(time to wake up)


Led by Justin, this small (but growing) band of restorers is amazing.

-Bruce