Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[Jack Staggs]

I wonder how the bumper is going to fit now. IIRC it looked pretty good before.

[JTR70]

Jack, Like the drivetrain and wheel mock-up suggestion before, you ask all the right questions that I should be asking myself. Thank you for keeping me on track with more potential fitment issues once again! It sure helps to have guys who actually know what their doing looking over my shoulder to save me from myself. After reading your post I held up my rear bumper to both my coupe and this project for comparison. (too much hardware to round up so I could not hold it and take a photo) The distance from the tip of the bumper did seem to swing a touch wider but nothing absolutely heinous. However, with your suggestion in mind I think it would be wise to order the bumper irons and the bumpers themselves and get them fitted correctly to this car. I'll speak with the owner about it. Thanks again Jack!

8/26/16
Fitting up lower right apron section.

Slowly getting it lined up for contour, the bead roll and lower edge.

With it positioned to my liking the lower edge swung too low.

I ended up cutting the lower seem weld just like I did on the left to get it into alignment with the fender.

A bit more trimming to go but I should have this tack-on by tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

I have recently tended to forget the doctor will be driving this car when its finished. with the amount of high end effort you are putting in to get it perfect almost started to believe its your car not his!!

He is lucky to have such a conscientious guy doing all this work for him, you are a rare talent. As you say Jack with his experience must have faced all this difficult jobs many times before and really so nice of him to provide such clear warnings.

Super thread Justin.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you for that nice message Roy! The Doc takes good care of me so I in turn take care of him by doing the best job that I can on it. Absolutely both Bruce and Jack have been keeping me out of trouble.
I appreciate that too.
Thanks once again!
Justin

8/28/16
Lower section attached and body mounted back on the rotisserie.

excess trimmed and now tacked into its new position.

This was about as far as I wanted to go until I have the luxury back of turning this car over again. Shaping the remaining run up to the fender will be much easier this way. I should of held off doing the other side but I got carried away. Just need to open that bracket hole back up and its good to go.

Mounted back on the hoist this afternoon.

With the tail end in basic form I'm now onto tying numerous loose ends in and around this area. There is a lot to finish up but as before I just take it a bite at a time.

This full underside view was helpful in checking for consistency with the chassis from side to side.

Lower apron still has a ways to go.

Having it back on the hoist now allows me to finish the upper side closing walls of the engine compartment where I had to adjust and reweld.

Finishing up that joint with the fender will be so much easier this way.
comparison measurements

Right side at center of the shock mount reads about 11 3/4 at the lip.

Left side at center of the shock mount reads just shy of 11 3/4. So about the overall thickness of the wired edge of difference side to side.

Forward left at approximately the second rib area on the chassis is just shy of 12 1/2 inches.

Forward Right at approximately the second rib area on the chassis is just over 12 1/2. Again about the edges thickness worth of difference.

Back right lower corner reads 10 1/4 inches from the frame.


Back left lower corner reads 10 1/4 inches from the frame .


About as close to symmetrical side to side as a hack like me could hope to get.

On to those loose ends tomorrow.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Don C]

Justin,
It looks fantastic! I'd bet if you took those same measurements off a factory car you're probably closer then they were. NICE!

[Impi]

Hi Justin you have surpassed the realm of a hack about a gazillion cuts ago.

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Don! Its as close as I ever hoped to get.
I really appreciate that vote of confidence Armand, Thank you!
Justin

8/30/16
Loose ends.

Finish welding up the top frame mount and upper channel details. I needed a break from that tail skin.

Quarter panel flange welded up and the top frame resting hook installed.

Folded frame cradled and resting evenly.


Top frame mount gas welded to replicate what my OG reference speedster showed. I'm hoping this gas welding practice will carry over into my TIG welding. I need loads of improvement there.


OG Speedster...

Lower flange run also fused together up to the end of the quarter panel overlap as the original showed.

Officially done with top frame mounts and the related upper flange run. Rewarding to get one more aspect in the finished column.
Will button up all the lower details in and around the frame on the right side tomorrow.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

9/1/16

Finished out the rear cabin and now working my way from the doors posts to the tail.

All remaining plug welds from that deep corner on down and around the parcel shelf to the lower door post gusset were finally completed on this side.

A very long and involved road back here but this officially wraps up my duties for the back seat area.

Easy to forget how far it has come so here's a look back. Fitting the new/used donor rear seat tray to the new vertical wall.


With that I'm onto the loose ends on the door posts then working rearward to get the back of the car completely metal finished before I move onto the front.

Squeezing the mount flange down flush with a little torch heat to reduce any chance of ruining my lines with the door.

Vertical flange run welded and dressed to the lock post. Closing the upper corner details beginning with capping the seal channel.


Finished off the rest of this upper corner with a little gas weld. All done here.

Time to wrap up the lower corner.

Welded up and dressed. Door was remounted to make sure nothing changed drastically; all good.

Did some initial pick and filing to get the big rollers out. Not perfect but close enough for right now.

Ran out of time before I could weld up the threshold run but will knock that out next. I also have to clean up the back side in the wheel well but this area too is just about finished.


I'll be onto the left post before the next session's over. I have to admit that today's session was almost enjoyable. Everything has been "teed up" for quite some time so all I had to do was knock it down. No annoying and repeated test fits; nothing just tap and weld. Long climbs before I get reprieves like today.
Thanks for stopping by!
Justin

[JOP]

Morgen Justin,
Now all your hard work is showing off.

The downside is ALL the cleaning up welds etc to get that nice smooth/factory look.
Is your workshop just one BIG room or can you contaim some of the dirty and messy things from the "Showroom/assembly" area?

You did remember to put a note in the contract with the Doc that you are entitled free access/use to the Speedster when done

I'd love to see your "ART" alive

Over & Out

Per

Ps. Justin, didnt we agree on that Porsche ONLY built in "mm"

[Phil Planck]

Nice recap Justin. That area really looks great and "correct". Doc must be happy.

Phil

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

The remark by 'Per' concerning ART brings to mind something I wrote to John Willhoit quite a few years ago now. I found his restoration pages all this time ago on internet and just got more and more amazed at his and his teams work on 356 restoration. I was on his site so often just looking and looking at his results. So in the end I wrote him an e-mail and told him he and his company were ' metalwork artists' and that it was a delight to look at his efforts.

He gave me a nice reply and said he would show his team my mail. I guess he has got many of those letters over time but he deserved them.

Now Justin, you are also in the same league, perseverance and the ability to know when the work you are doing is correct, is beyond many people. When you apply the torch there is often not much chance of correction. That before and after photo shows your artistic levels. Be assured its harder to wield a welding torch than a paint brush. Well done on this part of the Doc's car.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks Per,
No, unfortunately I don't my shop divided with a dedicated clean room so my coupe is hiding under that cover. One is in the works as soon as this project leaves however. The car is being built in MM's but cross measured in inches. What can I tell you, I'm an old school American boy.

Thank you Phil, I hope he's still pleased with it.

I very much appreciate that Roy and that is extremely high praise but honestly I tend to cringe and shy away from any comparison to the established 356 professionals. Outfits like BBE and Wilhoits have countless show cars under their belt. I'm just an average guy toiling away in a hobby shop who hasn't even completed a single 356 to date. Still hoping to change that but my coupe is still quite a ways off. Thank you again for that very generous compliment but I'm not quite in their league just yet. Proof of which are the holes I still sometimes manage to blow into the work as my gas welding technique evolves.

Thanks again you guys, its always greatly appreciated!
Justin
9/3/16
Right striker post completed.

Threshold hold run welded up. The main concern was getting the weld flat enough so it doesn't interfere with the eventual rubber mat.

Left the inner corner open for drainage if any moisture finds its way behind the rubber seals.

That completed the loose ends on the top side so I turned the car over to address the backside.

Needed to backfill all the setscrew holes and tap that leading edge of the striker closer to the skin(green arrow)to keep crap from accumulating in there. It would require some heat to stretch it out.

Also needed to finish off the inside on the wire joint.

After I finished welding up the wire the joint the skin swelled a bit requiring a couple of heat shrinks to bring the area back level again.

Forward inner wheel well area completed. The wired lip did get a little frogy on me but after the shrinking and a bit of hammer work a consistent contour across the two panels came back...thank god.

This post and related area is now complete.

Door remounted for another confirmation fit and look for any changes to the quarter panel after all the heat and hitting.

Raw gap but still runs pretty consistent with the door. It will of course need solder for a perfect gap and contour shape from the door but it won't need a whole lot.

Opens up a little at the top. If Jack hadn't confirmed that the OG cars do this I would have been freaking out. Again the leadwork will smooth out a lot of that.

Quick inside look. Door top profile continues on into the rear fender.

Another look back. Just a couple hinged doors sort of hanging out in space. Had to start somewhere; ground zero for the body here.

Just getting the rear cowl located and set here so many miles yet to go.

All done building this area. Moving over to the left side now.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin - Your hired! Great job and great reference for yourself and others to come. Had not thought about leaving a drain gap on the sill. Is that how the factory did it? I have not welded up those joints yet on Foam Car. Waiting for a "good welding day", as finishing that weld in the recessed corner is not something I want to do.

Phil

[JTR70]

Thanks Phil! IIRC it was welded all the way up. I left these corners on my coupe open as well to give any water that may find its way in there some place to go.
Justin

9/4/16
Loose end repeat on the left striker post.

Vertical flange welded and dressed.

Lower rocker joint also finished up.

Door installed to again check for any changes during the process. All good.

Some time ago Bruce had warned about not assuming that channels on these new strikers were necessarily going to hold the seal in a snug position against the latched door. I heeded his warning and sure enough I found that the last upper half of the channel swung way too wide. I ended up cutting it free and tacking it into a position that matched the lower run which was fine. There where no issues like this on the right side BTW. So, I've got a little more to do on this side before I'm finished.

Should have this side wrapped up by tomorrow...I hope.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

9/5/16

Left lock post area nearly complete.

Channel now runs evenly along the door. The green arrow highlights the edge of the residual flange where the channel started out. It swung way too wide.

Channel fully welded, capped with all the excess cleaned off.

This post is officially done on the outside with all the gas welding details done up here.

Will roll the car over next to address the inside details which will wrap it up completely.
Thanks for looking!
Justin