Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[Oldheap]

Great work from an old guy who's "been there, done that".

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Today took the 356 out but before I went I had to compare my original lower right front fender wired corner. It looks exactly like yours

I looked at that small segment of your work and realise after your effort there, those twists and turns are not a piece of cake to produce.

Then just looked at your last photo on the spit. Wow, you have done so well, I bet you find it hard to believe it yourself after all this time. Truly a super job.

Roy

[Jack Staggs]

[quote="bbspdstr" post=39251]Justin, the lower front apron corner is one of the hardest small places to get right on a 356 (A, B or C). I am impressed!

The good news, if any, is that area was done by different people in slightly different ways when the body was created, so there is some "wiggle room." ("Made by Hand.")

Still, NOT easy. Outstanding results overall.

Bruce[/quote

Justin, Bruce is being very generous to Porsche with the term "slightly different". I would say "very different" from side to side, car to car, could be found on many OG cars that I have seen (lots of OG examples miraculously still around here).
Nice work btw. That kind of gas welded, hand formed, beaten, "how we gonna make THIS fit" is what I have come to expect. I look closely at that area when doing a PPI. A certain degree of sloppiness can suggest original panels. Too uniform, or too irregular at the edge, I am suspect.

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Chuck and Welcome! I'm very familiar with your build and your brush with fame on Leno's Garage; Congratulations on both!

I appreciate that Roy and thanks for having a look at your original for the confirmation.

Jack, I think my renditions just might be shitty enough to pass the muster.

God knows they are far from being uniform. Actually it was a relief when I read your post as I was obsessing a little over the meld not being as perfect as I would have liked, so thanks!

This feedback is always appreciated, my thanks to you all once again!
Justin

7/11/17

Begin final finishing on the skin joints.

My mind began bouncing around all the areas on this body that need finishing but I eventually got hold of myself, focused and decided to block everything else out and just finish everything in and around this patch panel first. That almost immediately got me on track.

Started slowly aligning and tacking this inner run first. Much to my great relief these two lined up almost naturally but most important they where both stable with no "oil canning" That was my big worry because this has always been an issue here with this cowl since I relaxed it. Once tacked I began seam welding it up beginning at the windshield mount.

Entire upper joint fully welded and dressed.

The trough at this joint is a little sharper than I like and I would like to soften it a bit more but I'm limited on time and access to it so I'll just have to see. Its not terrible though as it overall has only a few subtle irregularities but most importantly its stable and not "oil canning".

Some quick filing highlights the rollers. Not terrible but they do exist.


Began picking and filing the other two joints next.

Both panels still drop where they meet along the top so I really want to focus on getting that area cleaner.

What a luxury to be able to turn a low spot into a high one by turning the car over. So much easier to work this area now.

Time is money so I'm not at liberty to spend too much time chasing all these rollers out; choices have to be made. a more realistic goal is to get these areas at least up to about 80% then it will be up to the body shop to finish them out or they may just decide to use more filler. If its the latter at least it won't require a ton of it or be some absolutely heinous weld joint lurking under there. More of this to come..

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/12/17

Planishing left patch section continued.

a little fog of paint then a quick block sand to highlight the highs and lows, tap them down and repeat.

As it went I was finally able to determine that I had the weld joint line about where I needed it and that it was just low on either side of it. It can play games with your perception at times.

flipped the car back over and went back to tapping up those areas trying to just make them smaller with each new file attempt. Much to my great relief it was ever so slowly going my way. BTW: most of irregularities I'm dealing with on the patch side of the weld is old accident damage from way back when it was still a coupe.

Toward the end I had the remaining low spots shy only about the thickness of this ruler.

Chased the area a little more but I've gone about as far as I can. I'm out of two things to go any further: Time and talent. With my current practice and skill level I could get it better but I need more time. I just have to move on. At the very least there is a solid fundamental shape but these rollers will need a skim coat to be perfect. In the foreground you can see the slight rollers even in Trevor's beautiful welds that the file has picked up. It helped me to feel better about what I have to leave behind.
I have a few more things to button up at the edges of this panel which I'll take care of tomorrow.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[neilb]

your doing a fine job justin, the next one is always quicker to do! lol


joking...

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot for that Neil!! ...the next one?

7/17/17
Patch section on the left front fender officially done.

Finished securing this lap flange with a few plug welds and tidied up the rest of the door well in and around here.

Next was finishing out the rest of the plug welds and bridging a few gaps in the trough running along this patch. Also had a small rust hole area to fix.

Its all done up here along with a replicated gas weld seam where the doubled over leading edge of the fender meets the straight edge of the cowl.


Next was remounting the door to finish out the leading edge of the fender for height transfer and final shape.

After a some bumping and filing I chased it about as far as I can. Not perfect but satisfied with the transition across to the door.

Planished the area just a bit more then cleaned it all up for the final time.

This portion of the fender is officially complete. Onto the front of this fender next.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/18/17

Finishing out the left fender to nose joint.


Began seaming it from the bottom upward since this area is set where I need it.



Picking and filing as it went with also a heat shrink or two where necessary.

Much to my relief this went pretty smoothly.

Its really close with just a few subtle irregularities which won't require much to chase out.

Making my way toward the trunk opening which will complete my work on this fender once I get that gap opened back up. Very close to being done with this quarter of the car.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/19/17

final clean up of this section today.


top profile turned a lot closer than I thought it was going to.

Leaving to the body shop to take it the rest of the way in.

Inner portion of this fender at the trunk lid to finish things off tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/20/17

last of the left front fender work.


Welded up the rest of this joint right up to the next troubled area. Issues again with lid gap and shape misalignment with the last bit here across these two panels. Anyway just about done picking and filing what I was able to weld here.

The radius on the nose side was much tighter. Its still not right but it improved after a relief cut.

Final finishing of that previously welded area.

Such a relief seeing these two sections morphing into one.

I can live with that.

Hood remounted to begin planning on where to cut. Hard to make out in this photo but the hood is actually overlapping just about the entire run.

Flange cut free and ready for the final adjustment.

shape adjustment here is now going to be much easier with the skin loose from the flange. Should have this all at least tacked together by tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/24/17

Trough trouble.

Wanting to get this area behind me I hastily chased a gap and height transfer with the hood. Before I realized it I had ground the down the vertical shoulder even with the fender and wiped out my clearance for the eventual seal.

I had mindlessly ground down a good portion of it to about half the height that I will need. After this I just had to slow myself back down. I see the end of the tunnel coming and I'm rushing toward it and made stupid mistake.

I'm going back and assessing this original section since I'm also having some trouble getting a nice consistent line against the edge of the hood. With all of the body seam welding yet to go and weighing on me I decided to leave this for now and give myself time to get my head around it.

Moving onto the Right fender joints.

Began with finishing out the rocker.

Took some pick and filing afterward but its close and most importantly stable.

Onto the nose joint.

Lateral face stitched up, Pick, filed and shrunk where needed.

Onward and upward

Both panels really "peaked" in this area creating a very definite ridge so I'm very relieved that they're starting to flow out. So far its been a nice diversion away from that trough and made for a nice afternoon.
More seam welding tomorrow.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Took me while to understand the trough problem. The last photo on that made it clear I think.You have to make a strip to replace that taken away and weld this vertically in place ? Not easy and also you made the remark that this area was a problematic as well.

The seam welding looks great to me Justin. You are doing really well on that.
Knowing you I expect the trough will turn out fine in the end.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Roy. Sorry, I probably didn't explain that too clearly because it was almost too depressing to rehash but glad to hear you were able to make sense of it.
Thanks again!
Justin

7/24/17

Right fender to nose joint finished.


Finished it out this afternoon and chased it just shy of the trunk lid.

Its about as good as the left side with subtle irregularities remaining

but its close enough for any competent body shop to take it the rest of the way in without the need for a ton of filler if they decide not hammer finish it further.

Welding and finishing up that rear patch section on this fender next.
Thanks for stopping by!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/25/17

Welding up the rear patch section and Loose ends in right door well.

Patch section all stitched in, initially dressed and about ready to begin picking and filing the joints

Before that I flipped the car over to take care of the remaining chores down in the door well. Plug welding the flange lip and cleaning up a few old welds.

Welded and detailed out. I'm officially done in here.

Spent the last part of this session hammering and filing the leading edge for final shape.
I should be all done planishing the joints on this section by tomorrow which will complete my duties on this right fender save for the trough and trunk area.

Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JOP]

Morgen Justin,
Did you quit your day job
You are really moving forward quickly with each update.
By the way is the Doc aware of the required column he needs to start?
We love to see the Speedster getting ready for her debute again after 60 years
Thank you for sharing your progress
/ Per