Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[Rad-Ride]

Wasting no time on the build! On my projects it takes me more time to figure out what I want to do & how I'm going to do it than it takes to actually do the work.
Also, I was wondering if the coupe cowl will be for sale at some point? I have a basket case 57' that it would look good on.

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Nice work, I understand now the priciples. Useful to have your car alonside to compare.

Roy

[JTR70]

Hey Frank, Like you, my peronal projects take forever. This one on the other hand is a job so I had to get cracking on it. Yes, that old cowl is available, I'll PM you. Welcome once again! Justin

Hi Roy, I knew it would make more sense with a few more pieces added in. You're right having my coupe for direct referrence is crucial. Thanks again! Justin

3/5/13
Finished up my sub-frame jig and am now addressing the battery box. Todays progress...

Went ahead and finished removing the old coupe striker plates. This conversion will utilize early T1 speedster high striker doors so off they came.

Jig is now finished. Though I could have gone further it stabilizes the chassis sufficiently and most importantly it will be clear and out of my way while I work.

The tunnel is just hanging on by a thread so I'll go ahead and remove it too. Having this thing out of the way makes new floor installation so much easier! A possible clearance problem in the future might be the center out rigger blocking the new floor from sliding in but I'll cut one if I have to. By then both longitudinals will be fully rebuilt so it won't be an issue to cut one.

One more tie-in was added to the rear torsion tube housing. Its out of my way so it can't hurt; only help.

[JTR70]

3/5/13 Battery Box

What to save and what to replace...

Left side is nearly prestine with no damage.

The right side did not fair quite as well and was crunched pretty good on this corner.

Fortunately there is no sign of damage or deformation behind the suspension. Thank God!

Have to make a decision weather to save this closing wall or replace it. The bumper bracket mount I can definitely straighten and save.

Both upper and low front bulkhead closing walls will be replaced. Someone got locked out of the trunk it seems and shot thier way back in through the hood.

Removed what was left of the front wall today along the lap joints. Too rusty, crunched and shot full of holes to mess with.

I think straightening this will amount to the same amount of effort as replacement but will access it further tomorrow. Note the curled metal between the torsion housing. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[Manolin]

Will you use donor metal or replacement metal like the Simonsen 356 panels?

[JTR70]

All the Chassis panels will be new vendor items like from Simonsen and all the "speedster panels" will be from Steve Hogue.

3/6/13
Addressing old collision damage on the right side battery wall.

To better asses if I'd save or replace this wall I had to get the old bumper bracket mount out of the way first. Drilled the spot welds and splitting it back apart here. The bracket is not rusty or weak so I'll definitely straighten it back out and remount.

Bracket removal gave a clean look at the damage. Again the wall is not rusted or weak so I'm going to try and save it. Replacing it would be just as much work by the time all the spot welds were drilled to get it free again. I'd rather spend the time and fix this one.

Along with some torch heat and a heavy hammer I also needed to apply forward pressure while I beat on it. I don't have a frame dozer though I could not use a frame puller anyway considering how delicate this frame is at the moment. So you just come up with solutions with the tools you have on hand like this bottle jack. Once clamped into position it does the job beautifully.

repeated heat and hammer blows are beginning to iron this piece back out. I could not do this cold, not only is this a tight space on the inside but its double walled and also lap jointed in this area. The jack ever so slowly crept outward so it is submitting.

Another solid session to put in here but its headed in the right direction.

Luckily the frame is still light enough to move and flip on my own. Continuing on tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Really interesting Justin, you make it look almost easy!! I read once a good hard collision on the a front bumper iron can send the damage right back to the area near the the windscreen. You were as you said lucky it stopped where it did.

Good thread

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you Roy! You're right it would not take too much to whad this chassis up to the A pillar. Rusty or not once you begin removing each individual component the point is really driven home as to how light each pressed panel is. While they get stronger as a unit it is still just 19 guage mild steel sheet. Thanks again! Justin
3/7/13
Only had an hour to work on it today so I removed the remaning brake/tunnel components and the diagonal brace.

Brace is completely gone at the toeboard bulkhead and offers zero stability. Its only in my way as I try to iron this right side wall out so I cut it free today.

a tunnel perimeter kit is the easy part. All the brackets and tubes for the handbrake, heater and floorboard footings all need to be fabricated. There is hours in just fabricating all these tiny details easily over looked.

As I pulled the brake cables out some of the grease "wormed" out of the breaches in the tubing. Back on the battery sidewall tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

1/9/13
Had just a little over an hour to play with this today. Applied more heat and hammering to get the kinks and stretched areas closer.


Mainly worked this area ahead of the rear inner bulkhead wall. It was kinked hard in front of it so it took several passes

Secondary damage was done as someone tried to beat the wall back outward and of course stretched it. Some heat and my shrinking hammer are slowly getting it back in line.

Still a ways to go but its closer. I am now sure I can save this piece. More tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[Manolin]

You must really love this work. Quite the education for those of us that never get to see behind the scenes of a restoration. Is it not a crossroad now, where you evaluate the rusty tunnel repairs vs. just buying a new one? Cost, time ...and how many cold ones?

[JTR70]

Thanks! Just trying to give a detailed look into what really goes into fixing one of these rusty/bent hulks. I'll repair the tunnel with a new lower flange kit. A new tunnel will be more money than the time it will take me to repair this one. Justin

3/10/13
Right box wall repair Continued.

The rest of my hammer blows will be downward so I thought it best to flip the chassis over and get a clear inside shot at it.

Looking to iron out this lump between the tubes which should drive this side out further forward where it needs to be.

As I hammered foward the lump would spring up behind me so I had to throw on a few tacks to hold it.

The progress soon ended. The horn's leading edge is now rolled back and sharper. To relax it and get the wall messaged flat I need two torches and an extra pair of hands to heat both areas simultaniously. Only have one of each so this relief cut was my answer to keep things moving and allow the wall to now flatten out.

With the relief cut I could now return to that buckle.

With the buckle now out you can see how much forward movement I got out of it by the new width of the relief cut. Once the wall is finished and stabilized I'll go back reheat the horn flange and stitch it back together.

[JTR70]

1/10/13 Part 2


The buckle was now level between the tubes and I began to beat the wall out level between the horn and the bulkhead wall. A stubborn ridge remained right behind the bulkhead run. I could only get light glancing blows on it and was going nowhere fast. My only option was to remove the outer portion of the bulkhead to expose this area and give me a clear shot at it.

Didn't want to do this but again left with no choice.

Now I can finish this off.

Finally got it all leveled out.

Still have a little tidying up to do on the lower flange area but the heavy lifting is done. With my clear hindsight now a replacement panel would be about the same work considering all that I had to cut and remove to get at it but it was good exercise on saving the old crap. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[Restomod]

Very cool, clad to see Im not the only one here working on a rough one....at least this is an A.

[JTR70]

Thanks Brock! Hey, are you working on your coupe yet? By your last comment it sounds like you would prefer to have an A car. If this is the case I'd recommend going the extra mile and hang an A front clip or skins on it. Why not, your car is very rusty and you are going to modify it heavily from what I understand. An economical, yet still very cool conversion if done cleanly would be a full fiberglass-flip front end. Rusty Tubs offers the glass body to build it. Heres a perfect example:
(this is one badass car which I love BTW)

Its a T6 coupe with a fiberglass "A" front end. Amazing how quickly it can morph into the A of your liking with just a nose job. Now If you wanted to go just a step further to complete this picture I know you can buy either an A or BT5 Coupe roof clip with the smaller front and back windows. Its just sheet metal don't be afraid to cut it up. Some food for thought...let us know what your up to with it. Thanks again for reading this build post! Justin

[Restomod]

I like A's (not much into the Pre A's) but I cant afford to play in that world. Worse than the Boss 302 world and I have dabbled (SIC?) there. I have not started to do much to the 65 mostly because I have been trying to buy my 63 back amd my other obsession 5th scale RC Gas trucks . Me and Ric talked about the glass front but at this point thats up in the air. Thanks and keep the updates comin!