Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[tperazzo]

Looking good Justin....keep going as you are clearly winning the long battle.

[JTR70]

Thanks Tony! Since I didn't hear back I figured you got busy over the holidays, just sorry to hear that it was due to a death in the family.
Thank you for the kind offer, if I happen to drop my old W/S and break it in half I'll probably take you up on that. Lets plan a day to meet up here soon!

Thanks a lot Tom! It was your post entries that spurred me onto finally buying this machine and I am so happy that I did! So my thanks for that as well. Hope you're still making progress on your coupe!


1/6/15
fitting cowl to the car begins.

Finished welding up the vent flanges this afternoon happily with fewer hiccups than yesterday's attempt.

Left the outer corners loose as they will be trimmed to fit next.

I was now comfortable cutting the forward flange off completely now that the rear flange was all welded up and established.

The next step is to weld on the original forward section but this cowl needs to be fitted and located to the car first so I can establish the cut or joint line between those panels.


Since I'm not restricted at the forward trunk gap anymore my most important orientation now is with the mounted lower W/S frame. Have to make sure each corner runs in behind each W/S post while their shanks are mocked up in a relative close position inside the A-pillar pockets I made a while back.

very rough but all the parts are well within reasonable adjustment here. I had a lot going on already with the defroster vents, wiper mount etc. but have just compounded it with these mounts. A long road ahead with so much that has to be aligned and fitted. My head does swim at times..

Once both posts were close on their own I mounted them back to the upper frame for the next evolution in this trial fitment process.


Promising alignment for this very crude first try.

Both corners of the lower strip run right behind the posts like they should.

Shank orientation to the pocket housing also got a little better once mounted to the upper frame. A lot of fine adjustment for sure but I think the cowl is pretty close to its final position.

[JTR70]

1/6/15

Part 2


Wanted a better idea of what my shank clearance at the bolt head was going to be so I installed my old ratty test W/S with seals to find out.

I was so pleased and relieved to find ample room in there for install and removal of the bolt.

The final width of the shank sleeves will be based on original dimensions but it at least appears to be very close at the moment.

At the same time this post and chrome base are lining up pretty well too.

Tons of elevation and alignments issues of course but at least I think it can all be made to fit and work together. That's what I needed to know this evening.

Just love the looks of a speedster W/S frame. What a beautiful shape!
The center gap under the rubber base is due to the frame assembly lying loose on there and laying backward a few more degrees than it should.


With this basic fitment confirmation tonight I am a little closer to locating my exact cut line for this new-old forward cowl section.

Tomorrows plan is to dig out the W/S wiper assembly from my coupe and mock this system up in this car to establish the center bracket and holes for the wiper shafts. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

1/7/15
Fitting the wiper assembly.

Original wiper unit from my T1 coupe

Wanted to make sure a coupe assembly would fit and was identical; They are.

Wiper frame bolted to the bracket and ready to try right after I drilled and elongated the holes into the cowl for the shafts.

Holes punched and assembly with cowl in for its first try together. A little tweaking and resistance of course but it'll get better as it progresses.

Shafts are mocked up with the rubber bases and jamb nuts. They both peak-out just under the base like they're supposed to.

Again a lot of fiddling yet to do but all these pieces are coming together. To be honest this part seemed a little mystical and intimidating to me as I thought about the time when I'd have to confront it and install. Now that I'm right in the midst of it its not as complicated as I had built it up in my mind to be. I guess it was because of the specific approach angles and being buried so deep under the dash?? And also too I have never really messed with or studied this area in any detail. Anyway not as scary as it seemed.
More adjusting tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[S.J.Szabo]

Mr.Rio:

With the obvious disclaimer of "do what you like", etc., as a fellow T-1 custodian, I can't help but wonder why (unless complete "authenticity" is the driving motive of your creation), with all options open to you, one would willingly install the most primitive and unalterable of the 356 wiper mechanisms. Its bowden tube on/off can not be modified, and the ass'y plate does not (as I recall) countenance the install of a better control, like a 2-speed C or an adaption of something more sophisticated and better suited to real-world driving conditions.

Of course, this is none of my business, but if I had been willing to make the necessary alterations, I'd have gone for a more flexible alternate in a heartbeat. As it is, the best I could do was to introduce a rheostat into the power supply line to get variable speed operation.

Just wondering.

[JTR70]

I guess I should have been more clear SJ, that wiper assembly belongs to my coupe and is the only unit I have on hand so its strictly for mock-up so I can dial in the cowl and the wiper bracket on this project. A newer wiper unit might go into this car at some point but for the moment all the holes and mount brackets are for the original system so I need it to be fully set up to accept an original wiper unit. You did get me thinking ahead on my coupe however, I think a conversion with a newer 12V motor for my car would be just the ticket! It would be very easy and straight forward to make another alloy base plate to accept a newer motor without modifying the car or its original components.

I'm pretty sure I'll do it at some point and just put that old 6V wiper motor and frame in this box with all the rest of the Original equipment I'm not going to run on my car. Great suggestion and thanks! Justin

1/7/15
Part 2 Initial tension rod set up.

Another important detail to test and confirm while I'm messing with this wiper bracket is the center tension rod.

Went ahead and located and drilled the hole in the cowls flange so the bolt could pass through.

Again just a very early and crude mock-up to plan the next move.

Most important confirmation here is that this rod is running perfectly perpendicular down the center and not cocked to one side as it gets to the bottom. Wiper bracket mount getting a step closer to final position. Thanks again for stopping by! Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
This is an amazing story. Learning to TIG on a Speedster. All the trial fitting and adjustments. All of the mental planning and angst. Most would not have the background and parts to do what you have done. Great job and thanks for sharing the details.
Phil

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Over 40 years ago I purchased with other spares a wiper assembly froma 1960 T5.

Like you I have been sort of interested over the years on how that all works and is fitted. Its not easy to see up under the dash and your pics have made it much easier for me to see how it fits. Mind you my wipers work correctly buyt very rarely to I pull the switch! Rain I keep away from it.

However, your T1 I guess has the SWF motor and fittings, the 356B T5 has a Bosch motor etc. My T2 is SWF but I just presume the Bosch motor would exchange should my SWF one fail?

Anyway great job you are doing and nice assembly work in making sure it will all fit.

T5 wiper assembly below:



Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks very much Phil! Always glad to hear that these installments are of some interest. Yes, having the original parts on hand is key, I'd be completely lost without them for reference. Thanks again!

Thank you Roy! Doesn't look like a whole lot of difference does it? I think that unit could be easily retrofitted into an earlier car. Thanks for the pic. and confirmation.

1/8/15
Begin fitting new/old forward cowl extension piece.

Hinge mounted the hood again in preparation of setting the New/old extension piece since the rest of the cowl is about 90% set.

Nearly fell right into position on the first try.

Aside from establishing the lid gap this approach angle has to be dialed in as well to form a smooth continuous line off the hood. The approach angle of the cowl will need to come up a bit.

Once the panels are cut even that should take it most of the way, however there is more fine adjustment with the positioning of the wiper bracket feet.

Removed the cowl to begin locating the forward section in its best adjusted position first. Continuing on with that tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[big jock]

I love reading this thread,great work indeed.The rubber mountings for the windscreen motor are the same as those used on the rear wiper motor on a 1989 to 1993 VW polo if you wanted to replace the perished ones.

[JTR70]

Thank you very much Duncan, I appreciate you saying so! And thanks also for the tip concerning the wiper collars. Justin

1/11/15
Locating forward cowl section to chassis

Original rubber seal corner clamp holes almost lined up perfectly on both pieces even though this section is not original to this car.

Once the corners were established more added to draw these pieces together tightly

Once tight the bulkhead flange changed the approach of this section and the center was now lower than the hood.

A bottle jack was needed to get the front back up.

All good again Lost a little uniformity in the hood gap but will get it back through opening up the holes on the mount flanges as it won't take much. more later. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

1/12/15

Rear section cowl adjustments before the final big cut.

With the New/old forward section located in its final position I could now remount the back half to find my final trim line. To establish that more accurately meant remounting the W/S assembly again.

At this stage lateral orientation was my main concern. With the base mount set and established on the skin I had to be certain the entire assembly was centered on the car. I had several reference points I measured side to side from but a critical sight mark was the bolt head clearance to the inside wall of the pockets. The photo above shows an equal distance for both sides.

It took a lot of double checking and ceremony to get here but the W/S assembly was finally in its best adjusted position on the car.

I was finally comfortable enough to scribe in the trim line for the final cut on this very abused piece of metal.

Half way through with my tinsnips here.

Initial fitment right after trimming here. A very long way still to go but the basic contour shape looks promising.

Very slowly and carefully tacking these two pieces from the center outward next. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

1/13/15
Begin tacking cowl sections together

Ever so slow process of lining each side up for a tack weld.

left side droops a bit under the wiper shaft hole. Will need to be pick and filed once the welding is done. I can also see where I'll be needing my shrinking disc on this area as well.

Right side is behaving much better.

All that considered its still shaping up okay so far...so far

Cowl tacked, dismounted and directly compared to my original again just to be sure. All the flanges and mounting holes are lining up as best as I could hope for.

Will begin Tig'ing up this very long run next.

Set back on the car in its relaxed shape without clamps or a W/S base mounted. Not too twisted or contorted; a good sign. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

1/22/15
Cowl splicing complete

Probably the longest weld seam I've ever done but in return I got a lot of practice and learned more about TIG welding.

With the welding complete its now onto picking and filing to remove the rollers from heat distortion.

My "oil canning" corners are more unstable after welding. In the down position my gap is back at the corner of the W/S base.

"clicked" the other way and the contour is back.

Marked area will need some torch heat to gather up some of this metal to stabilize it.

After some heat it was remounted on the car for the first time after all the welding.

A lot of massage still yet to do but the basic shape and contour survived.

W/S base just laying loose just to see how much of the cowl's shape remains within striking distance. Thanks for looking! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Fantastic Justin, what a story on that area. It would have finished me for certain. Patience is something you have in spades to stick with it and with so many people watching your every move It cannot be easy to sometimes wonder if you made the right decision when you are not positive it will work.

Only as an aside issue, I remember once ( I have never actually ever forgotten), at a major machine tool exhibition, setting up a CNC cylindrical grinding machine for demonstration to all the people that might be interested. I had a large shaft between centres and a 400mm diameter grinding wheel set to come in and grind several diameters and faces in one operation. All goes well for several days grinding samples. Then.. one guy asked me if I could make a correction on diameter size and how easy was it to do I did not pay enough attention to thinking twice or even three times on the correction values. Somehow in error, I entered incorrect values to the control and pushed the start button... Instead of reducing the diameter by about 10 microns the wheel advanced and instead of the ' sensitron 'sensor' stopping the wheel advance speed on contact with the shaft it didn't and it broke a centre and sent the sample crashing down onto the machine bed. So lucky the wheel did not break!!

I was being watched by people who then took cover everywhere.Since then I do measure always more than once before cutting.

With your work and photo's no chance to bring out the plastic filler!
I hope the surgeon appreciates your effort, its not easy 356 restoration!!

Roy