Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[JTR70]

1/20/15
Tail skin fitment continues.

Trimming the excess of the flange now allowed for closer gap and final positioning of the tail. The thickness of a paint stick used as the baseline. I personally like the gaps a lot tighter and I really had to fight myself to move it back by a paint stick.

Lateral gaps also adjusted to this width or as close as I could come. Elevation to edges of the latched lid was also being established and some scrap metal tacked into position held it in place for now.


looking for that even and smooth transition across these two panels. Really happy with the basic shape and contour of this tail skin so far.

Best average initial fit. Gets wide at the corner but a little body solder will fix that right up.

It still droops a little here and there but there's not a lot supporting it at the moment. Once I get all the upper flanges in with the fenders and the braces I'll be able to really manipulate the final shape.

Main priority is getting the gaps around the lid within striking distance.

Its easy to stress out as its happening, "this is not right, that's not right" but once I remind myself of all the support and bracing still to come my mind settles back down. As I push the corner in tighter here replicating the eventual support of the fender and brace the whole shape and attitude of the panel immediately improved; there is hope after all.

Time to check to see where those mounting flanges at the rear ended up. Lid operates pretty well now.

Not as well as I hoped. Some nipping and tucking required here.
More later..
Justin

[JOP]

Justin, you have all the neigbourhood boyz & their dads dream factory.
Looks so PRO with all the 356 laying around your shop.
It is really an adult metal jigsaw puzzle.
Thx a million for the inside glimse of a "BODY" mans world
/ JOP

[JTR70]

Thanks again Per I appreciate that! I Like that collage.
Wish I knew how to do photo shop stuff like that...

2/4/16

These are a few weeks old and the photos are piling up so I thought I'd better get back on it.

Flange needs to stand taller to meet the skin in its level position with the latched lid. Starting to cut it free along one of Trevor's existing joints to add in the needed height.

Free and now ready to mock up the tail skin again to determine where this piece needs to be.

mocked back up...again

Flange tacked into needed position. Spot welds on that plate gives some scale as to how far its moved.

Started tacking in the new filler section but as it went I just wasn't liking that deep distance between latch and the upper lip. Something was just off about it.

Studied the original on my coupe and noticed the step flange on the skin is about twice the distance of the one in the new skin. If you scroll back up you'll see what I mean. This was the problem, for it to look correct the tail skin flange needed to meet the flange I was raising somewhere in the middle. Took a little time to decide what I wanted to do there. More later.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

2/5/16



The flange dilemma was getting a bit tedious so I took break to think about it and pushed the quarter panels a little farther into position since the tail was getting really close.


Took a bit of persuasion but I was able to hook that upper lip over to finish off the decklid opening.

It was all lining up surprisingly nice.


two panels were overlapping well



Closed the lid down to see what the initial gap looked liked


Once clamped against the tail skin a lot of the excessive profile crown disappeared.

Certainly have some nip and tucking to do but not as much as I was thinking the first time I tried this fender on.

Profile shape from the cowl, to the lid and onto the skin is slowly getting dialed in.

[neilb]

loving this Justin, looking great!

keep at it...

[roy mawbey]

Well done Justin!! It just goes to prove though yet again, this work is so difficult if you don't have a comparison nearby. Your 356 is really helping you!

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you very much Neil! You're doing some amazing coachwork on that coupe of yours, Thanks again for sharing the progress!

Very true Roy, without reference cars or original speedster components to guide me this car would be impossible. (for me anyway) Thanks again!

2/6/16

Initial right side quarter panel fitment.

drilled the spot welds and removed the inner channel like the left side to make way for an accurate mock up.

General profile was nice without the excess crown the left side had the first time on.

Continues the line of the lid opening closely enough.

Continues cowl pretty well.

First discrepancy, after lining up everything mentioned above I've lost the door line and the front of the wheel arch. If I line these up I in turn lose the cowl and lid openings.

I'm really not there yet so I'll figure it out further once I'm fitting this quarter panel on for good.

Fun and exciting while it lasted now back to those flanges at the tail skin.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JOP]

Justin, so what is your option?

It seems alot to strech out IF not using your old "cut & pie" style to make it fit.
I just drew some lines but you have the 1:1 3D version in your garage for the best view.
It looks like you have the some good ref points but then something else is out of line

[neilb]

umm i can see your dilemma! i think i would keep the gaps and at the decklid an alter the door gap and arch, but I'm sure you've already sussed out your plan of attack.

thanks for the kind words Justin but we are all following your progress with much interest

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Per and Neil!!

This photo sort of sheds light on what has happened at least in my mind so far. Notice the aggressive forward lean of the wheel arch, while I personally like the look of that much better it doesn't match the other side. So if I lose the upper alignments and swing the door edge down where it needs to be this arch settles down and matches the left's attitude much more closely.

I'm guessing for whatever reason this panel slipped on the jig as it was tacked together so I'm thinking I'll have to cut along that weld seam to allow the lower fender to swing down into alignment; which is going to require a filler strip. No getting around that any way I slice it. (so to speak)

Thanks again for the feedback on this guys!
Justin

[JOP]

Now thats sounds like a good attack on the panel
After you showed the other photo plus seeing the looooooong stiching of the panels it sounds very likely that it might have slipped some when getting tacked for final assembly.
Go Justin Scissor-hand

[JTR70]

Its a very long weld run Per and I'm really not looking forward to it but that is the preliminary plan unless a better option develops as it goes. Thanks again! Justin
2/7/16
Tail skin flange

Zipped the center section of the flange free to add in a widener strip.

Strip section half tacked in. The excess will be trimmed way leaving just a few MM's of shoulder for the upright flange to attach to.

New strip section tacked into position with tail assembly mocked up. Bulkhead flange now closed down to a width I can live with.

Filler strip now only required at center as it closes down at the corners.

A-T1 frame details:
Dealing with the long, jagged strips of these flanges was really getting me down so I shifted gears to something a bit more fun for the rest of that session.

All T1 A-cars came Carrera ready so I made a paper template from my car for the oil tank holes which would be found on all '56 and early '57 cars.

Got them all in about the right spot.

I don't think I'll make the mount brackets as this car will most likely never require this tank.

But punching the holes were an easy fun detail to add.

After punching the holes and aside from the upper flange surgery All the loose ends in and around this bulkhead were in desperate need of finishing. I really wanted to simplify this area so you can see here that I was in process of plug welding the flange joint up to the eventual upper step-flange and also wanted to get across the back seam and the bumper brackets.

Lower rear bulkhead details complete.

All these closing panels finished out together a lot better than I thought they were going to when I first started wrestling with them.

Finally finished out the all those plug-weld heads on the bumper brackets then followed it up with the panel spotter.

Welding and finishing across the length of the flange extension I had to add was a nice one to be done with. Upper corners re-welded also where I had to relief cut Trevor's existing weld for a slight adjustment. Flange joint at the side walls fully attached too.


Heated the corners of the flange and rolled them as done originally. I suspect for easier serviceability of the tail lights.

Rolled corner of the original

Getting this area all buttoned up is such a nice luxury as it now gives me a clearer picture and to better concentrate on the upper flange and the skins.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
Ref. Qtr. Pnl. Wonder if the misfit was caused by weld shrinkage? Remember how much my repair piece shrunk just behind the lock pillar. Might be worth trying to stretch the haz area on a wheel.
Phil

[JTR70]

I could see that perhaps being the culprit in some instances. In this case as it sits now the fender needs to rotate down a good inch or better all the while leaving the upper section in position. It seems a bridge too far to make up that distance with stretching. I'm not there just yet and will have a much clearer picture once the cowl is welded in and set permanently. Thanks again Phil!

2/8/16
Fitting this cars new and final deck lid.
I've been using Drew's lid which was sent by mistake and he's been nice enough to let me use it for a while. Its been great for general mock ups but I'm now at the point where I need to fine tune and commit the surrounding new panels/gaps to a closing lid that's staying with this project.

New lid that will stay with this build.

Elevation discrepancy with cowl wasn't as severe as I had with Drew's lid. A good sign.

Paint Coincidently about the same color but in better condition.

Pretty close and Won't require a whole lot of notching to the hinge boss to bring the lid down even with the cowl.

About a cutting wheel's thickness.
Tailoring that next.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[bbspdstr]

Thanks for the book, page by page, on how this is done! I'll buy a copy when the final chapter is finished and the book is published!

Here is where I am right now on a Speedster that was hit front and rear and rolled when it was a race car.

The rear was waffled enough that it's worse than beginning with a decent Coupe. Every piece needs either major straightening or replacement after the basic pulling and jigging.



I have all that Trevor makes and will make what he doesn't. Yes, even the rear lid is twisted so there is a LOT of careful measurement.



Speaking of which, has anyone ever seen a source for a Speedster plan and elevation drawing such as are in the Factory service books for Coupes and Cabriolets?



Sometimes, holding a bent 'chassis' for subsequent fitting takes some basic 'clamping'. Knowing that the 4 corners for the suspension are where they belong is not always enough.

Justin, thanks for your tutorial so far. I wish I had more time for involvement here. Learning often takes more time than the application.

-Bruce