SC Coupe Restoration

[tperazzo]

Thanks Justin, I've definitely been following all the great projects here. I'm down to a fairly short list, but some items will be harder to tackle such as the bumpers. My mind keeps telling me that I can do better here or that gap could be tighter, etc. So trying to find the good enough point is always hard.

I'm trying to follow the hour a day rule to get some easy items off the list.

Here's the wire conduit from inside the fender. All sealed up.



Good night,
Tom

[JTR70]

Hey Tom, Welcome back and glad to see you making a little progress once again. Its those numerous tiny loose ends like the one you just finished that can be the hardest to get yourself motived to finish. BTW: how many more little chores like this one do you have left to do before it can go to paint? Best of luck with your body shop search.
Justin

[tperazzo]

Small progress made today installing fender bracket/light conduit. The original conduit was rusted and damaged after transferring this original headlight bucket to the new nose section.

I flared the top of a new tube and welded in to headlight bucket. Will finish welding the back of the tube from the bottom side next time the car is flipped over.




Good to be back at it again!
Tom

[tperazzo]

Hi Everyone,
My project has stalled for the time being. All excuses you've heard before....Time, Job, Family, Money, too hot in shop, etc.
The car is home in my garage waiting for a tiny bit of body work and fitting all the parts. I've managed to do a few things lately, but nothing worth taking photos of. For instance adjusting fog light brackets, and decklid latches, etc.
This project will get finished and I hope to tour the shell around until I find a painter that I'm comfortable with. Its hard to hand it over, which is yet another excuse. I did feel sad during the last Rennsport reunion event as that is one I would have loved to drive this car to. O well. Life goes on.
I have been reading all of the projects threads here with delight. This site is such a great resource and inspiration. I hope to be back in the saddle again soon and posting away with some real progress. Until then keep up the good work you guys.
Thanks
Tom

[Trevor]

Tom - Have you talked with Shane East, he's in Orange.
http://www.eastautobody.com/

[JTR70]

Hey Tom,

Sorry to hear that but that sounds more realistic to me. Last we heard you were just wrapping up the nose then all of the sudden it was on a trailer out to paint. I thought how in the world did he get every aspect of that body sorted and ready for the body shop in such short order?? It's never gone that smoothly or quick for me, I'm still finding little things.
I have a suggestion since you've included the South-West as your radius...
My buddy Rick just down from me is an expert painter (and general fabricator) and is the paint shop general manager at Extreme finishes (its dedicated paint shop for heavy equipment) here in Las Vegas. He is up on all the latest paint system tech. and has educated me quite a bit since I've been talking with him; bottom line he knows his stuff and I am very impressed with him both as a fellow gearhead and all around good honest guy. He's been watching my coupster build and has mentioned if anything 356 related comes along to let him know. He's not "in the business" as he has his full time gig at Extreme but he's interested in some side work. So this could translate into your 20K budget as he is not a "shop" that has a monthly nut to cover. He's not versed in the 356 or its details but I'd be on hand to help with any of that. He's the one that got me the paint for my car and will be the guy shooting my coupe here in just a little while. Its another option for you. I guess the worst thing is that its about 350Mi away but being in the great state of Nevada we can still get and use oil base paints here. Unlike CA. where you are now restricted to the waterbase stuff. Something to think about...
Justin

[Don C]

Ditto!

[foamcar]

Thanks for the update Tom. Good to know you are still plugging away on it.
Phil

[tperazzo]

Hello everyone,
Thanks for thinking of my C Don. Here's where its at: After hustling at the end of last year to finish the metal work, I rushed it to a local shop to finish. That meant that I didn't properly fit all the parts back on the car. Several here have stressed the importance of trial fit, so I planned on bringing parts to the shop as needed. As it turns out that service was more than I wanted to spend, so the car got kicked back to me. Money always causes trouble.
Chris was awesome and it was a great experience to have another set of eyes evaluate the car. He discovered another thin area near the head light bucket that I will fix. I've been fixing all the broken parts and stripped bolts on bumpers, window frames, lights, etc.
So next time it goes out it won't come back until its Irish Green. It just doesn't pay to rush it at this stage. I spent so much time on the chassis, that some areas of the outer body got overlooked. I will put everything back on the car except the interior before it goes back out.
Chris may be too expensive for me as well, so I'm still looking for a good fit with a painter that isn't 1000 miles away. Please email me if you have any good recommendations in the southwest US. My budget is about $20k.
The past month has been busy with work and I've taken on a few extra jobs to pay for this sucker. Perhaps I'll start a new thread for some of my new 356 product related ideas.
I've been silently cheering everyone on here at abcgt. Plenty of excellent work here and its fun to watch.
Thanks
Tom
tom.perazzo@verizon.net

[Don C]

Tom,
We haven't heard from you in a while, how's the "C" coming along?

[Don C]

Tom & Per,
Thanks for the photos, they answer my questions.
Tom, the mounts are so screwed up that the plane is twisted. Will cut both forward and rear out, set the heights relative to the tunnel, then re-install.
Thanks again!
DC

[tperazzo]

Here's some pics of my original floors to back up Bruce's great photos.






Fairly "soft" impressions if you ask me. The front was really battered so I can't vouch for how original it is.

Hopefully pictures like this will be around a while for those who don't have originals to compare with .

Hi Justin,
Yes my car is at Chris Ashworths shop, although it's just sitting in the que to be honest. Not much new to report yet. I'm collecting and fixing all the exterior parts to trial fit before paint prep.
I'm so glad you are about to pull the trigger on your coupe. It's going to be amazing! Would love to see it in person some day!
Tom

[tperazzo]

Question: Were the seat mounts in a "C" spot welded to the floor or was there a more substantial weld used?
Mine were replaced,along with the floor,in the 80's and the heights vary over 1/4" making the seat rails not in the same plane.
Got new ones on order and was wondering how to attach them, thanks!
DC

Hi Don,
Here's some pics of my cars original seat mounts still attached to its floor. No special welds except maybe a gas weld tying the floor to the longitudinal sandwich.







If you need any height measurements, I can take whatever you need off my originals.
Is your plane twisted or just slanted?

Thanks Per for that picture of the cool factory jig. That's a time saver for sure!
Thanks,
Tom

[JOP]

Don,
If you look in the picture then there is the frame Porsche uses to get the seat mounts in correct position plus they have just done some spot welds to the mount with their giant spotwelder.
I hope this helps you out
/ Per

[Don C]

Question: Were the seat mounts in a "C" spot welded to the floor or was there a more substantial weld used?
Mine were replaced,along with the floor,in the 80's and the heights vary over 1/4" making the seat rails not in the same plane.
Got new ones on order and was wondering how to attach them, thanks!
DC