SC Coupe Restoration

[tperazzo]

Thanks everyone. Justin I now know why you punched your coupe

Other aspects of this car need more attention, so I'll move on for now. Once the bumpers and huge guards are fitted, I'll look at it again and decide if I try to fix it.

The horn grills are ok, it's just the fog light hole. I would have to cut it out along the perimeter, reposition it and then splice in a thin wedge. I'm worried about the heat associated with a double weld pass. Probably two days of work???? Probably 40" of weld length.

So Murphy's law prevails on this nose!

Seeking Murphy's Companionship, SMC

Just poking fun, ha ha.
Tom

[John Pierce]

Good info Bruce. Let us know how the Porsche repro nose mocks up.

[bbspdstr]

Original nose, crooked horn opening on right side:





There was so much welding on this A Cab that a little more in the correction process wasn't a difficult decision.

-Bruce

[JTR70]

It will be very interesting to know how that new part plugs into position Bruce; It looks nice enough. I know exactly what you mean by the look and feel of those Taiwanese "will fit" body panels and this clip certainly looks like one. I've worked with them on several of my Japanese truck rebuilds over the last 20 years. By the 1990's the quality and fitment was actually pretty good. I have a pair of their front fenders on my Toyota and they actually fit and looked great. My only complaint was that the lines got a bit hair-lipped at the forward corner by the turn signals but for the price they could not be beat. Toyota wanted about 185.00 per fender and I think I bought repops for about 29.00 each. I also bought the entire front end group for literally pennies on the dollar compared to the factory stuff. That being said I can just imagine what the profit margin must be for Porsche after they've applied their stickers. I'd venture to say that their cost is maybe 300 a copy if that???? Please keep us posted on how this goes and thanks!

Hey Tom, I know exactly how frustrating it can be trying to chase perfection. Keep in mind that this area is upside down, waist high and in perfect view. Once the car is down on the ground where it belongs and this valance is literally few inches off the pavement with front bumper installed you yourself will probably be hard-pressed to detect these slight irregularities.

I'm going through the same thing right now chasing the reflections from side to side. I've seen a lot of restored Pre-A,& A noses that are just not symmetrical and the reflection is "faster" on one side than the other. I'll look at mine from one angle and think yeah, pretty good, then from another and go ah-shit this thing is still off. Keep in mind too that these front ends can emit a lot of optical illusions. Sometimes I'll look at my horn grill openings and one looks higher than the other or they look crooked in there. As a matter of fact this very photo seems to show that the left opening is higher than the right. But its not, they are both in untouched factory positions. So I think it is wise to step back and take a break from this area, It may begin to look better. Another test you might want to do is to mock up the lower grills in there to see what their orientation with one another is. Keep your head up; I think you might be splitting hairs...

[Jack Staggs]

Well, that really sucks. I went back to your pix, and I think I can see the difference in pitch. Are the upper horn grille openings relatively in alignment? All that being said, I have noted differences from side to side on know original cars as well. You know, hand made...

[foamcar]

Bruce
Thanks for posting that Porsche nose. Neat second shot. Really looks nice, but as we all know now, looks can be deceiving.

Tom
Bummer! Looking at your upside down nose I cannot see a difference. Might be time to say: "It's under the bumper - screw it". Or, put a little sticker there noting who made this part. But after the great lengths you have gone for "correctness" I am sure you will come back to it with the "plan", like cut & paste time.

Phil

[tperazzo]

Tom
Unbelievable what you had to do to that repro part. And done very well. Not sure what you are referring to about the smile. Is that along the bottom flange? Can take pics of Foam Car, but probably not a good reference.
Phil

Thanks Don, Justin and Bruce.

After all this work, I'm still not happy with the end result. The fog light and vent holes checked out okay when measured vertically from the floor to be even distances. However, now that the nose half is installed I can see that the fog light hole is rotated clockwise relative to the original side. This changes the distance from the fog light hole to the newly formed flange also. So that isn't equal either.

Its noticeable in the previous picture, I posted. So you all are too kind for not saying something. That or maybe I'm just to involved to overlook it.

Not sure what I'm going to do???? Probably move on to a different area and maybe come back to it after my anger goes away.

Whoever is reading this, please think twice about replacing only half a nose. I would have saved time replacing the entire thing. Than I would have two crappy halves, but at least they wouldn't be winking at me. Although the nose Bruce found does look decent. I wish you the best of luck Bruce. We should all learn something from Bruces great stories.

Buyer beware for sure!
Tom

[tperazzo]

Question, how did you spot weld the template and then how did you remove the template after you finished rolling the lip?

The metal template was made from 1/8" steel and welded to the inside two different ways actually. The area outside of the battery box was tacked with MIG. This was difficult to pull off because I had to stick my big helmet in the wheel arch, feel around for a place to weld all upside down of course. Was a good reminder how messy inverted MIG welding can be! Definitely hard to reach but doable for a simple tack.

The area in front of the battery box was plug welded. So the usual drill and MIG weld technique but I did use a small drill bit, maybe 3/32" or so.

During hammering I tried to back up the plate with a dolly to reduce the stress on the welds. Luckily it held after all that hammering.

To remove the piece was another PIA. Stuck my head under there again with a cut off wheel and sliced through the tacks. In the area in front of the battery box, my grinder wouldn't fit. So I sliced through the plug welds to weaken it enough to break off. Here's a picture of the needed slice which can easily be TIG welded close.





This wasn't an easy job, so good questions.
Tom

[bbspdstr]

Just delivered from Porsche, a one-piece T-6 front. I just got it out of the box and compared it to 'the real thing' and it's difficult to tell now what will be needed to make it fit properly, but it beats the challenges of the two pieces chronicled here!

Two weeks from Germany, also less than expected in cost. Installation is the proof of overall savings to the customer and time will tell.

"We" need a rental program for all the special tools and jigs and forms being created for such projects. A book on all this may be a legacy for future 356ers that Justin can produce......in his alleged 'spare time.'

-Bruce

PS- After all I've been hearing lately about who is doing what and where, I would not be surprised that the stamping for the above part is done, say, somewhere like Taiwan, finished in a Scandinavian country and shipped to Stuttgart where it's labeled as a Porsche part and priced accordingly. It has that 'look' and 'feel.'

[foamcar]

Tom
Unbelievable what you had to do to that repro part. And done very well. Not sure what you are referring to about the smile. Is that along the bottom flange? Can take pics of Foam Car, but probably not a good reference.
Phil

[Don C]

As usual, very nice work!

[JTR70]

I can appreciate all the extra time that was put into making that hammer form. It really did the trick so time well spent! Looks great!

[merbesfield]

Question, how did you spot weld the template and then how did you remove the template after you finished rolling the lip?

[tperazzo]

Thanks Justin, it's good to back in the shop occasionally.

Here's the flange forming tool I cut to match the original side. It will be flipped and tack welded to the inside of the new nose.


Here it is welded to the new side.


Partially folded over.


Form removed and flange folded further down.



I spent some time leveling the center but the edges are still non symmetrical. I have been researching lots of pictures and manuals to determine how much of a smile is correct. If anyone has any documentation, or advice please share. So far I have the workshop drawings and some sales literature pics that are pretty good, but I'm sure there's better references out there somewhere.
Thanks,
Tom

[JTR70]

Its cleaning up nice Tom! Glad to hear you're ready to make another run at it. Keep up the great work!