SC Coupe Restoration

[merbesfield]

Thanks guys! I'm using lead-free solder from Johnson, ha ha lead-free lead is like ordering a cheese burger without the cheese.

The material is fairly soft, so I used a few different sizes of tapered and round files. In the nook area, I used a rotary teardrop file on my dremel.

I will get lots more practice soldering around doors and hood. Stay tuned.
Thanks,
Tom

Tom, can you tell us exactly which lead you are using? When I go to their site there are a number of choices so I want to get it right. Thanks for the help.

[tperazzo]

Sure Mark, Its Johnsons 523 solder and it comes in 1/4" diameter sticks. I think its around $35/lb. I'm sure the Eastwood stuff is good too.

I noticed if you let it run by getting it too hot, then its almost like it becomes non-homogenous. Hard to explain but it seems some areas take more heat to melt it again if that makes sense. It's made from several alloys and my guess is that some separate from each other at different rates.

Just be careful to control the heat input and it works great. I made my own paddles from some very hard maple that works great especially when coated with bees wax. I had some wax laying around thats used on my table saw top. Surfboard wax was tempting, but I didn't try it.

Hope that helps.
Tom

[Phil Planck]

Tom
Back on pages 52-53 where you were forming the bottom flange on the nose, what kind of angle does it have with the front of the nose. Mine is all over the place from accident damage, etc. I will probably have to cut up into the nose a little in some areas in order to get a good repair.
Thanks - Phil

[tperazzo]

Hi Phil,
Glad to see your smooth progress on the nose. My return flange is around 80-90 degrees as measured from the tangent of the lower nose. Having said that, I don't know what is original. Other cars I've seen, the flange is not parallel to the ground, instead it turn up like I tried to make mine. You might want to get other advice on this one, because I'm not 100% sure.

I saw your question about the drain holes too. Here's a picture of an unrestored and unpainted 65C with the holes you found.



This car is a cabriolet and made by Reutter. My car didn't seem to have these holes, so its either a Reutter or Cabriolet thing. And I thought Karmann were the ones with all the extra drain holes.

Good luck on your project,
Tom

[tperazzo]

Just a quick mobile phone shot on my rear door gap now loaded with solder. I'm waiting to file the top half until I'm happy with those funky Z-shaped profiles that converge at the top. Sculpting that is a ton of work, but I'm getting more comfortable using the solder.

Anyway, I thought I would post this because it makes me happy to see this gap fixed. It was the worst on the car at about 6mm at the top with the factory lead removed. It was always an eyesore every time I walked into the garage.

Even though there is still tons of fitting to do with this door its gratifying that this thing is starting to look like a car again.

Of course, I'll be opening the gap up to 2- 2.5mm.

Thanks for watching.

[JTR70]

Looking good Tom! I'll bet you're happy about getting the factory lines back. Keep up the great solder work!

[Phil Planck]

Tom
Thanks for posting that pic. Once I get my nose taken care of, lead work is next on my list. Will be interested in your comments on shaping that upper lock pillar lead. I just watched all 5 segments of "Made BY Hand" again last night. Lots of lead work going on.

Phil

[tperazzo]

Hi Phil, I have even more respect for the factory workers after trying the lead work on the door pillar.
It requires so much patience, that I just had to walk away several times, take a break and try again several days later. At one point I had to start over.

Anyway this is what I ended up with. It's hard to get a good picture of shiny solder!













Sorry for the sideways pictures. Maybe I can fix it later tonight. The gap is currently 2.5mm except for the very top. I will need to add solder to the door to bring this closer. There is factory evidence of lead there BTW.

Now I'm moving on to the forward gap which is another major headache for me. I ended up cutting the door skin away from the frame to reduce the amount of lead up there. More posts to come on that soon I hope.
Thanks
Tom

[Don C]

Nice work Tom! Gaps look great!

[Phil Planck]

Looks good Tom. This is next on my list when I get all of the dents out of the nose.
Phil

[JTR70]

Looking good Tom! Yes, the guys who performed this work at the factory were true artists and it is a skill that is only developed through constant practice. Like I said before the easiest application is the first one then adding more solder where it needs it without melting or ruining what you previously created is the real tricky aspect of it all.


I can confirm too that the upper corner of the door was shaped in solder to tighten up the lines. Keep up the great work! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

Very nice work for the first attempt. I had more on the floor than on the car when I started but like Justin says practice and it suddenly all comes together. I relate it to Modern Jive very hard to start but like turning on a switch it suddenly all goes okay.

Well done!!

Roy

[tperazzo]

Thank guys. Justin hit the nail on the head when it comes to my difficulty with this jamb. The moment I added more solder, the surrounding areas slumped making it super difficult. I learned to make sure enough material is added before filing although some areas are almost 1/4" thick near the top, so its tough to pile on that much material on a vertical surface will all those jamb profile steps.

Lead was needed all the way down the jamb to make the steps even thickness from top to bottom. Every shape was mostly sculpted by free hand.

Thanks for that picture Justin, I'm going to add lead to my door to look just like that. Excellent work.
Thanks
Tom

[tperazzo]

Some of you may find this technique interesting....

Before I set the forward door gap with solder in the way the factory did, I want to make sure there are no valleys in the gap too. In my opinion both the gap and the shape across the gap are equally important.

Some time ago, I replaced the trailing edge of the front fender and it looks good until I put a long arching wood strip over the gap. Sure enough the body work dips down near the gap which I was apparently ok with then, but now my standards are creeping up.

The access behind the trailing section of the front fender isn't very good, so I decided that I would try to pull the metal up using my slide hammer. I don't own a stud gun because I don't like the pimply shape the metal ends up with.

While time consuming, I fabbed these little pull tabs and soldered them to the sheet metal.





A slide hammer slides in the hole and then, WHAM! a large section of the metal rises up.



It actually pretty amazing how much force the solder will take and I used a 60/40 lead from radio shack because it melts at a very low temperature to avoid heat distortion.

Then I constantly check the valley depth until its zero using a long flexible stick.



Same stick used down low too. Actually I have a 9 footer that goes the whole length of the car almost. Its taken a lot of work, but I want one continuous arc from fender to door to rear fender.



This shot shows a valley only on the door side which will get filled with solder once I'm happy with the fender position relative to the door.

This method is time consuming, but when there is a will there is a way. I did move the pull tabs around a few times to avoid creating rolling waves as I pulled.
Tom

[JOP]

Thanks Tom,
You show us there is another way to do things IF you havent gotten that fancy "tool" for the specific job.
I have done a similar job.... I have the BIG puller as you and I have a smaller one that is used for changing brake pads that is good for smaller areas/ pulls
/ Per