SC Coupe Restoration

[Trevor]

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

[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

[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

[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]

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

[Jack Staggs]

Nice to see you back at it Tom.

[Don C]

+1!

[tperazzo]

Thanks guys, I'm doing an hour a minimum at night even if it's just cleaning up my work area!

I think this is the last of the paint stripping thank god!



I also stripped two rear bumpers, one extra, but I didn't snap a picture I guess,

They need some straightening and TLC for sure.

Here's the internal brackets with a missing nut.




I ended up drilling out a previously brazed in repair by someone else.






I removed both brackets because they both have damage. Someone else removed one side before and messed with it unfortunately.


I spent a few hours pounding out dents in the bumper too. It's tough to get a uniform fit to the body, so I've been doing some picture research to see what the factory fit is like. Best I can tell is that the gap gets a little wider near the turn indicator lights.




I've been wrestling with it and will continue until I'm happy with it, ha ha.

Thanks!
Tom

[Don C]

Tom,
Here's a shot of my "C" rear bumper to body. The ends are a little tighter as the clearance is determined by the large round rubber spacers.

[tperazzo]

Thanks Don. I saved that picture for later. I'm currently working on the front bumper, so if you have a pic of the front that would be appreciated too.

Almost done fixing the brackets. Just waiting on some weld nuts to finish final welding.



I changed the floating nut cage a little because I don't have a spot welder to install as originally done. So rather than bending the hat section, I just bent two flanges and fillet welded it the the bracket. No one can see these once installed and it saves time. Plus it's probably stronger especially since I used a heavier gage sheet metal for the cage.




Flip side.



Small progress is better than no progress. Thanks for looking!
Tom

[Don C]

Tom,
My front bumper and nose were attended to by "Bubba" and is tight in the center. Here are some shots anyway:

[Jack Staggs]

That looks like a pretty typical fit to me Don.

[roy mawbey]

Yes it looks fine to me too. Also that front bonnet gap looks very nice as well

Roy

[Don C]

Thanks for the nice comments. My car looks OK from 10" away but goes down hill the closer you get. It's a driver so I'll live with it, I don't know if I have it in me to "open the can of worms"!

[roy mawbey]

Don,

You thought about that answer, in truth its identical to one I would make as well.I truly admire those here that struggle to get perfection on their 356. To see that slowly take place before your very eyes with the proof of so many photographs, detailing the hard work is bound to make anyone with a 356 want to have the same result.

But.. time dictates changes and for me the last strip down was over 27 years ago on the body and 39 years on the chassis. In between times, much work maintaining the car in a general sense as well as making a few cosmetic changes.

However, I can see like you, once you really get up close the deterioration probably started directly you finished the restoration work. Then the first stone chip..

Then finally and its taken years in my case I treat every aspect of wear or just age as patina. As I have said more than once, my original carpets would have been changed over 40 years ago if they had been in my house, now they are part of my car I really like!

But because the 356 is just wonderful to look at in its original or fully restored state, it really doesn't have to be perfect. I drive mine all the year round but always on dry roads. The mechanics I strive to keep perfect, here it does pay to have a super running car and there it stops. As much as I would like in principle to do it I will resist like you,putting a scaper on the paint!
I think your car looks really nice, enjoy it!

Roy