SC Coupe Restoration

[Don C]

Geez, I thought I had everyone fooled with my painted lock pivot!
Good catch Bruce! Remember, from 10ft away it's OK.

[bbspdstr]

Don, I probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't done that myself a month ago!

As for 'looks'.....I don't use feet away, I go MPH! As in "Looks good over 50" (MPH)...enough: Tom will find what's right for him as he is a perfectionist and ....... we are pirating his thread....so one more joke. "Mirrors are usually aimed at the Porsche driver so he can makes sure he looks good where he's going, not wasting time looking at where he's been."

Seriously, a 'vanity mirror' on the driver's side sun visor was originally available on the early 356s....makes ME go.....hummmm .....

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

The posts about your door mirror were interesting. I had no door mirror fitted to my car when I bought it in the 60's. AFN the Porsche agent still had some brand new Durant door mirrors so I bought one.

I remember two things about fitting it. The first one was movement so correctly mentioned by Bruce. I tried swivelling it before fitting and it seemed to have a positive 'stop' but actually it was a limited movement to what I imagined it should be. It therefore took me much time to drill the fixing holes. I had help whilst I sat in the car and someone held the mirror. I was around 5 foot eleven inches and the seat position was important to get right.

Some 12 years or so later I happened to knock hard the mirror with my arm. Would you believe the movement of arc then was almost double!! It swivelled so much more, important for you to check that!! I do not know why it increased.

The 2 holes you welded up were obviously not for a Durant but the photos I have for the other 356 mirror the Aero do look more likely. But they fitted 356A / early B only???

The distance from the edge of the rubber seal to the beginning of the door gap is 5 inches on my mirror and one and a half inches from the seal edge to the window chrome trim.

I attach a photo of the aero and one of my Durant.





Roy

[Jack Staggs]

Tom, IIRC, there exists a diagram somewhere that shows the preferred Durant mirror location by Porsche. For US delivery 356, DOT did not require fittment of outside rear view mirrors. In 1966, DOT mandated that EVERY car here have an outside mirror, something that the German TUV required years earlier! This may explain variation of location, and type of mirror, as many had to be retrofitted to meet the DOT directive, while others were mounted at random as an option at the dealership level or installed by owners when the cars were new. It is unfathomable to me that Porsche, well know for precision, just handed a drill to an assembly line worker, and told them to drill a couple holes wherever they wanted.
There is a appox 2" hole in the door jamb (but not on preA/early T1) just above and to the rear of the upper door hinge. That hole is called the mirror access hole. The mirror hardware should be easily accessible through that hole with simple hand tools for the driver side (optional passenger side mirrors have a completely different location!). Don's mirror is nowhere near there. In my opinion, a ill fitted mirror looks as bad as rear badging that's out of position. I HATE that (sorry Don)! Here is a link to a few pix of what i believe to be factory fit.

Sorry folks, wrong link. here is the correct one Scroll down a bit.:
http://forum.porsche356registry.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21171

Please be aware that 356 Durant mirrors look just like the ones fitted to early 911/912, BUT the the mounting bolts on them can be different. Some 901 mirrors have a fixed stud near the leading edge of the mirror, with a single sliding bolt at the rear. 356 used TWO sliding bolts, with the forward sliding bolt more towards the the rear than the "fixed" stud. Installation of that 901 mirror on a 356 will result in a more rearward mounting position than the 356 one by an inch or so, if maintaining reasonable access through the door hole. If that is the case, simply cut off the offending stud, and fit an additional sliding bolt. Both mirrors have provision for two sliding bolts.
I'll try to take some measurements in the next few days of what I feel to be OG.
Oh, and thanks for the surprise package the other day, Tom. I really appreciate it.

[tperazzo]

Thanks everyone for all the guidance and support with the mirrors. I really appreciate it and will check into it more. As Jack said there is probably a service bulletin with locations somewhere.

As I move down my to do list, I finally decided to tackle a tough one.

The passenger door lower skin and door bottom was replaced by me along time ago. Actually it was one of the first things I did because I couldn't stomach the bubbles anymore. The repair looks ok, but the door has an oil can to it. In other words if I push on it hard enough I make a dent that won't pop back on its own. Chris pointed this out to me and said it needs to be fixed.

I now know that I must have over hammered it way back when I was early on the learning curve. I'm still learning obviously. Worst case is to weld in a new lower section but I tried shrinking the skin with my TIG torch.

This is hard to take pictures of what is really going on because it's a touch and feel thing. Luckily I was able to make the skin tight as it should be. I did need to hammer some shrink distortions out but this time I was careful and more strategic with my hammer blows.

Here's some pictures showing the shrink marks and a long stick to check overall curvature and high and low spots.










It doesn't look any better but all the squishyness is gone and I'm much relieved.

Thanks again for everyone's help and following this thread. Next up is fitting the chrome bits to this door. Luckily I'm not running a mirror on this side!
Tom

[Phil Planck]

Tom
Thanks for fessing up. I too put my door bottoms in before in knew what I know now. Even with Bruce's email guidance and pictures, I could have done a better job. Biggest mistake I made was not understanding Bruce's directions and not asking for clarification. I did not get the slight vertical curvature into the replacement lower piece and tried to put it in after the piece was welded in. This has caused some distortion above the weld line. Not terrible(<1/16"), but I have been working on removing it. I have one door pretty good now, but have yet to tackle the other one.

[Don C]

Jack, I take no offense! I'm pretty new to the 356 world and love learning all the little nuances on these cars. Whoever mounted the outside mirrors must have given some thought to their location as they actually work. They don't give a big field of view but I can see PART of a car in the blind spot when you lose it in the inside rear view mirror.

[Trevor]

Here are a couple of pics that demonstrate the wrong positioning of the mirror.

[Jack Staggs]

Tom, I posted the wrong link. Correction made.

Ya know Tom, I've been staring at the previously welded holes on your door pix, and they actually look pretty darn good on close review. Do they line up well with the access hole?

[tperazzo]

My welded holes seem a little too far toward the rear.

What do you think about this mirror pictured below? The mirror location seems to agree with the brown car that Jack sent the link to.




Thanks,
Tom

[JTR70]

Seems those mirrors where placed all over that upper quadrant. If it was my project I'd take Bruce's earlier advice and position that mirror so it "works" for me sitting in the drivers seat. Better still an even split of utility and aesthetics; leaning toward the utility side.

[Don C]

+1 what Justin said. Why mount them if they don't work? I'm 5'7" and the location I posted earlier work for me.

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

I know my 356 is an 'a' might make a difference to your SC but Justin is correct sit in and get someone to move it to the correct place. But I would place the swivel in the mid position to allow for correction.

I took a few photos of mine today with a ruler in mm. Try that first before drilling anything.







Roy

[John Pierce]

Roy,

You're driving on the wrong side of the road!


JP

[tperazzo]

Thanks Steve for your response on the pin and reamer set. I sent you an email.

Also thanks for the mirror location feedback which is all good.

Since I'm average height, 5'11", I'd like the mirror to be in a well accepted position asthetically. I do understand that there is a lot of variability, but my plan is start with the universally accepted position and adjust from there with the seat/pedals in the car. From what I've seen so far most of the variability is in the front to rear direction. I usually drive with the seat almost all the way back, but I will put the pedals and seat back in and report my findings when I get some more garage time. I probably need to put the wind wing back in to huh. (Funny picture by Trevor). This summer has been full of fun activities but I'm dying to finish my pre-paint to do list.

Thanks again for all the input...you guys are awesome.
Tom