'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[jacques]

concur

[John Pierce]

Thanks for the input, Jack. I too like the the idea of an S-90 in an S-90 car, even if it's not the original "number's matching" engine everyone wants! So much for originality The engine was taken completely apart and everything cleaned and measured. I drove down to see the engine this past weekend and it looks very nice and runs well. The home mechanic rebuilder is very particular about the things he does, but there's always a chance that something wasn't done correctly. Always a crap shoot.

JP

[John Pierce]

On to more undoing of previous repairs and putting in fresh new metal.



This is the rear left inner fender with multiple patch panels overlying rusted out areas. The engine tray was put in level, but needs to be removed so I can get to the rear closing panel.




Hard to get a good picture of the outer portion as the fender is in the way.



The rearmost portion of the frame needs a repair patch. The bent over edge of the inner fender is a prime location for water to collect and rust to form. This edge came out revealing caked layers of rust.



The rear frame end repaired and the overlap area derusted.



The rear portion of the inner fender is repaired and spot welded in place. I'm doing this in sections as the rust is so extensive and it will help maintain the original position of the metal.



On to the bad and ugly! There is supposed to be an overlap here between the front and rear portions of the inner fender metal. It's nonexistent and the previous repair patch doesn't do much to stop further rusting. You can see that this type of repair occurred along the whole lower edge.



Starting the removal process. Gobs of rust everywhere with red dust getting on everything.



The offending area removed and cleaned up.



Unlike the repair on the right side, which only went up half way, the left overlap region is absent all the way to the top of the engine bay. This precludes spot welding in such a tight space so I opted to make the overlap "ex-vivo." Two templates were made and the metal was cut to size.



The finished product will look exactly like the original installation.



Installed and looking much better. Ahh......



Repair patches as seen from the outside. The front portion of the inner fender comes down farther on the frame than the rear portion and the 90 degree flange is spot welded to the frame. Some work still needs to be done to tidy things up.

I've just gotta keep plugging away at this and always picture driving the car when done. If I focus on one section at a time it doesn't become overwhelming....much! The next play is to remove the more forward previous repair patches.

Thanks for following.

[JTR70]

What a mess this guy made of your car, so much crap to unwind! I think you've beat me hands down in the patience department my friend. It would be hard to hang in there with all this and its everywhere. You're doing a marvelous job on the spot-weld and lap joint details; just fantastic! Justin

[John Pierce]

The things I'm repairing are not sexy, but really need to get done. Grunt work.



The bottom corners of the firewall were previously repaired and hidden by the engine tray. Once the tray was out the repairs had to be removed. The inner fender is being repaired at the same time.



Things cleaned up and template made.



One less thing on the checklist.



Continuing with the inner fender. This is how the car looked after media blasting. Just a few patches.



Offending metal out. The cockpit rear wall flange and frame flange were eaten by the rust bug and had to come out.



Seen from the inside.



Templating the area, which is pretty tight with the shock mount in the way. The fender was installed before the shock mount so the metal flange needs to be tucked behind it.



Ready for installation. I had to punch holes for rosette welding as the spot welder couldn't reach this area with the trunk release tube still in place.



Looking better every day.



The engine bay fender is once again solid. The top where it meets the outer sheet metal had rusted through and will be tackled next.

Thanks for following.

[Phil Planck]

John

Really nice work. Brings back memories of my repairs to that area on Foam Car. Fortunately I did not have to undo someone else poor repairs.

Phil

[JTR70]

Yuck! No fun, I feel your pain. Its looking great, keep widdling away at that to do list John.

[Phil Planck]

John

One thing I did not do but wish I had was to check the match or mismatch of the surrounding engine tray with the engine sheet metal where the rubber seal is. I have read about this mismatch on T6 bodies, but forgot to check it, or did not notice it on Foamcar. If there is a mismatch, this could be remedied when installing the new tray parts. As I did not do the check, I installed the repro tray exactly(+- .005 ) where the original one was.

Phil

[John Pierce]

Thanks guys. I also thought of fitting the engine sheet metal. Great minds.

Still getting the engine bay buttoned up. Lots of little stuff that eats up a lot of time.



The top edge seems to be a prime location for rust to form. There was lots of thinned metal with blow through. Most of the edge had to be cut back with new metal spot welded in place.



The top edge is nice and solid again and the deck lid release is welded back in position. The rear closing panel still has a big hole.



The engine bay is looking MUCH better!

On to the rear closing panel. Thanks for following.

[Jack Staggs]

Nice work, John. To fit the engine surround, you will have to install the trans with the mounts that you will be using, then the engine, with the needed shrouding. In the past, I have fitted these parts after paint, to assure good fit, as it's a non invasive area. Just a thought.

[AMP]

Great job!
I ended up with the seal on my C pulling away from the body about 8" on each side of the center in the back. I was thinking new engine mounts would take care of it and they did help but still have that issue but to a lesser amount. If the engine was 1/2" higher I'm guessing that would take care of it. Something I missed in the process.

[Don C]

My "C" also had the ill fitting rear tin seal. The "European" seal from Int. Merc. solved the problem, just my $.02.

[John Pierce]

Thanks for the information regarding the engine tin and tray fitment. My rotisserie is connected at the transmission bolts, which makes fitting the engine a tad difficult. I guess I could lift it up on a jack, but will probably wait till later like Jack does.

I'm finally back to the area that I started to fix months and months ago: the rear closing panel. Everything else had to be repaired first before getting back to it.



This is the amazing repair job that was done before I got the car!



Once the engine tray was removed the previous repairs were much more visible. That's an 18 gauge piece of triangular metal spot welded on.



I thought I could save some of the repairs, but no luck. Once the covering triangular piece of metal was removed I found another piece of metal beneath it welded in. I have no idea why that was done.



This is the back side with lots of cat hairs. Parts of the rusted original metal were never removed.



All the offending metal removed. The rust went around both sides into the inner fenders and rear frames, which needed repairing. That lower crossmember will also come out. Now to start making repair patches.



A few measurements and bending got a reasonable facsimile.



The crossmember and electrical harness tabs were spot welded on as this area would not be accessible later.



Everything ready for installation.



The fitment is good. Just a bit of trimming to do.



Solid once again. What a relief!

I've got a few things to button up then onto the engine tray next. Thanks for following.

JP

[JTR70]

Great save and it Looks fantastic John! What a mess that once was, I just don't understand the logic behind repairs like those. Like your spot welder. What type and model is it? Keep up the great work!
Justin

[John Pierce]

Thanks Justin.

DG recommended this spot welder from Italy. It's got smart circuitry and welds much better than the ones made by Miller. It can be set for the thickness of the metal being welded along with static vs pulse waves if the metal has a zinc coating on it. Pretty cool machine.