'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[John Pierce]

Thanks Guys! The brake works wonderfully. Not a necessity, but damn nice to have!

The temps are back in the low teens again so I've moved into the heated basement. Even old guys can get smart sometimes. I'm working on my door innards so when I hang them I've got an idea where they should latch. To that extent, I've taken everything apart and given it a good cleaning. At some point the car was repainted and they didn't bother covering the inside of the doors. With some scrubbing I was able to get the paint off all the moving parts. Paint is not the best lubricant.

As I'm putting things back together I'm wondering if Porsche protected the bare metal of the window regulator and other parts in any way to prevent rusting? The springs and crank cogs were coated in white lithium grease. Is this what should be used? Oh yeah, one more thing: Bubba primered the car and also the door top chrome strips. What is the best way to remove the primer while preserving the chrome? Thanks.

[Phil Planck]

John
Nice job getting the regulators and latches cleaned up. Took me and hour to do my latches. Don't know about finish on the regulator. Could just spray with some clear finish of some kind I suppose. I worked for a company that made window regulators, and while not directly involed with that product, one of the engineers gave me to small bottles of grease for regulators. Each different. Both are thicker than lithium. But probably anything that does not run off you would think would work. Where is Bruce when we need him. The latches, as you have seen were plated.
Phil

[JTR70]

Yes, very nice job of getting those clean! For the regulators I would leave that natural cast finish and put a thin coat of clear on them to hold back any flash rust. Eastwood sells a really nice clear in a rattle can for just this job. What is nice is that it goes on extremely thin and is quite durable. I tried to use my regular urethane clear and it just chipped right off. I would also use it on your zinc plated parts as well. Nice work John!
Justin

[John Pierce]

Work has been busy so no work on the car. I did find a used TIG machine locally at a good price. It needed some cosmetic work, but works fine. Now for some practice time....and practice...and practice before I even think about touching the car with the TIG. I ended up buying a WP-9 torch and an assortment of nozzles, electrodes and filler rod.


A hard life.


What a little media blasting, paint and new stickers can do.

[Phil Planck]

Nice find and cleanup John. Good luck with your practice. I bet there are some good youtube videos on tig welding.

Phil

[tperazzo]

Nice buy John. Best of luck and let me know if you need any help.
Send some practice pictures too.

[JTR70]

Congratulations on that purchase John! Nice job of cleaning it up; looks almost new again. As Tom says, "practice, practice"
Justin

[MMW]

John, if you have any questions on tig stuff ask away.

Also a good welding forum is http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/communities/mboard/

[John Pierce]

Thanks guys! All I've got to do now is find some time away from work I'm sure to have lots of questions.

JP

[Trevor]

I ended up buying a WP-9 torch and an assortment of nozzles, electrodes and filler rod.

You might consider the WP-9F. The "F" stands for flexible and I've found the extra adjustability to be good for welding in tight spots.

[DG58INNM]

Trevor, where did you get the cool little "finger pedal"?

Thanks,
DG

[Trevor]

Hey David - The finger control was with the welder when I bought it. http://www.eastwood.com/tig-welders-eastwood-tig-ac-dc-welder.html I added the WP-9F torch, on the advise of Steve after taking his one day welding class. One note, the finger control is either on or off, I can't start out at 30 amps to get the puddle started and then dial it back to a lower amperage just to keep the puddle going. One trick used to control the heat. To combat that I weld smaller stitches (usually no more that 3/4 of an inch). I looked into getting a TIG torch that has adjustable amperage on the finger control, but it was incompatible with the Eastwood TIG welder. Here's one I was looking at: http://www.ckworldwide.com/amperage_controls.htm

I played with the foot control, but honestly it just felt like more hassle than it was worth, when I could get the finger control down pretty quickly. To each their own I guess, some guys swear by the foot control. On a side note, I was telling Jack today I once saw a guy working in an an odd position who welded using the foot control between his knees (squeezing his knees together to simulate pushing on the pedal with his foot). That was some impressive shit!

Sometimes, you get lucky and see somebody doing something that stops you dead in your tracks. That was one.

[DG58INNM]

Thanks Trevor,
I think an on/off switch would not work for me. I thought it would be like a miniature pedal for your finger. Seems like someone could make it that way if they wanted. I have a slider, which works OK but it is not as intuitive as pressing on something.

Thats pretty good, your guy working the pedal with his knees! I have learned when I'm laying under the car that I can work the pedal with one knee if I sort of turn on my side. But sandwiching it between my knees had never occurred to me. I'd think you'd have to strap it to one leg somehow. Ah well, necessity is the the mother of....some weird a** sh**!

DG

[John Pierce]

Hey Guys! Finally got some time to work on my rust bucket (tub). I was sick of worrying about the previous floor and longitudinal repair and thought I'd fix something else. The battery box was also Bubba-ized, so I thought I'd start there. The battery box floor and bottom several inches were previously repaired by welding in new metal on top of previous rust, which probably was not the smartest repair idea. So out comes the plasma torch to take out the floor.


Battery box floor from below.


Rear side of back battery box.

The more I looked, the more rust I found. Rust was present behind all the seams.


Lateral trunk wall.


Overlap with front longitudinal member rusted through.





I ended up taking out the whole battery box, which was a PIA, but ultimately it was the right thing to do as I found rust had eaten through and would have compromised the safety of the front end.


Getting the battery box wall out from behind the torsion member was not easy. This area has 3, and sometimes 4, layers of sheet metal spot welded together. And in my case, rusted together. I left the rearward and upper portions of the front longitudinal member attached to keep the metal in position and stable.

I bought all new battery box pieces from Stoddard and am not happy. The pieces do not fit together with one another. They are not duplicates to what is on the car. The indents and bends are not in the correct locations. The sizes are off...not by a little, but by 1/2" in some locations. One piece was even oil canning. I'll be returning them.

Before going further, I'm going to media blast the areas that have not yet been blasted. Can I get some recommendations for a rust converter for the areas I can't blast. Also, any preferences for primer prior to putting things back together?

Thanks for looking.

John

[Phil Planck]

John
On Foamcar I started at the battery box. As you say, supposedly less daunting. Too bad about the Stoddard parts. When I did mine, I recall they had two different side walls. One was "correct" and one was missing some of the indentations. I did not need to replace these, fortunately.

In the states, SEM markets a pretty good rust converter. Available at most auto paint supply shops. As to primer, seems like most restorers are using epoxy. I have been using cold zinc spray cans by either Rustoleum or Krylon. I have seen how it holds up on sheet metal over time and like it. Don't know if you could spray auto top coats on it, but where I use it is where there will eventually be undercoat.

Good luck - Phil