'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[Phil Planck]

Yes, it should have been under, and I should have pointed out my error. Too late now, unless I want to cutoff and weld on a new piece to go under. At 73, ain't going to happen. As Bruce stated, this car is being saved, less the foam and rust.Maybe the next caretaker will want to deal with it. Isn't going to drive any worse.

Phil

[John Pierce]

Final push to get this side done!



The upper and middle portions of the splash panel were mated to the remainder of the OEM panel. The lower part is prepped and ready for installation.



Complete!



It's gratifying to look back at where this started.



The lower rear splash panel done as OEM with a crimped flange which opens up towards the rocker.



The sill is bead welded to the longitudinals.



The door well is all buttoned up.



The sill is curved to follow the door contours.



The lower door gap sits nicely. The front fender, rear quarter panel, and lock post still need fixing

Thanks for following.

[John Pierce]

On to the left splash panel, which took a bit more work than the right to figure out what was wrong.



The expected patch panels.



Not OEM, but not too bad. The issue was the welded in piece that replaced the flange behind the fender. It was way too wide.



The door cavity was a mess also.



Reverse view of what was seen from the wheel well side.



I fit the door, but had to use 15!!! shims to get it to sit correctly. I'm thinking that I screwed up and installed my new hinge boss standoff in the wrong spot. After much pondering I questioned whether Bubba had welded the fender in the wrong spot. Sure enough, once I cut out the his homemade flange things sat a lot better and I was down to 2 shims (a small and a large). Damn.....



The patch panels have been removed and the remaining metal cut back to viable tissue. A new inner closing panel was installed.

Next to rework the replacement splash panel to have it fit correctly.

Thanks for following.

[roy mawbey]

Well done John, interesting to watch your progress. Nice photo's as well.

Roy

[bbspdstr]

John, two shims if fairly normal on original 356s, sometimes one, hardly ever none, occasionally three.

My last Speedster was a race car all of it's life so it was not rusty, just crashed. The guy I bought it from, it's third owner, had a nasty slide into a wall at a race in New Hampshire and the left side was flattened significantly. I did not have the pulling power to get the hinge post all the way back where it started, nor did I want to split up a set of NOS T-2 Speedster doors I had.

I do not know where the pictures are to get a real number, but I may have used a total of a dozen shims on that door, hardly covered by the aluminum plate. I was going to race it anyway, so I made a Speedster door from a C coupe door I had found. Hey, worked for me back then and it's still that way today, restored back to street appearance and driven like it's supposed to be driven......just not by me! Here's the over-shimmed C door:


Keep up the great work!
Bruce

[John Pierce]

The saga continues....



The OEM splash panel trimmed back for new panel fitment. The lower embossments couldn't be saved.



The flanges on the replacement splash panel have to be reworked to match the curve of the rocker and inner closing panel.



Cut to size and flanges reworked.



Looking so much better.



Door cavity tidied up.



Splash panel bottom flange as done OEM style



Spot welds added with the Lenco to make it look original.


On to the rocker installation next.

[ukinusa]

Maybe missing something - "The Lenko" - is that a special tool for creating the spot weld look alikes or something else ?

[John Pierce]

Lenco spot welder......not the greatest

[JTR70]

Still in Awe of the mess left behind and your patience to plow through it. Nice work! Your panel spotter looks pretty close to mine.
Keep up the great progress!
Justin

[John Pierce]

Justin, wait to you see what's coming

Can someone confirm for me my B T6 door striker configuration? I would think that the fiber shim goes beneath the striker and the metal support goes on the rearward side of the lockpost. Below is the correct order? Are the shims necessary and if so, how many?



Striker.



Fiber shim.



Lockpost.



Metal support.



Nuts.

[tperazzo]

Hi,
That is the correct order. The plastic striker has a metal plate that is usually included with the striker. That plate was not pictured, so I just wanted to be clear. Here is a side picture.



Note how many shims this cabriolet has!

Jack just helped me fix this on my car as I had the wrong shims installed so Jack loaned me some real ones. Jack may chime in here, but he says the factory used either a thick shim or a thin one. 1mm versus 2mm or something close to that. My car now uses one thin shim and the latch bites about 50% of the width and then it gets closer after it latches.

As always Jack has some great tips on adjusting that latch.
Thanks Jack!
Tom

[bbspdstr]

Not wanting to steal Jack's thunder, but should he miss this, please be aware of contact amount between the "finger" on the door latch and the receiver on the post. Often, if the angle gets out of alignment to the closing arc of the door, very little actual security for the door staying closed is available and the driver and/or passenger safety is impaired, especially while the 356 is flexing when turning.

If all is done and painted by the time this is noticed, the added shims under the receiver are the only way to fix that "rookie mistake."

If the lockpost and the latch "finger" are to be visually checked, use a small flashlight to peer into that area when the door is almost (one click on the finger) closed. Note how much of the lower "finger" can be seen and if less than half is seen, add shims...but remember that the arc closes quickly on the door into the angle of the lockpost. My favorite tool, masking tape, can be applied for gentle "witnessing" of the interface of both surfaces.

["Why does it take so long and cost so much?"]

Bruce

[John Pierce]

Thanks guys. Here's a preview of what I'm planning for.




I have an OEM replacement lockpost which includes the front quarter window stem. I'm fitting it now and want to make sure that the striker is in the correct position. I'll be setting things up with the rubber seals in position. Besides the obvious of making sure the lockpost outer flange is in correct position, any hints would be appreciated!!

JP

[Phil Planck]

John
Also critical is the angle of the lockpost. When everything is redone at the bottom area where many panels overlap and connect, it can be easy, at least for me to lose correct position. When I was "done" the bottom, rear, inner corner of the door hit the lock post. By then, only was I was going to fix it was to modify that bottom door corner. Much easier than tearing apart the panels on the body. So, check the door swing often before that final commitment.

You are quickly catching up with me.

Phil

[John Pierce]

The doors to my car are numbers matching, but the window frames are not as none came with the car. The previous owner finally found them, but would only sell them for $1500!! I ended up getting a pair from Unobtanium. I'm mocking up the window frames again and things are not fitting as well as I'd like. In order to get some reasonable gaps around the top and sides of the window frame I'm having to move the door more forward which messes with the front door to fender gap which is all OEM metal. The window frames are not bent like what Tom fixed on his car so that's not the problem. Could someone send me some pictures of their window frames and gaps and also tell me what the gaps should be in bare metal? Looking at others cars it would seem that the A-pillar to frame gap is wider than the frame to B-pillar gap.

Thanks.

John