'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[John Pierce]

Time to repair the lockpost. Something that I was not looking forward to as it would show me if everything else I've done has been measured correctly or.....



The first step is to make a big gap Can't get much bigger than this.



I thought that I could use this OEM piece as is and it would miraculously fit perfectly. HAH!! What was I thinking? Time to slice and dice.



After getting the door and window frame gaps set I cut the lockpost in half and installed both pieces in their best positions. I then welded metal strips on the inside and outside of the car to hold them in place.



The lockpost was then welded to the sill and quarter window top and bottom. The metal strips welded to the fender also act as sight lines for a smooth contour and transition along the side of the car.



The inner wheel well flange had been previously removed by Bubba and directly welded to the previous replacement lockpost. After repairing the inside corner buttresses I made a new flange and plug welded it to the lockpost as OEM with the correctly overlaps.



Repair panel to finally close up the inner wheel well.



In place and no longer an eye sore.



Cleaned and dressed.



Inner side as OEM with new buttresses.



The lockpost is in a reasonable good position, but as it was installed on a car that had already gone through multiple restorations, there were areas that still needed work.



Several areas of the outermost flange sat too high which would have placed the repair fender too far out from the door skin. A little slice and weld took care of that issue The inner part of the lockpost that holds the rubber was too far away from the door to give a good seal so that was also moved. As you can see the outer top of the lockpost sits too inwards and the Porsche factory workers put a lot of lead to bring it out to the correct level with the door skin. It looks like all the companies that make lockposts left it as original. Instead of using lead later on I cut the flange and added metal to bring it to the correct height.



NOW it's in good position.



Ready for new fender metal.

Thanks for following.

[Phil Planck]

Great work and explanation John. Really came out nice.

Phil

[bbspdstr]

I can't help thinking while looking at John's work how "professional" his thinking and results are....and how much that would cost at a "professional shop."

Most shops can't or won't do this level of work because no one (very few) 'outside looking in' would understand this process and thus, be willing to pay for the time it takes.

Justin started this with his postings of his work here on his site and it's engaging others with the similar skills and passion/dedication. Wow!

From all of this, I want to write to Prescott Kelly about all of this. His latest measurements in microns of the surfaces of auction cars in the latest Registry are not tempered by how bad the cars are that are still being restored (or in John's case, "de-bubba'd")...and not everyone has the money OR talent OR desire to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

[An aside; I'm curious as to the percentage of 356s being 'saved' now by well-financed individuals vs DIY people.]

"Metal finishing," a lost art, is hard enough when different thicknesses are joined, welded, stretched +/- 10 times before, planished, ground down or filed to death and at the brink of cracking from various persons who knew no better. Even "professionals" who CAN do metal shaping without need for ANY filler other than small areas of lead are few and far between. The process is VERY boring even when one knows what one is doing (and knows the cars)...tedious hard work, day-after-day....if it's for a "living."

Above all, it's the thought processes that impress me the most, the "thinking things through." Matching Porsche's obvious design and directness to a result through excellent engineering says a lot about where the necessary ingredient, passion, comes along.....hobbyist mirroring the original professionals.

All I can say is that it makes someone who has been hacking away at this for over 50 years VERY happy to see.

Thanks, and thanks for sharing,
Bruce

[John Pierce]

Thank you Bruce for the kind words. ABCGT is definitely the best website out there for early Porsches. The restorations that are shown here are all fantastic.

On to some fender work, which also had me worried as you can't easily hide mistakes on the outside of the car where everyone can see



This is the jigsaw puzzle of at least 2 previous fender restorations. 18 gauge metal was used with heavy beads and big spot welds.



I made a template of the door edge then made it larger to allow forming it to the correct contours.



Initial 20 gauge stock.



I made a wood buck with the door edge contour using a bandsaw.



Lock post flange.



The flange was shrunk to match the door convexity and upper concavity.



Careful measuring gave the correct location of the turned fender edge. I made bucks for this to turn the edge, then clamped the edge rod at the bend and turned it the rest of the way.



Finished outer side.



Finished inner side with turned edge.



Hole to fill.



The replacement panel Cleco'd in place and fits nicely. The extra metal will be cut back once it is welded to the lock post.



Panel counters are tight against original fender. The fender had to be preloaded to give it a little outward convexity to give a nice transition to the door.



Held in place with screws so the door could close.



Fender edge spot welded to the lock post.



Many checks to ensure the door to fender transition height was not disturbed.



Welded in place.



Initial grinding. Dolly and hammer work yet to come. It didn't turn out too badly. Just a few high and low spots to work on.

Thanks for following.

[roy mawbey]

John,

I have carefully followed your lock post installation and fender repair. Bruce hits exactly the nail on the head with his reply. Your thoughts and method are really so good. To think of the straps alone, is one thing but to be 2 steps ahead of yourself all time in getting that result is fantastic. Like Justin you make it look easy, its not easy but... the method to produce such a step by step result with such good photos makes me the reader think its all possible.

What also takes the time is the preparation of the text and photos to put on this super forum. This is not a five minute job. To be able to accurately describe with the correct terminology the work involved takes a while as well.

Very, very well done John.

Roy

[John Pierce]

Thanks Roy. Your comments are much appreciated. The most important thing though is that this is fun to do and a good stress relief.

Time to finish the right rear fender.



A few hours of dolly and hammer work turned out very nicely.



Lock post finished.



Smooth counters top to bottom and front to back.



The door closes nicely with a clean 3.5 mm gap.

I'm so excited that this turned out so nicely. Now onto the right front fender.

[JTR70]

Amazing Fabrication work John! Keep up the great progress!

[Don C]

Great job John!

[bbspdstr]

My latest of the hammerforms. They don't last long but they are easy to make. A plywood sandwich.

This one does trailing front edge and leading (leeding) rear of door edge. One needs to pay attention to not make two of a 'sided' piece with the same bend!

Rear of door right and front of door left side? You must be a lefty like me......the opposites are more demanding. It's a hammer and dolly thing but more natural applications are usually chosen first.

-Bruce

[John Pierce]

Got some time to work on the passenger side of the car again to finish up the front fender area.



Even though the door is numbers matching to the car, so many things have been changed over the years that the front door to fender gap was very uneven. I thought that now is the best time to address this issue as the rear gaps are well set.



A started by making a template of the big gap.



The replacement piece is oversized to allow for variances at the edges of the fender curves, which always creep in and can be cut out in final form.



I made a buck out of scrap 3/4" plywood with the correct fore and aft curves.



The tricky part was that each side is curved, which needs to fit perfectly with the OEM metal.



I used the fender edge wire to ensure enough space and correct bend.



Nice fit.



Some grinding and dolly work and it looked pretty good. I also reworked the fender to door edge to give a consistent 3.5 mm gap.



The passenger side is looking so much better dressed in new metal.

Thanks for following.

[JTR70]

Looks great John! Nice work on the hammer form and ultimate repair section.

[roy mawbey]

Yes John some really nice work there. Its coming on really well.

Roy

[Phil Planck]

Very nice repair John.

[bbspdstr]

Here are the key words from John: "The tricky part was that each side is curved, which needs to fit perfectly with the OEM metal."

Try that.....see how "tricky" that is.

Another example of craftsmanship for which we all strive....in a BDSM kind of way! Frustrating "fun" is what the reality truly is, as simple as it looks.

Now John, what about the step overlap from the rocker end up into your repair? (Just kidding! Great work as usual.)

Bruce

[John Pierce]

Now that the summer is over I've got some time to work on this project. A couple of months ago I finished up the passenger side lockpost and fenders. Now onto the driver's side.



This is what I started with. Lots of overlapping metal with big troughs between the welded sections. The rusted OEM metal is mostly still there.....just covered over. Oh yeah.....the door gap is a bit off




Unfortunately, the B-pillar was just as bad off with big welded on sections on the rear side and lots of blow through rust.



Best thing to do? Just remove it all and start fresh



I saved as much of the OEM inner and outer fender metal as possible. As you can see, I'll have to address the fender edge at at later date.



I spent some time getting the front door gaps set to 3.5 mm and the bottom door gaps to 3.0 mm. Even though the doors are original to the car I had to open up the hinge plates to move the door a bit rearward. Then I locked down the door hinges so there would be no movement as I set the lockpost in position.



Good gaps all the way around and the contour of the door and lockpost match nicely with just a few adjustments. Unlike what I went through on the right side.



I used the door window frame and this quarter window template to position the lockpost. The template will definitely come in handy when replacing the B-pillar quarter window and replacing the window sill. I then welded the lockpost in position before working on the quarter window frame.

Thanks for following.