'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[Jack Staggs]

Great tool! Adjustable tongs and fittings. Fantastic! Wish I had one. I've used ones with loose probes, requiring marking of every spot. Cost?

[JTR70]

Yes, how much? Very nice...

[Ryles]

That Telwin unit 230 is about $1300 back when we bought a 400 series for the 911.
Amazing machine.

[John Pierce]

On to the engine tray.



I spot welded the bridging plate to the underside prior to installation.





The replacement tray pieces come oversized and need to be fitted. Each front end is symmetric with a gap along the side. The left gap needed to be closed off and rounded to fit the firewall while the right needed the electrical harness hole.



Lots of spot welds and it's in. Seen from below.



Seen from above.



Right rear inner corner as bought.



Right rear inner corner repaired and buttoned up.



Left inner frame and inner fender as bought.



Left inner frame and inner fender repaired. Looking MUCH better.



I have to reinstall the rear body supports. Any words of advice before welding them in? Should the rear sheet metal remain in a relaxed position when welding in the supports or should I place some tension on the metal?

Thanks for following.

[Phil Planck]

John

I need to install those braces also. Awaiting advice. You now have a concours engine compartment. Very nice work. I made a deviation for the harness routing on Foam Car:




Phil

[John Pierce]

Next is the heat shield.



Since this area won't see the light of day and is probably a sand trap a little priming and top coating was in order.



The shield had to be tweaked to fit well. It was then primed and top coated with the areas of spot welding only getting weld thru primer.



Spot welded in place.



The engine bay looks so much better.

I still have to install the rear body supports. Any advice?

Thanks for following.

[Jack Staggs]

Advice?? Yes but you won't like it. Fit trans, with mounts. Fit engine with muffler. Fit rear bumper, with guards and funnels. All of these part should be what you are using on the finished product. Adjust bumper as needed to allow funnels to be centered to the cut outs on the rear panel. Now try to install "s" pipes on muffler, without interference of the s pipe support brackets on the rear valance lower lip. At least 1/2" upper clearance here to allow for rubber mount flex. If too close, it will rub the lower lip. Check s pipe fit to funnels. Rubs, huh? Move the bumper back a little more, perhaps. Bend, tweek, trim, s tubes. Bend, tweek, rear body panel to allow clearance. Don't allow the lower lip of the body to lose symmetry. Small deviations are ok here. Now check that the reverse light will fit without contact to the lower edge of the bumper in it's installed position. Be sure to use a huge cushion under the rear of the car when working on the reverse light. I can't tell you how many folks have broken them when dropped on installation. You finally got it all to fit right? Good! Now weld on the support brackets. If anyone finds this procedure to be absurd, you are right. We are called upon several times a year to deal with these fittment problems on finished cars, without doing body and paint work! It's a nightmare. BTW, while you have the engine installed, fit the perimeter shrouding. Dolly the engine surround sheet metal as needed.
Comments, Bruce?

[JTR70]

Its really looking clean back there John! Nice work!

Jack, I think that is the most sound advice that I have heard. It will be a total PIA to follow it John but fitment, clearance, and proper alignment of all the various components is always an issue with these cars as you know well by now. Your choice of course but its an avoidable future aggravation at this point.

[John Pierce]

Thanks Jack and Justin! That sort of advice from people who've done this before is exactly what is needed. I have no problem waiting. The rest of the car goes through the same fitment process with the deck lid, hood, door, etc.... so doing the same with the rear body supports makes a lot of sense. Making it right, not quick, is the object here. I'm definitely going to fit the engine tray once the engine and tranny are in. I still have one section to weld tight. If anyone sees something that isn't being done correctly please let me know.

Getting advice like this is a Godsend. The ABCGT forum is a great down to earth place where questions are answered without condescension and advice is freely given. Thanks again, Justin for hosting it.

[roy mawbey]

John,

You are doing some great work on the car. Very neat indeed. Its so nice though information to help you is so forthcoming so you don't make mistakes and have to go all over the good work again.

Roy

[tperazzo]

Hi John,
Good advice as always. I can only offer a pic of my cars braces as originally installed as far as I know.
Notice how they were installed crooked and barely contacting the flange. Maybe the factory adjusted it as needed



Tom

[John Pierce]

Hey Tom! Good to hear from you. How's the painting going?

That's an interesting installation you've got there. I've checked how the supports were installed in a bunch of cars, but haven't seen it done that way before. Wonder if your car was made early on a Monday or late on a Friday

[John Pierce]

One step at a time. Moving forward to the suspension stop area.



The suspension stop is rusted through as is the turned flange of the inner fender.



Bad rust hiding underneath.



The frame was also rusted through and thinned, most likely due to collected water.



All cleaned up and ready for new metal. It was interested that the turned flange of the inner fender did not follow the frame edge. There was a good 10 mm offset leaving a good sized cavity.



One less hole.



Inner fender flange piece.



Suspension stop drilled and ready for spot welds. My car was built in 1962 and titled as a 1963 so it had the older style suspension stop.



All buttoned up.



Moving forward to the next area brings me to what I've been dreading. The amount of rust and bad repairs at the base of the B pillar and longitudinal closing area is fantastic. There are not a lot of original landmarks to use. The picture shows some of the repairs removed. Up inside is more rust.

Thanks for following.

[JTR70]

They are all rustier than you think behind those plates John. Nice work mounting the new one! God, you still have so much yet to do Absolutely, one step at a time. Keep chipping away you are getting there!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Beautiful work John on the stop. If found a mouse nest when I tackeled your next area.