'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[bbspdstr]

Jonesy's photo of the inner side of the lower cockpit exit shows the welding process. The exit inside appearance is unclear in my awful picture of the T-5 style in a T-6 Roadster and in Jonesy's T-5 style, so here is a cleaner T-5 in a T-5:



Here is a T-6 B for comparison. More to it, longer horizontal opening with an angled support/deflector bar:



Both have the indent for a baloney-cut tube to be almost even with the longitudinal vertical wall with a rather crude gas welding, seen inside and out on the various pictures.

In my own opinion, it could be either version on John's car, but the covering slide would be the most visual difference to a casual observer. To recreate even what I consider a Porsche "mistake" by using up what parts that were on hand and morphing into a later version...is the right thing to do.

I just gotta say this: It is all good to be this critical of placement and authentic results without the jigs and preassembled components used originally, but only with an incredibly patient individual with talent working on their own 356....or a professional who cares working on a 356 with an unlimited budget.....
-Bruce

[Jonesy_356]

This is a great point Bruce,

it is easy to get obsessed about the wrong things. But I guess if you have to fabricate from scratch as John is doing, then you may as well shoot for 'as built'. The big thing that I have got out of ABCGT is that ordinary guys CAN and DO achieve credible results that replicate the production-line made-by-hand approach that Porsche used. The trick for me personally is the old 'unit of time' approach (or a version of the Pereto Principle) - one unit of time to get an 80% solution, another unit of time to get to maybe 90%, another unit of time to 95% and so on. Those units of time will be less for a guy like you, much more for a guy like me. It's a question of how many units of time we want to 'pay' for.

I do find, for the hobbyist like me, there is great satisfaction with the 'research' and discovery aspect of this sport. But I am itching to finish my metal work. I want to drive this machine eventually! It is a long game!

Thanks for sharing,

Jonesy

p.s. I apologise for the 'scruffy' state of my machine. I plan to blast it only after I have finished the build of the metalwork. Just localised cleaning before that. Probably drive most guys nuts.

[John Pierce]

Thank you Bruce and Jonesy for the detailed pictures. I agree that this level of detail is bordering on obsessive! As you guys correctly pointed out: it's a hobby, which is to be enjoyed. The great thing about this whole process is getting into the minds of the Porsche builders about how and why these wonderful cars were built the way they were. They were lightyears ahead of their counterparts and drive like modern cars.

I've got some time away from my real job to spend in the garage. Back to working on the longitudinals and heater system.



The longitudinal is fitted to the correct height and distance from the door jamb and tunnel with the heater bulkheads and hat clamp bracket spot welded in correct positions. The new front heater tube has been cut to size with the correct angle and all the rotted original heater tube is gone. Quite a process to get here!



The rear heater tube hole through the inner frame has been formed and what is left of the original defrost duct can be seen. Bubba had cut the defrost duct short and never connected it when installing his version of the heater tubes.



The defrost duct gave me quite a pause on how to install the larger heater tube and needed smaller defrost attachment and be able to weld them all together with the correct angles. I mocked up the whole longitudinal and heating system with multiple iterations to get them to fit correctly. Finally ending with this.



Complete! I'm going to weld this in then finish the repair on the outer frame member. I've spent a lot of time making sure that all the sheet metal overlaps in this rear corner fit correctly.



The front heater tube was also fitted to the correct position and welded in position. I also welded it to the heater bulkhead to give a bit more rigidity. Easier to do out of the car then when the longitudinal is installed.



Floor heater duct detail very similar to the original.


Thanks for following.

[Phil Planck]

Continued nice(great) work John. I agree, it's fun to learn how the factory did it and try sometimes to figure out why. As my granddaughter said: "grandpa is building a car". Hopefully one of these days you will actually be able to see that rear defroster work. I remember years ago when I had my 100-4 Healy, I could not wait for the first pea fog night to try out my fog lights.

Phil

[JTR70]

Beautiful Job on that complete threshold section John! Very impressed with how cleanly you've replicated all the areas in and around the torsion housing. I can appreciate all the time that has gone into just getting to where you are right now, Not to mention the time spent cleaning up all that shoty repair work in preparation.
Justin

[Jonesy_356]

Very nice work mate, I wish mine looked like that! I aspire to your fabrication skills.

[John Pierce]

Nice productive day on the heater system.



Inside view of the defrost pipe. There's no control valve. When the heat comes out of the engine a bit of it is diverted up each heater tube to come out of the rear window defrost.



The rear heater tube cut to length and welded in position.



The defrost pipe joined to the remaining original pipe. It was good to see that all my measuring paid off as things joined up without a hitch. The outer frame still needs a bit of work.



I decided to install the outer frame in two sections so I could weld the defrost pipe in position and get the oval hole around the heater tube.



The rear corner is coming together. I had to hand form the indent, which was tough due to all the complex bends around this area.



The longitudinal is mocked up before starting work on the remaining outer frame piece. Once that's built then it's time for a lot of spot welding. It's crazy how many spot welds are in this little area where everything joins together.

Thanks for following.

[JTR70]

Great progress, Looking good John!

[John Pierce]

Buttoned up the last of the outer rear frame member!



Made a template then roughed it out in metal with the flange around the heater tube.



Ready to weld into place.



One less piece before the longitudinal can be installed.



This is how things originally looked after removing the rear closing panel! The rust demons went wild in here.



This was the only remaining original metal once things were opened up and the welded on repair patches were removed.

Thanks for following.

[JTR70]

She's come along way already John! You've got a lot of time invested fabing up those sections and it shows. Looks fantastic!
Justin

[John Pierce]

Finally to the point of this whole exercise....to install the longitudinal! Lots of overlapping metal to really strengthen the monocoque. 3-4 layers of metal around this whole area.



First the missing part of the outer frame was spot welded to the longitudinal.



Next, the inner frame was turned to swiss cheese for rosette welds.



The spot welder couldn't fit between the panels with the heater tube in place, thus the rosette welds.



Ready for attachment!



Front and rear welded up. The front heater tube is welded tight.



The front "V" cut closed up.



The "V" closing panel from the inside.



Measurements if anyone needs them.



Everything buttoned up and ready for the top rear reinforcement piece. The square tubing holding the door pillars in position could now be removed.



Close-up of the rear area before the top reinforcement piece is added.



It's done!! Just like Porsche originally did it.

I can't thank all the people enough who helped with measurements and pictures so I could replicate this area as should be done. My car, as you know, was quite butchered along the way and many landmarks were missing. It feels great to get this major piece out of the way

Thanks for following.

[MMW]

What an awesome job! Very nicely done. Thanks for taking the time to document it so far.

[JTR70]

Congratulations on a job well done John! You must have been really happy while you where shooting these and with good reason. Looks as if the left side isn't quite so severe; is that right? I hope so for your sake. Great work! Justin

[Jonesy_356]

Well done mate, well done.

Jonesy

[John Pierce]

Just a quick update. Got to try my DeVilbiss mini-gun for the first time. So much better than the Preval sprayers



Sprayed some primer before the rust demon returns.



Flat black topcoat.



That big hole in the right rear seat is probably going to be the next project.

Thanks for following.