'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[John Pierce]

Happy mother's day! I got a bit of time on the car before everyone woke up. Finished up the tunnel prep before installing the pans for the last time.



The accelerator rod clips needed to be encased in new plastic then greased.



I tried 1/2" plastic irrigation pipe cut down the middle as original, but it was too thick and unwieldy. I ended up using electrical shrink wrap. Once installed and heated it looked very original and had good lubricity. Bruce: the keys are removed



All the conduits greased.



New fuel and brake lines installed along with a cleaned OEM accelerator cable.

On to the pan installation.

[bbspdstr]

That is a very good original floor and all else is original as well. A spot stud (pin) welder helped pull out some dents and there was much guy-on-one-side with a dolly with another-on-the-other-side with a hammer straightening of the floor itself.

All that was welded in the floor were holes for a former racing harness. It has to be put back "as original." I've had to find most to the parts jettisoned for racing. Aluminum bumper guards, 2 front lefts and 2 front rights were a challenge, as was the Eberspacher BN-4 gas heater. Yes, the special control was fortunately still in the dash. I had to take it apart for rechroming and now will need to match the colors with model paints and a tiny brush after it's riveted back together.

The numbers all match and the documented items in the Carrera book by Steve Heinrichs (and the COA) say it had the big tank, mesh stone shields over the headlights, side 'spears' a la Speedsters (found NOS at Hershey) and a Factory installed radio!

Sorry John. This is YOUR thread...and I was teasing about the tool box keys. My boxes have not been locked for decades, as everyone at my shop is in them regularly if not their own. My keys are just in a drawer, I think. I should know, I guess.

Good move to use the heavy walled shrink tube on the guide tabs for the throttle rod. "Over-restoration" at it's best and most logical.

Justin, to the best of my knowledge the gas heaters in A Carreras were in the rear. I'll find out soon as I am beginning restoration of the body (only) of a '56 Carrera Speedster. It's owner is hands-on and took it apart and will be reassembling it and is doing his own sourcing. Saying all that will make me use the following icons:

Assembly is where any restorer loses his shirt or the project gets crazily expensive....or both. Tons of hours on details when the client thinks all the money spent was all the money that was needed to be spent. "All ya hafta do is put a few things back on...how long can THAT take?" John, your saga should be continued here if your attention to detail in assembly is like that which you have documented thus far.

Keep up the good work,
-Bruce

[merbesfield]

Happy mother's day! I got a bit of time on the car before everyone woke up. Finished up the tunnel prep before installing the pans for the last time.



The accelerator rod clips needed to be encased in new plastic then greased.



I tried 1/2" plastic irrigation pipe cut down the middle as original, but it was too thick and unwieldy. I ended up using electrical shrink wrap. Once installed and heated it looked very original and had good lubricity.

My car had what I believe was original, head liner material sandwiched into the clips with the A rod being help. The material had been cut with those sisors that seamstresses use that does a zig zap cut. They had to be original bc no one could have removed it and replaced it given the location. Plus it matched the headliner material as far as perforations.

Is there a list of items that should be completed before the pan is welded back in place?

[John Pierce]

[merbesfield]

Wow, maybe I'm not as close as I thought! Haha. Great list JP, though some of it I'm not sure I understand. I was debating replacing my brake line bc it is probably ok, but I guess now would be the time.

Q: My wiring harness is still in the car. Does the floor pan get hot enough for this to be a problem or are the weld spots far enough away and the fact that you are moving around prevent this from being a problem? Thanks for the help. Mark

[John Pierce]

Hey Mark,

My harness is out of the tunnel as it needed so much repair. I've read that some people leave the harness and battery cable in place, but are cautious when welding. I guess it depends upon how much welding needs to be done.

To answer your question more specifically: if you're just welding the floor flanges to the pan then it's a pretty safe procedure as both the harness and battery cable are up high in the tunnel channel.

HTH.

JP

[bbspdstr]

Mark, if the brake line is original, it's likely time for replacement after....how many years? It's not much money, either.

As for welding, even 'stitching' plug welds with a TIG or MIG creates enough heat that it could be damaging, spot welding likely wouldn't. That said, a damp rag next to both sides of the weld and on top of the tunnel will wick away the worst of the heat from the parts of the harness that may actually be touching the metal conduit in the upper right side of the tunnel.
Good luck,
-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Great list John. Unfortunately I thought I had to get my pan installed before moving "up north" 13 years ago. I had to get the car out of the sold house and did not want to risk moving it without the pan. Therefore, I did a cursory review inside the tunnel and fixed a few things but did not restore all, as I should have. I will be removing the rear break line that the long tunnel line attaches to very soon, so will see how that tunnel line looks as best I can. I will squirt some brake cleaner through from the front and see what comes out the back. As Bruce just posted, welding heat can be a problem with stuff in the tunnel, especially wiring. I went nice and slow on those plug welds to minimize heat build up.

Phil

[John Pierce]

The pans are in!!! Woot! It's been quite the journey to get to this point.



Pans in place and ready for Teks screws. New fuel and brake hard lines installed.



Teks screws holding everything tightly together. I started at the center tunnel working front and back then the transverse tube and longitudinal flanges. No bunching up of the metal.



LOTS of plug welds. Onto the grinding party next

Thanks for following.

[Don C]

Nice job John!

[Scott B]

John, beautiful work. It looks so good seeing all the new metal. What spacing did you use between the welds?

[John Pierce]

Thanks Don and Scott.

I spaced the welds at 3/4" and Teks screwed every third weld. This way the pans were held tightly against the floor flanges and nothing would move with the heat buildup, even with alternating the welds from side to side. The screw holes were then filled from both sides giving a nice solid through weld.


JP

[bbspdstr]

Fast forward, and here is John's floor all finished.....

No, wait, it's an original floor on a same year 356 and it's not as nice as John's job is going to be....and it's a Reutter body.
That's not a left-handed compliment (even though I'm left-handed)....it's because the pictured car here does not have the rust-proofing John added and the attention to detail John gave his iteration. It's a survivor car that has had 53 years to propagate rust...it's there, somewhere, it just allowed me to ignore it for now and straighten a myriad of damage from random jacking and road hazards.
Truth-be-known, it did have a NOS battery box bottom put in wholesale as just a "patch" would have been too easy...

Also, the one jacking 'spur' was cut open, straightened as best I could, then welded closed and 'smoothed over.'

Personally, I'd rather have a 356 done as those here on Justin's site are being done, just as I'd rather have good clean and de-rusted panels on a 356 than "numbers matching" junk. However, being 'in the business' demands that we go with the current flow.

John and everyone else doing such great work, please keep it up. BTW, I have been contacted by a newbie to this site that he, as a relatively younger 356 aficionado wanting his first 356, asking if I knew of an 'affordable' ($50k+?)356 on which he could learn the ins and outs of the 356 range. Please let me know if anyone has any leads and I'll pass it/them along. (He is in CA, but a decent 356 anywhere would be considered). Thanks!
-Bruce

[ukinusa]

Hey Bruce (heads up - slight hi jack ahead...) what is the spray mix you used on the underside...

[bbspdstr]