The Swiss Miss ('64 C #126687)

[Trevor]

My vote - Don't do it.

[tperazzo]

My vote - Don't do it.

Ha ha, my vote is do it!
A). Enjoy driving a 356 now
. You have plenty to wrench on
C). Sell it after your 58 and 61 are done
D). Do not take it apart!

Here's a video that might inspire you to have a driver.
Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/ALQ0S4vrRbg

All coming from someone who has been restoring a 356 for a long time.

[Trevor]

LOL Tom!

The problem is with D). Do not take it apart! I believe the temptation is too strong. That's why I say no.

[DG58INNM]

Thanks guys, for the advice, encouragement, and reality check.

Yup, I would definitely wind up taking it apart. So I called Garry last night and told him to sell it to someone else. He called me back an hour later and had it sold for 5K more than I was going to give him. Wow, what a crazy market!

I really should get rid of something anyway (Swiss Miss maybe?) Here is a shot of my shop after re-arranging to store the silver car for a little while.



Take care,
DG

[John Pierce]

I love all the storage space, David. It's great to have projects, which I'm always thinking about too. I have a hard time sometimes passing up on cars I could potentially restore.....someday. I've been telling myself that I've got to finish my '63 before getting another project, but last November I heard about a nice '61 Roadster. Since then I've spent a lot of time trying to purchase it and it's finally going to be delivered in the next week or so.




For me the fun part about this hobby is finding the cool car, learning all about it, then taking the time to repair it.

You've made the right decision DG to keep the Swiss Miss, especially with all the great work you've put into it.


JP

[JTR70]

Tom, thanks for posting that Video! I am stunned, amazed and pleased all at the same time as I watch where he takes that car. He drives it like its 1969 and I really admire that...

John, let me be the first to congratulate you on your New Roadster! These cars are very much like the old potato chip slogan: "No one can eat just one". Look forward to hearing all about your new toy.
BTW: you've just given David the green light to buy that coupe.
I envy your shop Dave!
Justin

[DG58INNM]

I suppose its time for an update. Progress on and off during the summer. Not many posts, though I have been keeping up with all of you other guy's projects.

In yet another odd coincidence, John and I were working on doors at the exact same time. Although I've patched doors in the past, I had never done a door bottom/lower skin replacement before. Started by reading Tom's very thorough blog entries. Then followed Johns posts closely, and especially the followup comments from Bruce, Jack, Phil, etc. See? Somebody really does read all this stuff!

Initially I was thinking I didn't have much of a problem. Just a small patch job. But closer inspection suggested bigger troubles.



Decided to just bite the bullet and do the entire bottom. How hard could it be? Started tearing it apart.



Obviously going to have to remove the stop bracket too.



Sigh! And the lower hinge too. Swiss cheese underneath



Before I went any farther, I fabricated a new stop bracket, and insured it fit correctly.



And so I could put the lower hinge back in the right spot, after replacing the metal underneath, tacked a couple of locating tabs to it and screwed them to the good metal higher up. Rod verifies alignment with the upper hinge.



Bad metal cut away.



Fabricating replacement metal.

[DG58INNM]

And on it goes........

Before I could replace the bottom, I had to fab and replace the lower curve of the inner frame, just like John did. Mine was thin and swiss-cheesy in places. Only photo I took, of the finished product




Back to the hinge area repair, now that the door bottom is in place. Hinge area repair sheet metal welded in. Things got sort of weird here as the door has some "spring" to it. When the bottom is cut free from the hinge area sheet metal, the "spring" relaxes. Took lots of measurements and test fitting to the car to figure out how much "spring to put back in it. Its approximated by the height of the step from leading lip to door bottom flange, but since the leading lip was also new metal, there was a little guesswork, involved. In the end it came out right.




Then welded the stop bracket back on, which really stiffens up the whole area.




Shot of the replaced door bottom, starting to fit and weld up the seam at the rear.




Then I put the lower hinge back on. Initially bolted it in place, and test fit to the car. Then went back and replaced bolts with rivets.




Was a little worried about the riveting process, but the end result is nice I think. Looks close enough to original that few would notice it had been removed/replaced.




Upper hinge, for comparison




And finished area (except for overlap piece for inner frame, which was added later).

[DG58INNM]

Now on to the outer skin. Trimmed the flange of the door bottom to fit the opening. So far so good. Then I welded the new skin repair piece in place. So far so good. Then I folded the lower edge of the skin over the door bottom flange. Looked beautiful. Then I put it on the car......had about a 1/2" gap in the middle of the bottom of the door. What happened? In the process of hammering over the skin, I was also hammering upwards. Since the door bottom is only secured at the ends, I was hammering it upwards too. Aaarrghhh! I cut the outer skin off again just above my recently completed (and for me, unusually clean and smooth) weld. And that's where these photos start.

Checking things out and re-aligning the bottom door gap. The original skin went all the way from front to back, but I was really happy how the frontmost couple of inches looked, so I left that bit when I cut the remainder away.



On this attempt, I bent a flange on the bottom of my repair piece, using the brake. Then I placed and fitted it. Then spot welded it to the door bottom flange every 5 or 6 inches. This photo shows the welding process after all that had been done, as well as the jig I used. Rather than clamp the jig inside/out, I predrilled small holes in both pieces, then bolted it in place with machine screws through the skin. Left me with 10 small holes to weld up afterwards, but no big deal and seemed to work well.



Finished product, after (again, just like John) about three days of heating/beating/shrinking. Far from perfect, but close enough for government work.



Leading edge leaded with "lead free" lead (say that quickly 3 times) to make nice even gap.



Pleased with the result, but if I were doing this to earn a living, I would definitely starve to death. A bunch of time.



Thanks guys. As always, ABCGT is the best!
DG

[John Pierce]

Great job, David!! I thought it was just me, but damn.....this is hard work to get right. The dolly and hammer work did get a bit tedious

I really like your solutions on how to keep the original positions of the pieces to this puzzle. It's great to learn new techniques.

Your door turned out really nice. Thanks for sharing.

John

[Rad-Ride]

What is your address so I can send you my doors to fix

[bbspdstr]

Rad-ride wrote:"What is your address so I can send you my doors to fix"

Me too.....



David, the "spring" you recognized is not rust, in fact that may have relieved some from when the parts were assembled on a jig in a "forced fit" energy that can be released when major repairs are done.





The 356 that this door is from was hit all over, whether in one multiple hit crash or many. It's a rare enough Cabriolet that it is being done "correctly" and a LOT of energy is being released as damage repaired poorly in it's past is pushed, pulled and cut apart. Unibody cars are more challenging than older framed cars and the worst is the combo of rust and collision. Luckily, the early Cab was not really very rusted...just a victim of repairs done when not worth much at all.

I wish I could say "keep up the good work" as a hobbyist speaking as one who is working on his own car as you guys are on your own. I can't, as my personal A sunroof Coupe languishes under a tarp, sitting on a chassis dolly, year after year.....while I read and see the great work here on Justin's site as a tease and I slowly bring Parts Cars back from the dead and into the realm of Restoration Candidates for a "living". Drat!

Bruce
PS, that inside color is orange primer seen most on early 356s. As this Cab was stripped, several primer colors original to this car were found. We have evolved into "enthusiasts" who need to know that sort of trivia. It's not new, it's just yet another challenge with which to keep up. I have yet to be asked to match primer colors when doing a restoration but I'll bet some of the Big Boys have. Whether they have really done that or not, well........I, for one, would argue for 'better chemistry available now.'

[Phil Planck]

David
Great job and clever way to minimize clamping. I wish I had used some of the methods learned here, and had understood better Bruce's advise years ago that was spot on.

Phil

[DG58INNM]

Thanks Phil. Its a learning process for all of us. Have picked up many useful tips from your posts. Bought one of those "skinner" tools you recommended a while back. Still find it best to hammer the edge over initially, but then I crank the "skinner" down tight and make a couple of passes. Finishes off the edge very nice, without the damage caused by trying to hammer it tight.

Bruce, wow! That's a serious door repair. Or maybe proof you will go to any length to get access to the backside of the skin to straighten it out. No get to work on that Sunroof A coupe. Ain't none of us gettin any younger, you know?

Rad ride. Send em my way. Be happy to do it. I'll turn them around and send them back to you in oh, I figure it will only take me about 20 years.

Thanks John. Yes, you are right, the doors are pretty tricky to get right, and man my hands an arms ached from getting that dolly back in there. Still got 2 slight high spots in places I just can't seem to get a dolly behind. By the way, did you get that Roadster home yet? Looks like a really great project. Roadsters are the best!

DG

[Jonesy_356]

DG,

Can you tell me where you sourced the rivets from? I haven't seen them from the usual vendors. Any tricks with the process? Did you heat them? Hand hammered with a backing dolly? Any advice appreciated.

Jonesy