1961 Sunroof Coupe - The slippery Slope.

[ukinusa]

So started cleaning up and welding where there had been fiberglass and the crumpled metal needed dolly work somewhat


Not pretty but strong and hidden !

and remaking the front inner lip (shown pre shaping to the curve)

and putting back where I had to cut away the top layer to get to the rot underneath. Not the finest of work but early days and learning !

and at last a trial fit. I was happy but looks were deceiving, headlight bucket angles were off and distances from the measuring points (hinge mounts) were way off - but at least going in the right direction.

and with the benefit of new wall art ! (Can you tell what I was driving in the picture between the headlights !)

[ukinusa]

Then I needed to find the center of the car to get everything balanced and aligned/in line. Humm that seemed like a simple idea ! String from front to back and measure off.

Rear firewall...

thru the windscreen

but what I thought was center didn't seem quite right !
Mistake: # whatever ! When trying to 'snap' a line, have something better that a spanner (ok: Wrench) as a counter weight because you need to get real tension on your guide line to get a true measurement.
Time for some professional help.

[ukinusa]

So Mike from Washington County Collision Centre (Utah) became my new "best buddy". Mainly a VW shop, his confidence in metal work meant I could be trained (somewhat !); so we loaded the car up and went 'down the hill'


It was now the slippery slope became precipitous. All the paint and bondo had to come off so we could see what was underneath. This was no longer going to be a 3 month project. (It's actually now been 3 years !)

[ukinusa]

Down in Mikes shop, I set to work under his tutelage; clamp everything up see what we have.
Under seal first, (the head light bucket on left was a scrap piece from another project just being offered up to see whats going on. Easier moving that than the whole new front end.

get the hood centered and plate welded to hold it in position. Cardboard shims to get the L & R side hood gaps


start clamping and aligning (in each picture there are clamps ready to be used but not doing anything!)


then weld up and see what we have - humm a gap, clearly another mistake of a poor cutting decision earlier ;-( so time to learn gap filling !

but passenger side good...

So pretty much fixed, and for a change of scenery from the intense measurement and welding I had also been stripping off the paint and bondo else where. And yes, for the eagle eyed out there, the hood gap at the front - sucked !

Ended up cutting around the hood area to first expand and then close the gap, and I also welded in a strip of metal to close the gap in the channel (sorry no pics but I hope you can picture it) I wanted to reduce gap with steal rather that lead or bondo. (Also trying front bumper alignment)

[JTR70]

That face lift turned out nice Steve. I noticed this new front end still required additional cutting and splicing around the headlights as it went. You were very fortunate to have found this guy close by as your project quickly began to spiral into some serious metal surgery. Being your first 356 build I can really understand how lost and overwhelmed you must have been before sending it off; Hell I would have been. The slippery slope title is a perfect description because as you know once you start digging its hard to stop. By their very fixed and layered design you are compelled to keep going further: "well while its cut off I should go ahead and address this, this and this." " oh, and before I can weld and close that section up I should go ahead and fix that too" Before you know it you're waist deep in added work. Well you know all about that by now. Enjoying the history.

[John Pierce]

Steve,

Lot's of work there to get the nose to fit. It looks like both headlight surrounds had to be cut and welded back into position. Were they angled incorrectly with the rest of the nose due to the previous front damage or just manufactured off?

The car is turning out nicely and thanks for showing the process. You mentioned earlier that the centerline was off. How did you figure that out and fix it?

Thanks.

John

[ukinusa]

The headlight surrounds were in need of massage to be sure to get the bucket to fit - but the key was getting the two of them to present them selves at the right angle to the ground (I used a Harbor Freight magnetic angle tool and piece of steel to bridge the buckets to make sure they matched across the body (got the angle measurement from another car - I forget the exact degree). Then they had to be aligned (squared) across the body; I used a really long piece of L iron to bridge them both to check for // straightness. The new piece where it met the existing fender on the top of the fender did 'dip' a bit as we couldn't get it run absolutely straight and get all the other numbers right. Used modern lead to fix that (I recall a diagram in Kellogs book (?) showing this issue but can't find it again right now)

As to center line, I used really good non stretch string, like that used for laying out buildings and foundations and pulled hard, no wrench as a weight ! It came into line "enough" for a hand built car and the hood was tweaked a little to help.

[JOP]

Hello Steve,

I forgot to answer the "between the headlights"
/ Per

[ukinusa]

While working on the nose I also paid attention to the two doors; the drivers side had been "side swiped" and then drilled to hold the bondo and drivers had bad rot in the bottom.


The holes were welded closed and the crease worked out as best as possible (sorry no pics.) The door bottom had to be replaced with a vendor repair panel and the door skin cut up and replaced with stock steel. Crimped the long edges so that the lower repair piece could slide up 3/8" under the remaining door skin to give a guide on the door curvature.


Lesson learned here was that I cut too high up the door. The further away from the (rigid) door bottom you go the more risk of warping, especially so if you don't weld REALLY slowly and allow to cool - tacking along leaving good gaps and then back tack as you build up the seam. Yepp.. guess why I know !
I also had to cut and straighten where the bottom door round buffers went ... and thanks for Tom P. I managed to get two new mounts from him (sorry no pic) which really helped. The picture shows the door structure, the mount repair was welded on top.

Picture of what I started with - rotted and crushed in !

[ukinusa]

The rear of the car wasn't too bad apart from around the lights, left side had really heavy bondo and the right side has 'blobs' of steel let in..


I was getting a little braver by now so I cut out old repairs and welded in new metal.


However, welding a plate into the convex surface proved a challenge and the getting a really smooth "butt" weld wasn't possible (by me !). I think a French Wheel would have really helped to create a good repair piece first but I have never used one or have access to one. So off to Harbor Freight perhaps to buy one or do you get what you pay for if you know what I mean ? Any comments on how to shape metal like that ?

[JTR70]

Some Knarly looking metal patches lurking under there Steve. Really nice job on the repair sections.