BT5 resto

[Jonesy_356]

Thanks Justin, and thanks again for this site. I have been reading stuff I have not read before, and re-reading things that I did not realize were so useful. I have stopped buying magazines -all I need is here. Very much appreciated by this amateur.

[JTR70]

From one amateur to another...Thank you!

[neilb]

interesting to read through others restoration progress, looking good, how are you getting on with this sill? do you get much time on it?

[Jonesy_356]

Neil, thanks for looking. The sill is off, and I am cracking through on refurbishment of the inside of the lomitudinal space. I have slowed down a little of Kate due work, family and study but I always try to get progress each week. My motivation is high, I'm just a bit time poor. As others have correctly observed, it tends to be a 'one step forward, two steps back' affair. I will post some update photos tonight

J

[Jonesy_356]

OK, so taking all previous advice I decided to treat the rocker sill assy like a band-aid and just rip it off, and repair it later. Glad I did



This has opened the area up nicely and allows me access to repair the inners and treat the large amount of surface rust.




trial fitment of the new long




I'm a little further along than this currently, am making up new reinforcing bulkheads (good fun fabrication exercise), treating rust, patches to the inside and lower lock panel, etc. Always more to do, one step forward, three back, then forwards again (like everyone else!) Perhaps we should come up with a 356 Three-step in a dance competition. We'd all end up out the back wall!

Thanks for looking, Jones

[neilb]

looking good!

I'm following along with interest

[John Pierce]

I think that you'll be glad you took it off. I'll be much better in the end. Great job!

[Jonesy_356]

Time for update. I have been going back over the history of the resto threads here (thanks again for sharing all), and trying to plan forward. I have gone as far along with the left hand outer long as I can. But from here on in I really need the sill/rocker to line everything up together, and I am going to have to fabricate a rocker and attach it to the sill I removed, so that is a while away. Also I reckon I really need to have the inner and outer front wheel bay closing panels on also. Problem there is - the left had side is the one that I have to replace the entire outer closing panel. Fun. I know this is a big job, so I wanted to practice on the right had side first, as on the right I only have to replace half of the outer wheel closing panel. I bought these panels (the full for the left, and half for the right) from RD last Christmas. So, the story so far with pictures:

There was (of course) a little bit of trimming to make the LH outer long fit.




All that was required was a slit on the radius,


both front and rear required this treatment.
then rewarded and dressed to make it fit perfectly. Happy with that.

Meanwhile I repaired the heater tubes, de-rusted and primed. I still haven't welded the little inner bulkhead reinforcing walls as I will wait until final fit-up to make sure there are no clearance issues

[Jonesy_356]

Then moved on to the RH side. This is what I was looking at once I had cleaned it up. Oh dear.











Came up with a plan of what to try to smooth and what to what to patch. Cut out the horror, made a patch for the inner c.p.

[Jonesy_356]

Made a patch for the skin. Took me three goes but I'm pretty happy. I don't have a good template, as the other side is pretty horrible as well, but I took as many measurements, traces and contour guides as I could.

Th start of the skin patch




A bit more tapping to get a bit more curvature, then a trial fit




remove, more tapping (repeat above steps numerous times). Now pretty happy, the half c.p. seems to want to go where I want it to go. I will probably spend this week just inching (millimetering?) closer to a final fit, then maybe tack weld it either Friday afternoon or next weekend.







Thanks for looking, thanks for sharing.

ABCGT rules. Jonesy

[JTR70]

Its cleaning up really nice Jonesy! Cutting away all that crashed and rusted metal sure changes things in a hurry doesn't it? You made the wise decision going for full longitudinal repairs BTW. Chasing those subtly curved repair flanges is fun right? After a few tries your brain eventually figures out a better game plan as it proceeds to the second and third attempt. Been there and done that too! Keep up the fight she's really beginning to come along! Thanks also for the great site feedback! You're a part of what makes this place fun to visit!
Justin

[Jonesy_356]

So I got a bit of the way into the cutting, trimming etc, when it became obvious that the face of the closing panel brace was badly rusted. So I cut it out...




and made a patch...




and welded it in...





That all took time, so I've just finished the half closing panel after a few solid sessions this week. Everything takes longer than you'd think. But that's ok, any progress is good progress.

Half way through...




and finished, short of a bit of sanding and a paint.




On to the skin panel next. Thanks for looking, thanks for sharing.

Jonesy

[bbspdstr]

Jonesy...in looking at all of your thread, I can't see if your T-5B is a single front trans mount or double? I am finishing an early single mount/adjustable torque rod mounted 741 in a Roadster, a regression for Porsche back to the earliest cars, thankfully short lived.

The shift 'finger' or 'hockey stick' had leaked when shifted and the oil began to soften and damage the rubber mount but it was still there. The only true fix without a new part is to have the piece rebuilt (Rainer Cooney?) and I needed to get a safe fast fix, so I thought I'd share that here IF it means that anyone can comment on or benefit from a first time try.

I thought that since Porsche had a small buffer in the A> throttle rod before the bell-crank on the trans that was made the same way- rubber vulcanized to metal discs with threaded centers. Those would age and separate, stranding the driver. Their solution was to metal encapsulate that same rubber buffer so the metal discs could not go too far and still give some throttle operation until better repair could be made, so why not do the same with the trans mount?

First, smooth and reinforce the shift rod and install a new seal:

Then create a surround for the mount, rustproofing with weld-through primer as it goes along:





Then paint black and fill/seal with black RTV.

Hopefully it will last another 50 years, but at least it can't fall apart or go too far.

-Bruce

[Jonesy_356]

Wow, that's some pretty cool fabrication. Thanks for sharing it on this thread. Fortunately I have a double-front-mount (741?) series box. I haven't pulled it down yet, the little that I was able to drive the car before I dismantled it led me to believe that it was fully functional, with the syncros quite smooth. In fact better then the 901 box in my daily driver '71 T.

I was thinking of starting a separate thread for my motor rebuild and my gearbox refurbish. There don't seem to be any here.

Thanks for sharing Bruce,

Jonesy

[JTR70]

That's a nice fix. Thanks for sharing that trade secret Bruce!

Great idea Jonesy, A dedicated build thread on your (or anyone else)motor and/or transmission would be welcomed as you are correct we're a little shy on drivetrain builds at the moment. Nice job on the splash pan, keep it up! Justin