BT5 resto

[Jonesy_356]

Not sure why there are doubles and rotated photos in the above - maybe 'cos I'm back home Downunder??

Thanks for looking Jonesy

[John Pierce]

Thanks for the update, Jonesy. There's always rust lurking. Remove one panel only to find more.

The duplication of posts might be due to several things: 1. Try uploading only 3 images at a time and sit back and wait until it's complete as it takes a few minutes initially; 2. You can then upload additional images or words to your same post by using the "edit" button, but again only upload 3 images at a time. It's much faster with subsequent uploads. This will keep your posting as one email to the forum members, instead of 3 or more emails; 3. Rotated images sometime happen. Take that image and rotate it in a photo editing program, save it, then upload it again. That usually fixes the issue; 4. Duplicated posts can be removed by using the "edit" button.

HTH. Nice work too.


John

[JTR70]

Great progress Jonesy! You're going to love that TIG welder, nice little bead you laid down BTW. Keep up the great work!
Justin

Thanks for the tutorial to help the guys along John. The system does get testy at times.

[Jonesy_356]

I have been mucking around with my RH door and panel gap - getting pretty close. I think I will be able to get all of the metal to about 1 mm or so which is close enough for an amateur like me, I think. There will be some leading required, looking forward to trying that out.

A side question gents - on my handbrake (e-brake) system, the cable that extends forward and down from the handle assembly to the curved crank on the torsion bar was cut during disassembly. I see that Stoddards, and probably others, have a replacement for this cable but I don't understand from the photos I see in their on-line catalogue how the replacement cable attaches to the end of the hex-rod of the hand assembly. Obviously, likewise, I don't understand how to get the old, partial cable off the current hex-rod. I have tried screwing it off but don't want to apply too much force until I am certain that it is attached like that.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Jonesy

ps - I am sure that I have read somewhere here that 4 mm is the gap to shoot for in raw metal for doors, right? Allows for .5 mm or so for each side of primer and top coat? It sounds right when I say it, just wanted to check and can't find the thread right now. Many thanks in advance.

[bbspdstr]

The cable denoted as #1 on the Stoddard site's "emergency brake" page is not that...what they mean is the rubber seal the cable passes through, sealing the guide tube.

I have found replacement hex rods with cables intact but no way to easily replace a broken or cut cable. Those are swaged at both ends. The fray, mostly, comes from those having to be 'loaded' to keep a slight rotational pressure on the handle to 'lock' the pull in the friction mechanism controlling the hex rod as it's pulled back.

Oh, yeah, they rust, too....and those are no less than 50 years old unless NOS replacements.....but the usual used parts sources should be able to sell you one that's functional.

The 'T' handles are varied, but interchangeable. Threaded and pinned. Some are chromed, some are ribbed, some are smooth and (in my opinion) the best for restoration is the smooth polished aluminum variety, damn the 'originality' for a particular year.

If a rod with cable cannot be found, a repair could be made by clamping a length of similar cable to as much of the original 2 ends as possible, checking clearances in all aspects of it's travel. It is right next to the steering, the reason Porsche eventually installed a metal strap 'keeper' so a stretched e-brake cable could not tangle in the steering parts.



(Sorry for the blurry picture)

The ends in the rod and eyelet end were swaged, so I guess that THEORETICALLY (I've never tried this) the end could be heated and the cable removed (pulled out by getting it started a strand at a time until it's all free) and new cable swaged with a HD crimping tool, but I am NOT recommending that unless there is no other way around that experimentation.
___________________

As for gaps, the 'usual' is 3mm, but that is not carved in stone. Many original 356s I've seen have had a tighter but usually bigger gap below the door to the rocker, rarely exactly 3mm. The big thing is "even" gaps that "look right." I was trained that if the car is to be a dark color, pay more attention to the contours than the gaps....and vice versa for a light colored cars. Beginning in bare metal, 4mm or maybe even a little more will accommodate various primers and the top coat, especially a base/clear, and wind up giving ~3mm when you are finished.

Hope this helps,
-Bruce

[JTR70]

Can't add much of anything useful here as Bruce pretty much covered it.
But I would say if I was trying to salvage my original hex bar I'd chop the crimp off, drill and tap the end then drill a bolt run the new cable through weld them then screw in the bolt/cable assembly to the end of it then fuse it securely with a TIG weld. An option if you want to try and save it.

Keep going Jonesy! Show us how your getting on when you get a chance.
Justin

[Jonesy_356]

Bruce, thank you very much for the detailed reply - I guess I'll just have to work with what I have done.

Thanks Justin, that seems like a sound repair method, I'll put some thought into it. My brother is a shipwright so I imagine there is something for cables on boats that will rejoin either end without having too much of a profile. I'll report back when I have found something. it has been slow going - here are some updates




got the door sandblasted, made things much clearer to see. The inside of the door skin had been covered in some sort of foam sound-deadener. Make me think of the work Phil must have had to do for his whole car. I scrapped it down to a thin film, then dissolved the residue with Xylene - a useful product that I think is similar to turpentine.
I am going to try it out on the perished seals inside fittings, I think it will dissolve the old rubber that I can get to any other way.

The inner door skin is painted the green that I think EOM replacements are done in, and I can't find the date stamp on the inner structure so I assume that these are replacement doors.

The top forward corner had been indented on the seam - maybe to make a key for the sh*tload of bondo that was there




Unable to get in behind this without taking the door apart. So I cut it out, straightened it and welded it back in. As I couldn't dress the weld I will have some lead or bondo here, but it will be close to 1 mm deep, rather than the 5 or 6 mm deep as previously done.










gaps are getting better the more I play with them. Lateral alignment is pretty close both top and bottom. It's a great study in cause and effect.





Had to get rid of about 4-5 mm of bog/bondo in that mid section below the door handle - it had been punched in with a spike-pein hammer or similar tool to the extent that the skin was holed. Gentle stretching and some shrinking has brought it back to the 1 mm tolerance region. I'm reasonably happy with the progress but it is very time consuming. Far more delicate than the inner chassis work - cut out the crap, shape a section, weld it in. But it is all part of the fun.

As you can see from this last photo I can't raise the door any more to increase the door/rocker gap, so I will have to lower that edge of the rocker a bit. Perhaps some gentle persuasion, but more likely I will have to slice along the rocker's edge below the door and bring it out and down (it is too recessed as well as too high). There's a couple of session's work just there. But I'm sure it will be worth it.

Thanks for looking,

Jonesy

[bbspdstr]

A word of caution. That 'step' is very visible and should, I'd think, be preserved in 'original' dimensions, especially vertically. The rubber mat which sits on the wide horizontal section of the rocker threshold can hide an expansion outward and the "gentle persuasion" of that section can effect the lowering of the whole outer rocker enough to gain a couple of millimeters....or not, and you wind up needing to slice the vertical rocker ends. A PITA either way, but the outer vertical aluminum strip and the ribbed mat make the difference in appearance and influences what has to be done.
Good luck with whatever you decide,
-Bruce

[Jonesy_356]

Thanks Bruce, I may have to ask for further advice on this one as you will see below.

I was just not happy with the way the door and forward panel were shaping up, so I committed to starting again (actually I committed to that a while ago, in a previous post, but you know...a bit of self-delusion...). So out came the old and the new is going in. I have a question and would really appreciate an answer. Part of the mistake with the previous iteration was that I pre-curved the replacement patch (when viewed vertically), which then broke up the nice gentle curve along the length of the car. Looking from above, there was a 'crest' in the curve on the fender forward of the door- just a few mm, but enough to be wrong. This time the patch remains flat, except for a little pre-bending (when viewed longitudinally) to match the curve over towards the crown of the fender. Now, when I go to weld in the piece, do I completely weld it into the fender before I then make the sandwich with the closing panel flange? Last time I pre-bent the fold to about 90 degrees before I started welding the piece in. So if I wait, and bend after welding, will the currently flat panel play nicely with the closing panel flange, even though I will be tending it to shrink the sandwiching metal which will tend to flatten the patch out? This is Ron Roland's method described in his book but I'd like some clarification - I would really rather not do this a third time!

Thanks for sharing, Jonesy

[JTR70]

Looking good Jonesy! I commend you on not just settling for an average fit but starting over and trying it again. Nice job!
Justin

[Jonesy_356]

Last post six months ago! How sad! Im obviously not getting my work/life balance right.

Anyway, there has been some progress in that time, mostly around the right hand longitudinal. I am not going to disturb the sill on this side, so the repair was a matter of cutting out the old long to an appropriate height and then trimming the new and installing.





I also had to repair that trick part of the rear longitudinal chassis rail where it dips lowest under the torsion tube pivot. I will hunt out some photos.

[Jonesy_356]

Hey guys, not sure who still hangs around here. Am just recovering from some illness and have started working on my machine again. I will post some update phots. It's great to go back and have a look at my and everyone else's work, Ive done a lot (with a lot to go) but others have been plugging away too,,,great stuff. Currently getting the loom right and working.

Jonesy

[ukinusa]

Got an email notification you had done an update - good to see you back . How did your fender repair turn out ?

[Jonesy_356]

Hi mate, the wing repair went pretty well in the end (second attempt!). There is a bit of a wave going on when viewed from above, but I suspect a little bit of manipulation will sort that out. I still have to button it up at top and bottom yet, so will do that before I play too much more. I am onto the loom as I want to get it run back down the centre tunnel before I put the front half of the floor back in - then i will come back to the little tidy up metal work. I figure the structure will be far more stable with the floor complete. The chassis is on its sine at the moment so I'll take some update phots when I get back from Sydney later in the week.

[JTR70]

Hey Jonesy, Great to see you here again and glad that you're on the mend and well enough to make some progress on your coupe. There's still a few of us that check in from time to time around here. Looking forward to some update shots. Justin