1957 Sandblasted Coupe

[ukinusa]

Waiting on my new hole puncher...so decided to open another can of worms. The lower front support in the wheel well. I knew something was amiss...
But as I dug deeper the worse it got !

cleaning as I go...

Cut the front V section off too as need to replace the front lower floor panel/wall.

and for good measure a hole to see what's going on !

I really don't want to replace the front floor pan so I retired for the evening with a glass or two or + of wine and will sleep on it !

[ukinusa]

delete pls

[John Pierce]

I really love how people do a quick fix for rusted out metal! It only hides the rust and makes it worse for the next guy. I had the same issue with my car. Don't get overwhelmed, but just take one section at a time and you'll get there.

JP

[Jonesy_356]

Cut it out, make a new one, weld it in. Repeat. Looks about the same as mine mate, it was a real mess. Nice fresh metal in there will look great. I have used the patterns in the Roland book for the reinforcing sections, they seem to work well. Keep plugging away at it, you're doing great!

Jonesy

[ukinusa]

Yepp gets daunting at times; slept somewhat - kept me awake darn it !

Action plan:
1. I will follow Justin on page 13 of his restore (early days !!) and remove the bulb from my front lower pedal toe piece to slide in and around. However I think I might cut it exactly in the middle under the bulb as I can't easily get to the driver side right now. (I wont need to do much to the inside front tunnel supports flanges - in good shape).

2. I have the repair piece for the front longitudinal side reinforcement - it looks 'odd' at the end maybe a later car ?(see pc below)




3. I am not sure if I need to make the 'u' channel for inside support - see Justin pics on page 14. No trace of it here but doesn't mean it wasn't there! It's May 57 coupe 100661 ???

One last question - I am making a sort of index of task activity on Justins pages and hope to do Phils too... is there a way to jump to specific page rather than step through from the start or backwards from the end ???..

And THANKS one all for the encouragement and guidance - it's needed and appreciated !

[John Pierce]

Hi,

I haven't seen the reinforcement piece made like that before. They usually don't have the funky double bend on the end. Who made it?

What I do is bookmark certain pages that I want to get back to.

Cheers,

John

[ukinusa]

Restoration design - maybe wrong piece ? Its seem long so I think I can make it work. Good idea on book marking !

[ukinusa]

This is the part I am confused about (one of many I know!).

If I do need to make it/fit it am not sure how it welds in- any other pics out there...I searched !

[John Pierce]

That is an inner reinforcement piece placed on A cars. I believe Justin showed how he installed it on his car.

JP

[ukinusa]

That's where I got these pics from... Justin just talked about welding it in.. No actual pics other other than what I show...

[bbspdstr]

2. I have the repair piece for the front longitudinal side reinforcement - it looks 'odd' at the end maybe a later car ?(see pc below)




3. I am not sure if I need to make the 'u' channel for inside support - see Justin pics on page 14. No trace of it here but doesn't mean it wasn't there! It's May 57 coupe 100661 ???

Here is that piece in an "after" shot: (some trimming required)



The end is flame welded (actually TIG in this example) because that was the original way that piece was on a C-2, not the typical attachment on most 356s of spot welding. The taller front end was welded onto the torsion bar tube support with a flame or other (?) method on all I have seen. I have also never seen an inner channel such as you show nor have I gone back to Justin's thread to see what he did, but a simple extension came down in the metal formed under the large round opening and folded inward, horizontally inward, and the lower horizontal flange of the shown piece we typically refer to as a "frame strut" attaches (spotted) to that return underneath, creating a boxed area stronger than the previous 356s had until they morphed into this later design in early '56.

Hope this helps,
Bruce

[ukinusa]

Not that I was ever a Catholic but this forum is like the confessional - well my version of it !

Spent sometime digging into the front where the replacement foot pedal/wall, bulkhead will go. The floor where it over laps and is spot(?) welded (mine was heavy gas welded where they filled in holes I think ) to the pedal wall was very rotten and I had to cut back maybe 2" into the floor to get to real metal, and will have to cut more I suspect, to get to metal that weld wont blow through.

I was thinking that I could scarf on a strip / front repair section to the floor. However being under the car I had time to, yet again, examine the floor metal, especially in light of this front rot. It has also been beaten to sh**, creased every where, the stamping patterns are messed up and in places collapsed - but on the plus side, was I thought, pretty solid; hence my initial reluctance to do anything. The rear section by the monkey motion tunnel is messed up (the tunnel is missing) ...

Given I have to fix both longitudinals...although I have 80% done the passenger side (well cut and shaped.)

I am starting to think an easier option, is to start over with new floors ?

I am rapidly getting into the deep end of the pool but with guidance from you wonderful folks, perhaps in the end it will the better way to go ? Not sure what I am really asking for, just hand holding in future I guess !

And the sequence I should follow if I go this route..fix all the floor "edges" and then put the floor in last I assume ?

[Jonesy_356]

I have taken out the front half of my floor pan, as the area under the pedals was quite bad. I haven't put the new on in yet, but have trial fit it several times. Every time I do I mentally check -do I want to take out the back half as well? The reason for this is that all that new metal just looks soooo damn good! As someone else.has commented, they have never taken out a piece of 'questionable' metal that they regretted. So my advice would be- start cutting them out! There Re several side benefits, the access that it gives you is amazing, and it let's you clean up your tunnel.

Going back a bit - the forward longitudinal reinforcement, 'frame strut' as Bruce calls it (and therefore shall in my mind forever be called Frame Strut)...I thought it was an either/or thing. The square one that goes on the inside of the TT support wall is, I thought, the earlier version and therefore appropriate for your '57. I thought from the B onwards was the more complicated shape that goes on the outside of the TT support wall. Hats what I have made up for my BT5. But I didn't think both were fitted.

Do I have this right?

Thanks for sharing, Jonesy

[bbspdstr]

.....As someone else has commented, they have never taken out a piece of 'questionable' metal that they regretted..................-+- the forward longitudinal reinforcement, 'frame strut' I thought it was an either/or thing. The square one that goes on the inside of the TT support wall is, I thought, the earlier version and therefore appropriate for your '57. I thought from the B onwards was the more complicated shape that goes on the outside of the TT support wall. Thats what I have made up for my BT5. But I didn't think both were fitted.

Do I have this right?

Thanks for sharing, Jonesy

Yeah, I can say that I have no memory of saying "Damn, why did I cut that panel off...it's perfectly fine in there." If the 'original' is compromised, one must decide on how best to make the replacement fool yourself or another 356er into thinking it wasn't done, or wasn't done with the dreaded "repro."



This is from all the repro A floors available and a front of one vendor's pair sorta works with the rear of another vendor's pair and some 'corrections' will be done on both, but no pair is correct as they arrive. (on the left is the original) This also reflects the early "pre-T-1" of the morphing through '56, when parts were obviously being 'used up' in chassis and body construction, '55 thru '57.

I hated to cut out the originals....until they were media blasted and then they became a planetarium when viewed with a light on the other side. They were still a good reference. Thin, too thin to save especially since it is an open 356 with no support from back to front above the sills. Every panel is important in a unibody auto!

The struts were either/or. The more plain exterior versions with the eventual after-thought channels inside and the brake hoses going through the panel below the big holes were phased out in mid-'56 and the external tapered box reinforcements (with the brake hose guides [tabs] just outside the circular hole) morphed in, therefore the later/last version is correct for any '57, T-1 or T-2. For that matter, those were the same all the way until the end of the 356 model, even if different vendors have differing versions now. I have the patterns from a good original to make my own, but what is shown here is now cheaper, if not better.

Don't worry about it....budget time and parts to do it right. I've always said that once you need a patch, the size of the patch is unimportant.

-Bruce

[ukinusa]

Hi Bruce - will buy your floor pan - better than mine ! (Just kidding of course) the light in that photo really shows the damage and the contrast to new. So yepp I guess it's the way to go now . Glad I came to church to day !