1957 Sandblasted Coupe

[JTR70]

Good choice Steve, It will make for a much cleaner end result.
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Steve,

You tried your level best there but your decision to get the panel from Trevor was the right one. Investment in these cars is fine you are not throwing your money away.Also of course the amount of experience you have achieved through trying so hard should not be forgotten, you know now, there is always a limit where you have to stop and re-think!

Great effort.

Roy

[ukinusa]

Well its been 10 weeks - I haven't been idle (well I really have I guess!) but I have been working on the front spindle roller bearings and bushings and wrestling them out (still haven't got the bushes) - yuk what a mess of grease, and cleaning up that dark dank area by the front torsion tubes, which I aim to paint before I put the support bracket on - the V - so much easier to get in there before its mounted & give me clean metal any day.
So Trevors nose is here and I can begin to wrangle the front area.


Christmas and Easter all in one !


OMG - panel fit looks like night and day compared to what I was doing !


Only need one half so cut right down middle ...
Going to sell the other half to help with costs.


Offered up again - so excited - curves look great !



Don't want to risk damage to the spare half, so back into resized box ready to ship.

[ukinusa]

Ok where was I ! I traced the new half panel and allowed my self a 2" selvedge to work back to. The cut around the hood gutter had to be a bit tighter but I should have enough.



Give my self some room to work...

Then the junk was off! What a relief


Wall art POS


Now onto cleaning up, removing the dings and dents and straightening the bumper mount box...will need some heat here.


Coming up nicely !

[roy mawbey]

Some nice work there Steve, I reckon its going to look good. Hope it all matches up.

Roy

[JTR70]

Looking really nice Steve! Someone needing only a left half will snatch that up quick! Trevor won't sell you just one side and an OEM half is about 5k so you'll find a home for it.
Keep up the great work!
Justin

[bbspdstr]

Steve,

Pardon me jumping in a little late, but have you measured the front torsion-tube bar, side-to-side? Front corners of the battery box?

It appears that you are working on a decent floor...and please excuse me for not going back to refresh myself earlier in your thread on what you have done before... but if you haven't done so, before you commit to final outer body panel placement, why not drop some string with a plumb-bob for some points on the floor from some points on the lower body and upper-inner wheel wells to compare left to right and in diagonal measurements with some trustworthy rear points? It doesn't take long and gives peace of mind going forward. (Unless you have and I didn't see that, in which case, just ignore this posting.)

Make a marker mark on the floor at each point, get someone to hold the "dumb end" of the tape (in my shop, that's me) to know you are at least not more than a few millimeters from being even when the measurements are plotted and recorded. It is amazing what happens to a unibody shell as the energy of a crash is transmitted to adjacent panels to the one that you deemed necessary to replace.

For more relative measurements, drop a line from a (level fore and aft and side-to-side) wheel arch apex so you can tell if the other half of the nose your are retaining had been pulled over. This all inexpensive knowledge to gain on your own....and it doesn't require a Celette bench to get the basics...an inclinometer, spirit levels, long 'yardsticks' (I often use the long slotted shelving vertical channels and a marker) and some basic carpenter's tools and a copy of the 356 body diagram for your model that is in the workshop manual.

If you do not have access to those pages, I can provide a scanned copy so you have plan and elevation dimensions for reference.

Keep not the "faith," but the work ethic you display and you will have continued good luck and a great 356. (Yes, luck is as important as any other tool....at least to me when I do this kind of work!)

Regards,
Bruce

[ukinusa]

NEVER to late to jump in - always appreciated.
I need to do some more of the measurements you suggested (ESPECIALLY THE PANELS REFERENCES, but I went off just now and measured the basic frame ... front (battery box corner) to back & front of the engine bay. The dumb end of the tape in my case (working alone) was the dolly from my panel beating supplies.
Picture below ...(missing measurement on left is 347.9cm
The ink spots were 3-4 mm - so easily loosing accuracy there.
Thanks Bruce - should have down this road a long time back. More to follow !

[bbspdstr]

Very good start.
I would recommend what most go-no-go fixtures rely on for chassis accuracy.....suspension points.
Drop line and bob to the floor with marks under the anti-roll bar mounting hole(s)and the rear torsion bar bushing cover bolt hole(s).
Most of the early cars I have seen lately have been low one-sided hits over their lifetimes and the ends of the front torsion bar tubes have been moved rearward or just twisted so the lower end is askew. The leading edge of the tube support will give a clue if of a different angle from the opposite side or shows any bending.
The front corners of the battery box can then be checked, and on and on.... but the most important is the suspension being equal in all dimensions, the rest is measured from there (or, "by eye" if you have seen enough to know what "looks right" and make some simple templates from the side which does well enough to make the other side match.)
Keep up the good work!

Bruce

[tperazzo]

Hi Steve,
My advice is to check the openings for size, shape and angular difference from side to side. When I replaced half a nose, I experienced everything that could go wrong did....Murphy's law. Here's a picture of the angular misalignment.





Also good advice on checking suspension points and various body dimensions. I use a tram guage which does the same thing perhaps quicker. I'll try to post a picture of it on the tools thread later, but I'm sure it can be easily googled.

Best of luck on the install!
Cheers,
Tom

[ukinusa]

That tool was over $200 looking around teh web...huh ! I remembered seeing one at a friends body shop that he made. I borrowed it today, quick trip to local metal store, $10 later for 1/2" and 3/8" square tube and 1 hr fabricating and I have my self two - one small 18-33 " and longer one 36-70" . I love this site - Thanks everyone.
And Bruce... will do the other measurements tomorrow now I am tooled up !

[Drew.s]

Hi Steve
I am about to measure up the 'African Queen' to make sure the chassis is straight so apologies for hi jacking your thread but would like to clarify with the experts, Bruce etc. that my method is correct.

I always think a picture can clarify so here are the critical dimensions (in red) that I have measured in the past to check for straightness.







With the body mounted on my poor mans 'Cellette Bench' (home made from 100mm steel heavy duty box section, with levelling feet).







Firstly I measure from lower rear mounting bolt to centre of lower front torsion arm tube on both sides (horizontally) to see if they are the same.
Secondly I measure the same 4 points (vertically) down onto the bench to check for side to side equalness.
Then finally I measure diagonally across the same points.

I hope that made sense and would welcome peoples views in case I have messed up.

There is one thing to remember if you try to measuring from the rear of the battery box on A cars, the box does not sit centrally in the chassis, just a word of warning.

Regards
Drew

[ukinusa]

Hi Drew - many thanks but your pictures didn't inset ...

[Drew.s]

Hi Steve
Should be there now.
Drew

[ukinusa]

Hi Drew that is really helpful..
I measured 189.5 +/- 2mm on each side...
and diagonals both came in 212 cm
So pretty much square

After measuring I realized that the metal tab on the tap measure moves about 1.5 mm so that could account for some discrepancies, and my plumb bob decide to douse for water as it was hard to get it settle down ! (excuses excuses)

I can't check height as the car is sitting in a frame of dubious construction - not sure who to blame for that but not as level as your nice set up.

Still need to check torsion bar measurements and front torsion tubes ...as per Bruce.

But looking promising ....famous last words !