58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[JTR70]

Preping the right front wheel house for final paint. Most of the time was spent cleaning and hand preping the pinch seam area Where the front fender and splash panel meet. you know that critical area where most rust out.


Many an hour spent in here getting the last bits of old tar and surface rust the media blaster had missed.


After a few hours of hand sanding it was back to silver metal again as far as I could see. I know there is still old rust way down in there where i could not reach but its the best I can do. There is no severe rust here however. A very rare luxury provided by a lifetime in the desert.


Corner ready for primer and paint. Once its painted I'm going to pack grease deep down in this crevis to slow down any rust I could not get to.

Finished removing the last bits of tar, surface rust and spots of our old undercoating job from '88 in this right side wheel house. Went ahead and got the inner panels into final paint.

With all of my oil line mounts in place and my cooler set up I felt comfortable enough to put this area into final paint. I'm loving the look of this painted underside. Its going to be easy to detail and keep clean. The glossy paint highlights everything however. Can't hide any sin or short comings in the metal work like you can with a nice thick dull coating of rocker shootz. You can see exactly what kind of shape this car is in structurely with this finish.


The last modification I have to do for the oil lines are the two holes at the bottom of the splash pan.


Again this shinny paint highlights the fact that the forward upper closing wall and side battery wall are still tweaked and hair-lipped from that old accident. On a more positive note it also clearly shows how all of this old deformation is ahead of the suspension and that this damage is strictly cosmetic. While doing the major metal repairs to this fender (page ) last year I thought about pounding that upper wall back out a bit. But on second thought the hood gap and elevation in this area are fine and I did not want to risk disturbing these lines trying to chase that tweak in the wall out. I thought it best to just let this sleeping dog lay. Besides its really not that bad.


Old damage from'69 again.

I've been messing with this car off and on for 20 years and never gave that tiny hole above the tie-rod porthole a second thought. Once I began detailing this front underside for paint I realized what it was few months ago. Its a bullet hole! Looks like a 22 round to be exact. You can see where the slug punched a dome-shaped dent on the inner left wall just above the brake line bracket in this photo. Its old! The dent is rust pitted where the tar was knocked off many years ago by the force. Being in such an obscure place I decided to just leave it alone. I thought it would be a funny reminder of a time in the 60's when this was just an obscure, worthless little foriegn car in an American wrecking yard and that someone thought it an appropriate target to shoot at.


At long last! Right front wheel house is complete and in final paint. This old damaged fender was one of the major metal repair challnges on this car. took many an hour and some great expertise and help from my good friends Jason and his father Ludy to get it here. But it is finally here.


more section closer to getting this shell off of the rotisserie. This one was a biggy for me!


Faint traces of old damage and repair can still be detected; like the flat spots in the wire rolled edge from my father beating on it 40 years ago but its the best I could do short of full replacement. Oh, well gives this car more character.


This feels like a lifetime ago.


So happy! one more underside compartment in shiny silver paint! I'm getting sick of looking at primer and surface rust under here. Thanks for looking at this! Justin

[JTR70]

Underside of car in final paint!


This officially ends my painting duties to underside and chassis of this car!!!!

Right and left door wells now being prepped for primer and a final coat of color.

Another pesky rarely noticed section to prep and get ready for paint. Same process; sanding and old tar removal.


An afternoon invested in digging out the remaining dryed out old tar from deep inside that crevis way in the back.


Area now sealed in epoxy primer and ready to go.


right side also ready for paint.

Last of the munutia painting details complete. exterior soon to follow.



All lap joints were sealed with heavy drip check before primer paint.

Again having the car on the hoist gave me the ability to shoot it from various angles. Hinges mounts, upper fender overhang and speaker boss all got much better coverage this way.


Shot of the finished left side! All the pesky detail areas and cavities are now in final color! I am only left with the exterior skins and jambs after the bodywork is finished. Just basic paint job stuff! It was so nice to be done with all this extra painting. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

I wanted to switch gears for a bit and post details of the parts being used for the Lightweight GT theme I am building this car as. Bone Stock for my own cars does absolutely nothing for me. While I am a stickler for correctness and detial a nice blend of the two worlds is what I will be doing on this old coupe. I rounded up as many original factory race parts as I could find and or afford. The others are nice vendor offered reproductions or parts I was able to make on my own.


This original GT coupe pictured will be very closely resemble my finished product. (silver/black) Except my car will not have the leather hood straps or the mesh headlight protectors. No hood handle either. You get the idea.

Original Factory GT parts:

A major find was this complete front and back set of GT Brakes, I bought them from a really great guy out in AllenTown PA.; Mark Burkitt. He was kind enough to let me make a few install payments to make this dream come true. Thanks again Mark!!


I bought this set completely restored by Mark who did an excellent job. He also had the drums polished during the process. I would have left the natural finish but its done and looks great just the same!


While these brakes are hard to come by; they are even harder to find a complete set of four. Normally what comes up for sale is the fronts. Rear drums are basically stock but with the spacers and longer studs of course. The factory also added those four dowl pins to secure the spline casing even further.


Original alloy Spyder shoes came with this set but the alloy RSK ATE wheel cylinders I bought from the late Gary Kempton several years earlier. There was some wear on the alloy cylinder walls so I sent these to Bill Brown as well for stainless steel sleeves. He does beautiful work! they will last a lifetime now.


Im a sucker for race parts. While the GT drums are trick; these finned RSK drums were just a little trickier! I HAD TO HAVE THEM! i'm sure some of you may remember these from a year ago when John Serramito from France had this pair up for sale. He's another great asset to the 356 community! A very honest and trustworthy man! Don't hesitate to deal with him if he's got something you want! Thanks again John!

Matched left and right pair. Cooling fins run in opposite directions. Slipped right over the Gt backing plates without a problem. Thank god! Need to make a few adjustments but they'll work!


Can't wait to see these under my car!

I love old race parts! Like I said,I am a sucker for them and if its something really trick, I get emotional and pay without haggling. "its an investment" is how I justify my sickness. Someone on the "talk" (can't remember) has the credo about "protection from what he wants." I certainly identify with that! Below are some really trick original 550 Spyder "roller" link pin assemblies I got from Bill Brown a bit ago. The "B" spindles I also sent out to him for new king pin install. These roller units were complete minus the alloy end plugs. I was able to have set made here based on a sample picture I also got from Bill.


trick little dual roller bearing assemblies. Alloy end caps I had to have made.


You can see in the lower link boss the case hardend bearing race installed


Thrust washer/collar is installed on both sides. Link pins are standards.


There has been a change of plans on the spindles. I am no longer using the Stock B spindle. I am having a custom pair of HD combo spindles made. They will use the 550 roller links when done though. Once done everything will be roller bearing now including the king pins.

Bill my machinist has the basic stub-ends turned here out of 4130 chromoly. Will post updates as they progress.

Here is my wheel selection. I feel very fortunate to have found these. The fronts are original standard 4.5 Alloy/steel GT wheels with the strong offset to the inside for the big brakes. The rears are 5 inch wide RSK steel/alloy wheels with a deeper dished offset. I think this offset combo is going to look great together once I get the car to sit right which is a must!

I purchased the 4.5's individually but found the 5's for sale as a pair. remaining hubcap clips will be removed. Not a fan of hubcaps; not even alloy GT ones....

According to my old friend (the late Craig Stevenson) these 5 inch RSK wheels were the narrowest and were not intended to be used in competition by the factory. Craig said they were designated as "Rollers" and just used to move the cars off and on transport and maybe around the paddock. The last owner did not get that memo because they are both a little rough with a "walk" in each when spun. Both will need to be trued. I may even add a half inch of width while I'm at it.




Pair of original alloy GT seats. Both have the usual fatigue cracks at the base and top of the back rests. All will have to be heliacred before I send them out for upholstry.


Original horsehair padding is surprisingly supple and not hard and crusty. I'm staying with the original style tan cordiroy center inserts (left seat in picture) when I have them rodone. Think it will look really sharp and compliment the Tan square weave carpet thats going in. Bolsters will be black leather.

[JTR70]

Original GT tank I bought 4 years back; when they were cheap


original finned 904 gas cap I bought from Jerry Haussler several years back.

Both are going to look great together sitting under my hood one fine day.

Original GT alloy bumper decos

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to have found this original pair of front and rear GT bumper trim in really nice condition. Just a couple of small dings and the folded corners have fatigue cracks that need welding.


These short GT interior door handles though there has been some question as to weather they are really race items or not BUT they are different and look cool so I'll run them.

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

These last photos really show what you have achieved. Wow what a lovely job. The painted chassis, the spare parts, the brakes, the tank, I have never read in any Porsche book such an interesting informative story. The time alone to get these photos all on the forum as well the text muist take hours let alone actually doing these jobs. Do you ever sleep my friend!

Superman indeed.

Roy

[merbesfield]

Justin, awesome collection of parts. I feel much better after seeing your obsession. I am not nearly as crazed as you..... Where did you learn all about this stuff? Thanks for taking the time to post all these great pics.

[spyderwerks]

Justin
Not only is your Talent amazing , but as mark mentioned & most of us were thinking "when do you sleep". I know its a lot of extra effort to just post your thread & share with all...Thank you so much ! Looking forward to your continued posts.

[JTR70]

Roy, Thank you once again! I am so happy to hear that you still enjoying reading all this detail stuff! I must admit I have a tremendous amount of hours spent uploading this post alone not to mention the rest of this site. I am normally getting to bed past mid-night quite regularly these past weeks but like the car, this new site is a labor of love and the hours pass quickly. I am fully committed here and won't allow it whither on the vine due to lack of fresh content. Responses and participation like yours helps keep me going!!! Thank you!

Mark, thank you!! yes, I know I get crazy with this stuff. Alot of these items were really out of my league but I just found a way to afford them. I got into considerable debt a few years ago but have been flush for a while and feels really good! I just pray nothing else really cool comes along to tempt me! Thank you for taking your time to post your project up here! Knowing that its not just me talking to myself really helps to keep me going so thank you again!

Hey Max, Thank you too Sir! I appreciate all of your encouragment, particiaption and support! As I mentioned above I have been spending more time on the computer than my girlfriend would like but she also has been very supportive. It is a labor of love and I am fully commited to seeing this through. All of you guys posting these really nice remarks makes me feel that All the time I have spent was well worth it!
Thank you again to all of you who post here and visit on a regular basis. I will do everyhting I can to keep it fresh and new here.
Best Regards, Justin

[JTR70]

My last little original "goodie" for this project. Its a first generation Nardi wood wheel. What makes it special is the Steel center hub and trim ring. I don't know how many were made but I have heard the normally found alloy hub was soon to follow.

This wheel was on white '55 speedster that my late friend Craig Stevenson was restoring shortly before he passed. I was at his shop on one of my many visits and remember him telling me how rare this wheel was and how He found it for the client who owned the car to make the restoration just a little more special.

You can clearly see the alloy spokes sandwiched between the steel hub and ring. Most of The original nickle plate is gone but gives the wheel a great patina.


After Craigs passing the owner took posession on his car and soon after sold it to John Warner. John decided he wanted the original VDM Porsche wheel in his new speedster instead. He offered it up for sale; knowing how rare it actually is from Craig I snagged it immediately for this car. Will look right at home in that old coupe. Well, thats about it! My bag of tricks is now empty. All the rest of my GT related items are either vendor purchased or fabricated by me and my buddy Warrern. Will post those next! Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

GT Heater tube block-off cap.

Keeping with my GT theme I'm not running a heater system in this car so I need to cap-off the heat tube runners. I have this nice detailed shot of a GT speedster in my Carrera book so I can make an accurate copy.



One of many small original components that you're just not going to find up for sale. Could not be easier to make however and since I had this clear picture of one I went ahead and made myself a pair.



Started with a scrap piece of 18 guage steel and used my donor chassis's heater tube as my buck. I could only guestimate the depth of the cap based on this one picture but the elbow on the heat tube soon answered that question and dictated its final length.


Winding it tightly with as many vise-grips as I can get in there to hold it. Cut to length and ready for a tack on the joint seam.


Capped and welded.


Inside shot; no burrs that may interfere with fitment. One more to go. This could not have been easier and was actually quite fun to make.



Tube end cleaned and thoroughly greased to hold down any future rust formation.

Installed! Tapped into final position and ready for paint. You can see here how that elbow dictated the caps length.


I'm happy with them. They look like my sample photo and will keep the mice out.
GT tank installation coming up next!
Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

GT Gas tank fitment


I bought this original off Ebay about four years ago for 3,000.00; back when they were cheap!! Its a pretty nice original. It has a wanker on the lower left corner and a pretty good sized dent under that left mounting strap which gives it loads of character! The most important thing is that the original lead liner is beautiful with zero rust issues! Its a scary proposition to reseal one of these tanks because of the internal baffling. Too many corners and joints where moisture could penetrate the sealer and start to corrode. Anyway I'm glad I don't have to worry about that I'll take the dents!

[Trevor]

I'm still in AWE of all the parts. Took me a whole day just to digest them. Give a friend a warning next time you're going to unload like that. I'm still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor!

[JTR70]

Thanks Trevor! It was really exciting quest rounding up those parts. I promise no more surprises.



Its a very easy and straight forward conversion if you've got an original access cover and straps. I folded the metal tangs for the stock tank down flat, now all I have to do is drill the two mount holes on the other side and make a reinforcing plate for the right side strap.


Fortunately I have had this original access cover and tank straps which eliminated all the guess work on where the mounts should be placed.


The underside of the cover/mount has a reinforcing plate spot welded on.


locating the holes for the other side was as easy as flipping the original GT plate over. It went right into place for a perfect template.


I have never seen the underside of a factory equiped GT tanked 356 but I just assumed that if they had a reinforcing plate on one side they would most certainly have reinforced the other. With that theory in mind I am making this channeled reinforcement plate for the right side. Have my donor scrap piece there with all the bending and cut lines scribbed out.

New plate now cut and flanged to final shape. Just have to drill my holes and add some weld-nutters to the back.


Right side plate complete and test fitted on a strap.

Threaded shells are welded on and I punched two large holes in for lightness and a better finished look. The original left cover has no weld-on threads and just takes standard nuts. I decided to make this side easier to install by incorporating the threads.


Mounted into final position. In keeping with my philosophy of holding modifications to a bare minimum the plate is not welded onto the car. once the two bolts are removed the plate drops free. Joris Koning provided confirmation that this plate was a commonly overlooked detail when installing one of these tanks so I'd like to thank him once again for the information.


Once I was finished here is the extent of the modifications I had to do to the car to fit this big tank; two small holes and hammered over standard tank strap mounts. Not too bad!
I did however run into a fitment issue with the tank straps which I will post next. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

Over the years I have had two original GT tanks and three sets of original GT tank straps. No matter which tank I installed the same problem occured over again; the straps ended up being too short to work.


This an original pair that I have since sold. Both were too short to work with my car.


With the tank fully seated and a strap mounted at the base the photo above shows the avarage fitment I was getting. It was too short to even get a tank bolt started and you know how extra long those are. The problem was made worse by the fact that these trial fitments were done without any base padding or felt strips installed;would have ended up even shorter.


After several attempts I came to conclusion that these body mounted leads must be shorter than on the cars that originally came with a GT tank. Or maybe its a T1 problem and the later T2 and T5 cars have longer leads. Can't say for sure on that one. What is for certain is that my leads on this early T1 car are not long enough to work with a factory tank and strap.


This was an altered pair of straps I ran across some time back. It was nice confrimation that I was not the only one having problems with this. They were cut and lap welded a very long time ago.



At first I thought this was one by a previous owner but on closer inspection these were altered in a way that most guys would not or could not do it. The photo above shows that these were spot-welded and hammer forged a very long time ago. You mess with these cars long enough and you gain a feel for what looks factory original; these lap joints look the part. So appearently a big tank was retro fitted there and a similar problem arose.


Altered strap not fully mounted here but these fit! They are the right length for my application and they will work fine. Problem solved! Tank and straps need restoration and their ready to go in. This was just an FYI if you or someone you know has a similar problem fitting thier GT tank. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

GT Roll bar fabrication and installation


Installed replica of factory GT roll bar offered by GT werk.

Again in keeping with my GT theme I definitely wanted a factory style roll bar in my car. I love roll-cages so this is a welcomed addition for me. I do like the looks of the original unit however there are several improvements and modifications I want to make to mine.


Here is the basic mild steel tubing kit you can buy. Its pictured here minus the front stub ends. This bar was designed to be removable from the factory. This option also crerated one of the short comings I want to correct. This includes those flat hammered ends on the down tubes. A huge weakness where it turns from round to flat. The bar would easily collapse and bend right there under force taking out its triangulated strength.


Heres a clear shot of a mounted original. Again I do not like the single shear rear mount design of that flattened tube end. The front stub-ends are just cone shaped units that the tube slips over and is locked into place by that single bolt. While this is the way that it was done I wanted to take adavantage of modern technology in the off-road racing industry. This includes 4130 chromoly tubing and really trick interlocking removable tube ends.


Since my Buddy Warren has been building off-road race cars for 30 years I knew having him put 4 basic bends in a bar to create a hoop was going to be a no brainer for him. Here was my basic concept drawing of what I wanted. Still has the same general look and feel of the original but I have added three perimeter lengths at the base creating solid triangulation of the bar as a stand alone unit; these additional pieces will also double as an anchor point for some shoulder restraints. Lap belts may hold you in the car but they won't stop your face from going into the steering wheel.



The basic planning was now set. My first step was to make the actual mounts for the bar itself. Designing my cardboard templete(pictured above)for the heavy steel base plates that will house the stub-end and spread out any potential load from unwanted forces; like an accident. The correct way to mount these would be to directly tie into the rear torsion housing However like all the rest of my modification it has to be somewhat easy to reverse when and if the day comes to bring it back 100% bone stock and correct. SO.....a base plate it has to be.


first plate cut out, shaped and filed to match my cardboard template.

The fold in the template marks lap joint on the cars eventual mount surface. I lightly grounded out this area but I'll have a few MM machined out here so the plate will seat perfectly flush.


Heres a shot of that lap joint I need to mill a relief for to get a tight fit.

Second plate cut out to rough shape.


Both pieces now finshed and shaped. Lots of time here cutting and file shaping to get these two thick pieces to match.


Both plates now in final finished form. Machine shop is next for some hole drilling.


Again, this roll bar is also going to double as the anchor point for the shoulder restraints for the four point seat belts that are going in. The factory flat hammered down bar with the single shear configuration on the bolt threads wouldn't cut it if god forbid I had to rely on this unit to do its job to the fullest. I'm going have some spherical ends machined that will shoulder mount off of the thread shank rather then just relying on the bolt. By the way these 911 CV bolts are going to work perfectly here.


All mocked-up and ready for the next step. A long way still to go! Thanks for stopping by! Justin