58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[DG58INNM]

Wow! You don't want to come out to my place and do my door gaps for me by chance?

Simply perfect!

DG

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot John and Mark, Its always great to hear that these trials are not too boring.

Thank you Phil, it is much better and I think I can leave well enough alone. yes, see what fun is yet to come. hang in there!

Hey Don, thank you! I really prefer the tighter gaps though these will have to be opened up a bit more to account for the final coats of paint and heat expansion when its out in the sun.(one fine day)

Thanks David, Sure, I'll drive up and help you with your gaps if I can take that spot-welder with me when I leave.

Thanks again you guys! Your thoughts are always greatly appreciated!
Justin

block sanding begins anew.

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Please be so careful with the top coat, that gap is so close you will have to be careful for sure. Makes my gaps look huge. I can't ever remember seeing gaps so close on the door opening in the front. I do know now after watching your progress exactly why that front closure is maximum factory or slightly more on mine. I wish a factory worker who did the door fittings could see your result, I am sure he would be amazed as well.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Roy! yes, a great of attention will be spent on those gaps to ensure good clearance before and after its final coat of color.

7/9/14
Just received the "jewelry" back from Victor Miles this week and of course he did not disappoint!

From this...

to this! Absolutely Beautiful!

All the detail stuff left intact like the pebble finish on the connection bars between the letters.

all the original details on the dash medallion left alone as well.

While we were at it I sent along an extra Porsche script for my coupster project. Even more motivated to get that body painted! Thanks for looking! Justin

[Phil Planck]

I have read several times that Victor does great work. First pictures I have seen as evidence. Very nice, thanks for posting them Justin.
Phil

[JTR70]

Thank you Phil, he is the best and of course his work doesn't come cheap but with these parts fast becoming expensive and so hard to find you really can't trust them to just anybody.

8/17/14
One last final hair to split on this troublesome drivers side door.

More than once I foolishly and prematurely claimed that I was finally done with this left door but now I can truly say I am finished. This is part of the reason its taken me more than a month to update this post, I wanted to be absolutely sure this time as I was as tired of talking about this area as you probably are about reading it.


While I was happy with the reflection consistency across the front fender onto the door after the removal of that shim a new problem arose afterward which didn't think was all that serious at the time.

Now with the door fully latched the back edge was sticking up a few mm's from the rear quarter panel. I thought no big deal I'll adjust it inward a bit. After a couple of weeks I turned my full attention to getting the latched door back down flush again. After moving the striker inward a touch the problem persisted and after removal of the striker plate the real problem came into focus. That shims removal created clearance issues with the lower a pillar section. As I pressed the door into position I could hear and feel it collide with the door jamb. This crowding was the cause of the rear edge alignment issue.

I filled away some of the lead to create space and it helped but wasn't enough.

Now after pushing the back of the door into level position this forward line just completely closed up. How's that for a door gap Roy?

I quickly realized that this change created to many general fitment problems to try and just force though. I needed to preserve that body line but the door had to come back out a touch. 2 shims were too thin and 3 was too thick so I had to create something in the middle. I found that one thick and one thin shim with some mild prep would yield me the distance I needed.

Another confirmation that the door could come out a hair was this elevation deficit depicted with my file.

If I over shot it just a touch I knew this swatch of filler I laid down after the 2 shim change would buy me the time I needed to relevel the panels. (and as I block sanded afterward it did just that)

one thick shim about equals two thins so get me down somewhere in between I stripped it of all paint and finish sanded it faces.

I also surfaced filed the hinge face to help achieve that middle distance I needed. Reassembly with striker plate and block sands followed.


Fast forward to the first work coat and I finally had everything I was after; rear door edge latched flush again with proper clearance from the jamb; and most important cosmetically speaking the reflection across the panel remained at a level of consistency I can live with.


Have a bit more opening to do here but at least my gap came back after this final adjustment.

Again its still not absolutely perfect but its as far as I'm going to chase it. Besides Most people who will see this car will have no idea what my problem was/is...

Okay, Now I am officially done with this side!!!! Thanks for reading all of this trial and tribulation. Onto final finishing before paint. Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Those gaps are so perfect that when the top coat goes on from 10 feet away people will wonder how you get into the car

Good thinking to get round that problem!

Roy

[Phil Planck]

Great detective work and ridding the culprit Justin. Following this portion of the project does not make me look forward to doing this on Foam Car.
Phil

[JR]

EXCELLENT JUSTIN!
I have shared this with other folks who restore 356s!
Dick

[attachment]Its All Good.bmp[/attachment]

[Murugesh Nidyananda]

Amazing thread Justin!

[JTR70]

Thank you Roy! The gaps will need to be opened up a bit more to account for the final paint jobs thickness. Which is part of the next phase I am just beginning with the body.

Thanks Phil! After a lot of fight and frustration it eventually came around, thankfully! Yes Sir, after the metal work its a whole new chapter but it really just depends what you can live with and how far you want to go to chase the waves and slight irregularities out of the reflection in the panels.

Really appreciate that Dick Thank you!

Thank you too Murugesh!

8/18/14
Pre-paint finishing phase: Now that I've got the bodywork to an acceptable level my next goal is to thin out its coverage as much as possible without ruining the shape I work so hard to get.

now blocking down the body as a whole as far as I can. A real balancing act of taking it down enough all the while resisting the urge to go too far and destroy the surface. (as you can probably gather I've done that to myself many times before ) I have to be careful not sand past too many different levels at a pass; what I have learned the hard way is that even though I was using a sanding block the various levels of paint, primer and filler are of different hardness and will wear away at different rates all which will create an uneven wavy surface requiring another coat of primer and block sand to get back what I had before.

No secrete that this car required many phases of primer and test coats. The flat surfaces have been thinned as it went but areas like this handle recess where not touched and paint thickness has built up.

Again reducing excess paint thickness wherever and when possible.

Right side pocket reduced metal and will get a coat of primer and one color coat before the final paint job is applied.


Other areas easily overlooked are the body-plug flanges

and the horn grill flanges. What I am trying to eliminate is that heavy viscous repainted look that some restored cars have. You just look at the various edges and details and the lines are just thick, fat and rounded with paint and material. My neighbor Rick who is professional painter by trade (and who will be shooting the final color on for me) introduced me to the term surface "modeling" which refers to that thick and heavy covered look. Anyway shooting to eliminate that effect even in the most devilish of detailed areas. More sanding tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

9/10/14
Fine tuning the jambs and inner surfaces
While the coupster project takes precedence I'm still managing a few minutes a day on this car.

Fine finishing the deck lid jamb now that the bodywork to the exterior is all but complete.

Tying up more "redo" loose ends like the deck lid hinges. Stripped clean and ready for primer here.

Without the pressure of striving for a consistent reflection as I was on the exterior I am finding this jamb work almost relaxing and enjoyable. Never thought I'd say that about inner panels and jambs. Only concern here is not to sand too much and change the contour of the edge which would ruin my gaps. I'll be reinstalling the deck lid before final paint just to make sure. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

9/24/14
Continuing to sweat the small stuff.

Spent the last couple of weeks ever so slowly blocking the body, opening up/shaping the door gaps for final paint thickness relief and truing lines and details around the gutters, jambs etc. Also priced the paint I'll be using. Its not going to be cheap but I want the highest quality German/Euro (small metal flake; smaller than standard US version metalics) version silver I can get. I asked my dealer what that might be and he explained when a new Mercedes gets hit here in town its required to be reshot in Standox, a German brand paint. Their clear is of the best quality and will not yellow under any circumstance according to the dealer. I said okay, I need a gallon of base and a gallon of clear (want extra for any unforeseen repair) with the hardener and the thinner. So, for 1992-14 Mercedes "brilliant Silver effect" this came out to 1,3780.00!! Their catalyst alone was about 230.00!!! They are very proud of their stuff! I can get the same thing in Deltron (PPG's Top brand) for about 850.00. But I've come this far so I think I'm going to get the finish I want instead of worrying about a few hundred dollars now. My buddy Rick who will be shooting this car thinks he can get it at cost through his work so I might be at around a grand for the system if all goes well. Will see.. either way I am preparing to reach deep.

In keeping the material thin I Decided it best not to respray the underside of the lid. Hinges are now remounted for good with the bolts clean of any old paint. I'll back mask them mounted so I can respray the bolts as well giving the proper factory effect. The heads on the other side will be masked and painted as well.

Opening up the gaps for final paint thickness. A lot of tedious hand work.

A bit wider but still just under 3mm in width. Final paint will tighten them up a touch once again but hopefully with good clearance.(heat expansion clearance too)

A lot of time invested making sure all the corner details are right as it transitions from one part to the next. You can also see I still have some sanding ruts to take care of. These are such small areas but there are many faceted surfaces that have to be uniform.

Another overlooked area is about 1 inch above the gutter. I saw several really nicely painted coupes at Dana Point in which this area for whatever reason was overlooked. Their roofs were just beautiful then right above the gutter they were left a bit choppy and wavy. I've found that an old fulcrum plate makes for a good sanding block to get down in between the this transitional area.


Blocking continues with the rest of the body though now I am down to 400 grit paper.

It is at such a fine stage now that if I find a stubborn low spot I'll shoot a few coats of primer to chase it out. It makes no sense now to "break the skin" and block through the various layers as that will only create more problems with the surface uniformity. More of the same tomorrow... Thanks for looking! Justin

[Don C]

Justin,
That car is going to look like it's one piece the gaps are so nice! Beautiful work!

[gkw]

Justin
Very good, keep it up. Gordon