58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[JTR70]

Hello Roy!

Thank you! I was so glad to read that you found this interesting! I am sure you can very well relate to this process from your past experience with your door repair. Which by the way is a tough one due to all the heat distortion you had described. I wouldn't feel too bad about your repair; it being 35 years with no lifting or bubbling is a testiment that you must have done it correctly. Thanks again Roy!
Justin

*Fender brace and headlight bucket repair*


Swollen and rusted tip of the brace from page 14 has been repaired.

Both top and bottom needed attention.


Heated and straightened out the upper tube. Still has some bumps and scars but its at least the right shape again. The lower U-channel was twisted and broken at the mounting point after the old wreck. My dad just put a gob of weld on it to reattach it. This too had to go. I'm using this old rear fender brace section as my donor.


Had to cut the tube free here to get the bow out of it without deforming the lower pieces. Its fixed and mig welded here.


Mig welds partially dressed. used my torch to remelt them for a factory appearance.

New donor channel ready and whats left of the original section for referrence off to the side there.

Fully welded and dressed smooth.

Both flanges get folded over then are welded to the chassis at the tip. I put this socket(closest thing I had) in there to support and terminate this folded flanged area.


Heated and hammered over flat as originally

All the repairs complete and now ready to remount.


I was also ready to remount the brace and fender tab. After this quick mock-up I soon realized that this wasn't going to happen today. All the repairs that have been done to this area have altered the alignment of all the parts. I decided it would be best to set and mount the bucket first then orient the brace to it.

[JTR70]

Headlight bucket repair


Working on the bucket now. I was going to reinstall the original one because its super rust free but it does have damage from the old accident. I have this really nice donor with no damage but a little rust at the bottom. Always the trade-off!


I decided to go with the donor. The original is a bit mis-shapen and the outer shouldered edge that the seal and headlight anchor to is also deformed a bit.


I had another badly rusted out Headlight bucket but the top portion was cherry. So, it became my perfect donor patch. Thankfully the upper and lower halves are about generic. With this nice section of metal I decided to cut out a little more to get past some deep rust pits and weakness.


Fitting and fine trimming here. This took a while. I was worried I'd cut too much away leaving this patch too small. Had to take extra care.


Started tacking and shaping it slowly

Almost stitched in.

Fully welded and dressed smooth

one more angle.

Made a paper template from the old bucket then drilled the drain and wiring holes.

If you look at the last picture you can see that the donor cap had graceful crown. The bottom areas of both my originals have a flat slightly angled face in the mounting area. I heated this face and spanked it against my heavy steel table to create this detail.


Inside shot of this correct flattened surface detail.

With the base shape like I needed it I went ahead and reinstalled the riser tube. I'll go back over these welds with my torch.


Ratt-tail filed the opening and now ready to go in!

[JTR70]

Headlight bucket installation



Gently tapping the bucket in. It fought me at first and I was getting concerned it was going to start bending the fender opening but it soon loosend up and went right in.

With the bucket in and oriented I have to now get the spacing from the fender correct. I've installed this new seal ring to help me establish the proper distance. If its too tight I'll be screwed when I try to install the headlight after final paint.


One more mock-up with a trim ring against this seal to make sure it all fits snuggly but not too much. Have to account for a little paint thickness as well.


Headlight bucket fully welded in here. With that in its final position I was ready to move onto remounting the original fender brace. After all the repairs, the brace in its best adjusted position has now made the wiring tube just under an inch too short from the base of the bucket. (always something!) All my original scraps of this tubing were too rusted out so I had to make a section. Note all the heat shinking we had to do while Jason and his father Luddy were here helping me with this fender. I counted better than 50 spots!

This socket was the perfect ID and made a great form to make the tube section. I just had to be careful not to weld it to my new section.

New section ready to be welded on. Same socket also doubled as a great holding jig. The inside has to be smooth and free of any welding burs that the wiring could get snagged on or chaffe against. The socket kept it clean.

Section added and now test mounted back on the car. Much better! Tube needs to be tweeked just a bit to get it into perfect alignment with the hole but thats it!

Tube welded to the bottom of the bucket and brace welded to the frame. Now that the brace is in its final position I could now mount the fender tab. have it clamped in place here.

Plug welding it onto the fender from the outside. This leaves the original spot welds on the tab flange looking undisturbed.

Grease is the word! Anything coupled together with a bolt that will be exposed to moisture (like gutter water slinging off the tire)gets packed with grease. Bracket tip, mating surface and bolt all generously greased. I want to make it as difficult as possible for any rust to get started again.


Ready for paint prep! All mig welds again reheated with a torch for an original gas welded look. Each part detailed and back looking like it did before it was smashed in over 40 years ago.

This finished brace finally marked the official end to all the old nagging rust and collision welding repairs I had to do on this car. It was a very satisfying day to say the least! Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

Skipping ahead to the first coat of primer and paint. This was the pay-off! I was so anxious to see what all this time and labor had yielded.


metal thoroughly cleaned of all tracer coat rattle can paint etc.

First coat of PPG DP40 epoxy primer

surface smoother than I ever dreamed possible.

Once the primer set up I shot on a color coat. By the way NO blocksanding, NO filler!, just straight primer and paint!

Can't believe how smooth and calm the reflection is now. Those guys from Australia are miracle workers!

Finally got that correct headlight contour I've been after for so long. Did I mention that there is no bondo on this fender yet?? Thanks again Jason and Luddy!

Just a quick refresher on how far this has come. "before Jason and his Pop"

"After Jason and his Pop"

This fender is now ready for fine finishing!

Old right rear fender damage repair coming up next. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

These next stages of the brace,bucket and final preparation finish off the (wing) fender restoration story so well. Really excellent work and the final finish before preparing for final painting is super. The brace work I really like. This area shows up as soon as you glance in the fender area. I always look at that area on 356's and if it looks good that's a good sign for the rest. Although my headlight buckets, the front nose and battery box are all factory the braces on both sides needed some light work. I did not remove them but welded some areas where the rust had got to. Just not brave enough at the time all those years ago to prise those things off.

I just wonder how many cars put on spit for restoration have all these items attended to. The time involved if you are not doing the work yourself would ( or must ) drain most peoples pockets of money.
I have in my restoration book a note ' calculated 500 hours work so far' and I was nowhere near finished at that time and my car was then only 18 years old and almost fully original. I will take a photo of my brace work under the fender and post it for your interest.

Enjoyed the photos

Roy

[merbesfield]

Wow. I know I have seen this before and probably commented then too, but Wow. Great work and even more amazing great patience when it comes to getting it right. Thanks for showing the details.

[merbesfield]

I was also ready to remount the brace and fender tab. After this quick mock-up I soon realized that this wasn't going to happen today. All the repairs that have been done to this area have altered the alignment of all the parts. I decided it would be best to set and mount the bucket first then orient the brace to it.[/quote]

Have you thought about what you are going to do about the channel where it attaches to the body and the flange that supports the fender mount with regards to keeping water out? I made these same repairs and it is obviously a poor design bc the water runs right to where you don't want it and there is no way for it to get out. The hole, which is towards the body is a little too far out. I took seam sealer and filled the areas creating a dam, I hope, that will keep the water out. I did in in such a way that you can't see it. I know our cars will hopefully never see rain, but even water from the road or car washing would be enough to cause rust.

[JTR70]

Thank you so much again Roy!
I really am happy that both you and Mark can fully appreicate what had to be done in here. You're right alot of these repairs would make no financial sense if your paying a shop to do the work. It would be much smarter to just install new vendor parts. I understand what you mean, 500 hours can go by in a hurry! Yes, would like to see your repairs...

Hi Mark, Thank you! I am glad to hear that these photos are still interesting a second time around. Yes, the brace design and the way it channels moisture back toward the battery box is a flaw but we can't improve or change it without impacting the value of the restoration. Though we could make it better; it would always be viewed as something we got wrong. So my answer to this is "grease". I have packed the tip and the channel flange mount next to the box like a wheel bearing with axle grease. I ended the grease just in front of the little drain hole the factory put in there. I thought about making some sort of a barrier in there like you described but water always finds a way around it eventually. All I can do is to create the most inhospitable environment for future moisture. I've said this before; I would much rather have a filthy, sticky mess to clean up than to find rust bubbles developing under my paint again. The dirty grease is much more easy to clean up than re-established rust. Thanks again you guys! Justin

Forgot to show the finished underside of this repair.


I know this was a silly detail and who cares but I wanted to soften all those old "pointy" hammer blows. As you can see all that remains is a super thin swatch in the divots.

Lots of sanding and hand preping to get this area ready.

In final paint.

Alot of old scars are still visible like the wired edge with the flat spots in it from my dad banging on it over 40 years ago but its part of its history.

not too bad, a thin coat of rocker shootz would easily conceal any of this repair work.

So nice to be done in here!

As you can see the forward upper closing wall is still a little tweaked from the old accident. The hood gaps are nice here so I thought it best just to let this sleeping dog lay. As you can see all the deformation is ahead of the suspension housing. Thank god! Thanks again! Justin

[JTR70]

This rear quarter panel was hit and cruedly banged out before my father bought the car. It was relatively close so we did not spend alot of time on it. We just covered it in filler and blocked it smooth. I had no intention of disturbing it either. My original plan was to block it down as far as I could go like I had done to the rest of the body and be done with it. After learning the basic techniques from Jason and Luddy and seeing how nice the front fender came out; I decided to strip this panel back down and try my hand at making it better. When I finished the right front fender repair I really believed I was done but after I got to thinking about it I just could not leave this mess under that old Bondo; I had to try.


A very rough and a very intimidating surface if your not familiar with proper planishing techniques. I now had the right tools and a basic working knowledge so I was willing to give it a shot.

Before jason and Ludy came by to teach me their techniques I had No intention of removing any of the old filler on this quarter panel to expose this metalic mess! If not for them I would have just block sanded what was already there and called it quits!


First thing was to finish cleaning all of the old filler on the damaged area.

I also finally finished block sanding the rest of that ugly red paint down as far as I could take it on the rest of this quarter panel. The entire body was done this way years ago but I ran out of juice on this last section. Finally finished it off after 10 years!


Looking at this entire damaged area as a whole is extremely overwhelming. It could easily turn into paralysis by analysis very quickly for me. I took a black marker; drew out a square and told myself All you have to do today is to try and smooth out whats in this box. Doing this really helped to settle my mind and get focused. I chose this spot because the damage begins here and I have smooth undamaged metal to my right as a guide.


fogged some rattle can black on it and lightly dragged a super fine tooth file over the area to high light the irregularities. Since I was on the learning curve I wanted to remove as little metal as possible. I would not switch to the regular body file that Jason gave me until a little further up the road. These small silver heads were all a bit high. Started tapping them down first.


After tapping on those heads a bit with my shrinking hammer; another light pass with the body file. The heads all got bigger! Which means it was leveling out a bit. Thankfully! It was a real confidence booster here!


After some careful evaluation I was able to say that the remaining black spots were truely just low. This welding rod is perfect for checking contour.


After tapping on the low spots another light pass with my file. Getting smoother still. Again I'm using a super fine tooth body file in combination with a regular body file with minimal pressure. I'm removing only small amounts of metal. I'm trying to be very conservative with it and to get better at aligning the metal with my planishing. It was a good and encouraging start for me. To be continued. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

After messaging that first little square area I made my way straight down toward the wheel arch.


Same process. wanted to stick close to the undamaged area to the right so I kept my guide while I gained more experience and confidence.

Next mission was to start raising those those black bands in the center of the photo here.


Slowly getting the severe roughness out.

With each repeated tracer coat, file and planish process a growing and more consistent surface is steadily happening.

Moving to the top of the fender next to address probably the most damaged and unstable portion of this job. The upper, forward section up next. Thanks for looking! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,
Most interesting work. To this stage do you have any record of the time taken to get there.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you Roy! Unfortunately I did not keep track on how long I spent on this fender. I was on the learning curve for one so it took me alot longer than it probably should have. I also stopped work on it in stages and attended to other things so I would not get bored and start rushing it. I honestly found this task very hard to stay focused and motivated on. I was really ready to be done with hammering at that point. No choice though it wasn't going to fix itself; I had to just grind it out. Thanks again Roy!


This upper area of the fender is the lowest and most unstable. When the fender got hit it seems to have buckled and cracked here. There is a blob of old weld right in the center creating a trigger point of unstability. ("oil-canning")


Here is an old progress shot from '88. The bondo on this upper area was on the thick side. I remember it bugging me back then but I had very limited skills to even attempt to correct it. Looks thick even in this old shot. Should only need a thin swatch by the time I wrap this up. Hopefully!


The most heavily damaged area from what I gather is in this little square. Low, kinked and rewelded.



turned the car over and sanded the inside to find my high spots in this same area. Also ground that old weld smooth before I could hammer on it.


Welded lump in the middle of the circle area. the metal was obviously still damaged when this was put down. The butted ends where not even either. Just a mess put on in haste. I can't work with it and its going to have to be removed.


Drilled a pilot hole;took my die punch and removed the bad area. The surrounding metal relaxed immediately.


new patch now welded in.


Dressed both sides smooth and Heat shrinked it in two places; Then hammer and dolley. The dark spot above the repaired area is right up tight to the inner structer so I can't get a clean hit on it. Just some glancing blows. Will go back and try it raise it with a pry bar later. However I am very happy with the rest of this area. Its back up considerably and is no longer "oil canning".


Its happening but very Slow and painful. I need to turn the car over to work it then right it again to check the progess however, More surface area where I've been is turning silver so it is leveling.


Basic elevation and contour are good but best of all its stable here now. More to come. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

Worked the lower verticle face of this fender next. This section actually came along pretty quick. It was almost fun. Almost...


A second round of rustoleum and a quick blocksand to highlight the new terrain. I had already spanked the obvious highs and lows by this point.


This lower face started out as lumpy as the top is here. after the first round of hammering it has softened and is more like gently rolling hills now rather than sharp domed peaks like before so its headed in the right direction.


second round of plannishing brought up all the larger low valleys. Only smaller low spots remain. Its slowly leveling


As I've studied and worked on this fender I have figured out how it was first damaged; even through all the secondary hammering damage. You can just make out that oval shaped crease of the original dent just to the right of the tail light hole. In the center of this runs two gouges in the steel where the object grazed the fender putting what probably was a very big deep dent which also buckled the top at the factory seam joint. Then a master metal guy tried to reverse it with a ball ping hammer creating this secondary damage. Oh well at least the basic shape was still there.


Another round of plannishing and a blocksand. Black spots are getting fewer and farther between.


Another round of rustoleum to dry. Will repeat the same process tomorrow. Even at this stage under this paint the surface is really becoming smooth and uniform.


Began to work the most lumpy area and hardest to reach. The upper cap of the tail section just above the beehives. It was tough extending and reaching way up inside the fender well to hold the dolley; then cranking my face around to the surface so I could see where I was hitting with the hammer. Again fortunately I'm able to turn this car on its side to make life easier. Had to get into a few funky positions to get at some of it. Thankfully its going in the right direction. I was very worried about stretching it further and making a bigger mess then what I started with but am feeling much better. The photo above is one of those funky positions both me and the car had to get into so I could plannish that cap area. It was so nice to be able to work like this! Kept my shoulders and torso from burning out.


Lots of pockets of black but they are slowly being swallowed up with each pass. The very top where it turns from virgin metal to lumps was beaten out too far all those years ago. Had to heat shrink the entire run. The white "X"s mark my high spots that need heat.


Very slow, teadious and repetitive process. Have to focus on each individual black pool and bring it up now.


End of another full session. Its hard to see with this flat black but with the lights and shaddows you can tell that the surface is calming down in general. Still a few pock marks here and there but its come long way.


Though there are still pock marks the general mood of the surface is so much calmer and No longer looks like water on high boil.

[JTR70]

Right Quarter panel hammer & dolley work finished; moving on. I now have a basically smooth and uniform surface with only a few old hammer marks and some subtle irregualarities here and there. I am more then fine with it now and ready to go onto primer. While its not as good as Jason would have made it; it did come out better then I thought it was going to based on my limited time and experience planishing and how battered this skin was. I'm really just thankfull I did not make a bad situation worse. Its not 100% perfect but I still feel like I won.



Not perfect but like the front fender before; much better than I ever dreamed it would be.

As you can see most of the hammer scars I left are concentrated on the upper most corner which was the hardest to reach.


I'm not going to blow any smoke; the overall shape is right there but there are still some mild irregularities I can still detect with a hand rub. They are slight and shallow however. A thin swipe of filler will get it perfect.


Straight primer and a single coat of color. I can live with that!


easy to reach areas are almost scar free

Old hammer damage has been reduced to small pocket craters a few MM deep. A thin swatch of putty will knock those right out.



Another quick refresher: Before

"After" Thanks to Jason for showing me how to make this a better restoration.

Leadwork next! Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[merbesfield]

That makes for an excellent upper body workout. I bet you were sore for days, but worth the pain. Good job.