58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[George]

It's starting to look like a car. What a nice car your going to have when finished and the pride you did it your self. I do all my own work except for uhpolstery which my mom use to do for me now I have to farm it out.
Just want to stop by and say congrat's on the great work. Keep the pic's coming really enjoy seeing your progress. George

[JTR70]

Thank you George, I'm also really am glad to hear you enjoy the updates!

Some very old damage which was also done in bondo up at the trunk lip needed to be redone in solder. Cleaned the area back down to metal so I could lead it and correct the trunk gap.


Area now cleaned of all filler and paint. ready to be soldered.

Could not build up the leading edge without losing some of it to gravity. Had to go back to the old trough trick.

initial fitting with hood. Lots of filing and shaping to do.

More gap work to correct further up line but will get it.

gap now taking shape.

as you can see I decided a while back to shave the hood handle. The handle is okay but I think its so much sleeker without it. Besides its just hole drilling to bring it back.

Profile shot. The hood to nose profile is taking a nice contoured line. Very happy with that.

[George]

Look really nice, Do you have the running gear done or is that left to come? George

[admin]

I just found this thread and skimmed over it . And your work is really amazing , I have to come back and read it from the begining . Really nice ,keep up the good work., Bruce

[JTR70]

Hi George, Thanks! Both the engine and the transmission are still to come. Will be posting that once we really get started on it.

Thank you taking a look Bruce! Its been a very long road. Lots of amature mistakes and redos but I'm slowly making it a restoration I'll be satisfied with. Thanks again to you both! Justin

[George]

Justin, This is a little off the subject so for give me but I just seen where you are in Henderson NV, and was wondering how far that is from Reno NV ? I'm in Merrill oregon which is about 41/2 hrs from Reno and the wife and I make a trip to Reno about twice a year. We are planning a road trip with the Speedster this coming summer to Reno. So if Henderson is close by I thought we could get together and talk Porsche. The wife is the gambler I always walk around and look for thing to visit like guns stores, car stuff. Any way it is just a thought. Looking forward to seeing the running gear under the car. are you still going with the 4/911 engine as earlier planned? Your going to have a sweet ride when finished. Talk to you later. George

[JTR70]

Hi George,

That would be a welcomed visit! Unfortunatey Reno is about 7 hours from Las Vegas. Since your wife loves to gamble maybe you'll plan a trip a little further South of Reno sometime. If you do, just let me know!!
Yes, the Polo-motor is still in the works. I'll start a thread on that build here shortly. Thanks again George! Look forward to meeting you in person one day! Justin

[gkw]

Justin
Are you fitting the hood with the weather strip in place?
Great looking job by the way.
I am in the process of fitting my hood, it was folded back at one time in its life, making it real a challenge.
It is good to be back working on my T-1 again.
Keep the posts coming they help me greatly.
Thanks Gordon

[JTR70]

Hey Gordon,
Yes the rubber seal was definitely in it. Just like the doors you have to set everything up as closely as possible to the final set up when your working the shapes. The pressure from the rubber as you know changes everything! Thanks again, I'm glad this post helps to motivate you! Justin

[JTR70]

Finishing touches to the left inner door flange where our old repair was on the corner from the 80's. This part of the patch was poorly done and I wanted to go back and make it correct.

Here is the flange. The bottom 4 inches and the verticle 3 inches were redone to look factory. The original lead in this area of course was lost.

resoldered like it was and now ready for primer. This would have been finished in Putty a couple of months ago. So glad its done correctly.

Decklid gaps; the last bit of leading to do on this car.


This is the original numbers matching lid(367) to this car. I for some foolish reason had restored completely by itself. Waste of time since it will have to blocked in with the body. The gaps are alright but they could be a little better.

As you can see in its best adjusted full latched position with the rubber grommets; the Right side gap is pretty good.

The left side for whatever reason has a much wider gap with poor contour match. I don't understand why being this is the original lid and the original lead is still there unless it just left the factory this way. Anyway a little lead filler is needed.


As I mentioned earlier I am restoring this car as a GT light weight clone. Always loved the look of the louvered decklids so I sent this spare one I had out to GT werk. It came back beautiful! I could not be happier with the conversion.

Louvers have the correct width and cues making them appear to be spot on. I have seen a few lids with domestic hotrod style louvers and it just doesn't cut it for me. The factory style vents look the best hands down! I also had the rain tray punched and screened.


As I mentioned above this is the original numbers matching lid to this car. Though I want a GT look altering this panel by punching louvers in it was not even a consideration. It was a spare lid or nothing.

I have more hours than I care to think about in hand polishing the original grille. It came completely apart to be restored. Note the original plastic plugs for the luggage rack mounts.

Original hinges were fully adjusted and set for gaps before final paint. Gotta keep the paint on those bolts virgin! Its install ready but is now mothballed away with my standard gas tank, standard brakes&wheels, fatback seats, overrider tubes and all the other original parts to bring it back to stock GS specs.

Though it will be twice the work both decklids will be fitted and gaped to this car. Actually the original lid be will gaped then the GT lid will be made to work within the body lines of the original lid. Thats coming up next. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Strange you should mention the fact the original deck lid had a different gap one side to the other although the original leading was still in place. I ask a question: do you think its possible the gap on the left was torqued into place? I mean the hood hinge on that side was tightened to just slide then the pushed by hand the small amount to correct the gap then tightened. I did this on 356 front hood and it did work. Of course that is a bodge job for sure.

Roy

[Trevor]

I think it's cool Justin you got the original engine lid totally painted, gives you some foreshadowing of what is to come. Bummer that paint has to come off, but leave it for awhile, it's pretty!

On your louvered lid, I thought that 1957 and down only had 5 louvers and 58 and up had 6? That is what I found out anyway from my research about a year ago on The 356 Registry. I also had Steve Hogue put louvers in my lid, the old school way where there are small holes drilled on the ends. I absolutely love it!

[JTR70]

That makes me feel better Roy. I am glad to hear my car was not the only one with lateral gap issues.

hey Trevor, Yes, I realized the early cars had 5 and the later 1959 had gone to 6 louvers. Mine is early to have louvers anyway so i thought since this is a custom application why not go for the whole enchilada and get 6 louvers put in. I know what you mean about the louver details GT Werk put in the round holes at each end as well. It helps to keep cracks from starting where the louver ends. Its a rounded hole instead of a slit where a crack can continue on. Justin

[JTR70]

Before I began leading the decklid gaps I had to mount the hinges and establish my best adjusted position on the GT lid. It wasn't very good as you will see. The fitment was horrible to say the least.


Same story with this lid. the right side fit better than the left though that was not saying much.

Huge gaps especially at the corners!

The elevation was also off on this side with no real adjustment to be had here. A little cutting and welding would be required to the lid.

check out his gap! Terrible short coming on this corner!

Would take alot of messaging to get this lid to fit right.

With the decklid in its best possible adjusted and latched position I went ahead and redrilled the bolt holes.

Once I was comfortable enough with the rough fitment of this lid in its latched position I went ahead and redrilled the two "locating" holes in the hinges just as the factory did.

The third photo from the top shows the elevation too high with no adjustment. The remedy was to chop a few MM's out of the deflector/mount plate. I started with the left first. tacked it remounted it then realized the right side needed to come down a bit as well. Here it is cut and now tack welded into the correct position.

Lid now sits even and nice on both sides. Thankful this worked!

Before removing the original lid I put down some masking tape to simulate a nice gap with it. I removed it and put the GT lid back on, It fits almost perfectly. There is some slight differences in the arc at the corners but I'll add a little steel in to correct this. So its been determined that the fix is almost identicle for both decklids. This at least makes it a little simpler.

The right side lateral edge was a bit tight in the center. I Laid down some masking tape to sight a good line that matched the upper and lower corners as well as the opening contour. The leading edge also turns a little too tight. I'll have to relax it a bit to line up with the body.

Trimmed a few MM's off using that masking tape as the guide. it opened up the gap just about right where I wanted.

With the center edge trimmed back where I needed it the skin and flange were cut in two. Welding it back togther here. I would be doing quite alot of this as fitment progressed.

[JTR70]

Newly welded edge now dressed smooth.

Right side fitment complete. Good even gap all way around. Relaxed the leading edge for a smooth transition from body to decklid. Some minor shaping still to do but Its getting there!

repeating same process on this lower edge here.

Screen and hinge fitment.

Here is a perfect example of the extra work you make for yourself once begin modifying components. The GT screen I had installed now interefers with mounting of the deckid hinges.

Had to trim away a little of both to get the hinge to seat properly. here is a shot of the initial cut to both.

I rewelded the flange I had cut off earlier to clear the screen. I stepped this section higher to now fit and dressed the welds.

All modifications needed to make this all work together now complete. It even fits the car exactly the same as before I messed with it. I catch small breaks every once in a while.

With both lids now basically fitted I could now move onto the leadwork. Intial fill of solder pictured here.

Entire left side run now closed tight with solder. Die grinder next to begin opening it back up to match the right side.

Gap is now opened up to match the right side. Corners are still tight and more solder needed up top.

Got a little ahead of myself shaping the left side gap to the GT Lid. I went back and reinstalled the original #'s matching lid to see where it was at. It was too thin. I had to refill a section of it then shape it to the original lid. But I am done in lead here now. All the gaps are set and I'm happy with them. I've reinstalled the GT lid to begin shaping it to the body contour.

left gap and contour matches real well now. I can live with it. I have a ton of time here filing and sanding it to shape. I must have opened and latched that decklid 50 times during this process. laid a little filler in the lead to catch the big divots before primer and paint.


With the body line set to the original lid and the lead behind a coat of primer and paint I've now reinstalled the GT lid for final fitment. Top corner is nice. Side is too tight and will have to be trimmed and welded (like before). Lower corner is short and will have to add some steel there. Final fitment of this GT lid coming up next. Thanks for stopping by! Justin