58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[JTR70]

Thanks Drew! Definitely, the fun stage has begun. I've been having some all this week so far. Sorry about that, I'll get that stuff out to you soon, Promise!

Thank you John! Keep up all the great work you've been doing so you can join me. The view from up here is wonderful!

Appreciate that Mark! I hope my Dad will like it. He's about due for a visit any time now. No, I couldn't bring my self to drill the holes for a side mirror. I'm thinking a small fabbed up GT style contraption held on with a bunch of rare Earth magnets. It will be in the works here soon.

Thanks once again Roy!!

Thank you Bruce, I know the feeling, Gordon White embarrassed me with the full completion his beautiful T1. Post your car up, it does help with the motivation factor and most importantly it may help someone else along the way with their project. Rick did mention adding a flatten agent to the clear for that "old look"; I could always do a door slammer coat of clear over this if I ever get tired of the "over restored" look. I'm definitely going to shoot my wheel centers this way. Yes, I'm cutting off the corners of the paper and no I'll be doing the honors of the cut and polish. I'm actually enjoying that part.

Thanks a lot Phil, So glad you appreciate those edges!

Thank you so much once again you guys!!
Justin

Saturday Oct. 17
Ready to come back home.

Time to roll it out of the booth and into the sunlight.

Much to my relief the flake was just beautiful. It would blow your eyes out at the right angles which was just what I was hoping for. I thanked Rick Profusely as it would have never turned out this nice if I shot it, no way in hell. Quoting from Bruce earlier: "A man has to know his limitations"


Door got a little dry but again nothing that won't polish.













The next bit of fun was unwrapping it once we got back to my shop.

I have to be so careful now. I told Rick the Polarity of this body has now changed as it now attracts damage. Before you could walk by it with a hammer or blunt instrument without a care or damage. Right after you paint them everything seems to be attracted to the new surface. I'm working on an isolation/clean assembly section now.
Thanks for looking! Justin

[Don C]

Come on Justin that body is ONE piece! I know you used a "sharpie" to draw the doors, trunk, and deck lid! Amazing!

[MMW]

Words can't really describe it. Sexy, yes - timeless, yes - beautiful, yes - gorgeous, yes. I could go on & on but you get the idea. Great to see it in final paint. You must be so excited.

[356JAGER]

Justin,

24 K Au

Best,
Joel

[Bill Sampson]

Justin:

Just awesome. I continue to be stunned by you and the other guys (Bruce, Jack, etc) who can do stuff like this.

[Jonesy_356]

Nice, man. Really, really nice.

Well done.

J

[bbspdstr]

'Sharpies' are difficult to control for faux gaps, the tape used for faux pinstriping is what guys like Justin use.

Seriously, many years ago while I was racing, a 356 showed up that looked so-o-o-o good I just had to look at it more closely in the paddock.

It was actually a POS old cut-down Cab that had been a basis for a Bondo sculpture with decent paint and the doors had been brazed shut and filled. 'Fine-line' black 1/8" tape looked just like a real gaps from 20' away. "All 356s look best when driving over 100KPH!"

This part of 356 (or any automotive) history is why Justin's (and that of everyone here) documented saga of restoration is so important. Hell, the formerly rapidly increasing price/'values' of the cars is stagnated now because people with too much money bought cars that were recognized too late to be well lipsticked pigs. The term Caveat Emptor has been around a long time, but forgotten when testosterone and adrenaline cocktails are served at auctions involving 'cool' cars like a 356. That's at least my theory.....I better get to work.

-Bruce

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Don! you got me, the gaps are all fake.

I really appreciate Mic, Thank you! I am very excited to be here as my stress level was up all last week but getting this one in the done column was a huge weight lifted.

Thanks again Jonesy!

Maybe not Gold but Silver anyway Thank you Joel!

Thank you Bill! Don't be too impressed, practicing law is much trickier than sanding bondo.

Very true Bruce, For better or worse(I think better) with this build post everyone knows exactly where all the bodies are buried on this old car.
Thank you all very much once again!
Justin

Speaking of gaps:

I pushed them about as far as you can. I was very relieved to find that the final paint thickness will not be a clearance issue, at least not yet.

However don't ask me how these two clear without damaging the edge of the door but they do. I can't even slide a piece of paper between them, I tried. They clear now but heat expansion could become a factor as the sun warms the surfaces once its out in the world but I'll be color sanding a bit so hopefully that will provide the extra clearance needed for that variable. Time will tell.

Color sanding is what I'm slowly getting into with the right front fender and door. I'm taking it a little further and long boarding to true the surface as well as get the orange peel, lint and other trash that settled on the clear.( note that its "on" the clear and not "in" it; won't be able to do much about the ones that are in it ) Again this is way overboard for any shop to perform cost wise. I'm just doing it because its mine and I'm able to invest the time.

The door was latched with seal so I could long board across the gaps. You can see here that I'm getting out more than just the dry spots of orange peel. There are slight hangers and rollers where the clear accumulated unevenly. I can't tell you how slow and cautiously I have to proceed. That piece of plastic is very unforgiving and if any foreign aggregate gets between the paper and surface I could scratch it badly and be in big trouble. Just have to go slow and use lots of water. Continuing with this tomorrow. Thanks again for looking! Justin

[neilb]

the car is looking superb Justin, suuuperb...

keep it up pal!

can't wait to get to that stage...

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

How far is it to 'Pebble Beach '?? I don't think I have ever seen another 356 ( and I have been looking at 356 gaps for around 58 years now) that seem to compare to your perfection. I am not into car shows as such, but my goodness that 356 body just needs to be seen.

The fact you can long board across the door and fenders is something in itself and I am like you a little surprised you can open that door without it touching on the arc.

Some years ago I advised John Wilhoit that he and his team were artists in metal, you could join his team for sure.

Roy

[Don C]

Justin.
Out of curiosity, what grit are you using on the clear?

[Jack Staggs]

However don't ask me how these two clear without damaging the edge of the door but they do. I can't even slide a piece of paper between them, I tried. They clear now but heat expansion could become a factor as the sun warms the surfaces once its out in the world but I'll be color sanding a bit so hopefully that will provide the extra clearance needed for that variable. Time will tell.

This worries me, and not a little bit. These chassis flex, even on a coupe, particularly when parked on an irregular surface, or up on the air on a lift or jack. It's gonna get really dicey when you have to take the door off and on (do you need to install the rubber bumper stop, and/or air vent shafts through the carpet?). I like a credit card to slide through, but at least a business card. I've had a few come through the shop like like yours and corrected the problem somewhat by filing the inner fender lip with a half round with no noticeable effect on the exterior, brush touching the filed area.

[JTR70]

Thank you very much Neil! I'm now looking forward to seeing your project in paint.


Thank you Roy, that is very kind of you to say! Pebble beach? Too many mistakes in it to ever be in that league. In the end it won't be fully correct car anyway but rather a Hotrod/GT clone so no concourse. but it will be just to my liking. Thanks again Sir!

Don, I'm using 1K grit for the initial cut and level. Then its onto 1500 and finally 2500 then onto cutting compound then eventually to the finer finishing compounds. I won't be doing any fine finishing compounds until the car is assembled as it would be a waste of time with all the handling of the car still involved. Also the paint has to be completely curd and hard to get that really high gloss back that these finer compounds bring out. If the paint is still soft those super fine "spider web" scratches or haze will not disappear.

Thanks Jack! I hear you and it all makes perfect sense. The saving grace here is that I have yet to install the rubber snubber so with the doors totally maxed out like in the photo the edges still are not touching. Once I get the buffer in there and the paint cut down and polished a bit I'm pretty sure I'll be able to at least get a business card in there. Yes, the vents are not installed either so the doors will have to come back off at least one more time if not more. I've gotten very lucky removing and installing the doors without damage to that edge with about this same clearance for quite some time now. Along with a great deal of caution I have my little system down pat for installing and removing them on my own. Hopefully my luck will hold out for just a few times more while I wrap it up. Of course I'm in final paint now so I'll probably end up dinging them You know how that goes. Thanks again! Justin
10/25/15
Careful block/color sanding continued.

Finished up the side portion of the fender then worked my up and over to the hood. Switching off from my hard plastic block to a paint stick when needed.

Part of leveling out the clear that I described earlier also includes taking down this shouldered edge that accumulated during the shoot. That will distort the reflection for sure.

Side area now cut and leveled as far as I dare to chase it. I had to really fight myself to keep from getting too greedy. I had to constantly say "if you cut through this clear you are not going to be happy". So I stopped. I'm good with it, you can see my junk pile there in the corner reflecting pretty sharply. Looks nice in this light and angle but in direct sun it would be hazy as its only been polished with cutting compound. This however is where I want the rest body to be as reassembly continues. Thanks again for all the great feedback and cautionary tips you guys!
Justin

[JTR70]

10/25/15
Striker post and door related hardware.
As the color sanding process is slow and tedious a fun diversion has been in the prep and installation of certain smaller items. As I mentioned quite some time back my good friend, the late Craig Stevenson strongly recommended I build this car with as many original parts as possible. So with that philosophy I made it a mission for last several years to accumulate as many original components as I could.


Here are what's left of the original striker receivers to this car(still some old green paint on them) Unfortunately broken and cracked. I was also very hasty with the original screws when I first removed them as a kid by using the wrong size screw driver which chewed up the heads. Wasn't a second thought back then but sure does to me now.

Again spent several years buying various ones on line looking for a pristine pair. Most times if not cracked they were badly worn or gouged from misalignment.

At last I got hold of a really nice original pair with no cracks, damage or wear. I just had to clean all the past paint job attempts off.

I was also able to round up another set of original Philips head screws for the job. All the other screws on this car are spade but the strikers were Philips head originally.

I thought the screws might be black oxide originally but found zinc or cad on the undersides of the head so they'll need to be replated. Prepping the faces here by planishing edges down from previous removals.

Everything now cleaned and ready just have to get the screws replated. The original base plates I had zinc plated several years back. This might seem crazy or silly to some but all these original small details will definitely add up in the end.

To save on expense and potential loss of hardware(lost several fasteners at the chrome shop in the past) I bought Zinc plating system from Eastwood. It actually does a pretty good job for small piddly stuff like this. Just needs a couple of D-cell batteries to power it.

Pretty simple, the positive wire goes to the Zinc anode and is partially submerged into my tiny electrolyte bath. Negative side goes to the part to be plated.

Part is now placed in the bath and plating begins. The current carries off the zinc which is then attracted to the negatively/grounded part. I normally leave it in for about a minute and sometimes longer. The longer it stays the more zinc accumulates and thicker the item is coated.

Parts usually have a smokey/hazy look to them after rinsing but a quick polish with a rag brightens them right up.

Plated on the left and raw on the right. After plating a quick shot of rattle can clear (sold with kit) buys more time and corrosion resistance. What I like about this particular Zinc is that it leaves the parts a very mat silver and looks more like the original Cad plating. Again this is a very handy kit to have on hand for tiny jobs like this where you want the hardware plated instead of painted.

One original Door striker assembly with hardware cleaned and mounted for the last time.
Thanks for stopping by!
Justin

[jjeffries]

Dear Justin, I just spent many hours reading your entire thread on the 356 Registry, which I believe I was led to from the 356 section of Pelican Parts' forums. I'm only a 356 enthusiast, not an owner. I've had a 74 Alfa GTV for many moons and acquired an 82 911 SC last year. I did have a 74 flat windshield VW Bug in the early 80's which had a profound effect on me, as did Denis Jenkinson's writings about his 356. I knew that the 356 was a difficult car to restore, having visited John Willhoit's incredible shop a couple of years ago and followed many of the projects he documents on his own site. All that said, I'm at a loss for words in regards to your project. Impatience is always my main enemy, and while I've gotten better - and more effective as a mechanic - I simply cannot fathom your seemingly limitless depths of patience. The undersides....the oil lines...the hammer, dolly and file work...the rollbar...the gapping...and all that block sanding. I'm deeply grateful that you've documented it all. Maybe the best way to describe your efforts: monk-like? I am amazed and humbled. John in CT.