57 356 A mild resto

[merbesfield]

Great photos mate, keep going! There's got to be an end somewhere! What else would you be doing?

thanks for sharing,

Jonesy

Booze and women, LOL. Tell that to my wife who thinks I spend too much time in the shop!

[Jonesy_356]

Great photos mate, keep going! There's got to be an end somewhere! What else would you be doing?

thanks for sharing,

Jonesy

[merbesfield]

Looking good Mark! Yes, that's the early T1 versioned reinforcement runner your working on. They went external with it sometime in '57. My photo in that earlier post shows this later external runner. Keep up the great work! Justin

So it's the old "external reinforcement runner" is it! That's a mouth full. It is fun to be excited again about being in the shop and fabricating. Sometimes it's hard to get through the hard dark jobs we have to do in order to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am glad we have you, Justin, or torch bearer to help light the way. Thanks also to all the other great contributors out there in space.

[JTR70]

Looking good Mark! Yes, that's the early T1 versioned reinforcement runner your working on. They went external with it sometime in '57. My photo in that earlier post shows this later external runner. Keep up the great work! Justin

[merbesfield]

Next up, these little buggers. Not sure what the whole part is called, but it is the little extension off the edge of inner fender. These were bent by me and then pounded out. I will have to open them up to get them in place and then use the torch to form them around the bottom of the pan. The parts I removed were quite well formed, read "pounded" bye the factory. I left the side of the edge of the pan and inner fender well loose so they can slip in where they are supposed to go. Not sure this makes sense, but hopefully the pics will explain it.

[merbesfield]

Front foot well in and floors roughly fitted. Getting there.

[JTR70]

Nice job spooning that contour in Mark!

Went through the exact same thing on the coupster project. It seems pretty much standard fare with these floors as the embossment just isn't punched in heavy enough there.

Simonsen floors by contrast were much more defined as you can see here.
Keep up the great work!
Justin

[merbesfield]

And by the end of a long day, it is better. With a fresh arm mad maybe someone to help steady the piece while it is precisely fitted, I will be one step closer. The rear half pan looks much better. Hopefully there will be no big surprises there.

[merbesfield]

Here you can see the metal slowly starting to conform to its abuse by the mallet.

[merbesfield]

Baby steps. Finally spent a couple of days in the shop. Inch by inch I am getting there.

It has been so long I forgot that I ordered the pans from Stoddard bc theirs was closest to my original pans being that my car is an early 57. Well I ordered the front toe kick a month ago from Restoration Design, and big surprise, they didn't mate up. What to do, order pans from RD or a new toe kick from Stoddard. After some study, I did what all good fabricators do, I said F it and decided to make it all work bc there was no guarantee any of it would fit anyhow. So out came the hammer and bag. After too many hours of beating, it is getting close. Fortunately I had my originals and knew what it should be like. The shape was more like the RD curve.

Here you can see the difference in curves.

[merbesfield]

Yep, a couple of years will slip away in a hurry! Nice looking cart you have rigged up. What a luxury to grind and weld upright, Aye? I wouldn't consider doing major repairs on a Porsche without the ability to turn it over. I think you'll be a staunch convert by the time this is over. (at least your buddy there will for sure) Keep up the great work and progress!
Justin

100% agree. Having done my 912 on the rotisserie I knew there was no way I was laying on floor or even working under my lift to do the pan on the 356. Once it was determined the pan needed to go, up on its side the 356. Too old to do the floor install method.

[JTR70]

Yep, a couple of years will slip away in a hurry! Nice looking cart you have rigged up. What a luxury to grind and weld upright, Aye? I wouldn't consider doing major repairs on a Porsche without the ability to turn it over. I think you'll be a staunch convert by the time this is over. (at least your buddy there will for sure) Keep up the great work and progress!
Justin

[merbesfield]

It's hard to believe it's been 2 yes and 9 months since I first posted this project. I have started back working Tursdays again w my good friend Scott. We have made good progress on the pan perimeter. I found mor rust on the outside portion of the pan under the undercoating on the passenger side. They say the gutter sides are usually worse. We have cut it out and replaced w fresh metal. Forgot to take good pics. I also have placed my trusty Gargoyle to watch over my car while I am away. We now have the car on its side where we can make some progress. I swore this was not going to end up on a rotisserie the day I bought this car. So far that has not happened. I don't count the cart turned on its side as a true rotisserie

[JTR70]

Nice work on the threshold Mark. Nice to see that you also salvaged the original outer rocker in the process. I didn't realize your car was a factory Black; how cool is that! Only one color to paint it..
Congrats on the Landcruiser; It is a nice change of pace to buy something you can just get in and enjoy right from the start.

Jack you don't look a day over 62!

[Jack Staggs]

[quote="merbesfield" post=20616]

PO Mr. McKinnon in front of his dealership.

That guy is 74??? I am a wimp at 63