57 356 A mild resto

[merbesfield]

I thought I would post a few gratuitous pics of what has been occupying my time and keeping me from my 356. My 66 911. Working one day a week it takes a long time to complete anything. But it is important to balance cars with family and work, right? Who am I kidding, I would live in the shop if I could. Anyhow, it's in and epoxy primed. Next week, seam sealer and Schutz. Then brakes and.....

[JTR70]

Looks really clean Mark! Is this 911 you just picked up a while back?? If so I understand why you're workig on it; its the honeymoon phase and the "new" toy gets all the love...right?

[merbesfield]

I know this is not much of an update, but I have been busy working on the 356 now that the 66 911 is complete. I have completed the rockers and am prepared to remove the floor pans. My question is, who sells the most correct pans for an early 356? The front battery pan was not available as you may know so I had to customize (back date) it to match the early pan. I would appreciate those in the knows opinion on floors. I believe there are about three manufactures. Restoration Design,Dansk, the red ones sold by Zims (edit Simonsen) (the name escapes me) and probably others? Obviously, RD has the best prices, but I do not know how correct their pans are. Please chime in. I may post a general thread about this as well.

[merbesfield]

Looks really clean Mark! Is this 911 you just picked up a while back?? If so I understand why you're workig on it; its the honeymoon phase and the "new" toy gets all the love...right?

The Honeymoon with the 66 911 is over. Most all the projects are done and she is sitting quietly wanting to be thrashed. There will always be side projects, but the heavy lifting is done. Fortunately, there is a new Mistress in the house. Quite unexpectedly, I purchased a 1982 Toyota FJ40. I am always watching for these and this one was one I could not pass on. Happily, she only needs love and attention, but no major projects. She is a driver. This Cruiser has been owned by a 73 year old gentleman who owns a Toyota dealership in Alabama. He has owned it for over 25 years and it amazingly has only 41K miles. It is about as near perfect a 1982 vehicle could be. The few little nigglets are very minor. I have been driving the wheels off it.

Here are a couple pics.



PO Mr. McKinnon in front of his dealership.

[merbesfield]

Now back to the Porsche stuff. As I mentioned in previous posts I have been inching towards solid steel. The rockers are done. Pics to prove it.

[merbesfield]

Some closeups and also the front door jambs. I removed the tar undercoating that had thankfully been hosed on long ago and what I found was near perfection. Mostly original black paint and solid steel.

[merbesfield]

Next up is the floor pans. I was going to replace the entire pan but after scraping all the undercoating off, there are only three spots that are bad so I will carefully cut them out and butt weld new metal in place so as to retain all the original spot welds and panel fit details from the factory. Many of the areas actually had shinny metal under the rock hard undercoating. The areas needing attention are the back two outside corners where the water pooled and the front passenger footwell all the way forward. I may have to buy all new pans just to be able to chop them apart for patching. I hate to have to spend the money on them only to cut them up, but to try and hand form those pieces probably does not make economic sense. These pics were taken before I removed all the undercoating. When I first looked at the pans I thought I would have to completely replace them, but after completely stripping them my plans changed.

[Jack Staggs]

[quote="merbesfield" post=20616]

PO Mr. McKinnon in front of his dealership.

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

[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!

[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]

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]

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.

[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]

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

[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.