57 356 A mild resto

[JTR70]

Hey Mark,
Thanks for the update. That 911 project looks interesting. Have never seen a 911 running those space savers like a 356. Hope Scott will share it one day soon. Gordon did a really nice job on his replacement walls but that is a ton more work. I think you can definitely get away with small patch panels here. As far as the ribs go a resourcefull guy like yourself could easily make a hammer form from some bar stock and punch those into some 20 guage with a little heat. I had the same area go bad in my car though only to the left side. I thought it was from the quarter window leaking too but after all these years of playing with it I came to the conclusion that it was leakage from the rear window once again. I had several small pinholes of rust in the lower left corner of the rear window when I first started in 87. All this leakage ran back to the engine compartment and rotted the forward wall there and also ran forward pooling between the tarpaper and the ribs eventually rotting them too. This is why I put those drains in; water is eventually going to find its way between the rubber seal and the trough.


I forgot to document this repair because I just slowly closed the holes in stages. Very teadious but it saved me from making a patch. The middle rib was the worst and forward rib was just heavily pitted but did not go through. A perfect pocket created here with the original tarpaper deadner.


you can see here that the pinch seam in the quater window opening makes it very difficult for any water to get in. Not impossible but very hard especially when you consider its double sealed. Leakage from the rear window is the culprit. This is exactly why I put those drains in. No matter how careful we are some water is going to get by the rear window seal and spill over the channel leaching along that edge or shelf again. Keep us posted on what you decide. Justin

[merbesfield]

Well I finally have something to report. For the record, I have not been screwing off. I have been helping my buddy Scott build his 68 hotrod 911 and we have been hitting it hard for the last couple of months or so. (visible in back ground)

Any how, I got the right side Beehive holes closed up along with the over rider holes. Still need to clean the areas up and do some metal finishing. I have also media blasted all the engine tin in prep for the Powder Coating. Quite a job, but it all looks like new.

I have now moved onto the rust repairs on the rear inner fenders. This was a bit of an unknown. I knew there was some rust, but was not sure how bad it was. After spending the day removing the undercoating on the outside and the sound pads on the inside (yuk) I am fairly pleased with what I found. Much of the areas are shinny metal. The seat bottoms looked like new, mostly. Unfortunately, where the water ran in the qtr windows, it left it's mark. You can see the how the water traveled. I think the pics look worse than the real thing. Not sure how I want to attach this. I could replace the entire panel, but seems a bit over kill with so much of the metal very solid. But it is usually easier than working a bunch of small patches, however, my goal from the start was to leave as much original metal on the car since it is so "rust free" as they say. At least for a 356 that is. Here are the pics.

Gordon, I saw in your build where you made your own panels. Was it very tough? Why did you not buy them from one of the sources? I think it would be easier to buy the entire panel if I go that route, if I patch it, I would probably buy the panel if not too expensive. Anyone have experience with any of the suppliers as the whether they fit or not and which suppliers is best? Thanks, Mark

[JTR70]

hey mark, yes, they were put on cars destined for the US market. I believe the bumpers by themselves did not meet the height requirement set by the DOT during this time so the factory raised the bar so to speak. Justin

[merbesfield]

Interesting the position of those beehives. If you had nothing to follow I guess you would line them up and indeed they would never look quite right. I wonder how they made the decision to offset them?

A guy holding them on the body and saying to Hans ' here or here what looks best' or a design guy pondering?

Also, those chrome overrider bars that seem to be on so many cars in the USA but hardly ever seen over here. For years I never knew they existed. Were they just developed only for the USA. I do seem to remember the 356B front bumper height was dictated by safety rulings introduced in the USA ? Maybe I am wrong on that?

Roy

Roy, yes I do believe they were a US only thing. I am sure Justin will know. I'm not so sure it was for safety though. Probably car protection. The US believes in 5 mph crash protection.

[roy mawbey]

Interesting the position of those beehives. If you had nothing to follow I guess you would line them up and indeed they would never look quite right. I wonder how they made the decision to offset them?

A guy holding them on the body and saying to Hans ' here or here what looks best' or a design guy pondering?

Also, those chrome overrider bars that seem to be on so many cars in the USA but hardly ever seen over here. For years I never knew they existed. Were they just developed only for the USA. I do seem to remember the 356B front bumper height was dictated by safety rulings introduced in the USA ? Maybe I am wrong on that?

Roy

[JTR70]

I'm with you. My car had the overriders too. I'm not a fan of them either and filled the holes years ago. Car's looking good! Justin

[merbesfield]

I forgot about the front. I remember seeing you punch the hole, but by hand will have to do. Thinking about filling in the over rider support hole. If I ever get bumpers back on the car I'm pretty sure I would not use the over riders. Unless I was going back stock, which I am not.

[JTR70]

Looks Great Mark! It all seems so familiar. You're exactly correct the outboard lights/holes are slightly kicked upward in realation to the inner tail lights. That is the subtle detail in the placement that the factory got right on. Also the very reason why most Beehive attempts without a guide look off or wierd.


Here is mine with the elevation clearly shown. Yours is right; no worries! As for the hole diameter go to the front of your car; the front turnsignal holes on a T1 will be exactly the same as the rears would be. Its going to be pretty tough to get perfectly round holes by filing. I tried it on my first attempt and was not happy at all; had to use a die-punch to get a clean job. You could make a template from your front holes and color the excess with a marker and rat tail file the colored area I suppose. Thats probably the way I would do it. I hope this helps! Great job on the patch! Great to see it going back to beehives!!! Justin

[merbesfield]

Here are a couple pics from the BH repair. One thing that is odd, the two inboard holes for the lights are not in line with each other, top to bottom. The strange thing is I do not see any evidence of other holes or patches. These were the original holes that were hiding behind the tear drop lights. Maybe the large hole is off. I have not fine tuned the light holes. I just hogged them out real quick with my carbide tipped bit. I did not have the lights with me for test fitting. Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Justin, can you tell me the diameter of the holes? I obviously have a good bit of hand work and finishing to do to this area. This repair was actually more difficult than I expected due to the compound curves involved.

[merbesfield]

I repaired DS BH tonight. PS is next. Will post pics soon. Going to have to figure out what I need to do to make the lights work soon.

[JTR70]

Lots of projects going on there! I'm glad the BH lights I sold you found such a good home! Looking forward to the repair. Thanks! Justin

[merbesfield]

The E wheel is my buddy Scott's. He now has his 68 911 Hotrod at my shop so we have 3 P cars and one Land Cruiser to work on. No shortage of projects. No I don't own a stinker stretcher, wish I did. I have wanted one for years. As for the lip, I formed it by hand. It was not so tight that it req. SS. I have done them before, and had to cut wedges out and weld the piece back together, lot of work bc I did not have the right tools. One of the few I don't have. Some day. Yes I am very thankful that the Beehive holes are still in place. It will definitely make doing the repair that much easier. I am also fortunate to have been able to acquire a set of original BH lights thanks Justin and thanks for checking in.

[roy mawbey]

Mark,

Nice job on that repair. I had to make a patch myself just back a bit from yours where the bumper irons go through. I established many years later the dirt and mess thrown up by the back wheels settles in that area causing rust. ( That is if you take the car out
on rainy days, which I avoid now.)

Roy

[JTR70]

Really nice looking patch panels Mark! The contours look right. On the lower lip/flange did you have to use stretcher jaws or some heat to get the proper curvature? You have your own English wheel, NICE! That is something I have wanted for my shop. I have a shot bag and a couple of those teardrop mallets but have to go over to my buddies for the wheeling. Its really amazing you knock a rough lumpy shape in with the mallet and bag then the wheel magically levels it all out smooth and beautifully! I am sure the old owner is very excited to see his old car coming back to life with such quality and care being taken. Again, great work on those repair pieces! They look very hard to detect! I have no doubt your tail light hole repairs will be just as nice! I am glad to see that you also have the luxury of the original beehive mount holes as a guide. They are in very particular locations as the outer lights are positioned just a little upward from the inner units. The factory really got it right and if you don't place them exactly where they did it just looks odd! I am sure you have seen many examples. Anyway great job my friend! Looking forward to the tail lights. Justin

[merbesfield]

I just realized I am coming up on one year from date of purchase and reflecting on the previous owners/caretakers. I had hoped to be on the road by now, but you know how it goes. Here is a picture of Don, the PO working on the car. I am sure he was full of emotions the day he decided to sell his baby. He had been caretaker for over 20 years. Thanks for trusting me Don.