1958 356A TURBO Coupe

[JTR70]

Hey Brock, Thanks for asking. I've almost got my tiny shop arranged so I can "shoe horn" it in there. I think by sometime next month I'll have it here and will begin updating this thread. I'm so glad to hear that its giving you some ideas on how to approach your project. Look forward to seeing it one day soon. Thanks again! Justin

[Restomod]

Cool, Yeah I am getting close to throwin the sawzall in it.......

[JTR70]

6/1/13
Spent last Friday finally taking care of a nagging chore that has been wearing on me for months. Rented a truck and trailer to bring this project back to my shop. My buddy Warren had completed his part on this car several months ago and was more than patient allowing me extra time to get my shit together. Thanks again Warren! Needles to say it was a huge relief waking up on Saturday morning with all of this out of the way so I can start my part on this project. Here are a few shots from Friday.

At long last; loaded up in front of Warrens shop and ready to make the two hour trip home to Las Vegas. Warren was more than happy to see it go..

Mock-up Polo motor and 915 trans installed.

rechecking the tie-downs when we stopped for lunch before continuing on.

Arrived home with no issues. One last fill-up before we unloaded and turned this rig back in. My buddy Thomas who came along for the ride making himself usefull here.

Got a couple of "thumbs-up" on the way home which was nice. Appearently few guys spotted its potential even in this very rough basic state.

"shoe horned" into the shop. As you can see I'm up to my eyeballs in things to do. I don't know when I'll sleep now Roy. Maybe little cat naps on the floor between the cars.

Once I get the shop arranged so I can function I'll start to work filling in the holes and updating this thread more regularly. The fun begins! Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[Restomod]

Thanks for the update, that car is going to be badazz!

[JTR70]

Thanks Brock! Hopefully one day..
6/4/13

Set some time aside to actually start back to work on this car now that I have it stuffed in a corner of my shop and out of the way. (for the most part) Decided to start planning the floor install first. I am sure there is more pressing business but this simple "jumping off" point allows my mind to get into the Zen of working on this now new unfamiliar project. I can study it, think about what's to be done while still being productive on it.

Mocked up the new floor on the ground for a rough fitment.

Miles away from closing up these longs. but I just wanted to see. Have to install a straight bar strut from the apex of those bends down to the corner of the roll-bar and base frame to triangulate that weakness. Again Lots to do. My mind is throwing me all sorts of thing to address. More later. Thank you for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

6/5/13
floor pan flange configuration.


Normally the new pans come with a good inch + of excess metal for a tight fit. These pans on the other hand are coming up a bit short all the way around.

Mount flange or not its still too short for this application.

I'm using a standard vendor perimeter kit however I'll be flipping it 180 to bridge these gaps.

First thought was to hook it under the new sub frame.

A view from inside the long. The flange would catch the outer wall like so. I later decided to scrap this idea because it double floors the new frame; the new longitudinal is going to overlap this area already.

I've decided on plug-welding the flange directly to the outer wall.

I'll leave the seam mostly exposed for a more "traditional look". When the longs. go on they will overlap this joint from underneath and once complete this flange will be triple thick with the floor included. Plenty strong

[JTR70]

I don't know after looking over my last entry I might go back to the original idea on mounting the flange. Not sure now.. Anyway here is the rest of todays progress...

Where new meets old.

Warren only tacked the subframe into position. He left the rest for me to figure out. One thing for sure was I could not leave it like this and just continue welding it up. Just the edge catching the corner of the frame is just not right.

Another section of repair perimeter kit was my answer to this junction. The flange gives me great contact area to tie in with the subframe and a very nice clean fabricated joint where they come together.

This is looking inside the long. again. I can double weld this joint by catching the flange in here.

Just one additional bend required. I am going to be using several feet of this stuff before this car and that rusted out chassis car done. I am going to be a perimeter kit buying fool for a while.
More to come. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

New interface plate section being welded in.

New panel trimmed to desired length and tacked into final position here.

Laying down a series of small beads along the inner flange here first. Only being about 10 inches off the ground is proving to be quite the PIA to weld and work on. I won't have the luxury of a rotisserie anytime soon.

With the inner flange now secured to the sub-frame I bagan trimming and welding the upper joint seam.

Slow going but its progressing and I am at least happy with this panel. I don't feel like I'm cutting corners in other words. More of the same tomorrow. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

6/14/13
New threshold runner in.

New fill panel joining old with new now fully welded and dressed.

With this initial threshold section done I began a paper template to plan out this rear closing section. As it progressed I realized that I need to put in my triangulation struts in first. Working on that next.
Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

7/9/13
Just a slight bit of progress on the forward closing section where the forward roll bar mount recess was.

Fanged the foward run while maintaining the original overlap joints. The joint at the corner is an unoriginal lap joint but it closes the hole and looks the part. Alot of the time is just spent making templates and figuring out the cleanest way to combine the two and close the holes up.

It was nice to see it happening. Working on the next forward section to the new frame upright.
Thanks for reading this! Justin

[Restomod]

The corner closed up nice,looks just like it came that way.

[JTR70]

10/5/13
It was really wearing on me so I had to set some time aside today and get a little progress going on this thing.

Right front wheel well closing panel template development. Splash-pan to new upright.

A lot time just spent thinking about all that needs to addressed to make this new part cleanly bridge old with new and look cool while doing it.

A tricky spot to get a clean flange joint will be right at the upright and lower runner. They intersect at funky angles so that part will eventually reveal itself as it goes.

the original trunk closing wall over shoots the tower so the end will be contoured to meet it. All without disturbing that VIN tag.(a recent topic of discussion)

Quick paper mock-up represents what I now need it to eventually do.

Template ever so slowly evolving. Certainly a lot more time spent at this stage versus just merely replicating a rusted out factory panel as with the other project. More later! Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

6/1/14


Well, I have never been good at multi-tasking and bouncing between three projects that all need considerable attention has been even tougher but I finally took a couple of hours yesterday to make a little progress on this coupe.

Decided to give the right forward splash panel a rest and turn my attention back to tying the two chassis together around the longitudinal areas. As I did earlier on the right side I began cutting a section out of the old longitudinal closing panel in preparation of flanged section to properly join it to the new sub-frame.

Sections cut free here with only the old tack-weld remnants to grind off.

New section made from; "you guessed it" those very versatile flanged perimeter repair section. Is there anything you can't repair with them? Like the other side I added the second bend just above its flange to match the profile of the original.

A real benefit to working on that other rusty "coupster" chassis is that I can now recognize what all these inner reinforcement panel are doing and where they are going. I'll be adding a flanged end onto these inner sub-panels as well then tying the forward end of it into the new section(pictured below) as it was done originally. Again details that would have escaped me before.

All the tack welds cleaned and ground smooth and just about ready to begin welding this new section in. Thanks for looking! Justin

[Jack Staggs]

Justin, do you have time to sleep/have a life? Just'in jest. I don't get buying the flanged perimeter repair section gig. It's really easy to make those on any brake. Am I missing something? WD,BTW

[JTR70]

As pathetic as it sounds this is pretty much my life other than sleeping when I can.
Good point on the purchase of those kits. Its a bit out of laziness on my part I should run down to my local metal supplier and have them cut me up a sheet of 18 gauge. My friend across the way has a brake. As much as I am using these days it is the smarter way to go. Thanks for pointing that out and setting me straight Jack!

Justin