1958 356A TURBO Coupe

[JTR70]

4/15/15

At long last I was able to free up some space in my shop to get this car out of that corner and out into the open so I can work on it again.

First thing was to finish removing the quarter panels to free up some working space and to allow me to roll the car on its side without damage to them. Melted the lead off and ready to drill out the spot-welds along the striker.

Both panels now removed. I know I'm strange but there's a small part of me that's digging it with the wheels out in the open.

Will continue with the inner perimeter sections I was working on earlier. Also have to add a short tube strut to support that kick the in the door bar. working on that next. Thanks for looking! Justin

[Don C]

Justin you're one busy guy! Good for you!

[Nur964]

incredible project. Thank you for sharing)
I myself have long thought about such a project with Polomotor
I will watch with great interest.

[JTR70]

Thanks Don! I'm trying to finish up what I have to on this car so Dean can take it and set up the controls, cooling system, drivetrain etc.

Thank you Art!
5/2/15

The time I can spend on this project is limited so all I've done since is to triangulate the kick in the door bar on the left side. It took me a few days to decide how I wanted to do it so it would look cool yet still be technically correct. My old mentor Greg and my buddy Warren are both off-road race car builders so what I've learned about cages I picked up from them. The basics are to always try and create triangles in the cage work (as the triangle is the strongest geometric shape) with all the joints intersecting with one another as much as possible. The rule Greg taught me was that once a bar is bent, it keeps on bending so you have to support and triangulate that weakness. This is what I'm doing here with the door bar. Repeating on the right side next. Thanks for looking! Justin

[Trevor]

4/15/15

Both panels now removed. I know I'm strange but there's a small part of me that's digging it with the wheels out in the open.

Very, throwing mud into the stands, circle track racer-ish. I like it too! Reminds me of Gary Emory's Desperado from way back with the wheels totally exposed.

[JTR70]

Finally got the chassis and body stabilized to the point where it was safe to roll it up on its side to begin addressing the longitudinals and the floor. I built a little sub-frame on the right side to rest on then unbolted all the suspension and rolled it over.

Mocking up the new floor here to see how much of a shortfall there is between the frame and the panel. It all actually fits up pretty nicely.

Yes, they sent us a B/C rear floor section but I figured as heavily modified as this car is, is that really going to matter.

Longest running debate was how I was going to mount the flange for the floor pan to attach to. The way above has a smoother appearance from the top but I hated the idea of double walling the bottom of the frame.

I eventually settled on attaching the short side to the base of the tube. Since the toe-board and rear flange will have to mounted this way I thought it best to make it consistent throughout.

Began making the new toe-board mount flange first. I wanted it to include the small corner section turn. My sections aren't long enough to do this in one shot so it'll have to be made a side at a time.

As mentioned above the short-side flange will attach to the tube wall from the inside.

New flange section now cut to basic shape. about an inch is all that's required as it makes its way down the sides so this piece tapers down in preparation for that.

I put a small step flange in it where the edge of the floor will eventually attach. I'm trying to mimic what was there originally while at the same time building the required part for this specific application. Onto the other half next. Thanks for looking! Justin

[molleur]

Fantastic job! Looking forward to following your progress.
Thanks!

[JOP]

Justin,
I do like your details.....nice reinforcements on a bend.
You have a really neat "playroom" filled with alot of cool stuff
To bad you are so far away so I cant stalk you
/Per

[molleur]

Ditto! Really nice work.

[JTR70]

Thank you very much Molleur and Welcome to our little forum!

Thanks a lot Per but I can't take credit there. That is work of my buddy Warren who built this subframe along with mounting the suspension. While he can build anything his known for Off-Road racing car chassis's. His stuff normally runs 80MPH across the desert while the suspension falls into 3 foot ruts so most of his work leans toward heavy abuse. He explained that those Diamond gussets are there to spread the load across each of those joints. As you can tell by those pretty welds of his, he is certified welder by trade.

This is pre-runner Bronco he did about 10 years ago. I remember it being in his shop as he built the control arms and the cage. The wheel base was lengthened so the truck would handle better and they could get another foot of travel out of the rear suspension. Both Warren and my late mentor taught me just about everything I know about cage work etc.; which still isn't much but its been a good foundation.

My thanks again to both you guys! Just feeling my way in the dark as best as I can.

Toe-board mount flange complete and mounted.

Finished up the other half and got it all stitched up this afternoon.

It still fit after welding and is now clamped in place so tack welding could begin.

All tacked into final position. Welding it completely up will be done later just in case I have to change anything.

With that tacked in I began working my way down the side. I should have these flanges all tacked in by tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!
Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Just how do you manage to do all this? Said it before so many times but I mean it how? Have you ever kept a record of numbers of photos you have taken on all your projects? Just to sit down upload them all with comments takes time, I don't know how you do it

This project will be something else when finished. Nice thread as usual.

Roy

[JTR70]

Hey Roy, Thanks!
Truth be told I don't actually manage all this well. I am way behind on this car and Dean has been graciously waiting as its languished in the corner for over a year since I brought it back from Warren's shop. I've just decided its been long enough and I have to now make an effort in earnest to get the floor in and the longitudinals closed so Dean can take it home and outfit it with everything to make it a running and driving shell. The time spent loading photos and text is just part of the commitment I made to keep this site fresh and alive. Thank you again for all the nice words and support through these projects Sir!
Justin
2/26/15
Forward flanges tacked in and initial fitment of the forward floor pan section.

Most of the floor pan flange now tacked in with on the rear cross member left to add.

This pan will now have to be several inches shorter than it would have been originally.

Still some fine trimming along its edges but its basically in.


The new shorter foot well area really is reminiscent of kit car foot well areas I've seen photos of. Cannot be helped, this is what the new frame dictates.

Slid the rear pan in just to see. All the corners are lining up pretty well. Will be adding the rest of the mount flange in next.

A new floor sure changes the outlook of things.
Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

Perimeter flanges for floor installation complete with pans in final adjusted position.

rear cross-member flange complete and rear pan fitment beginning.

Flange will have to be relieved at this embossment to get it all to fit snug.

Front and rear have been trimmed and located in their best adjusted position both with each other and the chassis. Rear flange has been relieved for a closer fit. I'll catch the rest on the final install.

Of course some fine trimming for clearance still remains.

Front flange and embossments also still need help.

But before today was over I had an installed new floor. Wrapping up those small detail tomorrow and will begin getting the left longitudinal ready for closing.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

6/29/15
Left longitudinal prep.

The floor is now fitted and ready to on for good but I need to get the longitudinals built first.

Of course I have a ton of this to do before this panel can go on.

As you can tell once its all closed the belly of this this car will still look almost stock.

This closing panel will conceal the new subframe within.


Began prepping for the new panel like I've done many times before by grinding away what's left of the original mount flanges.

Once I rolled this car over I realized I had more work than anticipated. This forward door well pan is both rusted out, crashed and crudely patch repaired at some point. This car was hit hard in the front two times from what I could gather.

Much easier to zip it off and start fresh then to try and fiddle with it.

My paper templates from the coupster project will come in handy once again.

Ready to trace a new one in steel next.

Test fitting the new panel without that tray made things a lot easier.

As fitting progressed I remembered a modification we decided on way back when. We had Warren set the bottom of the new subframe up a half inch higher than it would have been stock. As you can see the new panel hangs way too with the upper threshold flange clamped into position.

We were trying to buy the pans a bit more clearance since the plan was to get this car down low; way lower than a stock 356.

Subtracting the actual lip of the flange you can see its a solid 1/2 inch higher than the original frame it was.

With this section of 1/2 square stock clamped in as a spacer it makes it all line up real nice.

That's the fit I'm after; have to take a 1/2 inch out of that new panel.

Both of these upper flange sections will be pounded out flat and rebent the width of this tubing section.
Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

6/30/15
Left long. prep continues

New door well tray cut and folded to basic shape.

A quick test fit before I added in the outer flange bend.

Eventually I will be capping the front of this longitudinal as I did on this coupster project.

Because of the way these cars are layer-built I had to cut deeper into the old splash panel to make way for this cap. PIA!

New bend lines a half inch lower to compensate for the chassis modification I mentioned in the last entry.

Flanges reset and in for a trail fitment. To my relief it now seats and fits fine.

A long way to go yet with several items still on my check list but with each session I'm a little closer to closing this cavity up.
Thanks for looking!
Justin