Rear End Ready for Engine & Transmission

With my time off between the holidays, I was able to dedicate 3 full days to the car. My primary goal was to have the engine/transmission area completed so that we could install the transmission once we have it back together.

With this goal in mind, I spent several hours in the engine area removing old rusted material and installing good steel patches. I continued cleaning the entire area and buffed it all down with the wire brush with anticipation of applying POR15 and undercoating.

The next task was to graph in the repair fender. The trailing end of the right rear fender has been completely rusted away so the seller included a replacement fender when I bought the car. This fender section was cut from either a 356B or C coupe and included the material from the door post to the engine lid and from the window area down. It was much more than I needed.




The surgical process took me several hours. I first prepped the car by making a clean cut for the patch piece to be installed. I used my flange tool along the edge of the car and cut a matching section from the spare fender. After several fittings, I plug welded the horizontal line and then butt welded the vertical line where I used the holes for the bumper brackets as alignment. I finished the afternoon by installing both rear fender braces.




I revisited my rocker panel installation that I was not happy with. What you would never find in any book or discussion is the fact that the rocker panels are about ¼” too short at both the front and rear. I thought that I had installed something wrong until I found on Charles’ Convertible D website that they come short on purpose and then you have to build the edges up to fit. The rockers look much better now.

I then applied what I hope to be my last can of POR15. I applied an entire quart of sealant to the engine/transmission area and inside the rear fenders. While I did my best to cover up in long sleeves, coveralls, rubber gloves, face shield, and hat, I have it all over my body. I look like a Dalmatian. The following day I sprayed 3m Body Schultz inside the same areas, under the floor pans, and inside the trunk area. Once it dries, I will use a rattle can of Krylon matte black paint to finish it off.

Transmission Status

Some months back while cleaning the transmission, we found a broken end of a 1/2" diameter dowel attached to the drain magnet. One end was machined while the other end was clearly broken off. This was a real concern as we might have a problem transmission. I've never been a transmission guy and don't have the proper tools to really work on them. After preparing for the worst and discussions from others, I decided to dig into the transmission and see if I could find out where it broke from. I reasoned that worst case, I would not be able to get things back together and would end up sending the transmission in boxes to Vic at 356 Enterprises for a complete rebuild.



As it turned out, we found nothing but a good transmission with the usual 50 years worth of wear. The inspection was really rather simple. First, the nose cone comes off very easily. We then pulled out the intermediate plate that has attached to it all of the gearing and drive shaft. With a little convincing from my rubber mallet, everything came out easily. The best resource I had for this process was the Porsche factory workshop manual that I bought from Charlie White.
Upon inspection, we found nothing broken, sheared, shredded, or otherwise out of place. The only component that even resemble our suspicious part was a dowel that held together the two sides of the differential. This was installed tight and both ends were in good shape. Our best reasoning for our suspicious find is that this transmission had been repaired before - most likely because this dowel had broken. Following this rebuild, this component may not have been cleaned out of the transmission casing. There are so many nooks and crannies in the casing for it to sit. With all of our handling of the transmission, we may have knocked it loose from it's resting place allowing it to fall and attach to the drain magnet.



This is as far as we will go with the transmission inspection. I have heard enough people tell me that it either works or it doesn't enough times to put it back in and run it.

Engine Almost Complete

The engine is now 95% complete. It seems that I have been making regular calls to Zim's the past couple of weeks for little parts that I didn't know I needed until I found a hole with nothing to put in it. We picked up our progress this week by installing the rockers assemblies. We found that when installed, the rocker arm on #1 and #4 cylinder were hitting the exhaust valve. With help from the Registry talk list, I found that I had installed the lower head nuts without the washers. This caused the rocker to sit closer towards the head. I don't know if we threw the washers out or if we did not have them in the beginning. Either way, we had old style cast iron rockers and old style head nuts. After some discussion with others, we decided to replace the old style rockers with the later style that has an aluminum base along with the later style head nuts. I've been told that this will also give us a better valve lift suited for the 1600S engine.

Once the rockers are in, we can finish the engine. All of the linkages are ready, the cooling tins have been cleaned and painted. I bought a lot of parts on eBay from a guy who had just converted his 6V to a 12V and was selling all of the old 6V parts including a good generator. I picked up a couple other missing parts from Jim at EASY such as a flywheel pulley, generator pulley, breather, etc.

As for the carburetor, we finally found that the venturies would come out as well as the injection tubes from our old carb. Once we had that solved, we were able to build one good left side carb to match the right.

As for the final count, the following are the only parts that we used on this engine that came with our original purchase

• All 3 case pieces
• Oil pump and cooler
• Crankshaft
• 1 Head
• 1 Carburetor
• Manifolds
• Flywheel
• Cam gear

All other parts have been pieced together to best resemble a 1962 1600S.

Making Winter Progress

I had hoped that once the heat of the summer passed I would have more energy to work in the garage. Alternatively, I have had more important priorities and the 356 has taken a back seat for some time. I've had a few hours here and there and as a result have maintained some essence of progress. Unfortunately, it does not look like we will be road worthy for the Gulf Coast Holiday in April. We still plan to attend and volunteer but will have no car to show. Now that I am off for the holidays, I plan to get more accomplished. I tried my hardest the past few days but an unusual freeze has set in. We even had 2" of snow on Christmas Eve. It's now back up in the 50s so progress will resume this week.




I have made a few good finds in my search for replacement parts. Tim in Spokane found my website and saw that I had a number of parts listed. He had a '58 coupe that he was parting out and gave me first requests at what I might need. I was able to pick up all my brakes including drums, backing plates, and hardware. Tim was even nice enough to bag all of the parts and label them as to which wheel they came from. I also picked up from Tim a dash cowl that I will use to repair my dash where it has rusted away under the front windshield from the sitting water. Jim at EASY was able to supply me with accelerator linkages, cable, and clutch cables. This has been a challenge. Since all of it was missing in my car, I really don't know what parts I needed. I think that I have it all at this point. For those just setting out, don't be surprised when something simple can cost a fortune. Remember the first rule of economics comes to mind - prices go up when buyers outnumber supply. It didn't take my MBA education to figure that one out.

My list of missing parts is slowly getting smaller.

In the down time, I have been blasting and painting some of the smaller components. I now have all of the front suspension cleaned and painted. As soon as the link pin seals and wheel bearing seals from Zim's come in, I'll put that assembly together. The steering box has now been rebuilt and installed as well as the tie rods with new tie rod joints from Stoddard.

Engine Long Block - Trailing Arm Removal

Saturday morning, I met up with the Lone Star 356 Club at 59 Diner on I-10. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain so only two of the guys brought out their tubs. The majority of our time was spent on the update of the Gulf Coast Holiday that is to take place next April in Boerne. I had no idea that so much work was being put into this event. It sounds like it's going to be a great event.

I spent Saturday afternoon removing the radius arms and torsion bars. While removing the bolts that hold the arm covers, I broke off 2 on the right and 3 on the left. I then spent the evening trying to drill them out. I'll need to put this task off until I have a day with a little more patience.

We spent Sunday on the engine and installed pistons, cylinder, and heads to our short block. I'm not sure why but it took us about 5 hours just to do that. We had all of our parts clean before we started, I guess we just took our time and made sure everything went together per the Maestro's instructions. In all, the engine now turns and is starting to look like a real engine.



Theresa started into the replacement carb only to find that it had different venturies than our originals. On top of that, I broke one of the injection tubes while trying to bend it back into place. Like I said before, two steps forward, one step back. In the mean time, we have been progressing with cleaning tins and various other small parts and painting them in preparation for a complete engine.

Engine Short Block Built

Aside from a couple of big weekends finishing the floor, we have been working on the engine. One long Sunday we started building the engine progressing only as far as getting the case assembled. You could say we took our time - 8 hours or so to this point. Some would call this the shortblock.



We used Harry Pellow's (aka The Maestro) "Secrets of the Inner Circle" and our Exploded View Parts Diagrams from Charles DerWhite. Spending most of my adult life around cars and instruction manuals, I would suggest this as the best combination for building your 356 engine. There are many other books for the 356 available with not even half of the detail that Harry puts into his. While Harry's book is no longer available in print (unless you shell out $150 on eBay for a used one) you can buy it from their website on disk. It comes in Word format which you can take to Kinko's to print for about $20 (double sided) and you don't have to worry about greasy finger prints.

I received the heads back from Houston Engine and Balancing . They look good and cost less than expected (about $120 for both heads). I took in the two old heads, one replacement from GG Tyler and Sons and the new valve guides from Zims. They inspected for cracks, installed new guides and seals, cut new seats on the valves and valve seats, and checked spring compression. No flycuts were required. Between them, I have two nice heads.

For rods, I received four good 912 rods from Jim at EASY and we received four good Super pistons, a replacement cylinder, and a Super cam from Tyler. Many of you may be shaking your head right now thinking that I should have bought a matched set of pistons and cylinder. I miced out all of the parts out and everything was within spec. I'm confident that for a weekend driver, I'll have a good engine.

One of the local 356ers had an old Zenith carb on the shelf he could supply to replace the bad one. In the mean time, we received the engine tins from Tyler and have been sandblasting and painting them in prep for installation.

Floor Pans Complete

After I bought more gas for the welder, I was able to finish the floor pan installation. I found that my rivet idea was not so brilliant afterall. I found that the pan did not sit completely flat on ledge in some areas. I then went around with the sheet metal screws in place of the rivets. This worked much better. Through my plug weld hole in the floorpan, I drilled a small pilot hole in the ledge (about 1/8"). I then ran the sheet metal screw into it which in turn sucked the floor pan flush onto the ledge. I did this every 12" or so and I am quite please with the results.

I used the same method when installing new angle material along the tunnel. In this area, I used the screws horizontally to hold the material flush to the tunnel and then vertically to hold the material flush to the floor.

After installing new brackets for the kick board, the pedal support, and finishing the a-frame, I found that I was missing the outer seat rails. Without them I could not install the seat mounts. In calling around, I only found one supplier with a set who wanted $150 each!! As luck would have it, I found a set on eBay for about $50. They should be here this week and I can finish the job.



In the mean time, I POR15-ed the entire interior compartment and exterior of the floor pans. I then went back into the seams and filled in the water-catching areas with sealant. With this being an open car, there's no telling if I would ever get rain water in the interior. I'd rather be safe than sorry. After all, I do plan to drive the car in Texas where the weather can be unpredictable.



We started running out of room in the garage so I spent one rainy afternoon cleaning up. Now that most all of the replacement steel is installed, I elected to throw out the scraps. I think that this is less than half of what I installed.

Left Longitudinal and Floor Pans

We finished the left longitudinal earlier in the week. This side took us less than half the time required of the right side. I'm sure it was more due to the fact that we knew what we were doing this time. At the same time, it was in much better shape to start out with. The inner wall on this side was in good shape and needed very little work. All I really had to do was attach a new ledge for the floor to attach and patch one small area of the heater tube.

I bought a new bulkhead replacement piece from Stoddard this week. On Sunday morning I cut out the old one and tacked the new one into place. This was tough and I'm not real happy with the fit. This is a complex shaped part and would have been much easier if I had a rotisserie to work on. Once the front floor pan is welded in at the paremeter I'll finish fitting the bulkhead.

With the longitudinal in, new floor pan ledges installed, and the old floor cut out, we spent more than 8 hours on Saturday fitting the floor pans. When you get the new pans, they are about 2" wider and 2" longer than you need. They do this so that you have plenty of material to cut the floor to fit. Without a picture, it's hard to describe how to set the floor in place and trim. This is not a one man job. We are fortunate that we have an open top car. I can't imagine how difficult this would have been in a coupe having to slide the floors in through the doors.

Once we had the floors cut to size, we set them into place. With a jack under the floor where the tunnel meets the overlapping floors and Theresa standing on the ledge, I used 1/8" rivets every 6" or so to hold the floors in place. This is temporary and the rivets can be pulled out much more easily than spot welds if I don't like the fit. I have alse heard of people using sheet metal screws for the same purpose. With the floors and bulkhead in place, I started the plug welding on the parameter. Remember to keep the heat low so the body doesn't start to twist. This means I did three or so spot welds and then skipped about 12" for the next three or so spots. At this point I ran out of gas in my welder.

Over the next week I'll be finishing the floor pans up by installing new ledges around the tunnel, seat mounts, toe board mounts, and peddle mount.

The best instruction that I found on this process comes from the "Technical and Restoration Guide" published by the 356 Registry. The article I referenced the most was by Ron Roland on page 312. Jim Kellogg's book "Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration" is also a good resource. Pictures should be posted soon in the photo page.

Engine Work, The Texas Two Step

Some times you spend all day working only to find at the end of the day that you accomplished very little. Last Saturday was one of those days. With the long holiday weekend and cooler weather, we had plans to work on the car as much as possible.

On Friday I took the crankshaft to Theresa's service shop and we pressed off the timing and cam drive gears from the crankshaft. This is not a gear that you want to pull with a 3-arm puller. You are sure to nick the brass gears and you'll end up spending hours with a jewelry file cleaning it up. The press made this job easy. Sure enough, the #4 bearing was completely wiped out but fortunately the crank looked really good after a little cleanup with the scotchbright.

I received the head, pistons, cylinder, and various other parts from Parker Tyler. The parts came in from Zim's but I was short one valve guide so I couldn't get the heads over to Houston Engine and Balancing until today. Okay, so I figured we should at least build the short block. In inspecting the rods, I found that the #4 rod that we had to cut from the stuck piston was damaged in the process. Now I need another rod. So that job now comes to a halt.

Okay, so we moved on to the fuel pump. Theresa handled this like a pro. I buffed the parts on the bench grinder with a brush wheel and it looks almost new.

Zenith carbs next. We got the left carb completely apart and clean and found that there was a severe casting void. Not only that, but the butterfly shaft was broken. After over an hour of work, we pronounced this carb dead. The right carb looked really good so we proceeded to rebuild it. A soaking in carb cleaner, new gaskets, and a little work with the wire wheel again and it looks new. I'll be looking to source another carb in the near term to replace the left carb.

Right Longitudinal Completed

With a little help from Theresa, we were able to finish up the right side longitudinal and rocker panel today. Wow, this took some time. The only old steel we used was in the heater tubes and their supports. We used the 3M body sealant in the inside corner of the rocker to prevent future water trapment and we also put the sealat where the longitudinal meets the closing panels. One tip I learned the hard way. If you are installing new closing panels, wait untill after the longitudinal is installed. outer The longitudinal is positioned by the door posts and the inner longitudinal and must be flush with the closing panels. Since I installed the front closing panel first, I was about 1/4 inch too far forward and had to do some custom engineering to get it to fit right.

We plan to start the left side this weekend and don't expect as many problems. The right side longitudinal is pretty solid and could live without replacement unlike the swiss cheese right side. Pictures have been updated.

2005 Porsche 356 Gulf Coast Holiday

The 2005 Porsche 356 Gulf Coast Holiday will be held next April in Boerne, TX in the Texas Hill Country. You can go to their website for the details. As a life long Texan, I can tell you that they picked the right location and the right time of year. The weather doesn't get better in Texas than it is in April. In addition, this is probably one if the best places to see the bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes, and other Texas wildflowers in the spring.

With a little convincing of my better half, you can expect that we will be there. Our wedding anniversary is on the 9th so I'm sure it will cost me. Will our car be ready? It's a lofty goal but we are shooting for it. I don't know if it will be primer grey or red, if all 4 tires match, or even if we have carpet. The goal is to have the car road worthy enough to drive up there and back and participate in the group drives.

Engine Work Begins

The hot Texas summer has now given us reason to work on less intensive tasks. As a result, we have begun the engine work. To this point, we really were not sure which engine we have. The 3rd piece had been replaced so there is no SN. The main casing may be a replacement as well since we also don't have a engine model stamped into the casing either. Eric Cherneff's website has a good explanation of these numbers. The saving grace to be sure we had a Porsche engine was part numbers cast into all 3 pieces. By looking at these castings as well as Theresa's research, we have determined it to be a 1962 356B engine.

We received this engine in pieces (in milk crates to be exact). Who knows if all of these parts even came with the same engine. When we found the car, the engine was sitting outside in the weather with the carbs removed. As a result, the crankcase was full of water. In addition, the #4 cylinder was in a position where the intake valve was in the open position. This allowed rain water to get into the cylinder and combustion area causing severe corrosion in the head. As a result, the piston rings seized up and the piston can not be removed from the cylinder. This took some tricky moves for disassembly as the #4 piston, cylinder, and rod was all removed from the crankcase as one unit. We were able to save the rod by cutting away the piston at the wrist pin however the head is not salvageable. The firing deck has severe corrosion and I am not comfortable welding it back up. With the #4 intake valve open and water in the crankcase, the cam lobe was also corroded and will not be used. Luckily, the lifters did not receive any damage. We also found cracks in two of the other pistons so all four will be replaced. The Zenith carbs appear to be in good shape but what is strange is that they have jets that were common to the 356C. Go figure. Whoever rebuilt the engine the last time must have done it on the cheap. All of the bearings were VW and the quality shows. While none of the journals were damaged, all of the bearings had worn through the babbet to the brass backing. Porsche bearings are designed to handle the higher loads and thus would last longer.

The flywheel gland nut was a challenge. We tried everything we could come up with to break the gland nut loose. Finally, we added some heat to loosen up the Locktite and the used a 1/2" impact to take it off. With some work, it finally broke loose. Several people on the 356 Talk List suggested that I use the flywheel torque tool that CIP sells. While it didn't work to take the gland nut off, I will use it on reassembly and on the drum nuts. It appears that whoever built this engine last came from the school of "if one dop is good, a puddle is better." Remember, Locktite only takes 1 drop to work!

Through our disassembly, we determined that the engine was built as a 1600 Normal (60 horsepower). Since we have to replace one piston and the cam, we will build it back as a 1600 Super (75 horsepower). This is the size engine that was originally shipped with the car.

Once everything was disassembled and cleaned, we were very surprised by the condition. The case halves had no sign of fretting and all of the case bores and crankshaft pins were normal sizes and within spec. Carbs and fuel pump are rebuildable and I bought a new Bosch 009 distributor on eBay. It's not the best distributor for this car but it will get us running.

I made a detailed list of the parts I needed including super cam and pistons, a cylinder, a head, engine tins, etc and sent this off to Parker Tyler of G.G. Tyler and Sons in Maine. I should have these along with the engine parts from Zim's by next weekend and we can start back together over the long holiday weekend. I also bought the carb kits from Parts Obsolete .

Longitudinal Work

The next area to tackle has been the longitudinals in preparation for the floor pan replacement.  I recently received Jim Kellogg's book "Porsche 356, Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration" and in it he has a good idea on supporting the body of the car with the doors out.  The problem in the open (convertible) cars is that once the doors are removed, the body of the car wants to collapse.  In order to work on the longitudinals, you have to insure that while you are cutting and welding that this collapse does not occur.  Since this is Jim's idea, I'll leave it to you to buy his book and learn how I made the supports.  Jim runs a professional shop called 356 Restore located south of Denver. 

Jim's book is good and should be on the shelf of anyone undergoing such a restoration.  While it doesn't get into the details of what I need, it has some very good suggestions.  Other suggested books that I have on my shelf include the following
 
"Original Porsche 356, The Restorer's Guide" by Laurence Meredith
"Technical and Restoration Guide" by the 356 Registry 
 "The 356 Porsche, A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity" by Dr Brett Johnson
"Secrets of the Inner Circle" and "ABC's (and 912's) of Porsche Engines" by the Maestro
Along with countless parts catalogs.
 
As for the longitudinals.  I started on the right side and cut out all of the old outer long and what was left with the rocker panel.  This was rust city.  The inner long was covered up by a plate on the vertical inner wall and once removed I found that the original looked like swiss cheese.  Since this is not a readily available replacement piece, I built an entire inner longitudinal by hand and have been working on replacing it for several weeks now.  Working with 18 ga sheet material, it took well over 6 hours to get it shaped correctly.  I am taking my time with the installation to keep the heat level down so I don't stress or warp this area.

 
The heater tube has rotten away along the bottom and at the 3" or so at the end where it turns up into the longitudinal.   I bought some 1-3/4" tail pipe repair pieces from the auto parts store and fit in in where the tubing goes through the inner long.  Since the bulk of the pipe is there, I used pipe and hose repair tape to wrap it up solid.   With that and a coat of POR15, we won't have to worry about the heater tube for another 50 years.     

Certificate of Authenticity

Within the week of receiving the title, I sent off to Porsche the request for the Certificate of Authenticity.  This is the official document from Porsche that lists the original engine and transmission serial numbers, the "birth date" of the car, as well as the original options as shipped from the factory.  Our's was somewhat plain with no options aside from the US bumpers.  The leather interior was standard for the cabriolet.  I was glad to see that it is shown as a 1958 model year since the guy I bought it from had it incorrectly listed as a '59.  I've sent a letter back to Porsche asking for the importing dealer.  Hopefully they can tell me if any dealer options were installed.
 
It appears that the s/n that I have is not the original nor is the engine.  The original engine was a 1600S (75 HP)  while mine is a 1600N (60 HP).

According to the CofA, the original color was silver with red interior such as this one. 

Too Damn Hot!

It's been too damn hot to do much of anything outside or in the garage lately.  We're in the dog days of summer and I prefer to work in the air conditioning this time of year.  I'll paint, hang wall paper, lay floors, whatever it takes to avoid the heat.  I installed an attic exhaust fan in the garage last spring and that really helps but not quite enough.  Theresa has been trying to convince me to buy an air conditioner for the garage (a window unit) but I just can't bring myself to spending the money when I would really rather have a good sand blasting cabinet.
 
Here is our forecast for the rest of the summer through August.  

 

356 Values

I finally received my title today from the great state of Texas. What an ordeal this has been. If anyone wants to know the details, email me. Now that I have this, I'll order the Certificate of Authenticity from Porsche. Hopefully it will have good info on the orginal build of the car.

This brings me to my next question - should we rebuild the car to match the CofA or should we build it as we see best. Hopefully the CofA will tell us it was black with tan interior and we won't have to worry about that. Otherwise we will just have to wait until that time comes to make that decision.

While I was in Birmingham a few weeks back for the Talladega race I picked up the June 2004 issue of Excellence. In it was a market update on 356s. If my car is worth anything close to this once I am finished, it will be a miracle. My expectation is to fall in the Good range once completed. Look at the chart under 1958 Cabriolet.

Front Fender Work

I have been concentrating on the front fender area. I first removed all of the front suspension including the sway bars, steering box, suspension arms and tie rods. I think that the tie rod ball joints were probably original as I had to cut them with the grinder to get it disassembled. Once I had everything out, it was easy to work with on the work bench and I was able to remove all of the pieces of the ball joints. The link pins and king pins did not have much play in them so I will plan to reused them with their shims.

I am planning to send the suspension parts out to be powder coated. I was planning to send them to Allied Powder Coating and then my father told me that a friend has a set up in his garage. I am not in real rush so I will investigate his buddy before I send it out.

Now that the suspension is out, I have been using the grinders with wire brushes to knock loose all of the crud under the fenders. I think that someone had removed the undercoating before because all I really found was rust and dirt before I reached the metal. Everything came out pretty easy other than the fact that I was getting cramps from working in some tough positions on my back.

The closing panels (item 37)on both sides of the front fenders were replaced with new ones from Stoddards. It is not the prettiest weld job but it is functional. I will POR15 the area and spray undercoating before the suspension goes back in.

The rust along the trailing edge of the fenders was a real dilemma. I decided to patch the rotten areas rather than replacing the section with replacement parts (item 44). Keep in mind that this will be a daily driver not a concourse car (I hear the pros gasping now). My main concern was in keeping the door gaps in place. The gaps looked really good with the original doors installed and if I were to have replaced the fender it would have required a lot more work to make the gaps match again. I was also worried about making the upper fender line match with a new replacement piece. I figured that if I patched it rather than a new piece, the worst that could happen was that it would look like crap and I would have to use a replacement part anyway. I should at least try.

The patching came out pretty good using the left over material from the replacement gas tank floor. It will take a little skimming of the body filler to make it look good before paint.

The front fender braces (item 36) were also replaced with replacements from Stoddards.

While I was under the car I found that the diagonal support (item 10) needed to be replaced as well as the lower few inches of the bulkhead (item 20). It looks like the bulkhead had been repaired before but did not last. I have ordered the new diagonal, floor pans, and perimeter kit from Stoddard. Once I am finished with the front fender area, I will have to figure out the next steps.

Gas Tank Floor Complete

The past month has shown slow progress. Work is picking up and we went to Cabo for vacation. I have installed the new gas tank floor that came from Restoration Design. It wasn't too difficult in comparison to the battery box floor. The remains of the old floor were cut out and the two supports between the floor and the dash were cut out and saved. It took me several hours to trim the new floor to fit like it should. The over all length was about 2" too long. The width at the rear was good but the width at the front was about 2" too wide. Once it was all trimmed, I tacked it into place and placed the gas tank in position to make sure everything lines up and the trunk would close. A new hole for the fuel cock was cut in with a 1-1/2" hole saw.

Now that everything looks good, I used 1" long welds spaced at about 3" apart to secure it. It didn't need to be pretty as it gets covered up. Once things cooled, I used the 3M seam sealant all the way around and then again in the battery box area.

Before I started all of this, I cleaned the entire trunk area with a buffing wheel removing all of the rust and the glue from the sound deadening material. From this I found that there were a few pinholes that had to be filled in with the welder.

Now that everything is clean and finished, I coated the entire area with the POR15 and called it complete.

Before and after photos.

Beware of Freight Carriers

In conclusion to my problems with the hard top, the AAA Cooper inspector came out to my house last week and wrote his report. He was very understanding in the fact that this was a part for a restoration and that by repairing the top, I would loose considerable value. I filed the claim for the amount I paid for the top along with the freight cost. This week I received a letter from AAA Cooper stating that they have denied my claim due to the fact that they delivered the top on a pallet to Theresa's business, I then moved the top to my house, and it was not until I got the top home that I found the damage. Okay, I agree with you, they have a weak argument.

Here is the real kicker. The claims lady was nice enough and said that she would be willing to listen to my argument however she prefaced the conversation to tell me that they would only be liable for $54 should they agree to the total claim. She told me that in the tariff (the legal exclusions) that were printed on the back of the bill of lading it states that they would only be liable for "used products" for a maximum of fifty cents per pound. It didn't matter if they ran it over by a forklift, lost it, or it fell off the back of their truck. They would only be liable for $54 - period. I have been told that this is true with most all freight carriers and very few will offer insurance.

My suggestion for those of you shipping parts like this. Don not tell them that it is a used part! How would they know the difference? If it was a new part, they would insure for the amount claimed on the bill of lading.

So what should I do now? I considered trying to sell this again on eBay in it's current condition and then find another. Only draw back to this is I paid $750 for this one and the last one I saw sold for $1200 and then another at $3500. I think I'll keep it for now as it might be repairable. That wouldn't be all that bad for a driver as opposed to a show car.

Top Has Arrived - It's Worthless!

We received the hard top this week only to find that it was damaged in shipment beyond repair. The rear support for the rear window was completely broken and the roof had a dent more than 2 feet in diameter. I get to start the fight with the shipping company, AAA Cooper, for a claim. Photos are here.

I also cleaned up the headlight buckets and repaired the rut holes. The holes were small enough that I could fill them in with the welder.

Oh no, Bondo!

Big surprise this past week. We started cleaning the primer off of the trailing edge from the front fenders and found that the typical line of rust had been filled in with, you guessed it, Bondo. This was a surprise that I didn't expect. It appears on both the front and right sides. Looks like I'll be placing orders this week for replacement panels from Stoddards. Here is a shot of the passenger side.



I have received the longitudinals, rocker panels and all four fender braces last week from Parts Obsolete. I know it will be awhile before I get to where I can install them but got eager this evening and applied the POR15 to the interior areas. Trust me, this car won't rust when I am done. It will probably out live you and I. If it's not going to be painted, it gets coated with the POR15. Since the longitudinals and rockers were so bad when I got the car, it looks like I can't really go wrong in this area. Here is a shot of the parts before the coating. I took some photos of the after but it looks like a big black blob. They look much more impressive in person.



I have just about finished the battery box area. I started sealing it today with the 3M Seam Sealer and ran out before I finished. So far, it looks pretty good and I am glad that I bought the correct front wall to finish the entire box area.

One of the frustrating things on this project is waiting on parts. It seems like every few days I am getting a UPS shipment but none of them are for parts I want to work on next. I am now at a point that I need to install the gas tank floor that I ordered from Restoration Design. It was supposed to ship out at the end of January and I still don't have it. I spoke to Bill Frey, owner of the company and he told me last Friday that they were held up in customs and should be in his shop early this week. Hopefully I will have it soon and will be able to finish the trunk area.

From eBay this month, I have secured the following at pretty good prices - 2 good heater flapper boxes, right side window regulator, and oil filter canister. I have sold a few of the parts that came with the car that were not for the correct year along with a couple other items laying around. In doing so, I've been able to build up my Paypal account so I don't feel so guilty buying more. I am still amazed at some of the prices these parts can go for. Would you beleive a steering wheel sold for over $1200 this week!

Another interesting note. This website is getting 25-30 visits per day on the Restoration pages alone. The visits are suprisingly coming from all over the world. Feel free to drop me an email and tell me what you think.

Wiring Harness

I put Theresa to work this weekend (see evidence below). She helped me pull out the wiring harness from the front of the car. What a mess this is. I am trying not to cut any of the wiring so that I will have a good template in the event that I have a problem with the new one. It looks like the previous owner had cut all of the connections for the gauges, radio, and lights for easier removal. In order to reuse the old harness I would have more splices that I care for. I plan on ordering a new harness as the body work comes to a close in the next few months. I plan on ordering this from YnZ's Yesterday Parts. They come highly recommended from other I have spoken to who have replaced their harnesses. I did find one other company that said that they could get me one from Germany cheaper but they never called me back. Guess they didn't want my business.



I installed the battery box front wall this past week and finished the repairs to the battery box area. Now I need to clean it up and seal it with the seam sealant. I should be receiving the gas thank floor in the next few days. Once it's installed, I'll clean and POR15 the entire area - yeah, another completed task!

I'm getting good at the eBay thing - if there is such a thing. I bought a full set of B/C bumper guards a few weeks back for $19 - couldn't resist at that price. I turned around an resold them for $100.

More Progress

Last weekend I made the trek to Martindale, TX and met with Bill Hamilton of Hamilton Classics. Bill has a great little shop and is a great resource for us newbies. I'm looking forward to calling on his services in the future.

Parts are finally starting to come in. Boy, eBay is addictive. I'm trying to pace myself on only pick up serious deals. The best so far is a hard top from Atlanta. I hope it looks as good as Pete says it is.




Other parts on their way include front closing panels, and gas tank floor from Restoration Design ,longintudinals and rockers from Parts Obsolete, and battery box front wall from Stoddard.

I have completed the passenger area repairs. There was some serious rust under the package shelf so I had to pull it up and clean under it. Once I finished, I coated it with POR15 and resealed the edges with 3M seam sealer. Once all of the repairs were made, I covered the entire area with POR15.

This is the area before I started patching. You will notice some gaping holes from the rust. This area was all wire brushed clean and the rotten areas were cut out and patched.



Here is how it looks before the POR15. Here you can see some of the patches before they were ground down. The package shelf has already been removed and the rusty area is what was below the shelf.



This is what it looks like after the POR15 has been applied.




Now that the passenger area is finished, the trunk area will be next with completion of the batter box area and a new gas tank floor.

Lone Star 356

Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet up with Houston's Lone Star 356 club. We met at Scott's house where he displayed his recently completed C Cab restoration. It was exciting to see a completed resto. There were 6-7 other members in attendance which allowed me the chance to meet some local contacts. We spent a few hours discussing Scott's job and then I had the chance to bounce ideas off of the other members. I took with me my collection of photos and was able to get some great tips and suggestions from the guys. Everyone agreed that I had one of the most major resto projects that they had seen taken on by someone that was not a pro. I wasn't discouraged.

They did however help me make the decision not to do the sandblasting. The overwhelming opinion was that for a $1000 investment (cost of sandblasting and priming), I could spend less money on a better air compressor and the tools for the priming along with the materials. I would then wire brush the car and then apply the POR 15 on the interior and underside and primer the exterior. I would be money ahead and I wouldn't risk warping the body.

Sparks Are Flying

Over the past couple of weeks I have been getting to know how to apply the tools that I have. What works and what doesn't.

The pneumatic shears and die grinder that I have don't seem to do the trick. My problem is that my little air compressor doesn't keep up. My neighbor saw me cutting some patches by hand and offered his electric "nibbler." While it makes a mess this thing is a champ. I liked it so much I ordered my own from Northern Tool and Equipment.

I found some cutting wheels for my die grinder. These wheels will cut our the bad spots in the body like a hot knife in butter. Between the grinder and the nibbler, I can go to town cutting out bad spots in the body and making new patches from my sheet of 18 ga.

Since my birthday is this month, my lovely bride bought for me a new lower rolling tool box. Finally I was able to take three tool boxes and get organized into this.



The welding is getting better. I've learned to lay the first bead of weld and then grind that down. If there are voids in the weld, go back over it with another bead. This is better than building up a massive bead that would inevitably have voids in it.

Here is some sample patching of the inner wall in the rear passenger area on the left.


I have also spent time patching the area around the hood, the inner fit of the convertible top and other random rotten areas.

I started the installation of the battery box floor and I'm not too happy about my job. I have had to reconstruct the lower 2" of the rear walls along with the lower 3" of the front. The rear walls were not too much of a problem but the front wall is difficult because of it's contour. I'm going to work on it more this weekend and if by Monday I am not pleased I'll order the replacement piece from Restoration Design.

eBay is dangerous. I've started my routine now of hunting for parts as they pop up. I've made my list of parts that I need and have bought only a few so far. I'm not planning to buy anything I don't plan to install in the next few months unless I just can't pass up the price. Check out my list and if you have parts you want to offer, let me know.

Making Progress

The past few days have been spent in the passenger seat area cleaning up the bad metal in the interior fender. So far, on the right side, I have patched in 13 different patches. I have found that it is easier to make smaller patches and weld into the contour as opposed to making larger patches and beating the contour into the patch. I would post some before and after photos however my photos came out like crap. I really need a decent digital camera.

The battery box floor came in this week and I'll begin installing it tomorrow. The walls are in good shape but the ledges have been damaged from removal of the old floor by the previous owner.