Time to dig in...softie conversion

[speedo]

Yeah...this gets boring, but it is sort of complicated



And done....not so hard

And my versions of the $16 eye bolt



Total cost for the bows was $30 and a nice bottle of wine for the generous lender of the bows.

This little hole turned into a disaster

More later...not for the faint of heart. But we will get it done

Speedo

[Tsunamiboy]

Whats the spec on your spot welder?

[curtisaa]

You're not out of the woods speedo. Once you've got the top on the bows, it's still a major challenge to get them to align and to fit into the upper fittings. The lower part is fairly simple. Once the car is painted you will need to get the SW and practice the final installation before you plan on the celebration..so far so good.

[speedo]

Welding tips arrived and the fitment of the lockpost was routine. Cut and fit and cut and fit. Restoration design provides enough extra steel on the replacement, that you have to carefully trim the piece back a little each time to get an exact fit. Ready set...

Looks good...go

This area needs some fabrication...

Need to rehang the door to get fitment correct


Start here...

Flange...

Shape...

[Macroni]

we meet again............

[speedo]

To final shape

And there

And stiched into place

I will come back with the flapper wheel and draw down the mig welds.
Did I mention the small hole in the passeger footwell? Well more like the entrance to hell. I started to peel back the longitudinal skin...and it got bad...very bad, very quickly


Somehow water leaked into the longitudinal and compromised the inner two layers of longitudinal up about a half inch. I won't go into the detailed construction of the longitudinal here...but the inner skin on the longitudinal next to the torsion bar needed to be cut to access the next rotten layer. The next few pics are not for the faint of heart.


I cut out the rotten steel, reinforced and grafted new steel
And closed it back up...

The snake pit this unexpected repair caused...this set me back a day and a half

[Macroni]

Here is where we all learn about the nature of rust and the early car. It is what is not seen that creates the challenge. Nice work Lars! Any other interesting cars missing from your signature?

[mikeferg75]

Ha! Now I know where you have been and what you have been up to

Very cool Lars.

Ferg

[preston_brown]

It's ironic that even on early 911s the rear frame section behind the longitudinal got water in it and rusted. I had EXACTLY the same damage on my 356 that I had to repair...they should have engineered that problem away.



Peel away rotten metal underneath heater tube and torsion bar...



Fabricate and weld in patch piece...



Smooth it all out.

[gearheadgreg]

Sub'd. Nice work Lars. I parted a 70 Targa - and while I am sure you have many more parts than I in your shop, let me know if you need something else.

[speedo]

Cut away the lockpost and found the typical issues...not terrible but typical.
I will come back and drill out the spotwelds. I wanted to get the lockpost out of the way so I could start to peel away at the outer rocker. Unfortunately a lot of shops just dealt with perforations in the outer rocker with surface repairs. It would have been easy to isolate the bad areas, cut them out and weld in patches. My feeling is that this side is far worse on the inside than is evidenced by the out side. This was what the rocker looked like after sandblasting...no rust on the step/sill, but hard to imagine what is behind.

This is what the inside of the rocker looks like...yuck

So far I have seen brazed repairs, fiberglass repairs, and extensive use of various colors of bondo...but first time I have seen honeycomb used to repair a rocker

Once the outer rocker was completely removed, the inner rocker became exposed...I really wasn't in the mood the find this in as bad shape as the outer. At first glance, it doesn't look too good.

Fortunately...that was not the case. Jack receiver and reinforcement is also in good shape.

It cleaned up nicely.
I drilled out the remaining lockpost spot welds and removed 30 years of surface oxcidation and found a couple small issues I will deal with before putting this side back together.



Couple small issues to fix before I cut and fit and cut and fit and cut and fit the new lockpost and outer rocker. They will get stitched up this weekend. I MAY be getting close to the end of the welding...on the shell. I remembered that I have some fender and door repairs...and more on the front bumper unless I source a solid local front bumper soon. I have a fair front bumper with fog cutouts...and most of the repairs are around the fog light area. I may just delete the fog cutouts entirely...in fact that is exactly what I will do.

Speedo

[Hugh R]

Wow, just Wow. I wrench OK, but that work is amazing.

[Coldface]

Great looking project, but I think your sandblaster could have done a better job taking rust out. What was he charging btw, if you don't mind me asking?

[speedo]

He did an acceptable job...not great, but acceptable. Around here, we don't have tanks to dip our cars...EPA makes it tough, and for a good reason. I asked the sandblaster to remove the paint and oxcidation on the outer surfaces. He would have had a difficult time finding and removing the rust in body cavities. In those areas....I expected him to leave me lots of media...and he did

Speedo

[rennch]

This is the Pelican version of "Must See TV!". You rock, Lars.

[gsmith660]

Yes he does this is great

[obrut]

Lars - Any more progress to report?

[SCWDP911]

Dang Lars, here you go again. I am in constant envy of your mad resto skills...

[rennch]

Lars, it's been over a month! Shouldn't you already be driving this thing by now?

[Macroni]

Lars..............Updates............