10-20-2006 Update on the Porsche

Stripping all the paint uncovered a lot of bad previous bodywork, but no rust except for the bottoms of both doors. Actually there were no perforations but the doors had swelled slightly at the bottom and couldn't be aligned flush with the door sills.



I know it looks ugly now but it will be a prize when it's done.

10-20-2006 Found some hidden damage after removing the upper door to fit the new latch mechanism. One of the hinge plates had ripped away from the wood frame. Since the holes were stripped I drilled them out and bolted the plates through the frame with nylock fasteners.



The latch mechanism was designed to mount through a sheel metal facade like a cabinet or locker door. The unit was about 1/4" too tall to fit within the space so I altered it slightly to fit.





The old mounting location for the steel license plate bracket was badly corroded from dissimilar metal being in contact. It turned out to be an ideal place for the locking latch.

After careful measuring (I hate cutting holes in this thing) I played connect the dots again and roughed out the proper size hole. When I was done I polished the area and flipped the door over again











The central mechanism pull two rods toward the handle drawing back the latches.





One of the door panels was damage so I duplicated it from a salvaged section of side panel.



The door is ready for reinstallation. I'm trying to decide whether to cover the access ports with white material, semi-polished aluminum or polished tread plate.

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10-30-2006

The Porsche is nearing final paint. The body work, from what I can tell in primer, is flawless. The color they mixed is very near what was on there and it's a standard formula based on Porsche color charts.

They said they would shoot the door jambs and inside of the doors, hood and engine cover separately today. Tomorrow the edges and overspray will be sanded and the final coats of urethane paint and clearcoat will be applied.





The Phoenix is nearer to completion. I reinstalled the upper hatch after completing and testing the latch. The wiring to the tail and license plate lighting was rehooked in the hinge access hatches and the system tested.

During the original build some had commented on how cheesy the white plastic moulding looked interfacing with the aluminum body. I found some aluminum edging made for do-it-yourself teardrop top edging. It's made of a very soft alloy so it can be bent. A little polishing and it should blend right in.

Barry, Maybe I missed it on another thread, but how did the Equalizer hitch perform when you took it to get the Phoenix filled with foam insulation? Read the part about the paint quality, but how did it level out and tow?

Nice to see that beautiful old Porsche coming along too Barry. Best wishes for a successful completion on that wonderful old car.

I also enjoyed seeing it featured, I think, in one of those glossy Hemmings magazines recently--"Sports & Exotic," I think? I don't have the issue in front of me, but did you have the slotted wheels in the magazine pictures? Anyway, very nice, and wishing you continued good luck with everything.

Haven't had it out yet to get it foamed. The finished side required no new foam.

Equalizer stepped up and provided the funds to have the hitch powder-coated locally.

The slotted devices you saw are a very rare factory option that enhances brake cooling. They were taken off and stored before the paint job started. What you see in the picture is the stock steel wheels.

11-3-2006 Porsche update

WOW!

It's going to be beautiful. Almost too perfect. No Porsche ever came out of the factory looking this straight.

Most Porsche headlight trims don't fit perfectly as there is a slight variation in all of them. My headlight trims served as a guide to shape the metal of the fender to fit the trim rather than use body filler to create a proper gap.

I asked the painter today what the paint job entailed. Earlier photos showed a green primer. That is an epoxy primer shot over bare metal. It seals off all oxygen and bonds to the rough metal and provides a base for the body filler to bond to.

Body fillers are a necessary evil but the object is to use as little as possible. The body filler is only to be used to take out hammer marks, not straighten body curves. A thin layer of body filler is applied to the whole car. It is block-sanded until it reveals high or low spots in the sheet metal. The metal in the flawed area is reworked to need the least amout of filler. This process often exposes raw metal so the finished work is shot in green primer again.

I believe he said they then spray gray primer and block the car again. The green underlayment serves as a visual guide to proper filler thickness. I'm told that a small magnet should stick anywhere on this car. Multiple sprays of gray primer sanded in-between builds the base for the color coat.

The car was shot in urethane, or two-stage color. Any imperfections can be removed at this stage. Numerous coats of clear coat are sprayed to further build up the base.

The surfaces are then sanded with 800, 1,000 and 1,200 grit before buffing. The smoother the surface the less heat will be generated significantly lowering the risk of burning the paint. The only part that hadn't been buffed yet was the hood. they are going to remount the hood, engine cover and doors and ship it back to the guy that took it apart for painting.

He's restoring the steering wheel while the car's being repaired. He'll do the reassembly of the windshield, wipers and all the trim. Then it will come back to Autometrics for detailing and spraying the fenderwells black again. Then we can bring it home.

11-7-2006

I took the PHOENIX out today. I towed it 15 miles to the shop that foamed the damaged areas. The trip made me very nervous. I drove it empty and without the weight equalizing hitch, just to see how it handled and it did just fine. I drove it just to see if there was a natural wag, and there isn't. It tracks straight and true but it is a big trailer and I have to get used to it.

The wall cavities were filled and I headed home.



The countertop had just been installed a couple of hours when we took off on the maiden voyage. The accident shifted the trailer so badly that the top moved and the glue cured with the top in the wrong position. Using lots of shims I was able to free and reset the top where it belongs.



These appliances were installed just before we left. I'm not sure if I posted the pictures. The top cabinet contains a microwave and a 6-bottle wine cooler. I've had it running for days and it holds steady at 40°.



Installed the latches in the front access doors. Simple devices that look pretty natural in this environment.

Holy schmokes, Barry, that Porsche is looking great (not to mention the PHOENIX)! Positively awesome!!!

Thanks Steve, I'm gettin' there.

11-12-2006

The Mark II left today for the Naples Concours on the 17th of November. His trailer is much bigger than mine.



The inside of the Phoenix is back to where it was before the accident.







Things that remain to be done:

Flooring for garage area.

Box-in ramp springs.

Install braces and FRP to complete belly pan.

Install lighting in garage.

Add 4 batteries to bank. (8 Optima marine batteries total)

Finish cabnetry in cabin and garage.

Replace bent 15,000 lb hitch on trailer tongue.

Install new Equal-I-Zer weight distributing hitch.

11-13-2006

I cut off my tonge today. No, not my tongue, the trailer's tongue.

Remember this?



This is what happened to the other half. The tongue hitch was bent about 1 inch off center. The measurement from the center of the hitch to the centers of the axles is a critical measurement. Luckily, the Dexter Airflex system has adjusters built in for alignment. Simply loosen the U-bolts and use the two adjusters per side to move the axle forward or back.



I started off using a cutting torch but that got too hot for the wiring that runs through the frame. I protected the wiring within rigid conduit but the flame would eventually damaged the wires.



I threw open the garage doors and fired up the 2-stroke chop saw. I cut away all the metal that wasn't welded to the tongue and then ground away the welds.



I own a MIG welder but these welds are too critical for my skill level. My friend, the welder, has a portable unit that will give the penetration needed for these important welds.

Barry, I need your e-mail address. Respond to hot32rodder@yahoo.com or on this thread.

Wayne

12-10-2006 Progress has slowed as Fall chores took a lot of time.

While waiting for the welder to show up I expanded the battery rack to accept 4 more Optima marine batteries. That should bring my run time for the a/c to about 6 hours.

The extra weight will help load the tongue weight properly. The most tongue weight I can get with all three axles pressurized is 1,100 lbs. The batteries will bring the tongue weight to 1,400 lbs.





Took time off to show the Mark II at the Naples Concours. Took a top award and had beautiful weather.



The welder brought his stick welder to gain a real deep weld. He wasn't pleased with the weld's appearance so he came back with a MIG and TIG welder to smooth things out. I ground things smooth and used a filler for a nice finished appearance.



He used his TIG to weld the replacement ramp activating arm. Helps to know what you're doing.



Sanded down all the rough finish on the tongue and sprayed it with Rustoleum primer and flat black paint.







Installed the new Equal-I-Zer hitch. Dan powdercoated the parts in a matt finish.

A lot of thought went into the design of this product.





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1955 Porsche 356 Porsche "Continental" Cabrio paint job.

In August of 2006 the Porsche was tied down inside the newly finished Spartanette Toybox when we hit a guardrail. The Porsche tore loose from its moorings and smashed into the inside wall of the trailer.

The entire length of the Porsche was smashed pretty flat. The front suspension was bent from contacting the wheel well of the trailer. I knew that my friend Larry Smith, owner of Autometric Collision and new head of the Meadow Brook Concours, had recently restored a 356 from his collection of beautiful cars.

I asked Larry who he would recommend to repair the car and he said he would literally "take it under his wing" to see that it was done right and to justify an invitation to show it at the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance in August of '07.

My insurance company sent out an independent adjuster who was very familiar with Autometrics and thought that they would also be the correct company to make the sheet metal repairs.

The Porsche 356 is post-war German engineering at its best, yet had enough ideosyncracies to warrant a mechanical specialist with the right tools and temperament to do the job on the damaged suspension.

Ted turned out to be the right guy. Expert on all things 356. Ted got the task of disassembling the car for repair. He pulled off all the trim, bumpers and windshield so that there would be little masking necessary.

Ted repaired the bent front suspension and found an appropriate replacement brake drum to replace the one that was bent. He was able to straighten the bent rim and detected no tire damage.

When the car came back to Autometric the passenger side sheetmetal was treated to a basic straightening and grinding that exposed some additional areas of concern. The rocker panels had been replaced years earlier but had not been properly positioned. The door sheetmetal seam at the bottom had thickened over time due to rust expanding the layers of metal. They had fit the sill to the door instead of repairing the door and installing the new sills correctly.

This is what the car looked like just before the crash.



The aftermath. The back bumper is pushed in flush with the fender, the door is flattened and the front fender has a distinct slab-side look to it.



I went to look at the condition of the car at this stage and I was shown the thick door bottoms and some minor rust penetration along the bottom of the door. They showed me, with a shim, that the sill was improperly installed to accommodate the the thick door bottom.

It was at this point that I had to have words with the insurance company. They were only going to pay for painting the damaged side of the car, which would have been fine had there been some break line to paint to. Since this is a unibody car with no removable fenders there is no natural break point to paint to.

Autometric's could have blended the paint but the original lacquer paint would have not reacted well to being overpainted with today's two-stage paint. I learned that the thinners used today would seep into the lowers of paint, destabilizing them over time.

I was able to convince a higher level adjuster to take a closer look at the evidence I had gathered in support of repainting the entire car. They brought in their own paint expert that agreed with my assessment and authorized the additional $8,000 to strip and build a fresh paint job. This was on top of the $11,000 already authorized for the bump and paint work on the damaged side.



The car was taken to bare metal all over. The front end was media blasted to remove thick layers of body filler.



The front end had been hit sometime in its past requiring the replacement of the hood. Each panel is stamped with the car's serial number except the hood.

The front end had been pushed in but never bumped out properly.

The front end sheetmetal was slathered with bondo to make the front panel line up with front edge of the new hood. The filler was 1/2" thick along the hood edge.



The entire front of the car is one stamping from the wheel wells forward. This seam needed some attention but was basically sound. Removal of the body filler revealed a past sideswipe that was never properly bumped.



The front door gaps were excellent showing no rust in the typical areas.



Once the car was stripped of all paint and filler it was shot with a Dupont heavy zinc self-etching primer designed to be the bonding agent between the raw metal and the new body filler and paint.



The blocked and sanded hood was reinstalled on the car and the front end sheetmetal was restored to its original position requiring minimal body filler. The hood gap was also adjusted with metal manipulation and body filler where needed.

The replacement door sill welds were ground off and the sill was properly repositioned.



The entire car was covered in a layer of body filler just thick enough to take out the body flaws. This was typical of factory bodywork of the time. The body filler was sanded to near perfection and a layer of gray primer was sprayed over the whole car.



Successive layers of primer were sprayed on and blocked off. The primer layers were overlaid with a black paint that stayed in the bottom of flaws and scratches bringing them to the attention of the bodyman.



Meanwhile, the doors were removed and worked separately. Pinhole rust was found in the bottoms of the original door skins so they removed about an inch of metal along the bottom of each door. They ground down the spot welds and removed the rusted door panel bottom. A section was cut from the lower door skin that originally was big enough to cover the bottom 6" of the door. The bodyman thought it best to cut away as little as possible to eliminate any distortion of the door.



A final coat of primer was applied and thoroughly wet sanded. Close attention was paid to eliminate any flaws before the first layer of paint went on.

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There's no margin for error at this point as it will be shot with two-stage paint, eliminating the sanding in-between coats.







The color coats are shot and then is covered by the clear coat so that the whole paint job cures as one coat.





Wet sanded, wheeled-out and ready to be reassembled.

1-1-2007 Lower clam-shell door finish.

The lower door was functional, but not finished. I attached a "U" channel to each of the existing aluminum skin flanges to stiffen the structure and create an attachment point for an inner skin of FRP, matching the rest of the interior.



These U channels needed to be capped as a base for trim. The new chanel had to be bent to match the curvature.



The outer skid bars were attached with sheet metal screws. They are now firmly nut and bolted in place. You can see the finished cap installed.



I installed FRP plastic moldings on the perimeter rails.



Fitted panels into trim and secured with stainless screws.



The upper door latch system recently installed needed something to latch onto. Look closely and you will see the ubiquidous screen door latch strike. It will allow for some movement and acts as a spacer to keep the door centered on the rear opening. Pressing the upper door into place is answered by a click saying that the latch is seated. Not the most elegant, but extemely effective solution to a couple of problems. $1.44 each at ACO

Cover car

Still not on the newsstands.

1-27-2007 Underbelly

I wish I had done this while the chassis was upside down.

I designed the diamond plate sides to have a 46" gap that would be filled with a FRP layer supported by aluminum crossmembers.

Before I was able to install the crossmembers I had to solve a slight clearance problem with the arm that connects to the linear actuator and I had to figure out a way to mount the actuator itself 90° from its current mounting position.

I started looking around my shop for some material to make a swivel bracket from when I spotted the shackles from the old trailer springs. They were the perfect shape but one needed to be smaller than the other so I made a trip to the local trailer supply and found two new spring shackles and a spring bolt to create my contraption. The only hole I had to drill was the one that bolts the actuator to the swivel.



The material I'm using as crossbracing for the underbelly is 1" x 2" x 1/8" aluminum angle. I used it on the flat at the back so that the actuating arm could clear the brace. I was able to trim away enough of the actuator arm to clear the brace.



The FRP is sanwiched in-between the diampnd plate and the bracing. The FRP is connected to the cross bracing with stainless fateners and washers. I hope I never have to take it apart again but I want to be able to if I need to.



Aluminum crossbracing attaches to the diamond plate on both sides.



This is what the finished underbelly will look like. All of the raw aluminum and Frp edges are trated with the same edging used elsewhere.