Trying to finish Carrera coupe 58367 before I die!

[Rusty Willey]

Wow Justin really nice work!!! When I was rebuilding my rig I called the door gaps good as soon as the doors would shut again " Stop bending, I think it might have latched" Did I miss it, what color is this rig going to be?

[Antonio Garcia]

Justin, a great deal of progress since I last saw your car late last year! Keep the momentum going! I'll soon give you a call so we can chat some. 8)

[Shane Balkowitsch]

Dear Justin, looking very good, wonderful story, you are doing us all a favor by getting your car back on the road, another 356 reborn, great job, I wish you all the luck and will continue to follow your build.

Thanks,
Shane

[Justin Rio]

Thank you guys very much for your response! It means alot! Your project build posts are what inspired me to get on it again! Week in and week out I've watched you guys "GETTEN' IT DONE"! I soon found myself all out of excuses. I see project cars come up for sale all the time (Corvette, Porsche Etc.) with the same story about the guy who pulled his car apart 20 years ago (some longer) with big plans to finish it ; only to now have his widow or immediate family trying to sell it. Nothing more sad then that old story. I just don't want to be that guy! So thanks again for your build posts. Maybe together we'll inspire more to get back on thier cars too!!! I'll give a call you Tony!

Thanks again!! Justin

Rusty, this car will be silver with red interior like it was originally.

[Justin Rio]

The right side door of this car has always been a stumbling block for me. As you can see even in this picture from 1989 this door was lagging far behind the rest of the body. It had the typical lower skin rot; fortunately the lower frame was still very good and only needed some small repair patches. The left door by contrast fared far better for some reason and only needed a small repair patch to the back lower corner. My father and I addressed the right door rust with the standard 5 inch lower skin replacement. His plan included the use of donor lower skin section from a damaged old 1970's vintage camaro door we had lying around. It had the pinch seam at the bottom he was looking for. I can still remember him stitching small sections at a time to try and reduce the heat distortion. I was in charge of the wet rag to quench the area quickly. Even with my limited knowledge and experience at the time I absolutely HATED the final result! It was wavey, anneiled and just plain ugly! On top of that there was an old piece of Camaro in there now! The skin was also now very unstable in places and was "oil canning"; out came the torches to heat shrink these areas. It was solid steel once again but it was not the final result I had hoped for. it took several passes of putty to get the shape back.


In '99 when I took the car back down this repair was also removed. I bought a correct 356 vendor replacement panel for this door.(pictured above;also doubled as painting table for some hinges) I tack welded it into position but could not bring myself to finish it. Compared to the left door I could tell already it was not going to contour out like I wanted even before the weld distortion was added into this picture. I also prefer butted end welds and this was just too long a span of near flat unsupported sheet metal to get a clean stable result. The best way to approach this repair is the step/flange joint. It offers support and rigidity; but because the left skin was so nice I wanted the right to be the same. I did not want to look at that repair flange running down the backside. I know, "who will see it?" but like I said before I get crazy!



Looking for a better end result; I bought this cherry door from ol' Porsche Bill Brown in Lincoln Nebraska about 2 years ago. It was an unnumbered original factory replacement door that someone had put on thier car for only a short while it seemed. it had only some mild surface rust and the door's skin was absolutely beautiful save for a few small dings and some holes drilled in for speedster side trim. My plan was now to clean it up, fit it to my car and use as is But because I'm a nut; the more I studied it the more I discovered small structural differences that I did not really like. My car is a 1957 model but it is a super early one with all its date stamped parts marked 11/56-12/56. This new door was a later production '57 high striker door and differed slightly from my original doors. This doors inner structuer had the later large round knock-out hole for the side mirror access. The door hinge castings were slightly different and parts of the frame structure went from two-piece to one piece stampings. Certainly nothing major but my other hang up was that I would have this original #'s matching old door floating around my shop forever. I would'nt sell it; "its the original door to my car". Unable to make a decision either way I put them both in the corner of my shop and avoided it for another two years. Several months ago when I decided to make my final push I also decided on how I was going to address this door issue. I could repair the original skin and spend my time filing and picking at the repaired area or I could just reskin it entirely and spend the same amount time and get a far better result. I then went to work pulling the door I got from Bill apart for my new donor skin for my original door frame.


Original door with my new donor skin. (still in the factory green primer)




before cutting the old skin off I mounted the door back on the car. Set my gaps and inner hinges to give me a baseline on how much the door might have changed after the new skin was put on. I also fabricated a metal jig from some scrap tubbing and welded it to the face of the inner frame. I made sure this jig did not interfere with the door opening of the car allowing me repeated test fits as the welding progressed. (there were many!!) I was advised by my good friend and welding /metal fabricating mentor Greg parker that if left alone the door had a strong chance of slightly twisting or contorting during the install process. This jig worked perfectly.

My dear old friend Greg Parker at work. May you always Rest in Peace....


Original skin is almost free.......


bare chassis ready for prep and repaint. Note the jig underneath. also doubled as a nice steady work platform.

Lots of minor trimming and many, many rough test fits before it mated properly.




Both pieces preped and ready for primer and paint. Holes for speedster trim welded shut.







In final paint! My goal was to have this old door look prestine anytime the backside was exposed.

Welding the two pieces begins......... More later my two fingers are tired from pecking!
thanks for following this!!

Justin

[Richard Shilling]

Justin,

Very nice work. Something tells me you've done this before. A friend gave me the RULE and I'll pass it along. Put in 4 hours of work every week and eventually it will be finished. It's when something more important comes up and you swear you'll do it next week that the projects tend to bog down. You are making excellent progress.

[Justin Rio]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for reading it. I know I can get long winded at times. I have a fair amount of experience but as in life there is always something new to learn. Your friend gave you some sound advice. I'll remember it.

Best Regards, Justin

[Justin Rio]

Basic welding of the new skin to the original frame was complete. Now to make it all come together and work. Both hinges were reshimmed to get the elevation and contour correct. Hinges were tweeked for front and rear gaps. Mainly the rear. Note the giant gap at the front leading edge. This is what they all look like once the lead filler is removed.

This is a shot of the top of the front fender to door. With the door correctly shimmed for contour; door to fender relation. This top gap was non-existent with the door in the latched position. I had to cut it, move it back to the correct distance and reweld. AHH! my new inside paint. Had to be done!


One more shot of the same area. Gap along with some elevation issues to address. I was able to create a really close line with my weld and a hand file. No real filler needed in this area.


I decided to save the rear leading edge of the old skin in an attempt to preserve the original rear lines and the factory lead filler work on the insde of the door jamb. It took alot of time and fine trimming but it all came out fine! no heat distortion on this shouldered edge.


Now it was time to test assemble this door with glass and glass frame to see what I had. of course there was a problem!! Its hard to see it in the above photo but the front top "cap" of this new skin was stamped much wider then the original skin making it portrude too far into the glass/window frame channel. I'm learning that even the factory stuff wont always work without modification.


The rear section fit fine but the second front half was too wide and tapered too far inward. This area almost rubbed the glass. I had to cut it back as well and reweld. My inner paint job was taking a beating! This is why you should paint last but I could not get nearly the finish with it assembled. Give and take.


here is the cap in finished form. Thinned out and correctly shaped. Everthing fits beautifully! Glass, glass frame and base chrome strip. None of this is ever straight forward!




Front gap at about 90% as well and only needing some fine tuning.




profile of the new skin flows smoothly with the rest of the car and everthing lines up.


rear gap also very close to being done.

Original leadwork in jamb saved

Lower pinch seam and corner detailed for a factory look.




And Finally!!! The prestine lookind door I wanted both inside and out! This was a long road but worth it to me. Note the bottom joint seam (skin at frame) has been flooded and sealed in clear silicone.

Moving on to Right jack spur next.

thank you for reading this!

Justin

[Guest]

this has been good to follow I have to say I must get out to my car and get going again..

[Justin Rio]

Do it Mark! Dig it out and join us! Come over to the darkside!

[Antonio Garcia]

Very NICE work Justin, I am impressed! I am looking forward to seeing it all in person soon! I am getting motivated to work on my 65!

[Justin Rio]

Thanks Tony!! I appeciate it!! yes, get to work on your car!!

Justin

[John Wurner]

Justin
I met you and your car a few weeks ago looking for parts for my 55 Speedster.
Glad to see you are coming along so well and that you take your time.
I have the Speedster home now and am in the process of finishing assembly.
I will follow your project with interest.
Best wishes, John

[Justin Rio]

Exact same process as the left jack spur so no need for great detail; just a few shots of the process.






Longitudinal and spur in final paint!

the spurs are generic and fit either right or left but if you're using originals and can't remember which side it was used on just look for these pock mark type dings. These are found only on the forward side from many miles of road debri and or small rocks being shot at it from the front tire. (left spur has them too!) Just a little trivia.

Right rocker repair and install next!!

Thanks for reading this!

Justin

[Shane Balkowitsch]

Dear Justin:

Not to worry about the dying part, you will finish her before then, and if you are getting close, just know as a Registered Nurse I will be there to help keep you alive until your little Porsche makes it back to the road, ha ha.

Thanks for sharing,
Shane