Trying to finish Carrera coupe 58367 before I die!

[Justin Rio]

Thank you John! it was really nice meeting with you! I'm glad you have the speedster home safe and sound! I know you'll have it completed in no time!


Shane, if this takes me another 20 years I may have to take you up on your offer!

Thanks again!!

Best regards, Justin

[Antonio Garcia]

Justin, I will try to keep you motivated and progressing!

[Antonio Garcia]

John, are you a local Nevadan?

[Justin Rio]

About a month ago I had decided to get a little more painting out of the way and go ahead and get the bottom floor pans in final paint. The underside is such a large and complicated area that I have to shoot it in stages to insure complete uniform coverage. The nice part is that there are so many natural places to break or end the paint job that you don't have to shoot it all at once to get a nice finish anyway.


I took a couple of afternoons and went over the entire pan with some 3m Roloc discs and knocked off all the light surface rust that had reappeared during the last 10 years in storage. I also hand sanded the edges near the longitudinals and feathered the paint/overspray out.


Pans in final paint!! I did the face of this wheelwell several months earlier.




It feels so good to start seen glimpses of a finished product!
Working on Right rocker now....

Thanks for reading this!!
Justin

[Justin Rio]

This is an Original rocker panel assembly but not the original unit from this car.



This panel originates from my 1956 "coupster" Hot Rod project car which is my other (&Last) Personal 356 build. Its so highly modified that aftermarket rockers were just fine but it is built with All original speedster parts. I'll get back on it once this coupe is in final paint and back on the ground.




As you can see in the pictures above I have a few more filler pieces to build to make this unit work. The original rocker had some old accident damage making this one a much nicer candidate.




Drain tray on this one suffered the same fate as all my others. This one went a little quicker because I was able to use the same paper template by flipping it over. Template and my new tray made from that same wasted speedster door skin.


Basic shape is there; rough trial fitments begin. ready to be tack welded soon.




Replacing and old brazed-in patch panel on the forward sill plate section . Donor piece is from an old wasted original rocker assembly.
New piece is tacked in after several trial fitments to the car. Welding on the forward tray is complete.







final welding begins. heavy steel table top doubles as a great holding jig and heat sink.


Welding done on front sill and tray area and in for another trial fitment.


Top view; Slow going!!


old nasty rocker proved to be very valuable! Especially on the rear portion of this rocker. Will post that repair shortly!

Thanks for reading this!!
Justin

[Justin Rio]

rear rocker of required about 3 inches of new donor sill plate to reapir another very old patch done with brass. Another filler section of the rocker face was put in seperately to preserve the leading edge joint seam clean and factory looking.



Test fit before welding


one more shot of the joint seam I'm trying to preserve. I also staggard the weld joints for more strength and better alignment.


Welding on sill plate complete. welding on rocker face in process & a quick test fit to the car. it fits!




Welding complete and has now been chemically cleaned of all surface rust. Primer/paint and install next.
Thanks for reading this!

Justin

[Shane Balkowitsch]

Does not look like you are going to be dying anytime soon and the pace and the amount of work you are doing is amazing. Keep it up.

[Tom Perazzo]

Hi Justin,
I love watching your restoration. I will post progress pictures of mine soon too. Probably in the new section.
What chemical are you using to clean off the final rust prior to paint?
Thanks,
Tom

[Justin Rio]

Thanks Shane! Your project helps keep me going. I've got to catch up!

Justin

[Justin Rio]

Thanks for taking your the time to read the post Tom! I appeciate the response. I'll look forward to seeing your project! The chemical is just good old fashioned Muratic acid. (pool acid) Its the best but you have to make sure its completely neutralized on your part once finished. If its not it will eventually lead to the corrosion it was originally inteded to clean. Thanks again!!

Justin

[Justin Rio]

Underside of right rocker in final paint & ready for final adjustment and installation.

another test fitment;everything lines up pretty well. All my patch panels are very hard to detect at this point.



Playing the game of averages with rocker elevation relative to the closed door and establishing the correct bottom door gap.


With a straight edge on the lower edge of the door the last few inches of the front gradually taper in leaving too large a gap in the corner. I'm carefully laying down small beads of weld to build up this tapered edge. (always something!) I still have more welding and alot of handfiling before its right. I want to get the rocker completely installed before I go further on this corner.


Rocker in final position




With it in its final adjustment I went ahead and drilled out the original holes for the alloy carpet strip. I was now able to use these cleco pins to secure and locate the rocker for final welding.


Quick shot of the rear. Set and ready.


Welding it now!

Thanks for reading this!!
Justin

[Justin Rio]

Keeping with my GT Theme I just had this spare decklid louvered; along with having the center air deflector punched and screened. I could not be happier with the end result!!


Louvers definitely look the part and appear to be spot-on to the originals.


These modifications were not cheap but will be worth it in the end!


This is a shot of the original #'s matching (367) decklid for this car. Punching louvers in it wasn't even a consideration! I had restored everything related to it about a year ago.


I have more hours than I care to think about in hand polishing the original grille. It came completely apart to be restored. Note the original plastic plugs for the luggage rack mounts.


Original hinges were fully adjusted and set for gaps before final paint. Gotta keep the paint on those bolts virgin! Its install ready but is now mothballed away with my standard gas tank, standard brakes&wheels, fatback seats, overrider tubes and all the other original parts to bring it back to stock GS specs.

Thanks for reading this!!

Justin

[Mark Groethe]

Hi Justin
the louvers (and the rest of the car) look great - who did them? I need to take the hour drive south and have a look at all your hard work.
best, Mark

[Justin Rio]

Hi Mark,

Gt Werk did the modifications. They do excellent work.........

Justin

[Justin Rio]

This new donor rocker and reskinned door was of course much more work then the left side to get it all to line up. With the rocker in its best adjusted position in relation to the closed door the last 4inches of the front tappered in too far. You can see the misalignment with the lower corner of the front fender.

So to make it work I had to cut this 4inch section free and bring it out to the fender and edge of the door. certainly would not leave it and make up the difference in body filler!


Once that was set I started tacking in my new filler section on the front rocker face.




Welded in and now just down to pick and filing my welds to get the final shape.


Front threshold section that was cut is now finished and rolled in the corner like it was originally.


With the corner built i can go back to adding metal to the front edge of the door to fix my gap. This will be a couple of hours of filing and repeated test fits for sure!


Same story with the rear section; nagging misalignments here too. I had to move the corner of the body out( this time) to meet the door and new rocker. Some old accident damage had pushed it in a little. Basic welding done. shaping and filing it here.




Its in!! basic gaps and elevation are set! I can't tell you what a relief this is to have this side in the done column. 10 years of looking at an unfinished door and a big hole in the lower body was wearing on my mind. While being in the middle of other things over the years I'd glance over at it in the corner of the shop and think "when is this ever going to happen!" Finally!

redoing the battery box floor now. Will post soon!

Thanks for reading this!!

Justin