55 Coupe project

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Adam Wright
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#151 Post by Adam Wright »

Phil Planck wrote:Formula for the day:

Results = (Effort X Determination2) + Time
Phil-
I think your equation needs a little tweeking.

Results = (Crazy X Money Squared) + Time

But the satisfaction, priceless!!!!
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Check out my Barn Find column in the Registry magazine, always looking for good stories.

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John Pepitone
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#152 Post by John Pepitone »

Steve,

Nice Work! After watching your thread, I wish I had not back burner'd my 55 coupe. My 57 came first to be worked on. Your results are most interesting to me since my 55 is also an original pearl gray. I would be interested in the formula for the paint as well as your vendors used for machine work, chrome & cad plating. Your latest pictures give me an idea of exactly how mine (should) look when its done! Thanks and again, nice job, congratulations!

John Pepitone
'55 Pre A Continental Coupe
'57 A Coupe
'71 911t
'94 968 Cab
'04 ML350

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Jim Liberty
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#153 Post by Jim Liberty »

Phil, I love that. ...................Jim.
Jim Liberty

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#154 Post by Steve Harrison »

Here is that picture I promised you Anthony.
This is original to my car I believe. Curt Dansby sells a perfect replacement bulb for just a few dollars and it's a great deal. (Thanks again Curt!)
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The way I have done a lot of this car is that with these small things I can work on them in little bits and pieces throughout the day. If I get even a single thing done, even if it's as small as polishing one fitting, or painting a bracket,...I figure it's one step closer on the whole project. I try to do at least something for the car every day.

And over the four (in August 5!) years since I started, I've been able to restore just about all the small pieces and store them in the shop. Yes, Phil, you're right,..I'm glad to be getting some of the "off limits" space back that I've used for parts storage.

As for paint code and other info John P., just send me an email and I'll let you know who/what I used. I can say with a fair certainty that there are at least two (probably three in reality) versions of Pearl Grey. John Wilhoit sells a spray out card of one version, Glasurit has another version on file, and then there's the one I found as original on my car under the riveted (never before removed) Vin data plate on the hinge cover. As a general opinion, the three versions were:

Glasurit: sort of pinkish,..like chewed bubble gum.
Wilhoit: more khaki (ish) with less hint of pink.
Mine: kind of a mix of the two.

It changes significantly when you go from flourescent shop light to natural daylight. In the shop it looks more grey, outside it gets lighter. In bright bright sunlight, it looks almost white/cream. In some light it looks pearly pink. It's a strange color.

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#155 Post by Steve Harrison »

Today is the one of the days you live for.

Got the word my chrome is finished and on the way.
Auto's will be sending the headliner in a week as per a call today.
I took a few minutes and put the clock into the glove box hole.
For the occasion I broke out a rare Heady Topper beer sent to me by fellow 356'er and kindred beer connioisseur Scott Sogge in Conn. Followed up soon by a few Murphy's Stout's (I've got the best wife in the world, and have met some of the most interesting folks right here on this forum :)

AND,..it's my Birthday. 8)
50 is the new 25 ! :D

Appropo because it's taken me 25 years to get to this exact moment on the 55,...and 50 to get myself here.

I don't think I can properly describe just how I feel right now.

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#156 Post by Steve Harrison »

I got my first batch of chrome back the other day. It's the stuff I sent to Jose' at Christensens in California. The word stunning is batted around quite a bit, and I am loathe to use it,...but...

I send the guy this:
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And he sends me back this:
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Expensive?, um, yes, I'd say a little,... But when I unwrapped everything,..that's not what I was thinking about, haha.

The work is flawless. I was especially impressed with the sun visor frames, which were pretty bad,...deeply pitted steel. If you want great work, with no excuses,...Jose' is your man.

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#157 Post by Steve Harrison »

Some of the other things you pay for is to have your door locks and ignition switch actually work when they come back,..not be all oversized with copper build up, or have the details buffed out.

The rear light housing is a work of art. The pictures speak for themselves.
Can't say enough about how pleased I am with the work. Now,...let's hope the local shop I sent the big window frames to can measure up. I would have sent it all to Jose' but I just couldn't afford to, and also the shipping of the big frames is risky to CA and back to GA.
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James Davies
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#158 Post by James Davies »

Wow, those look fantastic Steve. How's the plating on the inside of the seat hinges, dull as original? What about the tube that connects the two sides?

And they were careful on the sunvisor hinges not to build up too much on the spears so that they fit inside ok?

Could you describe how you prepped your lock cylinders (ignition and door) for plating? It looks like you completely disassembled them removing the tumbler and tumbler pins?

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#159 Post by Steve Harrison »

Hello James,

Yes, the mounting arms fit into the visor frame piece really well...in reality a little too well, haha. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this or not but the arms I had had a slight kink in them about mid way. I guess that's to provide a spring type resistance to keep the visor up when it's up. Jose' straightened that out, I guess thinking in the 'straighten everything out to get perfect chrome' mindset. Not a big deal,...I'll just put the kink back in.

As for the hinges, well, I can't say that the backsides are satin, but they're certainly not as shiny as the front sides. I have no idea about why the factory hinges backsides would be satin. I know if you just do the nickle stage, and don't chrome on top it'll look a little 'duller'. But that's probably not really possible on something like this. It has to be immersed in the tank. There is an aluminum 'dust cover' on the back side of the hinges...that stays raw aluminum.

As for the door locks and ignition switch, yes, I did take them completely apart. It's the only way you can get the core chromed. This is where it pays to have someone who knows what you want. Those little tiny holes that hold the springs, and the slots that hold the tumbler gates can't get smaller from copper build up or you'll never get it back together. These came through just fine.

Here's a pic of me taking the ignition apart back a year ago. The door locks are similar in process. I posted it here, but not on this thread. If you want that little tiny dingus in the middle chromed,...it's the only way. Or you can send them to Victor Miles, or Tony Eugeano, or a number of other restorers and have them do it. Those guys do outstanding work, truly award winning in all aspects, but neither are chromers. They do disassembly, repair, and assembly.
It all depends on the level of involvement you want, and/or the funds you have to work with.
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This is what an actual "tumbler" looks like. It's more like a gate, it lives in a slot in the cylinder core, and they are what each key bump rides up on when you insert it. The gates are different heights, and are marked. When the right key is inserted, all the gates line up flush and the core cylinder can spin.

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James Davies
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#160 Post by James Davies »

Thanks for the photos and description Steve. Looks very similar to the Pelican Parts tutorial on rekeying Porsche locks. Excellent. I will be doing this to mine as well. I love these sorts of desk projects.

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#161 Post by Steve Harrison »

Time for an update. Been working on the car in short intervals. I try to do at least something,...one thing minimum, every day,..even if it's just ordering fuse holders or something small like that,..one less thing.
I found one complete whole day recently and took the opportunity to sort the wiring. It turned out to be better than what I expected. Mostly intact, with just a few puzzlers. What I did was take the schematic I got from Charlie White and had it blown up to the largest size that Staples would do, poster size. Then I had them laminate it. I took the poster, a grease pencil, an ohm meter, a 18ft piece of wire with alligator clips on each end, a flashlight, and a HUGE pillow, into the car shell and went to town. I traced every single wire, and labeled each at the fuse junction, and at the end where it connects to the part it powers. It took all day, but in the end there were really no big surprises. Only problem was that it seems there was a short at some point from the ignition to the light switch, (where ignition gets its power, it uses the light switch as a bus bar) That short length of wire insulation showed evidence of melting. That got replaced, and I ordered a 10 pack of inline fuses. Yes, I am going non original and putting a fuse in the ignition circuit,..and in many other places for that matter. I can drift to the side of the road and figure something out far more easily than dive for the shoulder to get the fire extinguisher, haha. The headlights are getting relays, as well as the fog lights. Starter too. I didn't go with the (nicely made I am told) kits that are available. I just ordered individual relays from Mouser Electronics for 8 bucks each.

Got a few other things done like the passenger window glass and chrome frame. I never took the lower frame L brackets out after dry fit adjustment before painting so the reinstall was a snap. Got the outer chrome trim and wind deflector on too. It's starting to look like a car now.

Small kitchen table projects done thus far:

Reassemble headlights after chroming.
Reassemble fog lights after chroming.
Started on the quarter window reassembly....read on:

I searched and found the seminal forum thread about quarter window reassembly and the outlook was not good. There was a fellow there who said he'd rather take a beating than doing that again after he did his and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree. Man what a bitch. I got the boy to bed around 9:30 last night and went to the shop to "check things out" Well, one thing led to another and I staggered back in the house at 3:35 AM. One quarter window assembled. Whew!,...what a marathon pitched battle. I tried everything, but not wanting to do the ultimate trick of having 1/16 of an inch ground off the perimiter of the glass, (didn't want to risk orginal glass, and also it has a cool old PCA sticker on it.) Plus, I'm stubborn as a mule when I decide something IS going together,...tonight. I just wrestled and wrestled. I've got a woodworkers vice with stop pegs, etc. What I ultimately did,..the final solution, was a messy one. What I did was take the dremmell tool chucked up with a cut off wheel, and ground downthe inside channel of the seal! Did it take a few minutes?,..yes, Was it messy?,...you betcha,..did it work? Hell yea! Now I have to ask,....since this project is always known to be such a bear,..why hasn't anybody simply made a seal that is (even ever so slightly) smaller/thinner than the ones available? (I got mine from IM) Seems a simple solution.

The only downside is that I scuffed the new chrome on the exterior of the frame with all the attempts. Not a big deal, but if you look hard you can see it. Oh well,...thems the breaks, at least I didn't crack the glass.
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I also was lucky enough to score some original NOS rubber for the outer channell. Nothing like having the real thing!
quartertrim.JPG

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michael rogers
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#162 Post by michael rogers »

Hi Steve, do you have Jose's info? I tried googling it and I couldn't find it.

Thanks,
Mike
PS. Send me your address and I am going to send you a gift for your perseverance with your project.
Michael Rogers
55' 356 Pre-A

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#163 Post by Steve Harrison »

Yes, Jose has not kept up the website. His son was his "web guy" and now even that's stopped. I guess it hasn't mattered to him much because he's always burried in work anyway, haha.
I will PM you tonight.

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#164 Post by Steve Harrison »

Thought I'd catch up on some photos.
I've been lax in posting, but lots has happened, pictures in no particular order...
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Original roof insulation.  This is what's under the headliner. You can see the creases from the original bow placement, and other creases from the replacement in there when I got the car.
Original roof insulation. This is what's under the headliner. You can see the creases from the original bow placement, and other creases from the replacement in there when I got the car.

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Steve Harrison
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Re: 55 Coupe project

#165 Post by Steve Harrison »

Same type stuff hanging out on top of the glove box in a small patch. Guess it was for vibration prevention?
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