If you look just ahead of the seat mount on the side of the inner longitudinal you can see my 1 inch hole that I drilled to allow the E-coat to flow through the longitudinal. After this picture was taken I spot welded a small panel over the hole (by just spot welding there is minimal paint/E-coat loss) and seam sealed it.
JIM

Hi Matt, welcome.

I too am new to these cars, but have learned a lot from people here. Feel free to ask questions.

Good luck,

Mark

Back to 356 progress:

Electrical: All grounds and light sockets cleaned, fuse box cleaned, all fuses and bulbs replaced. I already installed a new bat cable and replaced ground straps earlier this year. The "refurbished" starter works well, but I still want to relay it (have relay just need to install). Everything is working!

Interior: Seats have been repaired and are ready to be picked up. I hope to pick them up while I am down that way for LRP historics. The plan is to bring the seats back to them over the winter for new leather covers, but for now I think the repaired originals will be great and I just want to drive this car.
I still need to install the carpet, been dragging my feet on this but it is now at the top of the list. I don’t know why I am not looking forward to this.

Engine: The big news is the 912 mystery engine was run on stand and is now in car. It starts right up, runs smooth/idles smooth and revs up quick. Oil psi is 30-35, no smoke at all after running for a few minutes after first start. Seems good to go, but I will get back to you on that once I drive it over the mountain for the real test. I installed type K Tc’s at #1 and #3 and will monitor CHT’s with my Fluke for now. I used a high temp thermally conductive epoxy and glued them to a fin close to plug hole, I did not want to mess with those plug ring types as they look like a nightmare to deal with.

All rubber engine tin seals have been replaced, clutch replaced, clutch cable adjusted, throttle linkage replaced/adjusted. It took quite a while to get all that stuff right, but all controls are working smoothly and have a nice feel.
Fuel lines replaced, tank cleaned and reinstalled, pet cock rebuilt.

A couple of noobie mistakes: I installed engine 1st time with no cooling tin installed, thinking it was all installed after!, I installed clutch cable in backwards, 7mm side toward rear! These mistakes were not good for my vocabulary, but were not the end of the world.

Additional details and pics to come. Have problems posting pics from here.