Convertible D 86007

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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#31 Post by Dave Erickson »

Thanks Vic. I didn't go into this blind - I inspected the car before buying and did not see anything I could not repair. I've seem far worse turkey repairs actually. I think we have forgotten just how bad it used to be.

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Vic Skirmants
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#32 Post by Vic Skirmants »

Glad you checked it out beforehand, and decided you could handle it.
Last edited by Vic Skirmants on Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#33 Post by Dave Erickson »

I agree that Mohr hid a lot of problems when they listed the car on BAT. But I have come to expect that from dealers. When I worked at Wester Motors, they sold a new 73 911S to my doctor. He had ordered the car months before with factory air. However, I had installed the A/C in the car. The Wester salesman told my doctor that the A/C was factory air and he was getting the car he ordered. I told him the truth and he was ready to walk, but he ended up negotiating a much better price.

Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#34 Post by Dave Erickson »

I made some progress since my last post. I thought I was done welding. However, after removing the gas tank I found 4 or 5 small rusted out holes in the bulkhead below the tank. Then, after hitting them with a coarse bristle pad they turned into pretty big holes, so I ended up fabricating a couple of patch pieces and welded up the area.'
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The main wiring harness runs right below the right patch. I worried about it but adding several pieces of aluminum (and a piece of copper on top) between the weld and the harness worked.
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Tacked in:
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Attaching the gas tank strap brackets:
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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#35 Post by Dave Erickson »

The interior floors are almost ready for priming. They are actually in pretty good shape, no leaks, dents removed. I welded a couple small 1" cracks and the oil-canning has stopped. However there is pitting and I could not get all the black oxides out using a coarse bristle pad on the drill. Metal prep has been applied, and let dry, so there is a lot of phosphate on the floors, but it did not dissolve the rust in the pits. So I am planning on backing up one step to soak the floors in some evaporust, then neutralize the acid, then reapply metal prep (dilute phosphoric acid). If that gets the rust out, I will paint with epoxy primer then put a couple thick coats of Duplicolor truck bed liner on the floors. I am trying to duplicate the original factory Convertible D floor coating, which was asphalt, so thick rubberized truck bed liner is the closest I can find.

The floors look pretty good:
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But there is a lot of pitting still to clean up, so its not ready for epoxy primer:
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I used self-etching primer and Duplicolor truck bed liner on the front trunk and on the battery box floor a few days ago, and it has hardened up quite well. I installed the battery pads from The Parts Shop, heated with a heat gun so they would bond to the battery box floor, then re-installed the battery, since I am starting to work on the electrical system. First step was to re-tin the battery leads, which is important if you want good connectivity. I used an ancient 150Watt soldering iron, after wire-brushing. A smaller soldering iron would have a tough time getting the large cable that goes to the starter motor hot enough to melt the solder.

The battery is the one that came in the car. It is a Duralast, and it is both taller and wider than the Porsche Classic or 19L battery, but it has 880 CCA, so I will keep it until I need to replace it. The terminals are both in the rear, instead of being diagonal like the 19L, but the ground strap still fits (barely). The 356A battery box cover does not fit.
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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#36 Post by Dave Erickson »

The floors were flooded with 2 Gal. of Evapo-Rust for two days and it made a difference; the hard-to-remove oxidation is pretty much gone. After rinsing the floors a few times, Metal-Prep was brushed on, so now it is ready for a coat of 2k epoxy primer.
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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#37 Post by Dave Erickson »

The floor was sprayed today with epoxy primer. First time I have used it, so I have some questions: I used Eastman's 2k product. It left a very rough top surface, is that intentional, so that the top layer will bond well? I sprayed it 24 hours ago and left the garage doors open for a couple hours this morning. Then after a couple house with the doors closed, the isocyanate fumes are strong again. I know isocyanates are a health hazard. How long does 2k epoxy paint take to off-gas, and when is it safe to work around?
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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#38 Post by Dave Erickson »

It has been two months since I last posted, so a lot has happened. Will try and catch up. The car will get a new top, vinyl and seats at AI the last week in April, so since Feb. I have been working on parts of the car that will enable that work to happen (i.e. repairing the interior, windshield, seats and getting the engine running). After fixing the rust below the gas tank posted about previously, the gas tank had some pinhole rust spots that got soldered, then the tank was painted with Eastwood 2k epoxy paint (rat rod black). I considered resealing inside but instead I just cleaned it with Eastwood's gas tank cleaner.

Solder repairs to gas tank:
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Next, the windshield was removed and the dash pad was removed, revealing worse rust than I expected. i.e. there was some bubbling visible as lumps in the vinyl. This is what was under the vinyl:

Passenger side:
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Drivers side:
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Passenger side after cleaning up, ready for welding:
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Drivers side after cleaning up, ready for welding:
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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#39 Post by Dave Erickson »

After welding:

Passenger side:
IMG_0090.jpeg
Drivers side:
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The hardest part of the welding was to avoid melting the lead. I TIG welded in very small (⅛-¼") bits and let it cool between.

After filling and priming:
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Next I decided to redo the repairs on the front hood that were done a few months ago. The hood did not fit well, it was high on the sides and low in the rear corners. So I made a jig and rewelded it:

The jig was scribed from the left and right fender lines and the hood contour and touched up with a sander until it was a good fit (with gaps to correct the alignment and fit).

Fitting the jig:
IMG_0129 (1).jpeg
Welding the hood:
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The hood was clamped to the jig during welding.

Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#40 Post by Dave Erickson »

Today the dash, cowl and front hood inner surround were painted using Nason Ful-Base basecoat and Nason clearcoat. It was a real learning experience, considering I had never sprayed anything except spray cans of paint for the last 40 years. There is still more to paint, but not until after the car comes back from AI. The door jambs, door interiors, the inside of the front hood still need to be painted. Getting a good match to the car's paint took 8-10 trips to Elmer's Auto Parts in Salinas, which is the last old-time auto parts store in the area. Initially I used a Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun, but could not get good results, lots of orange peel and texture. So I bought a Sharpe Finex FX2000 HVLP spray gun and got a lot of practice with all the paint samples from Elmers, until I started getting consistent results and a good color match. My shop is pretty dusty so I had a lot of problems with dust particles in the paint, so I made a makeshift spray booth with some plastic sheeting:

The plastic sheeting was attached to the 4-post lift:
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The front hood inner surround:
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The dash and cowl: lots of reflections, so hard to photograph.
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Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#41 Post by Dave Erickson »

I worked on the windshield wiper assembly today. Not that it will get much use, this car will be a fair weather car. The first problem to solve was the pair of gearboxes at each end of the assembly. These would hardly turn when removed. The grease inside felt like it had dried and turned to wax. I looked for threads on rebuilding the gearboxes and struck out, so how hard could it be?

After drilling out the rivets, this is what they looked like inside:
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After cleaning all parts in the ultrasonic and regreasing with Mobil 1 synthetic grease:
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I had some rivets that were the correct dia. (3mm) but too long and the heads were too large (should be 6mm), so the rivets were shortened to 14.5mm and the heads were turned to about 5.9mm. 14.5mm comes from the standard rule for rivets: the work head should project 1.5x its diameter. The body of these gearboxes is 10mm thick so 10 + 3x1.5=14.5. This picture shows the fit of the rivets in the gearbox, prior to setting the heads:
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The next problem to solve was how to hold the gearboxes for riveting. I am sure SWF had a hydraulic or hand operated riveter with a nicely machined holder for the gearboxes but I had to improvise. This is what I came up with:
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The bucking bar is on the left, the aluminum block on the right gets clamped to the bucking bar. The two 10mm holes in the aluminum fit the wiper shaft. The closest hole is spaced to align the two rivets closest to the wiper shaft with the bucking bar. If you want to make one here are the details:
Center of bucking bar to center of 10mm hole for rivets #1 and #2: 13.75mm
Center of bucking bar to center of 10mm hole for rivet #3: 37.5mm

There was a bit of variation in spacing between the two gearboxes, so the above is a compromise. The bucking bar's work head is 5.9mm dia. The bucking bar should be hardened; I did not harden mine and I had to re-machine it twice.

Here it is assembled ready for use. The set is on top of the aluminum block:
IMG_0216.jpeg
Last edited by Dave Erickson on Mon Apr 18, 2022 8:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Dave Erickson
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#42 Post by Dave Erickson »

This shows the bucking bar supporting the rivet:
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Rivet #1 after setting:
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#2 in line with the bucking bar ready for work:
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Finished assembly:
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The best matching paint for the frame was Krylon Fusion Matte Vintage Grey.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#43 Post by Harlan Halsey »

Dave,
The main problem with this wiper is the shaft attachment to the wiper arm. A hex headed set screw in the wiper arm clamps to a too small dia. too soft shaft. This must have worked the first time, long ago. But the set screw mars the shaft and loosens. Then the wipers have play. The play allows the arms to hit the aluminum deco strips, ultimately beating holes in the aluminum. You can't just tighten the set screw because you probably need to adjust the angle of the wiper arm a bit, but the set screw will only go back into the original hole that it wore. The shaft is too small to smooth and have anything left. Porsche solved this problem later with the 356B. The B arms don't look like the As. I "solved" the problem by never running my A wipers! :(
(I think a solution might be worked out by using the B gear boxes with their larger shafts, and modifying the B shafts and A arms to work together. Or just use the B set up and tell the originality people that it is a "Porsche pre production prototype". :D )
BTW if you get the three aluminum deco strips from Stoddard you will probably have to anneal them in order to make the compound curves.

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Re: Convertible D 86007

#44 Post by Dave Erickson »

Harlan, thanks for the tips on fixing the wiper. The shafts on mine are in good condition; I had to stone the ends of the shafts to disassemble the gearboxes and re-lube. If I run into problems later the tip to use a B gearbox is a good one. I doubt these wipers will get used much. My original aluminum strips are in good condition. They had a few dents which burnished out pretty well, so they must still be soft.

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Leo Dreisilker
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Re: Convertible D 86007

#45 Post by Leo Dreisilker »

Dave, I just repaired my whole windshield wiper assembly from a T1 57 Speedster. It was a lot of work. One gearbox had to be disassembled. My machinist used a bolt and nut and tightened it on one of the ears of the gearbox so the gearbox could be held tightly in a machine vise. The rivet heads on the arm side were milled off flush and then the rivets were driven out. Gear box was disassembled and cause of problem was rust and contamination of the shaft inside of the brass stem. Cleaned it up, cleaned gearbox, put new grease in and I used new pop rivets 3mm from McMaster Carr. and assembled all. Turns like new. Other one turned perfect and was relubricated. I had to make all new grommets, no metric or inch came close to originals. Took sheet rubber and punched out using metric tooling in a punch kit. New metric washers, motor was cleaned, commutator lightly polished, varnished the stator and armature windings, assembled all with new fasteners and will test in the car soon,

Can you furnish me with a photo of the little bracket that attaches to cable end at the inside of the dash? It seems that I may be missing a clip that holds the cable and knob in place for turning on and changing speed?
 

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