Bob’s 356A project

[Martin Benade]

Justin, that’s a nice trick, but do you think you could still end up with a sufficient amount of solder on the floor?

[robert moglia]

Hey Justin thanks! Your build is my reference.
You need an index sticky. Haha.
So I’ll open them up to 4 mm.
Thanks for the advice.

[robert moglia]

As I am proceeding with setting the door gaps, I got advice to install the latches and place the door seal to insure proper door depth to allow for final block sanding (thanks Justin!)
The passenger side lined up perfectly, better lucky than skillful!
However on the driver side, with the door properly hung, the latch is a centimeter too low! No amount of latch adjustment will even come close. I will confess when I installed the b pillar I just put it in place based on shape.
I assumed it would fit perfectly but surprise!
To borrow a phrase from Justin I then had “paralysis by analysis” and stared and fiddled for 2 days.
I decided to bite the bullet today!

You can see I had already placed my lead for contour.

It hurts to cut up a nice new panel OUCH!

Shaped patched and ready to weld.
Man, do I feel like a dope.

[Martin Benade]

I had to do that to a factory NOS jamb on my car. It made no sense why as it couldn’t have been positioned higher.

[robert moglia]

Martin thanks for your support, I’m glad I’m not alone!
Got it welded up, after testing the latch.
It works perfectly, hooray!

Don’t know why the image is upside down now!
After dressing the welds it looks pretty good.

Back to working on the gaps.

[Justin Rio]

Thanks a lot Robert! I'm glad to hear you're finding something of use sifting through all that stuff. Great answer on the striker as that was absolutely your only fix. That is an issue that's easily overlooked especially as you where only a few MM's out.
Another discrepancy I've noticed with these new lock posts is that the draw in the pocket shape is not as deep as the originals. Could be a good thing in that it positions the striker closer to the door flipper increasing their engagement and eliminating the need for striker spacers OR it could be a problem if the striker rubs the door with no adjustment inward other than some hammer taps. Just depends on the car and circumstance. Keep up the great work! Justin

Martin, that contraption kept it from running on the floor. The purpose was to create a damn/form for the lead to pool against so I could really throw some heat at it and get it all to meld thoroughly. I'm nowhere near skilled enough to build it up freestyle so I had to figure out a way to overcome my limitations...

[robert moglia]

Making progress:
Stripped and primed the trunk. I tried Eastwoods roll on primer since I wasn’t too concerned about finish since it will get covered in schutz. I have to say it went on easy and masking isn’t required but I’d rather spray.

Fixed the right hood kink.

And of course more gap adjustments.

[robert moglia]

I took a break from the gap setting and played with my powder coat gun.
Before:

After:

Did the rear control arms and some other things too.
Fun and easy.

[robert moglia]

Back to the leadwork.
The B pillar has a shaped profile that is an important component of the door gap. Getting the solder to stick and shaped without it running off is quite the challenge on a vertical surface. I wish it was still on the rotisserie.
The good news is I’m getting the hang of it.
Once applied, I use my rotary burr set at a slow speed to shape.

At this point I’m comfortable adding additional solder to fill defects after filing.
It’s a slow process for sure!

[robert moglia]

Front bumper repaired, all dents planished, all captive nuts replaced with new and support bars powder coated.
And it fits!
The rear bumper, on the other hand is gonna need some major repairs as it is twisted like a pretzel!

[robert moglia]

To fix the rear bumper I needed to replace all the mounting points as they were either rusted through or contained snapped off bolts.

After disassembly all captive T nuts were replaced.
The passenger side is straight so I reassembled those mounts.

My plan is to then mount the bumper on the passenger’s side and reshape and reassemble the drivers side on the car. Hopefully it will work.
Maybe I should have just bought a repop!
Here’s the original trim, I’m hoping to straighten it too.

[Ken Tuvman]

Nice work on trunk! - did you just apply paint over ID shown circled in red? Working to POR15 & apply bed liner to trunk after I get the prep work completed.

IMG_4965.jpeg (51.33 KiB) Viewed 1930 times

[robert moglia]

Thanks Ken.
My trunk finish was 2 coats black epoxy primer covered by 2 coats of Hercules bed liner spray.
I masked off the chassis #, so no bed liner there.

[robert moglia]

Got it in epoxy primer, now the bondo fun begins!

[John Brooks]

Hammer and dolly all the high and low spots first, then the bondo