The Horror rusty 356 , update.

[Dakota]

Hi All
due to distractions, a holiday and a few other things to fix (and an owner who doesn't pester) the rusty cab has made glacial progress but here are a few pictures showing what has been done, I am still keen on not replacing the longitudinals at this stage and was merely going to patch them back onto a new floor and come back to them in a year or so but they are so bloody awful I may now do them at this stage its just that I hate repairing the heater tube where it passes through the sill and under the rear torsion tube , that and the sections just ahead of the A post, 356's are a fiddly pain in the bum.


This is the new V brace welded in along with a spangly new bottom for the LH bulkhead.

The bottom of the RH frony inner wing, the bottom portion of the front axle has been replaced too and the blue spots on the box section are where I have plug welded a folded angle section inside to reinforce it so axle stands won't damage it.

This frame is to combat bowing when I chop away the floor and bodged bits of inner sill , the turnbuckles were from a fencing shop and allow adjustment .


this is the front floor once the sheet steel covering it was removed...

This is a detail of the RH jacking point , note the seat mount inboard of the 'point , its the original one which has had various patches welded around it and its poking through the remains of the original floor , see you soon Bill.

[roy mawbey]

Bill,

You are doing very well, I have the suspicion you have been down this road before? The braces are very sensible. I reckon you will be happier if you do finish the longitudinals and floors at the same time.

Good photos and again well done. Look forward to the next ones!

Roy

[cubist]

Great update... used those fencing taughteners when positioning the pickup bed on my single cab. Makes life so much easier as we hung them from the roof joists and bolted straight through the bed vertically. Simple!

Can't wait for the next installment...

[john fletcher]

Having seen the floors and longs. I would recommend putting the car on a rotisserie because its so much easier to do these replacements USD or on its side - you'll actually enjoy it, well almost.
Go for it.
John

[Dakota]

Hi
I don't posses a spit or the space really , I like the idea of using one for the finishing off jobs but I kind of like dealing with them with gravity acting on them the normal way , I find it hard enough trying to work out whats going on with them the right way up let alone upside down , but I have thought about using one , I will have to look into it.

[Dakota]

Hi All
didn't get too much done today due to another visitor , BMW Mini, but did start removing the left hand floor and discovered its not a disaster after all there is some metal , the tunnel is actually rather good as is the rear bulkhead despite having big patches welded over it . It will probably end up with new doorsteps and longitudinals too but only once its inner sills and floor are back in one bit.


This is the original floor which was completely covered over , looks rather like a bit of the Titanic to me , great colour.


LH foot well this has been cleaned up with a Zip wheel note the number of repairs around the heater outlet, but overall not bad really.

This is the heater duct which has a couple of small holes but will go again , and in places four layers of metal in the longitudinals , no wonder is drove like it was overweight.


LH rear corner with a bulkhead , but it is going to be fiddly getting all the odd bits of weld off.


this is the wreakage from the floor so far and it still has the RH side in it.
see you soon Bill.

[cubist]

That last pic looks like a typical ad on thesamba... 'restorable, rare, shipping to UK arranged...'

[roy mawbey]

Bill,

When I look underneath my untouched by welding torch 13 year old BMW 318 with 160K on the clock and try to compare what a 13 year old 356 with the same milage would have looked like also without any welding I appreciate now just how far technology has moved on in the last 50 years.

Its amazing to see invoices I have for my 356 when welding was taking place regulary with the car only 5 years old. I have a detailed letter from an owner of my car who sold it on in 1964. He could not come to terms with the corrosion and thought the answer was to buy a new "C". When he wrote to me some years later but not that many, that car had also succumbed to rust so he gave up and bought a Fiat. Not sure really that was the best choice though!

I really like to see what you are doing Bill, its always good to see just what is involved and how you can actually manage to get over problems.
I do think its easier for the mind when the piles of rusty metal are away from the car and you begin to see clear spaces to see what needs to be done.

Keep it up, you are doing well.

Roy

Roy

[Dakota]

Hi
I think I know what you mean about rust , I have encountered one virtually rot free 356 and that needed a section under the battery tray , it was a T6B , that was fourteen years ago so chances are by now it has proper rust. I don't think the 356 is a particularily bad design or made from poor materials its more the complete lack of rust protection applied by the factory there really is nothing. If you scrape off the underseal what do you find underneath, raw steel , cut one open and its the same story its just untreated unpainted raw steel and not very thick steel at that. Once water gets inside it can get to to work instantly and wasn't allowed out very quickly either I may be wrong but I think its only the later T6 bodies that had drain holes pressed into the longitudinals, better late than never. When I repair them I remove at much rust as possible treat whats left and paint the insides with bonda primer etc etc, then once everything is finished its filled with waxoyl injected hot through the numerous drain holes I've drilled. That said despite the manufacturers best efforts quite a few of the little devils have survived this long , and don't get me started on 911's , they have bigger better crap traps built into them and again for years not much in the way of drain holes...


This was saturdays distraction , I spent the afternoon in the bunker looking at a few broken cars , a leaking 993 , a Daytona with wobbly wheels , a misfiring 250 Lusso and a '74 Carrera Kremer bodied thingy with a bashed spoiler (its so low it would not clear a fag packet) but its back to rust on monday ..

[Ian Gunney]

your Saturday distractions were a lot more interesting than mine!!

[Dakota]

Hi all
more distractions and a bit more progress , it looks like there is no reasonable way to avoid replacing the longitudinals if I am to get to the rot around the rear torsion tube and heater duct , its all a bit nasty there although the spine is really very good . Both the front inner wing closing panels are pretty much non existant and I didn'y realise quite how many layers there were in the longitudinals , they have been plated over four times and as I am doing all the fiddly repairs associated with replacing the longs they may as well go.


this is the join between the main heater tube and the wiggly section that passes under the torsion tube , you can just about make out the large lozange shape patch that adapts one size tube to the other.


this is the inner sill with the crap removed


and the heater tube in the process of being repaired, look at all the spot welds!


The heater outlet with a new bit of inner sill attached.


and a whole inner sill .

this is the heater duct itself , the bit if new tube Ihave welded in is where the jacking point supports go , what was left of them fell out when I cut the layers of metal away from the longitudinal.

this is a distraction , its my special tool for making sure the points of this Ferrari distributor are 60 degrees apart its a forty pence protractor with some holes drilled in it, and a welding wire pointer, I was very pleased with myself.
.

[Gary71]

.

this is a distraction , its my special tool for making sure the points of this Ferrari distributor are 60 degrees apart its a forty pence protractor with some holes drilled in it, and a welding wire pointer, I was very pleased with myself.
.

Ferrari special tool number F567h, to you Sir only £435

The 356 is looking good, it was never going to be a quick patch job that one was it

[roboguy]

Keep it coming Bill!

I love reading these resto threads, they're just so inspiring

[roy mawbey]

Good progress Bill. How are your knees, back and legs doing? I would not be surprised if you feel tired after a long session of this work.

I think we all like reading your updates. Rusty and his mates on the registry site just returned a crushed back lid onto his "A" that he is bringing back from the dead. You and he would get along well I think.

Well done.

Roy