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Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:43 am

1964 356C metal work restoration.The car had been sat for 20 yrs in Winter Park,Co.Pictures are after media blasting.

my metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:30 pm

Looks like that one had a rough life!

Thu Nov 24, 2011 3:07 pm

Actually, that looks pretty near "ready for paint" where I live. A sweet cab with so little rust/rot, that's going to be a wonderfully easy/leisurely restoration and a big money car when you're done. I envy you. Have a great time with it ! !

TC

Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:31 pm

At least it survived the media blast in one piece. Try that with a Barndoor and see what happens.

Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:58 pm

Please go to my metal work blog for the latest update on the restoration; www.themetalsurgeon.com

Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:56 pm

TC/TeamEvil wrote: Actually, that looks pretty near "ready for paint" where I live. A sweet cab with so little rust/rot, that's going to be a wonderfully easy/leisurely restoration and a big money car when you're done. I envy you. Have a great time with it ! !

TC

Same over here in Illinois TC! That thing is mint condition!
Jeff

Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:24 am

JiI wrote: TC/TeamEvil wrote: Actually, that looks pretty near "ready for paint" where I live. A sweet cab with so little rust/rot, that's going to be a wonderfully easy/leisurely restoration and a big money car when you're done. I envy you. Have a great time with it ! !

TC

Same over here in Illinois TC! That thing is mint condition!
Jeff

.....should i move to IL?! job security!

Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:33 pm

Oye! I'm really fearful that my coupe will look like that when the paint finally comes off of it. :shock:

Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:13 pm

Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:18 pm

"What once were called 'parts cars' are now called 'restoration candidates'."

-"Doc" Porsche

(Nice work- looks vaguely similar to what I have scattered in and around the shop)

Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:28 pm

Sorry not to mention the now-fairly-rare pre-work done with spot welds and brass.....most of the really bad ones come in now with plastic screen and fiberglass or straight plastic filler (over rust) or pop-riveted flashing and driveway patch....and plastic filler (over everything).

For those who don't know a Cleco from a hole in the (fender), that ol' boy does some nice work!

Good gas welding is also becoming a lost art, like metal-finishing...hey, where's that Foam Car guy.......? Phil, where'd ya go?

-"Doc" Baker (shop nick-name.....the only real Doc Bakers are Mom and an ex-wife!)

Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:05 pm

themetalsurgeon wrote: 1964 356C metal work restoration.The car had been sat for 20 yrs in Winter Park,Co.Pictures are after media blasting.

Very nice work indeed! A real pleasure to see those TIG welds metal finished so beautifully.

Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:21 am

Front left hand fender resto.

my weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:50 pm

Metal finishing front left hand fender.

my weekly metal work blog www.themetalsurgeon.com

German car projects

Porsche 356C
Porsche 914-6
Porsche 356A
1958 Volkswagen 15 window

Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:22 pm

Left hand 'B' Post restoration

[img]http://www.themetalsurgeon.com/2011/11/1964-porsche-356c-restoration-part-1/img_0590/[/img]

Fri Jul 27, 2012 8:18 pm

The right-hand rear quarter is particularly weak in numerous areas, so we will section out these areas and graft in new material. Access to welds under the new metal is a difficult area to work due to the limited space. Fitting and manoeuvring a dolly for plannishing work is especially hard around the engine bay lip where the inner and outer panels narrow down and sandwich together. Due to accessibility we will probably finish the upper areas around the engine bay lip with lead.

Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:32 pm

Jon, beautiful work as always. A question from a want a be surgeon. What tool do you use to grind your welds down? Can you describe your metal finishing process? Are you filing and using hamer and dolly after you do your welding? Thanks for the help, Mark

Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:49 pm

Just now catching up on this thread. Hey Bruce, Foamcar guy checks out this forum daily. But, this summer has been spent doing some much needed maintenance work on the 55 coupe. Just finished(I hope) yesterday, with 4 days to spare before heading to ECH.

I would like to know how the patch panel above the front wheel opening was made. Not that I could do it the same way. But, this could be a possible solution for a very damaged area on Foamcar that has resisted my attempts to smooth out without filler.

When I get back to work on Foamcar I will post an intro and some pctures on this forum.
Phil Planck - 63 T6B coupe(Foamcar), 55 coupe with Foamcar's S90 engine on loan.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:02 am

Phil,

I think you could either wheel that part or use a lot of small blows with a lightly crowned hammer and dolly to get the gentle crown in that area. Either way, the area needs to be stretched to raise it. I imagine the flange was done with hammer and dolly or a bead roller/flanger finished with a bit of shrinking on the flange to bring the panel into arrangement. Just a guess...

I just can't figure out how Jon gets the welded in section to look so flawless once sanded with no weld undercut. Must be my welding? Maestro?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 7:01 am

I spoke at length with Trevor yesterday, looking for some tricky detail pieces to save some time on a project I am working on.....bad English....a project on which I am working, and he couldn't help me.

In the past, he has had some leftover or reject pieces or made things for me with the forms he has created, but he is experiencing a high demand now for fenders and all other parts for 356s that he has no time to do anything "special" or small. Even more than I realized, lots of 356s that formerly would be "parts cars" now becoming "restoration candidates."

Phil, for the fender piece, I may have something here from our "burn victim," a C Coupe that was totaled in an unfortunate garage fire but still yields some useful items. THAT one was hardly even a "parts car."
Otherwise, get a 'wheel' (Harbor Freight actually has a decent version, inexpensive for what it is......and I bought one of their supplemental wheel sets for my machine just to get one contour)....OR, do as recommended on a shot bag.

That area of the fender is a shallow compound curve (called "low crown") and will take very little to gain the shape, even slapping over the proper dolly sufficiently to raise that crown could work. It looks and sounds easier than it is. Someone like the Surgeon (Jon) can do that easily, but a novice can get very frustrated with how quickly things can go wrong. It's "practice, practice, practice."

In the backgound of one shot in the thread I saw a Miller TIG like mine. I hardly use it, as I was trained in my "formative years" with an oxyacetylene torch, with an "aircraft" tip. "Hammer welding" risks warpage, but creates a forged weld that won't crack when worked. A MIG butt weld is not so forgiving. Again, it's "practice, practice, practice" and obviously, Jon has done a lot of that. I can do all that he does but am out of practice (maybe due to online posting too much?) and know that "art" and am very glad to see such skill being promoted.