I have now attended the Hershey Porsche show three times without an operational teener...NOT being part of the caravan is getting old.

Finally got my new inner long welded in with doubler plates on all seams. Verified the incline of the new long with an incline gauge (with the car level) following Jeff Hails build thread. Door operates well! Entire inner long has been coated with rust encapsulator.

Still have a long way to go but I am hoping that this was the toughest part.

Thanks to Scotty B, Jeff Hail, and everyone else who has posted a build thread on this topic. I have read all of them & learned a lot.

Bob

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That looks real good Bob!

Thanks Chris...I need to stay away from drunken cupcake display bets to preserve my bankroll and get this done!

That long is a thing of beauty. Good job

Looking good Bob. Keep up the momentum. Remember only 11 months left until Hershey 2012

Looking good Bob, stay focused and keep up the good work!

Bob, I agree, your work looks great . Keep it up. I have not made the trip to Hershey, but plan to in the future. I've mostly been lurking here the last year or two. I am hoping I may have my car roadworthy by next year as well. I have 2 boys in college, so even though I have time, my budget is the limiting factor.

Gambling on Food Network programming while intoxicated...hmmm...sounds like you have a serious problem.

Nice job Bob, ya hob nob snob:)

I think you should post some action shots next time. Let us see you working.

There that's my tip for motivation

is it done yet ?

Bob, that is a thing of beauty! I'm kinda jealous .... I've haven't been that intimate with either one of my cars.

Looks great!

Now drive it down here to York and lets have a beer

I am cursed with a name that rhymes with way to many words.

Thanks to all for the thumbs up on the work being done...this is the biggest car project I have ever taken on. The prudent thing to do would have been to bail out and buy a good shell, but I got attached to the car. I hope to do it right, once, and then just enjoy driving it.

Some pics during the inner long repair:
Leveling the car:
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Checking incline factory side:
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Incline - new long:
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Jack in place to tweak angle of new long:
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Inner plate pattern:
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Plate layout:
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Finished reinforceing plate:
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Cutting back end of new long...indexed off rear trunk torsion bar bolt:
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Needed some side pressure on the inside of the new long in the rear so it would fit flush, had to improvise with a wedged in 2 X 4:
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Got some more work done over the weekend.

New channel formed and welded into front trunk channel....

Before:
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After:
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A shingle tab blew off the neighbors house, they werent looking for it, and I needed a new tar plug for the inner long, as I melted my old one while welding. Scraped most of the stones off of it...not show quality, but will work fine for me.
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Jack post support welded on with advice from the world in another thread:
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Holy crap!

Fantastic!

Zach

More weekend progress...outer clam shell welded on after coating inside with weld thru primer/rust encapsulator & seam sealing the heater tube. I still had part of the original clamshell in the front, so I was able to index proper fore/aft placement by taking measurements from the cheese head screws in the bottom of the still intact drivers side clam shell. A long straight edge along the bottom kept it true horizontally.

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Looks like someone is gaining a little bit of momentum

Very nice Bob, you look like you have been taking lessons from Scotty. Very impressive work. Git 'er Done!

Thanks Shoe...I ask Scotty questions every time I see him.

Beautiful work like that is the reason we never want to give up our cars, I don't think there are many shops that would be that picky about angles and straight lines. My hat off to you, gonna be a great example of a nice teener when done, hope to see it at Hershey or some other event in the future. Oh and don't forget what a great motivator cash is, your jackstands will bring a better than normal amount when you are finished if you show pics of what they have been holding up!

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

While waiting on the inner "ply" for the outer wheelhouse from Restoration Design, I decided to start tackling the passenger side firewall and some other miscellaneous items. This is what I started with:
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I opted to cut out all rusted metal in one chunk:
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Cutting - continued:
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Luckily, it looks like the rust only crept about an inch or so up into the firewall...this shot is looking between inner & outer firewall.
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The damaged area:
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Short on money, but long on time & sheet metal, I decided to try to fabricate a replacement piece...started by cutting the bottom curved piece at the base of the firewall and went from there. The most difficult part for me was the compound bend, where I had to cut slits to get the right contour, then fill with weld. I left it a little long in all dimensions, so I could trim it as needed for the final fit. Still need to weld all seams on this, but I am pleased with how it is shaping up:
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Fabrication - continued:
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Finally finished the front hood channel. One section was fabricated & replaced. All rust was treated with Ospho, two coats of Rust Bullet then two coats of brushed on acrylic enamel:
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My virtual junkyard:
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Shingle tar plug glued in:
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Nice work!

Looking good Bob keep it up

Thanks gents!

11 months till Hershey...11 months till Hershey...11 months till Hershey

Like Spraggi says, don't set yourself a deadline

Zipped up the seams on the replacement floorpan piece today, the piece is now in the crawl space (paint room) drying, after getting sprayed with primer:
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Pulled out the gas tank, following the Pelican article...was not surprised to find more rust under the tank:
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Found another large spot of rust where the front trunk latch cable attaches under the dash. The mounting point is completely gone and all that remains is a hole. My question is...what would cause this area to rust out so bad? Fender to cowl seals?

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Finally, my gas tank is rusty inside. How rusty is too rusty? Can I dump all the rust out and expect this to not get much worse if I keep gas in the tank? My goal here is a reliable daily driver...am I asking for trouble if I don't re-seal this tank?

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My white car had the same issue. The pocket holds water. Mixed with dirt and a mouse nest it stayed damp for a long time. Also check down near your pedal cluster, in back of seats under the tar and any "pocket" that holds water.

Clean out the gas tank to bare metal. There are lots of how to threads.

Great work man!

Restoration Design shipped me the inner ply for the wheelhouse section last week:
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Drilled holes for the rosette welds:
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Fabricated a cover plate for inside of the jack post & welded it on. Sprayed both parts with weld thru primer:
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Two plies welded together:
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Finished product...weld thru primer on the seams, rust encapsulator everywhere else. I hope to start welding this in tomorrow:
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Dropped the rusty fuel tank off at the radiator shop today. The guy said he needed to drop it in an acid bath and see what is left before we make a determination. I had to take it apart at the shop and I forgot to take note of the layout of the tank outlets. Does the large one go in the front or rear with the tank in the car? Sock on the larger line?

The area where the front hood release was rusted so bad, the hood release was just hanging there under the dash, supported only by the cable tube:

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The cable assembly had to be removed to gain access to the area. Plus, the bolts were a rusty mess. Vice grips were the only way to break them loose:
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Welding upside down really sucks! I had better access to this from under the dash. After hitting everything with a dremmel tool wire wheel attachment, I bent up a doubler plate out of 20ga sheet metal and tacked it on with my body folded up under the dash. I had some burn through on some of the weaker metal so I had to rule out completely welding the seams, but was able to get it tacked in place. Raked my spine on the body braces twice getting out of the car - ouch.
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With the burn thru problem and the fact that it was such a PITA working in this tight space, I opted use a liberal application of JB Weld on both top & bottom to fill between the tack welds. It is certainly not my best work, but I believe it will be strong and functional. This area will be inspected once in a while after the car is on the road:

From above:
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From below:
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Thanks Ian.

Interesting...never saw jackstands as an appreciating investment!

Is is springtime in Monctom yet?

Bob

Thanks...a lot of time was invested in that piece...hope it fits well!

I am not sure my liver can survive the rush of 40th birthday parties this Spring...but anyhow:

Got word from the radiator shop last week that my tank was repairable. They said they can patch, clean and seal it for no more than $200. It seemed reasonable to me, so I pulled the trigger on it.

Picked up metric allen bolts at Home Depot for the front hood latch attachment point:

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After reading a thread on the world about proper cleaning of a transmission, I realized that I never plugged the overflow when pressure washing mine at the local car wash last year. I got worried about water in there, so I drained the old fluid out...did not see any water but the magnetic drain plug was chock full of filings. Tranny was re-filled with proper fluid and put back in the shed:

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2nd ply of the outer wheelhouse was welded in last week, prepped and ready to be installed:

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10 months till Hershey...10 months till Hershey. It was a scorcher today. But I really wanted to get the outer wheelhouse welded in:

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I measured the distance from the middle screw on the original drivers side long to a plumb bob off the front of the jack post. Matched the 20.5" measurement on the passenger side for proper fore-aft fit:

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Everything lined up pretty well, except for one section at the rear of the inner long. This area was rebuilt 6" at a time hand formed in a vice. The last section seemed to twist up in the rear when I was welding it in. However, it lined up well with the inner long section previously welded in. All things considered, I decided to add a small extension piece to the bottom so the rosette welds would line up properly:

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Final fitment outside:
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Final fitment inside:
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Fabricated & installed a doubler plate for the rear...had to modify it several times to clear the inner ply of the outer wheelhouse:
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DAMNIT!!! After filling about 7 rosettes, I realized I forgot to drill the holes directly above the jack post support. Improvised with a large screwdriver wedged in to get enough clearance to drill new holes. Snuck a dremmel tool in to deburr the backside of the holes:

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I found the fitment of this piece to be challenging. It was clamped on and removed about 25 times before finally filling the first rosette. Probably due to the "learn as you go method." Overall, I am pleased with how it has turned out so for. The heat started to get to me, so it was time for a cold beer and cold A/C. Will zip up the seams this week and should get the gas tank back:

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Picked up my gas tank from the radiator shop last week. Cleaned, patched, sealed, pressure tested, primed and painted for $160. The only problem is that they painted it in gloss black. So I spent a few hours sanding it down and re-painted it in semi-gloss black. The shop used "Red Coat" as the sealer:

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Looking good Bob keep with it. Hershey is right around the corner

Welded up the seams on the outer wheelhouse, then started grinding...

The inner long needed some trimming at the bottom for a flush fit. A cutoff wheel made quick work of this:
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"Finished" job - outer:
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"Finished" job - inner:
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Closeup of rear seam:
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There remains a slight (about 3/16") alignment issue with the upper portion of the lower wheelhouse under the rear door jamb. I should be able to get this aligned with a hammer and block of wood.
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Thanks Andy...I must be part of the caravan next year! Trying to stay motivated and put in at least a few hours each day.

Progress continues at a slow, but steady pace.

Continued working on the area under the gas tank and the front trunk attachment point. Areas were cleaned, rust treated with ospho, followed by two coats of rust bullet and new seam sealer. Note to self...when working upside down applying opsho with a hollow acid brush, do not hold the brush in your mouth while getting out from under the dash.

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A crazy hail storm interrupted my work on Thursday...it sounded like someone was shooting a machine gun at the house!

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Put the tank back together with a new Foley fuel sock. The threads were a little gummed up from the red coat the shop used to seal the tank, so I had to run a tap through the holes to clean them out. The fiber washer on the small line was in bad shape so i picked one up at the local ACE hardware and modified it to fit.

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Flash rust is a bitch! I understand that it has been humid and that my washer & dryer are in my garage, but this is ridiculous. This area was freshly welded just last week:

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I took a look at all the other bare metal...it was happeneing everywhere. Time to treat with ospho and get some primer on:

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