Longitudinal and chassis stiffening is done

The floors were replaced

The nose was positioned and ready to be welded on

The inner structure of the car and the new nose section were fit together

New battery box perimeter was fitted.

Darrin Begins to fabricate the battery box.

We are changing the box to accommodate the oil cooler that will be placed in the center of the nose

The rough metal work is done on the battery box / Oil cooler box

The underside of the battery box

There was some rust in the hood channel that need to be fixed

Darrin tacks in the new piece with a mig welder. Then he will gas weld the final piece

The gutter is back in shape

The original gas lid was deleted

Rear seat area are removed in preparation for the rear suspension to be fabricated

The initial door and rear cowl line is established. More to come on this later.

The initial headlight placement is mocked up

Darrin deletes the original holes in the T-6 nose.

First he had to use the English wheel to form a piece to the contour of the nose.

Then he cuts out the old hole and fills it with the new piece he has formed

after the holes were filled and the turn signal holes were formed in the nose, the headlight areas are mocked up again.

Next the brake ducts and oil cooler grill are placed in the nose.

First the duct holes are cut and then rolled.

Next the shape is established for the scoops and then formed

Once formed the are welded before being welded in place

Darrin sets the angle that they will be placed

Once welded in they look like the are seamless and formed right in the nose.

The back side of the duct and nose panel

Darrin Begins welding and setting the headlight area

A piece was formed to fill in the gap.

As he is gas welding the area in he has to constantly hammer and dolly the area and relieve the tension.

Pre fitting of the headlight in the area

Now it is time to set the right headlight area.

Always using contour gages and most importantly the eye to make sure everything looks right.

A metal finished nose.

It is now time to set the headlight buckets.

The original skin was removed from the hood. The only thing we will use is the inner structure. We will use the English Wheel to form a new hood panel.

Darrin wanted to take a break from the body and do some work on the inner panels. Here he fills the gas filler hole. The Special will have a filler through the hood.

a small repair is necessary on the steering box access hole

the finished product. Notice we moved the bolt hole. We will show you why later.

The engine compartment surround was removed. We will build engine tin similar to Carrera tin to surround the 2.4 Liter engine.

Repair was necessary to the inner structure. Then we will strip the paint

It is necessary for the inner structure to fit perfectly before we wrap the new skin.

Check back soon.

We will use the original hood frame but we had to modify it and sand blast it to remove the surface rust.

The right rear corner of the car had a poor repair done early in its life and the sheet metal was so over worked that we had to replace the entire quarter.

After removing the old one, Darrin Hammer welded the new one in place.

It was also necessary to replace the door jams and parts of the fender.

At this point it is very critical that we get the door openings just right so that we can begin to work on the rockers

The front fenders at the door gap also needed to be replaced. It is usually also necessary to replace the

Darrin stars by using the sheet metal roller and English wheel to get the panel to shape.

Then he has to weld it in place and and then cut and crimp the door gap. The numbers are used as a measuring system so that he knows where to roll the edge over for the door gap.

The last thing he has to do is use a spoon dolly to fine tune the gap.

The other side gets the same treatment. Notice that all the panels get cold galvanized and then sealed before the panels are installed

Now the drivers side front door gap is finished

Darrin is fitting the rear door latch post.

The first step is to form the shape for the door gap.

Then we have to run it through the Pullmax to create the edge

The drivers door jam is complete at the latch post

Now we can begin the rockers. We stat with a sheet of Draw Quality 20 gauge sheet metal and lay out our door gap line. Then Darrin and Rick run it through the Pullmax to form the edge.

Always checking the fit.

Notice the cool clams we use. These come from Boeing Surplus in Kent Washington.

The edge is done

Darrin uses sheet metal screws to hold it in place as he prepares to build the rest of the rocker panel

First thing he does is run the sheet metal through the roller to get the shape. Notice the Rockers are going to roll all the way to the floor pans.

Now that we have the shape we need to do a few things behind this panel before it can be installed

Since we will have a front mounted oil cooler, we need to run oil line to the front. We stat by using galvanized tubing. we run it through the Pullmax to turn it into an oval shape. This will be used as a conduit for the lines to run through.

First we locate the placement of the tube.

Then it is pre-fit

This is a shot from the rear.

Let the welding begin

Tacked together.

Now it is time to finish welding the rocker panels together before we install them. First they are tacked together and then they are gas welded.

 

Now the rocker is installed. We will still heed to finish it at the wheel arches.  

Notice we rounded the front corners of the doors more.

After the die was made for the Pullmax, it was time to lay out our sheet metal and start hammering it out.

The first piece that was made wars the tom skin. It has lots of compound curves. Fist Darrin ran it through the English wheel and then put the roll in it.

Once the arch was done. We had to prepare the cowl.

We tacked it into place, before cutting it in. Next we cut the cowl so that we could but weld the new skin in.

Then it was time to shape the face. this was done with the Roller and then the English wheel.

Next we had to fold the ends and prepared it for the bottom piece.

We had to make an additional die to the profile of the bottom edge. Then the piece was fed through the Pullmax.

After the bottom cap was formed the panels were gas welded together. They are all but welded and virtually seamless.

The shape is a cross between a Spyder and a Speedster.

This is a view from looking up at the bottom edge of the dash.

 

 

Once it was cut in Darrin started gas welding it in. This takes patients and lots of time. It is necessary to hammer and dolly as you go to ensure a flexible weld that does not warp.

One finished you would think it was stamped out of one piece of metal.

 Now we are off to fitting the windshield and then we can start the door tops.

We are using a set of Coupe doors and the first thing that needed to be done is to cut the tops off and angle them back to be more like a Speedster or Roadster door.

After cutting it we then rolled a piece of 20 gauge to get the shape.

After fitting it we then finished off the inner structure.

This is a view of the inside of the door with the rear angled back.

Then we wanted to carry that line all the way back to the cowl

Before we finish the door and rear cowl we wanted to split the rear end and set the place. This will allow for the 7 inch wheels and 911 rear trailing arms.

Next Darrin cut the new piece in and Gas welded it.

Then we had a finished door top.

Next Darrin started cutting in the fill strip for the read fenders.

Now that it is done Darrin will move over to the right side and do it again.