Dr 914's pictures of the steel 916 replica roof in the making Options

[dbu356]

dare I ask if a "kit" for such an animal is in the works???

Excellent work.
I too would be interested if such a "kit" were made.

I have some pictures of a factory X-brace a friend of mine has, I shall try to attach them.

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

dare I ask if a "kit" for such an animal is in the works???

Excellent work.
I too would be interested if such a "kit" were made.

I have some pictures of a factory X-brace a friend of mine has, I shall try to attach them.

great idea and easily made!

[Eric_Shea]

I'll take one. That's a "factory" brace or is it a replica? I thought all the factory braces were bonded to the roof?

[JPB]

Me likes the 916 repro job. Me thinks one with a 2.7 and nice flares. OOOooooh this is evil stuff. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

For those who dare to be cool, the roof does bow two ways but, I'm certain that a piece of guage metal bent as it is to the sides and forced to bend to the frame is not a big deal. The front to back hump is less than 1/2" and the metal will give easily with some clamps. The front corners will show the mosty stress but that can be cut and puttied as shown in the pic. The door edges can be first attached with the given hump and the roof then be cut to fit the shape. It is mostly an illusion which can be easily made if the builder has a little artistic insite and experience. This roof can be made with a flat light guage sheet if metal and the most basic of tools without a hitch or a kit.

[scotty b]

Actually John if you try and clamp the Fr. and Rr. and the 2 sides to weld them you will actually buckle your panel from the corners. Metal can't be "forced" into shaped it needs to be massaged, thus tools like the english wheel,plannishing hammer and heat. As I said befroe it isn't a really complicated job but it isn't
THAT simple either. Also as Mr. Kelly stated the english wheel is NOT an easy tool to learn, so the inexperienced would be better off with a "simpler" method . I imagine there are aLOT of wheels sitting around unused because those wonderful T.V. shows sucked people into believing it is a simple to use, do-all miracle machine. There is a reason it hasn't been used much for the last 60+ years (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Hell I built one and can use it and rarely do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/alfred.gif)

[dbu356]

I'll take one. That's a "factory" brace or is it a replica? I thought all the factory braces were bonded to the roof?

Story goes that it is factory, requires removal of latches and bolts in, top then bolts to the brace. Car (not the one in the picture) was built by Porsche for one of their poster artists who sold it to its current owner (another former factory employee).

[John Kelly]

Benno wrote: "Hello John,

I'd like to mention a third method. Wouldn't it be good idea to take the rear trunk lid for the curved regions of the roof ? It should have nearly the same shape as the roof.
If this would work, one could alternatively check the junkyards for properly shaped roofs of donorcars.


Benno"

Hi Benno,

That might make a good start, but it is rare that a similar looking shape is actually contoured nearly as close as it first appears. Once clamped it may be low by an inch or more in some places.

JPB wrote:

"For those who dare to be cool, the roof does bow two ways but, I'm certain that a piece of guage metal bent as it is to the sides and forced to bend to the frame is not a big deal. The front to back hump is less than 1/2" and the metal will give easily with some clamps. The front corners will show the mosty stress but that can be cut and puttied as shown in the pic. The door edges can be first attached with the given hump and the roof then be cut to fit the shape. It is mostly an illusion which can be easily made if the builder has a little artistic insite and experience. This roof can be made with a flat light guage sheet if metal and the most basic of tools without a hitch or a kit."

Hi JPB,

Rolling it in one direction is the easy part of course, but getting true shape in it without classic stretching or shrinking would require a press die that developed tons of pressure.

Cutting and welding the corners is not the best way to make shape in them. Tuck shrinking will generate shape inboard in a controllable manner with tools as simple as a claw hammer...no welding. You gather up the edge metal in a little tent like shape and then hammer down over the top of the tent (tuck). The metal gets thicker on the edge. It is a metal shaping job, not a clamp and putty job...don't want to get top heavy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Here is an album showing tuck shrinking if you are interested:

http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/comm...d=9980191607382

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

[rick 918-S]

I made a simple pinch tool from a couple of punches. I have a large set and a small set. I can't rember where I saw this. I've had these about 25 years. You can make some very nice shrinks with these. I'm with John. A claw hammer will do a great job also. Scotty b is correct about the wheeling machine. They take some serious time investment to learn.

The photo here shows how far you can stretch metal with very basic tools. I used a piece of plywood with a cutout for the shape of the recess, them drove the recess into the plywood shape. I made the lines crisp with a masons chisel.


BTW: sorry for the hijack.. just thought you'd find this interesting

[rick 918-S]

askdfh

[rick 918-S]

alsmdf

[John Kelly]

Looks good Rick! Kerry Pinkerton clamps his tuck forks in a vice and twists the metal to make tucks. My favorite method is a foot operated one I made from another tool.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

[scotty b]

Looks good Rick! Kerry Pinkerton clamps his tuck forks in a vice and twists the metal to make tucks. My favorite method is a foot operated one I made from another tool.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

John a foot operated tucker?? Or shrinker? If it's a tucker could you PLEASE show some pics. Here's one of my shrinker I converted to pneumatic. Increases the capacity by a bit but it is kinda scary if you put full pressure to it

[grantsfo]

Very nice! Thanks for the photos. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

[John Kelly]

Hi Scotty,

There is a picture of my foot operated tucker and a few others in my tuck shrinking album. It was made from an old grommet squeezer (?) that I picked up at Boeing surplus. You can make dozens of tucks with very little effort:

http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/comm...d=9980191607382

By the way, Kent White: www.tinmantech.com makes stippled dies for the edge shrinker you have. Makes a major improvement in the surface finish.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

[Eric_Shea]

Dave... any chance to get copies made up of the x-brace?

[dbu356]

Dave... any chance to get copies made up of the x-brace?

The X-brace is in SFBay area. I don't know if the guy that has it will let it out of his sight (it belongs to one of his customers, but he's had it in the shop for years). I know that when I was living there he would have let me copy it but, like I said, I have no talent for that sort of thing. I'll contact him and see what the status is now.

Dave

[Eric_Shea]

Calling McWelder-Boy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[McMark]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wavey.gif)

[Eric_Shea]

Get your mits on that thing and make me one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[JPB]

I have to agree with all of you but one thing makes no sence and just does in the end and thats steel and I get along very well. It is still a mystery to me but hope to do this 916 thing in the near future and make something steel with mothing tools. A good reproduction 916 would be the BOMB! Crap I hate reading this stuff. You people keep ...............................................................stimulating me damit! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dead horse.gif)